College Guides

In an era where education is synonymous with opportunity, many consider pursuing a Master's degree a surefire way to advance their careers. However, is it really the golden ticket to success we've been led to believe?

Student loans can help you achieve your dreams of higher education. But, if not managed wisely, they can hold back your financial goals. The debt story is real – those in their 20s and 30s are already juggling tens of thousands in loans.

In 2006, Congress slashed $12 billion in student lending funds in a desperate attempt to reduce the fiscal budget deficit. Recent studies have shown that student debt is getting out of control, and lawmakers on Capitol Hill have decided to take steps to help ease the burden for students with college loans.

We scoured the globe, reviewed all the student loan refinance providers we could find, and then chose a select few to provide you with the very best. Here's our top list.

Student loan forbearance is ending in August, and students are freaking out. Based on our recent survey, 50% of student loan borrowers don’t have enough money for their monthly payments.

The Federal Reserve says the median student debt lies somewhere between $20,000 and $24,999—so the $100k is definitely not the norm. In any case, paying off $100,000 in student loans sounds agonizing.

It’s crazy to think that a subset of student loan borrowers has never faced a single bill, thanks to the continued pause on repayments since March 2020. But, as they say, all good things must come to an end—and so is the case with this temporary relief.

My wife and I have two kids—ages six and four. We’ve put some money aside for them, but how can we really know how much to save for college?

The federal government provides a number of tax breaks that can help ease the financial burden of families saving for college. One of the ways to take advantage of these breaks is by opening a Coverdell Education Savings Account, or Coverdell ESA. At one time these were referred to as Education IRAs, but the Coverdell has a new name and some new rules too.

Even if we start to save for college expenses the day a child is born, college costs present a challenge to many of us. With the cost of universities and colleges in the range of $25,000 to $80,000 per year, a college loan is a necessity. Fortunately, there are some attractive interest rates available through federally-funded programs.

We've all read, or heard, about the runaway costs of a higher education. Both public and private colleges and universities are now charging students $25,000 to $80,000 annually to attend school. Costs of this magnitude mean that finding a student loan to help finance college costs is essential to most families and students.

Each year, new student loan interest rates are published. Overall, rates have been relatively low; nothing like those that existed back in the early 1980s. That's good news for students because even though they can do very little to control the rising cost of tuition at their colleges, at least the interest rate on their student loans are reasonable.

The Canadian government has set up the National Student Loan Center (Centre) to ensure its students have access to all the information they need to apply for, and repay, their student loans. The center is conveniently housed in an online website that includes all of the tools, applications, and resources that Canadian students need to manage their loans.

The Hope Scholarship Credit can help offset the cost of higher education by directly reducing the amount of income taxes paid. The Hope Credit has been around since January 1998, and allows individuals to claim a tax credit of up to $2,500 in qualified education expenses for each student enrolled in school.

Each September, high school seniors return to the classroom, while parents begin the process of applying for financial aid. For many of the wealthier families in America, applying for aid will be a waste of time. For those that are financially-challenged, the process can be quite rewarding.

Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code authorized what are now referred to as 529 college savings plans or qualified tuition plans, which were passed as part of the 2001 Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act. These plans are sponsored by individual states and educational institutions to encourage the growth of college savings accounts.

Federal grants have not kept pace with the rising cost of college. Private student loans, along with federal programs such as Stafford and Perkins Loans, have helped to fill that void; playing an important role in funding a student's education.

There are at least five different options available to help pay for a college education. It's possible to use money from a savings account, obtain a federal student loan or grant, apply for a private loan, or get a college scholarship.

As families make arrangements to send their children off to college, those plans need to include saving money to pay for college expenses too. It's important for families to understand how much financial aid they're going to receive, as well as their expected family contribution.

A Stafford Loan was one of three types of loans made available to students by the federal government. There are several forms of financial aid available to students and not all are loans, but a Stafford loan was money borrowed by the student, and repayment is necessary; except under certain conditions.

One of the ways college graduates can ease their financial burden each month is by selecting the appropriate repayment option. This is especially true if the former student is struggling to find a job after graduation. In this article, we're going to be discussing the options available to former students responsible for repaying their loans. As part of that discussion, we'll first talk about repayment timelines and the counseling available before leaving school. Then we'll describe the variety of repayment options available for each loan type.

Saving for college is an enormous financial undertaking, and rivals the burden of saving for retirement. These two financial challenges have something in common too: It's possible to use a Roth IRA to save for college. In fact, it's possible to use a Traditional IRA to help pay for college expenses too. For some taxpayers, using an individual retirement account as a college fund makes a lot of sense.

When unemployment is high, students will have trouble finding jobs. Adding to this problem is the cost of a college education, and the enormous amount of debt students need to repay lenders. Unfortunately, the discharge of debt is extremely difficult for students under the current bankruptcy law.

Student loans are a very important way to fund your college education. Our guide to college loans tries to help you get all the loans you're entitled to. We'll explain to you the process of applying for a federal student loan, and how to work with the financial aid office of the college or university your thinking about attending.

Students looking for help with rising college costs are often told by their school's financial aid department to apply for an ACS Student Loan. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the services this company has to offer students, universities, and financial institutions. Affiliated Computer Services, Inc., or ACS, specializes in business process outsourcing (BPO) and technology outsourcing solutions. According to a press release:

Student grants are an important source of college funding, and their best feature is they don't have to be repaid. We're not talking about grant programs to conduct research. In this article, we are focusing on programs that help college and university students pay for the cost of their education.

There are several circumstances that allow current, and former, students to qualify for loan deferment. These options will vary depending on the types of loans outstanding as well as the borrower's financial and workplace status. A deferment means no payments need to be made on a student loan during the approved deferment period; the payments can be delayed until a later date. In the case of Subsidized Stafford Loans, interest charges will not accrue during this period which means the size of the loan will not grow due to financing charges.

Direct student loans are one of the Federal Student Aid, or FSA, programs available through the Department of Education. Direct student loans provide students with a way to borrow money to pay for their costs of higher education.

Back in 2005, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post reported Congress was going to once again try to close a student loan loophole that's existed since the 1980s.

Sallie Mae was created in 1972 as a government-sponsored enterprise to enhance public access to higher education by serving as a secondary market, and warehousing entity, for student loans. The company offers existing and former student borrowers a wide variety of services, including securing private student loans and debt management.

Anyone that's enrolled in a two or four-year public or private institution, a career or trade school, may be eligible for federal student aid. Nearly all federal aid is need-based, and covers school expenses such as tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board, and even transportation expenses to school and back home.

Children grow up fast, and the cost of a college education keeps growing too. Fortunately, 529 plans provide a great way to start saving for the expenses associated with a college education.

The Lifetime Learning Credit helps taxpayers to offset the cost of higher education. The credit does so by reducing the income taxes owed by individuals paying for certain college-related expenses. The Lifetime Learning Credit allows for a tax credit of $2,000 for those qualifying expenses of an eligible student.

If you've ever felt helpless against the rising cost of college tuition, you're not alone. Fortunately, there is an answer to this problem in the form of 529 plans, which offer individuals saving for college a prepaid tuition option. That's great news for parent-investors looking to lock in the cost of college tuition, since it provides their children with a large choice of private colleges and universities.

Not only are Section 529 plans an excellent way to fund a child's future college expenses, but they're also an important estate planning tool. In fact, for wealthier families, a 529 plan offers excellent opportunities to transfer wealth as part of an overall estate strategy.

Here's some sound advice for anyone looking for cheap student airfare: Be careful. This topic might seem like a departure from the college loan theme; but travel expenses can add considerably to the cost of a college education.

Going to college is a great career move, but it's also an expensive one. Applying for a student loan is a necessity for most families. This article is going to be one of the "all you need to know about applying for a student loan" summaries. It's going to explain how long it takes to apply, and what kind of information is needed when filling out an application.

Choosing the right college is not easy to do. It would be unusual for a teenager to really know what kind of profession they want to pursue. Parents see sons, daughters, nieces, and nephews go through the process of picking a college. The decision takes a toll on these young adults; it's a combination of fear, frustration, and confusion.

The term federal student loan applies to three different types of financial aid available to help students pay for college. The government has created several ways to help students pay for school, and loans are only one of those ways.

There's some bipartisan legislation on the horizon that aims to send more Americans to college, and it's called the Student Aid Reward Act. Originally sponsored by Senators Kennedy (D-MA) and Smith (R-OR), and Representatives Petri (R-WI) and Miller (D-CA), the act intends to increase college scholarships with no additional cost to taxpayers.

The federal government here in the United States provides students with an efficient way to fund their education through government-sponsored student loans. But that's just one way to pay for college. The government provides students with three different programs to help pay for school: loans, grants, and work study.

Service payback and loan forgiveness programs can help former students that are struggling to pay back their loans. These programs are designed to attract individuals to serve in certain jobs, or work in regions of the country, that are experiencing a shortage of talented workers.

Former students can leverage economies of scale by consolidating their federal loans into a single monthly payment. This process helps students save on interest expense, and provides the convenience of managing only one student loan each month.

As tax time rolls past, parents may be wondering if the interest on a student loan is deductible on their federal income tax return. This article explains how to qualify, deduction rules, phase out limits, as well as providing links to the proper tax forms.

Also known as a qualified tuition program or QTP, a 529 plan is one of the most efficient ways to save for higher education offered today. The flexibility and unique benefits of 529 plans allow accountholders to cope with the rising costs of a college education, while remaining very much in control of their money.

Student loans are a very important way to fund your college education.  Our guide to college loans tries to help you get all the loans you're entitled to.  We'll explain to you the process of applying for a federal student loan, and how to work with the financial aid office of the college or university your thinking about attending.