This paper provides a guide to the quest for loans, grants, fellowships, and the like. The three major areas include: (1) general reference works devoted to financial assistance, (2) financial assistance in specific fields of work and (3) additional channels for search. (Author/MF)

Provides a model of student loan defaults using a panel data file. Identifies a variety of individual variables associated with loan defaults; however, researchers found that the variable with the largest effect on default is continuous enrollment. Students who are continuously enrolled or complete their programs are far less likely to default…

Describes how, as new competitors lobby for legislation for further open the student loan market to them, Sallie Mae and other lenders have responded by attacking the loan consolidation program. (EV)

The Guaranteed Student Loan program is big business and risky for everyone except the lending institutions. Students who default on their loans now risk tougher penalties, and the federal government must foot the bill when students don't repay. The default problem varies by state and lending institution. Some California figures are provided. (MLH)

Most college students who default on federal loans come from low-income families and drop out of school within a year. Borrowers from more affluent families take out bigger loans, but stay in school longer, and are likely to secure steady employment and repay their loans. The Guaranteed Student Loan program seems designed for borrowers least…

Supporters of the new direct student loan program are critical of the private loan-guarantee agencies that cover lender losses on defaulted loans, portraying them as greedy, inefficient, and plagued by conflicts of interest. In turn, the agencies and banks doubt federal capacity to manage student borrowing. (MSE)

Although student loan option remains a useful adjunct to federal grants, work/study programs, and cooperative education programs, the country should learn from the Higher Education Assistance Foundation default difficulties. The student loan program is best suited for middle-income students and parents; scholarships, training grants, and…

Reports on continued growth of Sallie Mae, the nation's largest financer of federal student loans. Notes the company's purchase of the USA Group, the nation's largest student loan guarantee agency, competition with the federal direct loan program, political contributions to legislators who set loan policies, and development of Laureate, a…

Faced with having to make a decision between the career they want and one that will pay enough for them to climb out of debt, many college students are choosing the latter. This trend has alarmed some observers and has revived interest in an idea once thought to be a relic of the Clinton administration: income-contingent repayment. Legislation…

This study aimed to identify the pathways, intentions and relevant perceptions of (non-UK) European Union (EU) students entering English higher education. It sought to identify why students wished to obtain an English HE qualification, their attitudes towards the uptake and repayment of tuition fee loans and their future career plans. Drawing on…

This article describes higher education financial assistance tools designed mainly for students of middle- and upper-income families who may not be eligible for financial aid from other sources. It includes the 2007 legislative updates for these tools, all of which have been devised and offered by either state or federal governments. The authors…

Federal Student Aid's core mission is to ensure that all eligible Americans benefit from federal financial assistance--grants, loans and work-study programs--for education beyond high school. The programs administered comprise the nation's largest source of student aid. Every year, the U.S. Department of Education provides more than $83 billion in…