I came across this article in the Collegiate Times which mentioned that Virginia Tech would be awarding returning students in April next year rather than June which is their current practice. The article highlighted some of the challenges faced in developing award packages that early:
"The trade-off is that packages are conditional on a number of factors.
Awards are based on estimations of tuition and fees. If the estimate
is off, the award must be revised. If the student does not show
"reasonable academic progress" when grades become available, their
offer may be rescinded."
Are other schools considering similar moves to provide clarity on award packages to returning students sooner in the process?
Consumer credit dropped by 3.5% in February, the biggest percentage drop in 30 years. Here is a summary of the report's components as reported by creditcards.com:
"The report showed revolving credit -- a category of loans made up
almost entirely of credit card debt -- dropped by 9.7 percent in
February, the largest decline since a 15.7 percent plunge in January
1978. Overall, revolving debt fell to $955.7 billion from a total of
$963.5 billion in January. Meanwhile, nonrevolving credit increased
0.2 percent in January to $1.608 trillion. That section of the consumer
credit report includes a variety of types of lending, primarily auto
loans, student loans and loans for mobile homes, boats and trailers."
Here is a summary of the data over the past 20 years:
"We have seen such a huge increase in the
number of eligible Pell Grant applicants that we actually went beyond
what we thought we would," Tom Bilbruck, director of financial aid and
scholarships for the College of the Canyons, a community college, said.
The school has seen a 52-percent increase in the amount of Pell Grant funds given to students.
But the difficult economy remains on the minds of college admission officials. “Will people be able to afford it?” Shorb [Robert Shorb, associate dean and director of student aid and family finance at Skidmore] said. “It’s a real different climate.”
NY Times reporting on how schools are reducing their expectations of how much home equity families are expected to contribute towards college costs. First, let's take a look at the grizzly drop in home prices that has occurred recently:
Here are the details of Governor Rendell's Tuition Relief Act, which applies to Pennsylvanians who attend community colleges or state-owned universities. Rendell has urged the General Assembly to approve his plan quickly so that it can assist students as early as this fall:
With the private sector jobs in short supply and some college career counselors calling it "the worst job market in their memory", more college seniors are pursuing positions in non-profit and education related fields. This trend can also be attributed to a rising tide of idealism on college campuses. As Rep. George Miller (DEM-CA) indicated "History has ... shown that in time of crisis, Americans turn to
service and volunteering for healing, for rebuilding and for hope. The
spirit of generosity in the American people is one of the greatest
assets of our nation."
I got a letter from Teach for America yesterday which shows how strong this trend is. For those not familiar with TFA, here is a brief description:
NPR interviewed Tally Hart, former head of financial aid at Ohio State, who currently runs outreach program for lower income students. Here are some excerpts:
On the importance of Pell Grant as an entitlement:
When asked about recent changes in federal grants and loans, Hart says,
"The No. 1 question that students always ask is, 'Will there be money
for me to go to college?' The important part of the stimulus package is
that it stabilizes and increases Pell Grants for these students, so we
know it addresses the No. 1 concern about going on to college."
While Congress is making technical corrections to the Higher Education Opportunity Act, why not fix the dIscrepancy in interest rates for FFELP Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS borrowers? In case you weren't aware, if you are fortunate to attend a Direct Lending school, the statutory interest rates on Grad PLUS and Parent PLUS loans are both 7.9%, while rates on the SAME EXACT LOANS at a FFELP institution are 8.5%.
