Here are the best student loan articles from around the web.
Student Loan News
1. Unpacking the Proposed Student Loan Borrower Bill of Rights:
With student debt topping $1.2 trillion, there’s increasing focus on what happens to people after they take on loans, particularly borrowers who are struggling to make their payments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is about to begin overseeing the seven largest student loan servicers. Now four Senate Democrats—Illinois’s Dick Durbin, Massachusetts’s Elizabeth Warren, California’s Barbara Boxer, and Rhode Island’s Jack Reed—have introduced legislation proposing a bill of rights for borrowers.
The press release focuses on the “rights” the legislation will give borrowers, but the full bill, which Durbin’s office provided because it isn’t on the government’s website yet, shows there’s more tucked into the 46-page document. Continue reading: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-12-13/unpacking-the-proposed-student-loan-borrower-bill-of-rights
2. Which students have the highest student loan debt?
Student loan debt is painful for anyone to carry. But if you think the greatest debt burden is falling on the poorest students, think again.
At a time when the cost to attend some colleges exceeds $60,000, lower middle income students carry more student loan debt, on average, than students in any other economic group, according to a forthcoming study.
About 41 percent of the 4,400 students in the study left school with some level of debt. (Seven out of 10 college seniors who graduated in 2012 had student loan debt, averaging $29,400 per borrower, according to a separate study by the Institute for College Access & Success, up from $26,600 in 2011.) But debt burdens did not decrease steadily as students’ family income rose. original post: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/which-students-have-highest-student-loan-debt-2D11723568
3. Saving For Retirement Vs. Paying Off Student Loans: How To Do Both
If you have student loans, you already know they can be overwhelming. But as any responsible spender knows, they aren’t the only demand on your budget.
Along with rent or a mortgage, the day-to-day business of living and any credit card debt you have, there’s also saving for retirement, that period of 20 years—or far longer—during which you may need to live almost completely off the money you’ve saved. The thing about retirement savings is that there’s no substitute for starting early—and it can be incredibly difficult to make up for lost time. Find More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/12/11/saving-for-retirement-vs-paying-off-student-loans-how-to-do-both/
My Favorite Student Loan & Personal Finance Blog Posts
1. What to do when you realize there’s no way in hell you can pay your student loans:
Ever feel like there’s no way you’ll ever pay back your student loans, even if you work 80 hours a week and never paid a dime to anyone but Sallie Mae? Or sell off your organs one-by-one on the black market? Or … well you get the idea.
According to the Federal Reserve, there are more than 500,000 Americans walking around these days with $150,000 or more in student loan debt. Assuming typical terms, they’re probably looking at a monthly payment of more than $1,500 a month.
It’s likely a lot of those poor saps are in professions where the debt loads are high, but so are the salaries — think doctors or MBAs. But if they’re not — or they just aren’t having any luck finding a job, they’re pretty much screwed. Unlike most debts, student loans are generally not dischargeable in bankruptcy, says Leslie Tayne, a financial attorney and debt specialist. Read full article
2. Student Loan Forgiveness: What You Don’t Know (but Should):
“12 Years” is a true story, based on Solomon Northup’s personal account of being a free man in New York in pre-Civil War days who is then kidnapped and sold into slavery. Pitt was a producer on the film, and took a role as a Canadian who is working on the plantation where Northup ends up.
For Pitt, making “12 Years” was the very definition of what movies are for. “It’s one of those few films that cuts to the base of our humanity,” he said.
But “12 Years” features some disturbing imagery, and as the actor explained, he’s not about to show it to his youngest children (he has six with Angelina Jolie). “Maybe my eldest I would, right now,” he said. “I’d rather for the others to get a little bit older and understand the dynamics of the world a little more.” Read full article
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