By Marlene Seeklander Student loans are an investment in your future. When you apply for financial aid and receive a financial aid offer from the college financial aid office, you may be offered student loans. A student loan is money you borrow and must repay with interest. Student loans can come from a variety of sources: […]
Understanding student loans Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Despite the federal government shutdown, the Department of Education will resume negotiated rulemaking sessions on the student loan provisions which became law under budget reconciliation. Negotiators are expected to continue their discussions on the provisions November 3 to November 7. The first negotiated rulemaking session was conducted in early October and while many
By Marlene Seeklander The national student loan default rate remains at 0% for the third year in a row. The Department of Education (ED) released their FY 2022 national default briefing and, as expected, the FY 2022 cohort default rates were affected by the pause on federal student loan payments that began in March 2020.
FY 2022 national default rate briefing released Read More »
By Catherine Mueller Student loans have gotten a lot of press in the past few years and most of it has not been good. For some students, the headlines and stories are enough to scare them away from taking out any student loans – even it means not pursuing or postponing education beyond high school. And
The good and bad of student loans Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander The Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) discharge loan assignment process has resumed. In a July 30 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that the TPD loan assignment process has now resumed and loan holders such as lenders and guaranty agencies and schools (participating in the Federal Perkins Loan Program and servicing their
TPD Discharge information now available Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Student loan borrowers enrolled in the SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) program will see interest accrual begin once again. SAVE participants were placed in a zero-interest forbearance period but will see that end on July 31 and interest accrual begin on August 1. Loan repayment amounts for the SAVE program borrowers will
SAVE program zero-interest period ends July 31 Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Schools now have a report available to assist them in understanding the delinquency and default risks of their most recent borrowers – something that will be important as cohort default rates potentially rise. In a July 23 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced the availability of the nonpayment rates by institution report, available
By Marlene Seeklander Schools now have a report available to help them in performing outreach to remind former students of their loan repayment obligations, particularly those who are delinquent on one or more of their student loans. In a June 9 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education announced that they have the Delinquent Borrower Report (DELQ01)
NSLDS Delinquent Borrower Report now available Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Student loan borrowers will see slightly lower interest rates starting July 1 for Direct Loans borrowed on or after July 1, 2025. The new interest rates were announced by the Department of Education in a May 30 Electronic Announcement. The interest rate is a fixed rate for the life of the loan. For Direct
Direct Loan interest rates for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2025 announced Read More »
By Marlene Seeklander Students impacted by an issue that prevented an official SAI (Student Aid Index) from being calculated may now be eligible to receive a Title IV loan. In a May 27, 2025 Electronic Announcement, the Department of Education (ED) announced that they are amending and extending flexibilities for late disbursements that were published in
