An advocacy group has recently released its findings on a study conducted revealing that at least one million college students from community colleges are denied access to federally-funded student loans. This is because the institutions they belong are not participating in activities and programs of the federal. The Project on Student Debt, a non-profit organization said one out of 10 students in a community college has no access to federal loans that makes them look for available options just to go to college and continue their studies. As a result, many students have resorted to the difficult and risky stages of borrowing money from private loan companies. Worst, other students are forced to drop from school as they also do not qualify from private companies student loan requirements. Colleges that are not participating in the loan program of the federal urged their students to seek help from other alternative sources if they needed money to finance their education. John Williams, financial aid director of the Mississippi Delta College said their school is using the Pell funds to help cover low tuition fees of the college. Williams added that Pell Grants is more than enough to help their students.
The study also revealed that among the reasons why many colleges are not participating in the federal student loans is the existence of the Pell Grants. The institutions feared that if their students cannot repay their loans the school would be sanctioned and would eventually stop receiving aid from the federal. Meanwhile, while community colleges students are denied access to the federal loans, there are also institutions that are largely benefiting from the program. In Montana alone, over 95 percent of the students in white community colleges have accessed the federal student loans. In Tennessee there were only 13 percent of the students in white community that lack access to the loans offered by the federal while there are also black students that number about 55 percent that were denied access. Many schools look this as racial discrimination brought about by the unequal distribution of loans between the black and white students. Some states are also reported to be denied access to the federally-funded student loans. In Georgia at least 60 percent of the students in community colleges do not qualify for the same loan as well as half of the population of students in Alabama.
IMAGINE yourself already in your third academic semester or sophomore year in college and you run out of money to pay for tuition in your boarding institution. You need to get another student loan. Worry no more because the ceiling for student loans is now almost unlimited. And you have nothing to worry in the end because there are strategies put in place by the United States government to condone all your loans and at the same time not jeopardize the coffers of the loan providers.
Actually, Sallie Mae is the largest private student loan provider in the United States today. But only few people know that Sallie Mae was first established as a state enterprise managed under the oversight of a semi-Cabinet level federal agency. Sometime in the late 1990s, Congress has decided to privatize Sallie Mae. And so the student loan provider continues to shine as the largest and most prolific of its kind in the country.
When the New York Stock Exchange dived 300 points in the closing bell of a trading day sometime in January due to the collective fears of stockholders of a recession, President Bush immediately passed to Congress an economic stimulus package aimed at steering the economy back to normal. These measures include increasing the ceiling of student loans. And the bill was passed and immediately signed into law that day. That is why college students can now increase their student loans even though they are in the middle of semester. For graduating students, that’s just in time to pay for their tuition prior to graduation before summer. Isn’t that sweet?
Actually, there are also federal student loan providers aside from private loan providers. The federal student loan providers are also allowed to increase the ceiling of loans. And that’s as good as it gets already. The most prolific student loan borrowers in the country come from Pennsylvania. Perhaps there are lots of intelligent and diligent college students who come from the lower middle class of society. I really admire their courage to be educated so they can be more competitive upon graduation.
After graduation, you can also apply for condonation of your student loans if you volunteer for certain number of hours in community service by being employed at the county and be assigned certain tasks which are really of public service such as taking care of dolphins or being a forest ranger.
STUDENT loans are now a convenient medium to rock your way through college. This is so because of recent events in the economic arena that has rocked the United States. Actually, in every tragedy, there is something good that comes out of it. Because everybody is afraid of a looming recession in the country, the Bush administration has submitted to Congress an economic stimulus package that does not just concern the subprime woes but also the whole economic aspects of a typical American household life. And that includes education of course.
And the economic stimulus package has just been signed into law by President Bush himself. Part of the provision in the package is making all federal and private educational loan lenders compulsory to raise their student loan package ceiling. Isn’t that lovely? I do not know the specific amount though but for sure, the what is now dubbed as jumbo student loans are roughly equivalent to the jumbo housing mortgage loans that are now allowed in the housing industry. To give you a clear picture of what this is, a typical housing mortgage loan ceiling in the United States prior to the passing of the economic stimulus package is capped at $200,000. With the passage of the bill into law, the ceiling is now pegged at $700,000 or roughly 150 percent. That is also the same percentage increase that a college enrollee or student can avail in his student loans. There is no extension of loan payments though. It will be at 30 years only.
There is a story behind the insertion of raising the student loans ceiling. President Bush himself only wanted the tax breaks demanded by his constituents all over the United States as well as the ceiling for the housing loans. But his educational advisers have gotten a closer inspection of the drafted proposal to Congress and told him to insert the provision for the expansion of the ceiling for student loans too because a lot of high school graduates cannot afford to go to college. That is why the provision for the expansion of student loan ceiling is there. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a blessing in disguise.
Take advantage of this blessing whether you believe in divinity or not. This is one sure shot to success. If you are just diligent enough, you can surely snake your way to college. Success is individual and should not be entrusted to anyone else. It doesn’t matter whether you’ll be studying at Georgetown or just at Laredo Community College; as long as you have graduated even with only average grades or bordering on passing marks, you will surely be successful. There are working spots for you one way or the other. And remember that student loans aren’t just offered prior to the start of your first semester in college. You can actually take advantage of them even when you’re graduating already.
