Education Articles from College Matching Service

Why should I consolidate?

I myself have education loans, so I started looking into the possibility of consolidating these loans to lower my interest rate and reduce multiple payments into a single payment, for simplicity.

The purpose of consolidation is to save money and make things easier on yourself. When you first took out the loan for your education, you may have received an unfavorable rate on the loan. With the current economic status, the government is taking strides to help students with their education loans.

In my research, I found out these important facts about consolidation:

• You cannot consolidate a private loan into a federal loan. That is to stay, if you have a loan through a bank institution such as Citibank, you cannot consolidate it into your federal student loan (which almost always has a far lower interest rate and much more favorable payment terms).
• You can consolidate a private loan and a federal loan. Right now there are huge opportunities that the Department of Education has offered to past and current students that will reduce interest rates and limit monthly payments based on income.
• You can only consolidate an education loan during the grade period, which is generally right after graduation for six months, or during repayment.
• Generally to consolidate a loan a minimum loan balance must be met. These generally average around $5,000.

Flexible Repayment Terms

One of the biggest reasons people consolidate their loans is to restructure their payment plan. For any number of reasons a loan holder may be interested in adjusting their payment terms to either extend the length of their payment terms, and thus often lowering their payment. A federal loan typically has a 10 year agreement. By consolidating the loan, that length can be extended for between 12-30 years.

By extending a loan, you often will lower your monthly payment, but by extending the term of the loan, you will pay a significantly more interest on the loan.

It is generally recommended to agree to the lowest number of years because it will save you money.

Does it cost anything to consolidate?

No, generally there is no cost to consolidate besides the chance that the interest rate will be increased, which as discussed, will increase the amount of money that will need to be paid for the loan (as compared to before the consolidation).

Occasionally depending on the type of consolidation, a fee may be incurred. Almost always this fee is added to the loan or deducted from the disbursement check. If you find yourself in a situation where any type of upfront fee is being requested from you, there is a high probability that you are involved in some kind of scam.

Here are a few more consolidation resources to help:

• How To Repay Your Student Loan
• Student Loan Consolidation
• Reduced Student Loan Payments
• Direct Consolidation Loans
• Department of Education

You read it right, finally the Department of Education is shortening the fafsa online application.

The current fafsa online application is 30 “screens” long, it will now be 10 “screens” long. This is great news for anyone who needs to fill out the fafsa application.

It isn’t just the online fafsa application that is getting shorter.

The fafsa application will also become shorter.

Furthermore, the fafsa application will also be less confusing. For example:

At any time… did your high school or school district homeless liaison determine that you were an unaccompanied youth who was homeless?

Will now become:

Are you homeless?

Part of the difficulty of the Fafsa is the tax information it requests. Unless it is April 16th, you probably can’t remember anything specific about your tax return. So you then have to go and find your tax return and fill out the Fafsa. Then you have to provide information on your parents tax return, so then you have to wait for them and fill that out as well.

However, starting in January, you will be able to automatically download your tax return information from the IRS right into the fafsa application. How amazing would that be?

In response to the escalating cost of higher education, many people have begun questioning the value continuing their formal learning beyond high school. Questions as to whether the high cost of tuition, the accumulation of thousands of dollars in debt, and the opportunity cost of choosing college over full-time employment weigh heavy on the minds of those who are wondering if the investment will be worth it in the years to come. The expense of high-priced tuition and other college fees poses an especially significant threat to families living on a low-income, already struggling to make ends meet. In an effort to decide whether or not higher education is actually worth the investment, facts regarding the value of higher education and the rates of return on the investment both to the individual as well as to society should be examined.

Taking into consideration the monetary problems people interested in further studies face, new alternatives for formal education has come about. One substitute for going to regular universities is through taking up a formal degree in the internet. Online degrees are specifically designed for aspiring career professionals and working adults who want to further their education without placing their career on hold. There are many colleges and universities that provide a large variety of continuing education, associate, bachelor, master and doctoral degree programs that can help you achieve your personal and career goals as quickly as possible. These online degrees not only help people acquire the type of education they need without the disruption of their careers, but they also provide extra convenience to those who don’t have enough resources to be able to afford the commute of going to and from the school.

Some people think that it is just a waste of time to spend for quality education but the truth is, education is an investment. Your online school’s financial aid adviser can help you determine which options are right for you. As the highest degree attainable in the United States, a doctorate degree can prepare you to work in leadership positions, university-level professorships, or other highly skilled professions.

Now, there are several types of masters degree available in a number of huge universities but having scholarship programs should be the apple the every eyes should aim for. The world can be fair at time but often times than not, it is not. Before, there were not so many people that can go to have the benefit or would even think of having a doctorate degree. So before actually enrolling in an online class make sure you will be able to keep up with the expenses and the requirements needed to pursue such endeavor.

Earning a doctorate degree online can cost tens of thousands. While many brick-and-mortar schools offer doctorate students paid teaching fellowships, online students are not afforded this luxury. If your new doctorate degree will help you be a better employee, you may ask your employer to pay for a portion of your doctorate degree costs. Many graduate students qualify to take out government subsidized student loans with lower-than-average interest rates. Additionally, private student loans are available from banks and lending institutions.

These scholarship programs not only level the playing field between the capable and the less fortunate but it also gives a chance to those intellectuals that are out there in this world.