July 15, 2019

By Andrew Kreighbaum
For Inside Higher Ed

In a bid to boost the number of students receiving financial support for college, Texas will soon become the second state to require high school seniors to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid before graduating.
A handful of states have looked at making FAFSA completion mandatory for graduating high school students. Beginning with the 2020-21 academic year, Texas will provide a serious test case for the policy after big successes in Louisiana, which enacted the requirement last year.

Search Over 35,000 Jobs
Search
Browse all jobs on Inside Higher Ed Careers »
Completing the form is a leading indicator of college enrollment. And there’s ample evidence that more financial aid is associated with outcomes like college completion. Actually achieving big gains in FAFSA completion, though, requires significant investment and outreach by schools and state officials.
During the past academic year, Louisiana saw FAFSA completions by high school students climb by more than 25 percent. College access groups say high school seniors leave millions of aid dollars on the table each year by not completing the form — often because it’s too difficult or they don’t believe they’ll qualify for aid.
“As the forerunner of this kind of policy, the early successes that Louisiana has seen with mandatory FAFSA has to be encouraging for other states,” said Bill DeBaun, director of data and evaluation at the National College Access Network. “We shouldn’t assume Texas will see the same effects Louisiana did. But given the scale of the state, even a modest effect could make a big splash on the FAFSA completion cycle.”
If Texas has 25 percent of the growth Louisiana saw in FAFSA completions, that would mean an additional 12,700 students submit the application, DeBaun said.

To Read More, Click On Link Below:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/07/10/texas-becomes-second-state-require-fafsa-completion

Hello and thank you for stopping by to support No Debt But Love! This site represents a movement to live out Romans 13:8 as we leave no debt outstanding, but the continuing debt to love one another. This means we will pay off all our debts: student loans, home mortgages, car loans, and credit cards.

My personal struggle has been student loans as I have been on this repayment journey for 8 years. I would like to recognize a supporter of No Debt But Love. She is a fellow YouTuber and blogger. Her name is Mary, and her YouTube channel is called “A Merry Life, On A Budget”. Check out the links to her channel and her blog below.
YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/amerrylife
Blog:
https://amerylife.com

This blog entry will feature a friendly critique of an article I came across titled, “Why You Might Not Want to Pay Off Your Student Loans Early” published by the Motley Fool. Here’s the link below. have also featured this article in a previous post.
https://www.fool.com/personal-finance/2019/06/29/why-you-might-not-want-to-pay-off-your-student-loa.aspx

The first reason the article gives for not paying off loans early is due to borrower protection and the possibility of getting debt forgiven after 10 years of public service.
However, 99% of applicants for student loan forgiveness are denied. This prospect doesn’t sound promising. Here’s support of my perspective provided by Forbes below.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2019/05/01/99-of-borrowers-rejected-again-for-student-loan-fworgiveness/#173bad7db16b

The 2nd reason…The interest rates on your student loans may be lower than other debt. In my frame of reasoning, debt is the amount you owe to someone else. If any debt you have accrues interest, this means compound interest is working against you and not for you. Lord forbid you experience a layoff, resulting you to defer payments.

The 3rd Reason…You could potentially earn a better return on your money by investing it. Whenever you invest there is risk associated with financial instruments we choose to purchase. Usually, the greater the rate of return, the greater the risk you subject yourself to. It would be wise to consider the opportunity costs should you choose to invest as opposed to not investing.

The fourth and final reason…You’ll be giving up a tax deduction (if you qualify.) To this I would say, why hold on to debt to get a tax deduction? If you are a high-income earner and or owe a substantial amount of debt, the $2,500 would either phase out or wouldn’t make much of a difference. Wouldn’t it be better to have your student loan debt paid off and not have interest payments to make?

This concludes this blog post. What do you think? Should you pay off student loan debt early or on the 10-year standard repayment plan? As for me, I hope to have my student loan debt paid around this time next year, concluding 9 years of torture lol. video… Well until next time everyone… Stay Strong… Fight On… and have No Debt But Love, Peace and Blessings.

A YouTube video corresponding to this blog post is in the works! Stay tuned!

July 9, 2019

By Brittany De Lea
For Fox News

Exorbitant college Opens a New Window. costs are a significant problem for Americans, but new research shows prospective college students are unaware of how the financial aid Opens a New Window. process works.

A new study from ACT, which surveyed about 1,200 last year, found that many students “lack the most up-to-date … debt-related information” needed to make enrollment and financial aid decisions.

That’s particularly troubling at a time when outstanding student loan debt has surpassed $1.5 trillion, second only to mortgage debt.

Meanwhile, tuition and fees for the 2018-2019 school year averaged $35,830 at four-year private, nonprofit institutions, according to data from The College Board. At public four-year in-state institutions, the average was $10,230 – and $26,290 at public, four-year out-of-state colleges.

The average borrower has nearly $40,000 in student loan debt.

Here’s a look at what most college students surveyed did not know about the financing process.

• An “overwhelming majority” didn’t know that the U.S. government subsidizes a borrower by paying interest on existing loans while the student is still in college.
• A majority of respondents did not know about loan repayment options, which allows students to repay loans based on their earnings after college.

To Read More, Click the Following Link:

https://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/student-loan-debt-aid-options

July 2, 2019

By Christy Bieber

For The Motley Fool

Owing money on student loans can feel like a major financial burden. After all, you have to send money to lenders each month and tons of debt shows up on your credit report.

While you may be tempted to get rid of your student debt ASAP by making extra payments and throwing as much cash at it as you can, this may not actually be the best financial decision. In fact, there are a few key reasons why paying off your student loans early might be a bad idea indeed. Here are four of them.

Image source: Getty Images.
1. Federal student debt comes with borrower protections you can’t get with other debt.

With most types of debt, lenders don’t really care if you’re facing financial hardship — you have to pay back what you owe on schedule. And you can’t just change your payment plan to reduce your payment so it matches your income, nor can you expect to get some of your debt forgiven if you do work that serves the public.

If you have federal student loan debt, on the other hand, there are unmatched borrower protections available to you. Depending on your situation, these borrower protections include:

Eligibility to get loans forgiven if you work in public service and make 120 on-time payments
The option to put loans into forbearance or deferment, and pause payments if you go back to school, are unemployed, serve in the military, join the Peace Corps, or meet other qualifying requirements
The ability to change repayment plans and pick a plan that caps payments at a percentage of income

The government may even subsidize interest on some of your loans during periods when payments are deferred.

Putting extra money toward paying down loans with all these borrower protections rarely makes sense. After all, if you could pay a small percentage of your income for 10 years and get the rest of your loans forgiven because you work for the government or a nonprofit, why pay off your loans early?

Click the Link Below to Read
https://www.fool.com/personal-finance/2019/06/29/why-you-might-not-want-to-pay-off-your-student-loa.aspx

June 28, 2019

By Julia La Roche

For Yahoo Finance

JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon says student lending in the U.S. has been “a disgrace” and it’s “hurting America.”

“Is there an issue with student debt? There is, but you’ve got to stop the creation of bad debt,” Dimon told Yahoo Finance’s Andy Serwer in an exclusive interview at the unveiling of JPMorgan’s new flagship bank branch in Midtown Manhattan.

Dimon added that the government has “irresponsibly” lent more than $1 trillion since taking over in 2010.

“And now they want to forgive it,” he said.

Student loan forgiveness has become a focal point of the 2020 election, with Democratic contenders rolling out plans. This week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) unveiled a sweeping cancellation plan that proposed taxing financial transactions.

“I think they should look at all parts of student lending, fix the broken parts, and then forgive those people need forgiveness, and then help people get into school, and then make sure the schools are responsible in getting the kids out,” Dimon said. “And what we’ve done is a disgrace, and it’s hurting America.”

He pointed out that a tax on financial transactions would be paid by investors.

“How they go about taxing, I’ll leave that to the politicians to figure that out,” he said.

To read more, click the following link:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/jpmorgan-ceo-jamie-dimon-calls-student-loans-a-disgrace-171749043.html

Caption/Credit: The Givling app

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/21/givling-trivia-app-offers-student-debt-payouts-players-say-its-risky.html