Consolidating Federal Student Loans

Consolidating Federal Student Loans

Visit: privatefastloans.com To Learn MORE.... This is the VOA Special English Education Report, from | Today we talk more about the costs of higher education in the United States. If you missed last week's report, you can find it on YouTube or at voaspecialenglish.com. Foreign students who need financial aid generally have to seek it from the school itself or their own government or employer. If you follow the news, then you know that President Obama recently signed health care reform legislation. But one of the two bills he signed into law also made unrelated changes in the federal student loan program. These changes will require new loans to come directly from the Department of Education. The department already makes these federally guaranteed loans for American citizens and permanent legal residents. But since the early nineteen nineties it has also paid private lenders to provide them. Now, as of July first, all new loans will go though the direct loan program only. Officials say the new law will save the government sixty-one billion dollars over ten years. The plan is to use more than half the savings to provide more federal Pell Grants to needy students. A few billion will also go to schools that traditionally serve minorities and to help two-year community colleges. The new law will reduce the most that borrowers must repay each year from fifteen percent of their income to ten percent. And the longest repayment period will be shortened from twenty-five years. Any ...

http://tommieedgar.com// LATEST: New US Law Cuts Out Private Lenders for Student Loans 2012

As of July 1, 2012, graduate students are no longer eligible to take subsidized Stafford loans, a popular federal loan with interest paid by the government until after graduation. [Read more about student loan changes for 2012.] But graduate students ... Explore Graduate Student Loan Options for 2012

you may need to look into consolidation. This is the option that many, many student loan borrowers choose, and it can definitely be a good option for you. Here's what consolidation is, what it can do for you, and how you can get your loans consolidated.

Basically, when you consolidate your student loans, you turn them all into one big loan. If you have loans for $ 3,500, $ 4,000, and $ 2,500, you'll turn them into one big lump loan of $ 10,000. The consolidation is really just one big loan that pays off all your smaller loans. You can stick with the same term on your repayment plan, and you may even lock in a better interest rate with this option.

The main reason many borrowers choose to consolidate their student loans through the government is that it makes repayment easier. Instead of writing three or four checks a month for your student loans, you'll just write one larger check.

Also, if interest rates are on the rise, you can lock in a lower rate when you consolidate. Basically, the interest rates on student loans change from year to year unless you lock it in with a consolidation loan. Sometimes this can help save you a lot of money in the long run, even if it's only a percentage point's difference.

To get your loans consolidated, your best option is just to do it through the government. You'll basically just take out one larger student loan to pay off all the small ones, and the government will write this larger loan, as well. The consolidation process is quick and simple, and you can do it all online.

Keep in mind that you can only consolidate federal student loans this way. If you have private loans, you may be able to take out a Private Student Loans to pay off both your private and your federal loans.

However, you need to make sure that you're getting a decent interest rate and doable payment terms on this before you sign the paperwork. It's easy to get roped in by a money shark who is just going to overcharge you for a consolidation loan that's supposed to make your like a whole lot easier. Just read the paperwork carefully to make sure you know what you're doing, and you'll be fine.

Suggest Consolidating Federal Student Loans Issues

Question by : 1-Trillion Student Loan Debt. ONE TRILLION. 1 of 2 college grads jobless/underemployed. why so few jobs? Source: WASHINGTON (AP, May 2012) â€" The college class of 2012 is in for a rude welcome to the world of work. A weak labor market already has left half of young college graduates either jobless or underemployed in positions that don't fully use their skills and knowledge. Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs â€" waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example â€" and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans. An analysis of government data conducted for The Associated Press lays bare the highly uneven prospects for holders of bachelor's degrees. Opportunities for college graduates vary widely. While there's strong demand in science, education and health fields, arts and humanities flounder. Median wages for those with bachelor's degrees are down from 2000, hit by technological changes that are eliminating midlevel jobs such as bank tellers. Most future job openings are projected to be in lower-skilled positions such as home health aides, who can provide personalized attention as the U.S. population ages. Taking underemployment into consideration, the job prospects for bachelor's degree holders fell last year to the lowest level in more than a decade. "I don't even know what I'm looking for," says Michael Bledsoe, who described months of fruitless job searches as he served customers at a Seattle coffeehouse. The 23-year-old graduated in 2010 with a creative writing degree. Initially hopeful that his college education would create opportunities, Bledsoe languished for three months before finally taking a job as a barista, a position he has held for the last two years. In the beginning he sent three or four resumes day. But, Bledsoe said, employers questioned his lack of experience or the practical worth of his major. Now he sends a resume once every two weeks or so. ############################################################################ Source: Washington, DC CBS News, May 2012 Today's the day that the student debt clock crosses the $ 1-trillion-dollar mark. The milestone was expected to be reached at approximately 6:40 a.m. Eastern time. You can see the exact amount of debt that college graduates, as well as college dropouts, owe by heading over to FinAid, the popular financial aid site, which maintains the student debt clock. While the amount of student debt seems stunning, Mark Kantrowitz, the founder of FinAid, estimates that it's only about a tenth of the size of the nation's mortgage market.That explains why the collective student loan burden hasn't derailed the economy like the foreclosure crisis did. The amount of student debt outstanding depends on who is calculating it. The student debt clock bases total outstanding federal student loan debt on figures from the federal budget. The federal figures do not include capitalized interest, which would have generated an even scarier figure. The debt clock also includes calculations on the size of private student loans. Borrowing responsibly Borrowing for college can be a smart move, but you don't want to over extend yourself. Here are four ways to make sure that your own college debt burden remains manageable: WHERE'S THE JOBS ? WHY NO JOBS ? WHY SO FEW JOBS FOR COLLEGE GRADS ? Best answer for 1-Trillion Student Loan Debt. ONE TRILLION. 1 of 2 college grads jobless/underemployed. why so few jobs?:

Answer by xpatinasia
"I don't even know what I'm looking for," The students are not properly prepared.

Answer by Cherry KoolAid
Are you under the misguided impression that they should make up a new job for every new college graduate, including the ones that get useless college degrees?

Answer by Mark
There are so few jobs for everyone now, not just college graduates. I think that the truth is finally coming home to roost in that people have got used to describing themselves as 'skilled workers' when in reality there are only 'workers in demand' and 'workers who aint'. If you look at what employers need rather than what you want when it comes to a college degree then that may give people the edge in future..

Answer by Juanaquena
With North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA, 1994), U.S. owned manufacturing businesses moved their operations out of the USA (for many reasons.) First, those manufacturing jobs were moved to Mexico & then other Latin American countries. With pressures to reduce costs of manufactured goods (some of that pressure coming from 1 huge discount retailer in the USA), those manufacturing operations & more were moved to Southeast Asia, China, & elsewhere, where workers are paid lower wages, where there were few or no government regulations about industrial pollution, & where there were few or no government laws protecting workers. On top of that, worldwide there have been major financial meltdowns, which became obvious in late 2007 & which grew - housing mortgage loan crisis, financial bailouts of major auto manufacturers & financial/investment businesses, continued employer layoffs & business closings, increasing unemployment of people in all age categories, age discrimination by employers - both against young potential employees & those over the age of 50, etc. You can start learning a bit about the Great Recession of the Early 21st Century (the era we are in now, the term economists are using), an economic situation that has not been this bad in the USA since the Great Depression of the 1930s, by reading the articles in these links: Time.com & CNN - Jobless in America, Sept. 11, 2009 * http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1921439,00.html Time.com - The Ripple Effect, Sept. 11, 2009 * http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921445,00.html Time.com - 25 People to Blame for the Financial Crisis, Feb. 12, 2009 * http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350,00.html New York Times - Recession Raises Poverty Rate to a 15-Year High, Sept. 16, 2010 * http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/us/17poverty.html?th&emc=th CNNMoney.com - Looking for work?, June 16, 2010 * http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/16/news/economy/unemployed_need_not_apply/index.htm McClatchy Newspapers - U.S. economy faces likely slowdown, April 23, 2012 * http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/04/23/146393/us-economy-faces-likely-slowdown.html [Quote] The U.S. is currently 6.5 million jobs below where it was when the recession started. But because the working-age population grows as the population expands, in the nearly four years since the recession started, we would have needed to add around 4.5 million jobs to keep the unemployment rate from rising. [End quote] Source: Economic Policy Institute - At This Rate of Job Growth, The Unemployment Rate Will Stay Disastrously High, Nov. 4, 2011 http://www.epi.org/publication/rate-job-growth-unemployment-rate-stay-disastrously/ At the time of the above cited article, it was estimated that 280,000 jobs a month for 5 years would be required to be created just to get US employment back to pre-recession levels. Do the math: Total 16,800,000 jobs! Newly created or re-opened jobs have not been added in the US at the rate that is even close to 280,000 jobs per month. After reading the articles I have cited for you, you may have a better idea of the terrible economic situation we are in. As for the high student loan debt, a big chunk of that debt was generated by students taking out privately funded student loans, which had (and have) higher interest rates than those offered by the Federal government. The students with the largest percentage of defaulted student loans are the ones who chose for-profit/career/proprietary colleges and universities. From a US Government Accounting Office (GAO) report, Aug. 2009, [Quote] The Department of Education makes loans available to students to help them pay for higher education at public, private non-profit, and proprietary schools, and the students who attend proprietary schools are most likely to default on these loans, according to analysis of recent student loan data. Students from proprietary schools have higher default rates than students from other schools at 2, 3, and 4 years into repayment. [snip] Borrowers who are not successful in school and drop out also have high default rates. Ultimately, when student loan defaults occur, both taxpayers and the government, which guarantees the loans, are left with the costs. [End quote] Source: Stronger Department of Education Oversight Needed to Help Ensure Only Eligible Students Receive Federal Student Aid * http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-09-600 Librarians--Ask Us, We Answer! Best wishes

Answer by Naija-Informer
The economy is still in shambles, so its difficult to secure jobs

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