Recently there have been a number of different items of news related to how we pay for college. Here are some of the key changes:
The Obama administration has made it a priority to increase access to a college education. To date, they have increased the size of the Pell grant, planned to modernize the Perkins Loan program, and offered the American Opportunity Tax Credit, a ,500 tax credit each year for four years of college. There most recent efforts have been aimed at simplifying the FAFSA. The online FAFSA no has improved programming to make it possible to skip more of the unnecessary questions. They are also working with the IRS to allow students to seemlessly retrieve relevant tax data. This will be available in January of 2010 for students applying for aid for the Spring semester. They hope to expand that program. To read more about the changes, visit http://www.ed.gov
As of July 1 the interest rate on Subsidized Stafford Loans dropped to 5.6%. Unfortunately, over the past month more lenders have dropped out of the program, the Connecticut Student Loan Foundation being one of the most recent casualties. Also as of July 1, students who owe on FFEL program loans are now eligible for Income Based Repayment (IBR). To learn more about this program visit: http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/IBRPlan.jsp
Finally, this post on the First Choice College Blog talks about how scholarships are becoming more difficult to find. We are currently updating the database of college-based merit scholarships on collegetreasure.com and we have noticed that while some colleges are becoming more generous in these tough times, many colleges are actually reducing the size and number of their scholarships. This as tuition continues to rise, and while this past year it rose at the lowest rate in almost 40 years, it is still outpacing inflation, so you would naturally expect scholarships to increase to cover that increased tuition. There are still opportunities out there, we just recommend that students start looking for them earlier. Now more than ever, it is critical that you have a financial safety as well as an admissions safety.
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