It's college application season and students around the country are busy filling out forms for college. As they send off their applications, many worry not just about getting into the right school, but also about paying for it once they do.
For many students today, the dream of going to college can only be realized by borrowing money... lots of money. The problem is that far too often, students are signing on the dotted line for loans they don't fully understand.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), established last year by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, wants to help students and their families better understand their loan options. It's time to create a student loan market where costs and risks are clear.
The price of college is soaring. The average total cost of tuition, room, board, and fees for an in-state student at a public four-year college is $17,000 this year, according to the College Board. At private non-profit colleges, the average total cost this year is about $39,000. Although most students pay less than the published rates, the fact is that college costs a lot of money.
Many students are covering these rising tuition costs by taking on more debt. Seniors who graduated in the last school year, and who borrowed money to pay for college, ended up with about $22,000 in debt for a public college and $28,000 in debt for a private college.
We are still recovering from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. While a college education is a gateway to better job prospects -- and student loans are a helpful tool for students to make that happen -- taking on giant sums of student debt can be risky. Upon graduation, too many people face either underemployment or unemployment. Not surprisingly, some recent graduates are defaulting on their loans, and others can't afford to move out of their parents' homes.
The problems with student loans start from the moment financial aid information arrives from colleges. Prospective students often receive large packages of documents with unfamiliar acronyms and baffling language. The offers often neglect to inform students of their true debt burden -- even the basics like principal, interest, and monthly payments are not clear. Adding to the confusion is the different vocabulary used by different schools. Comparing one award to another becomes a difficult code-breaking challenge.
This is why the CFPB is assisting the Department of Education with creating a "financial aid shopping sheet" that colleges could use to improve information for students and their families. The draft shopping sheet is posted on the CFPB website, where we're inviting comments from students, families, and other stakeholders. It includes estimated monthly payments after leaving school and helpful school-related information such as graduation rates. And, importantly, it allows students to compare an offer from one school to an offer from another school by standardizing the language and terms. This is one of our "Know Before You Owe" initiatives -- a series of projects that the CFPB pioneered first in the all-too-confusing world of mortgages.
In these tough economic times, the stakes have never been higher for students and their families to clearly understand the costs and risks of student loans. Having a simple, one-page financial aid shopping sheet would help students compare offers and make the choice that's right for them.
For those Americans who are already out of college and are struggling to pay back their student loans, the CFPB wants to make sure they too have useful information about their repayment options. So we recently released the Student Debt Repayment Assistant, an online tool for graduates and others struggling with student loan debt. It points borrowers in the right direction on how to tackle federal and private loan obligations and provides information on deferments, income-based repayment, and much more.
Higher education can be a critical part of the American dream. A more transparent student lending marketplace can help all Americans better pursue that dream.
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a/ if the kid aint got what it takes - dont waste his time or your money
but b/
yeah - can dig the argument - what the hell else is he gonna do right now
sad that signing up to get shot at is a good option in the allegedly lucky country
me - i was a slack student way back then - & i had an omg moment - my mates were off to uni & I was headed for - A JOB - yuck - I dont want to grow up yet - mere weeks b4 the finals after barely doing homework b4 - I totally crammed - eat sleep study - not even the formal - scraped in to a top uni & top degree & $14pw scholarship - woo party time again - those times are gone
may help the family get a bolt hole when/if the proverbial hits the fan in US
sydney u has plenty of cred overseas - unsw not so much but would be surprised if not so for commerce - monash & canberra should be fine too
http://www.facebook.com/RellaBell
I offer myself as a case in point. I had not a clue about econ and finance until I enrolled for my MBA in marketing and finance at UCLA. What an eye-opener! It changed my outlook on virtually EVERYTHING (including politics...watch out, progressives, you might lose some sheep here). And despite the fact that I never did get a job in either marketing OR finance, I was still able to turn that knowledge into a comfortable retirement at age 55 and proud membership in the "evil 1%" club.
Go figure.
Average Americans are willing to set up a forth choice. It is a minimum six year term of six months education at your level and six months training and use in the USA as a military of emergency force.
You would be paid at 2/3 the going rate of any military level. Food housing but for six months if you are below college ability or choose a teck area you are in new military dorms and are going to school after PT, breakfast, school, lunch, school, Pt and study then bed. For those at college level threw a master degree you would attend a school of your choice for six months, ROTC program and then the six month training and deployment in US property only.
Open to six million Americans or want to be Americans, have to lean English and with training in several languages.
An Average American Program.
Or go to the private college. I don't really care. But don't come whining to me to use my tax money to forgive your loan.
I started off working for my step father in his print shop at the age of 13, sweeping floors and watching printing presses for errors. By the age of 20 I had been fully immersed in the printing world. I knew absolutely everything there was to know in all of the departments. The comfy chair of the
in-house graphic designer made its call to me and that is where I spent most of those 7 years.
When my mom and step father had a big falling out, I no longer had a job with the company.
Being only 20 years old and never having had a real job in my life, i had no idea of the rights I had to save my job and so I went off to work in many different call centers, as those were the only places hiring people my age with absolutely no work experience. (Back in the day, I would wake up around noon, go down to the basement print...
My comment is too long by 1000 words, if you would like to read the entire story please go to my blog: http://intuit.wickedbad.net/ and see "Student Loans"
Dr.Jason Cole, MsD. now holds a doctorate in Metaphysics from the ULC, Modesto, California and can be read on his weekly blog and heard on his weekly podcast.
Just like some of these rip off fro profit schools, all schools should have some data on earning power of various degrees,