Life after college can be hard enough without overwhelming federal loan debt, especially in such a tough economy. Fortunately, beginning Wednesday, July 1, college graduates may pay back their federal student loans in a simpler and more affordable way. The Income-Based Repayment program (IBR), which was a major component of the 2007 College Cost Reduction Act, will allow grads with federal loans to lower their payments if they are in enough debt relative to their income. For most borrows, this means that loan payments will be less than 10% of their income and any remaining debt will be forgiven after 25 years of qualifying payments.
Sounds good, right? This is where it gets a little tricky, so bear with us...
The federal loan payment must be more than 15% of whatever you earn above 150% of poverty level to pay off the loans on a standard 10-year payment plan. So, for example, if you earn below 150% of the poverty level, your required payment will be zero; if you earn more, your payment will be capped at 15% of whatever you earn above that amount.
Click here to learn more about this great opportunity!
Jun 30, 2009
Jun 24, 2009
Congratulations! You Are Nominated. It’s an Honor. It’s a Sales Pitch.
Every year thousands of students around the nation receive letters congratulating them for the honor of being nominated to attend a youth conference. A “lifetime advantage” and “valuable addition” to their résumé is also promised.
The company that organizes these conferences, a direct-mail powerhouse called the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, runs an alphabet soup of such conferences it says are attended by 50,000 students a year. It solicits recommendations from teachers and alumni of previous conferences, and it culls names from mailing lists, that they purchased annually, for which the council paid $263,000 in 2006 alone, according to its last filing with the Internal Revenue Service, before it gave up its nonprofit status.
The big promises in its mailings and the sheer volume of its business have gotten the company into trouble in the last few months. At least one lawsuit has been filed over its conference during the inauguration, and in February, after nearly 25 years in operation, it lost its Better Business Bureau accreditation. Parents paid $2,300 to $3,000 for students to attend the inauguration four-day program, a total of more than $40 million.
College admissions officers say they do not place much stock in participation in such conferences. The leadership conference is no more or less likely to enhance college applications than, say, soccer camp. That becomes a true honor and honors typically don’t come with a price tag.
Click here to read more.
The company that organizes these conferences, a direct-mail powerhouse called the Congressional Youth Leadership Council, runs an alphabet soup of such conferences it says are attended by 50,000 students a year. It solicits recommendations from teachers and alumni of previous conferences, and it culls names from mailing lists, that they purchased annually, for which the council paid $263,000 in 2006 alone, according to its last filing with the Internal Revenue Service, before it gave up its nonprofit status.
The big promises in its mailings and the sheer volume of its business have gotten the company into trouble in the last few months. At least one lawsuit has been filed over its conference during the inauguration, and in February, after nearly 25 years in operation, it lost its Better Business Bureau accreditation. Parents paid $2,300 to $3,000 for students to attend the inauguration four-day program, a total of more than $40 million.
College admissions officers say they do not place much stock in participation in such conferences. The leadership conference is no more or less likely to enhance college applications than, say, soccer camp. That becomes a true honor and honors typically don’t come with a price tag.
Click here to read more.
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