The use of private loans to finance college education has significantly increased in the last decade. Insufficient public financial aid support, a complex federal aid application process, aggressive marketing by private lenders, and an unwillingness by some parents to borrow under the federal PLUS program are leading students to take out what can…

The authors find that college students are borrowing more and taking on riskier forms of debt than ever before. If tuition increases continue to grow faster than inflation and family income and grant aid fails to keep pace, the authors project that more students will be left with few choices beyond student loans--and, increasingly, private loans.…

H.R. 3221 would amend the Higher Education Act of 1965, which authorizes most federal postsecondary education programs. It would prohibit new federally guaranteed loans from being made under the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program and would increase direct spending for the Federal Pell Grant Program and other programs. The elimination of…

Each year, more than 16 million college students and their families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). They spend hours answering needlessly complicated and intrusive questions that undermine the fundamental goal of student aid: to help more students attend and graduate from college. In this report the Council of…

University student loans were introduced in Kenya with the aim of easing the burden of public expenditure in higher education. In the initial years the loans were to benefit all students enrolled at University irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. The beneficiaries were expected to repay the loan later upon getting into employment.…

Among countless petitioners to the incoming president, higher-education leaders have sent Barack Obama position statements and requests for action that extol the strengths and accomplishments of this nation's higher-education enterprise but also warn of its increasingly dire financial situation. They have asked that a share of an impending…

Buried in a spending measure passed by the U.S. House of Representatives is a provision that could thwart Republican efforts to scuttle legislation designed to bolster the federal direct-loan program. The provision, which appears on the final page of the House's spending blueprint for the 2008 fiscal year, simply instructs the House education…

Under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) and the Federal Direct Loan Program (FDLP), the government guarantees and makes consolidation loans to help borrowers manage their student loan debt. By combining loans into one and extending repayment, monthly repayments are reduced. Unlike other student loans, consolidation loans carry a…

For-profit higher education institutions have grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, largely free of federal regulation. That freedom would be significantly curtailed if the gainful employment standard takes effect. Vocational training programs would be judged by the ratio of the debt that graduates assume relative to their current earnings…

Historically, tuition and mandatory fee rates of all North Dakota University System (NDUS) institutions (except the 2-year campuses) have been less than their regional counterparts. Average tuition and fee increases at NDUS institutions were significantly higher than their regional counterparts in 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07, as a result, the gap…

This paper is concerned with the influence of student loans on the accessibility of disadvantaged groups to higher education. Three key conditions are necessary for success, but are often neglected. These are: that effective eligibility and screening criteria are in place and that pro-active targeting measures are employed to reach out to the most…

The primary purpose of "National CrossTalk" is to stimulate informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. This issue contains the following articles: (1) The Credit Crisis Goes to College: Upheaval in the Student-Loan Business Leaves Students and Parents Scrambling (Susan C. Thomson); (2) The Engaged University: Northern…

Within the past 2 decades, the education services industry has been characterized as going through a period of high tuition with an increased reliance on the use of loan financing. This study examines the impact of this high-tuition, high-loan approach, especially as it relates to the role of socioeconomic status on educational choice within…

Chile's higher education system stands out as being one of the most privatized and open to the market in the world. Recently, the Chilean Congress passed Law #20.027 of 2005, which provides the legal framework for the creation of a student loan system guaranteed both by the State and by higher education institutions (HEIs), financed by the private…

"The Condition of Education 2018" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This report contains indicators on the state of education in the United States, from prekindergarten through…