Finding Student Loans To Fund Your College Education

A student who is awarded one of the direct student loans needs to be attending a school that participates in the Direct Loan Program.

That student must first complete a FAFSA, and then he or she must sign a master promissory note (MPN). If the loan recipient then needs to talk with a counselor about the loan, those services can be obtained at the Direct Loan Servicing Site.

Services Available to Holders of the Direct Student Loans

At the Direct Servicing site, the holder of a direct loan can set-up an account. Using that account the holder of a direct student loan can view the record of his or her payments.

That site also contains records on the balance owing for each of the many student loans.

Anyone who has been awarded one of the direct student loans can use the Service Center to request use of electronic correspondence for the sending of bills and other information. Loan payments can be made free of charge from the Service Site.

Payments for any of the student loans can be scheduled as much as 6 months ahead of time.

The Various Types of Direct Student Loans

Some students with a direct loan have a subsidized Stafford Loan. The subsidized loan has an interest subsidy. All students awarded those direct loans can count on the government to cover their interest payments while they are still in school..

Not all Stafford Loans are student loans, and not all direct student loans are subsidized. Where students do not show tremendous need, the government might award an unsubsidized Stafford Loan.

Such unsubsidized loans do not come with an interest subsidy.

PLUS Loans represent a third type of direct student loan. PLUS loans are low interest loans for graduate students and parents. As with the other student loans, the application for the PLUS Loans entails submission of a FAFSA and a MPN.

Factors That Determine the Size of the Direct Student Loans

Not every student who receives one of the direct student loans gets the same amount of money. The amount of money awarded to the recipient of a student loan depends on three different factors.

The school costs will dictate to a large extent the size of the student loan. The government will also adjust its loan amount to account for any other aid that a student might expect to receive.

Finally, the distribution of funds for the direct student loans depends on the expected contributions from each student's family.

After the Department of Education has examined those three factors, then it will provide a needy student with funds that should adequately cover his or her tuition costs.

Most students can get-by with loans of $8,000; they then obtain added money from additional on and off-campus sources.



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Obama Calls for Elimination of Subsidies to Student Loan Providers

Chicago, IL- On a conference call with student reporters, Barack Obama today called for reforming the student loan program by eliminating the costly subsidies to private lenders in favor of mandating that all federal student loans be provided through the direct loan program. According to one estimate, the money spent on subsidies for guaranteed loans over the last few years would have been enough to provide every low-income college student an additional $4,000 in grant aid.

"It is long past time to put an end to the rampant abuse by lenders of our student loan programs. One way we can help make college more affordable is by reforming a wasteful system of student loans that profit private banks at the cost of taxpayers," said Barack Obama. "The system needs to be fixed. We shouldn't be providing billions in taxpayer-funded giveaways to private banks; we should be providing an affordable, accessible college education to every American."

The Rising Cost of Education:
Tuition and fees at private colleges and universities have gone up 11 percent in the past five years - and nearly 6 percent in the last year alone. And this is an even bigger problem at public institutions. Over the past five years, the cost of attending a public university has jumped an astounding 35 percent. As a result of these increases, a few years ago, more than 200,000 students were priced out of a college education altogether.

Lenders Abusing the System:
Since the early 1990s, colleges and universities have offered students one of two types of federally guaranteed loans: loans administered through the Federal Family Education Loan program (FFEL) and loans administered through the William D. Ford Direct Loan program. The critical difference between the two is that under the FFEL program, the federal government makes costly subsidy payments to banks that ultimately cost the taxpayers billions of dollars every year and over $15 million per day in subsidy payments.

Recent news reports have unearthed numerous unethical and potentially illegal arrangements that benefited schools and lenders at the expense of students. These practices have included everything from banks providing all-expense-paid trips to college financial aid officers to a lender making $600,000 payments to a university in exchange for a first shot at lending money to its students.

Obama's Solution:
Barack Obama will eliminate the FFEL program that provides wasteful subsidies to banks and mandate that all federal student loans be provided through the direct loan program. Converting all new federal student loans to the direct loan program will save taxpayers over $618 per $10,000 Stafford Loan. Obama originally proposed this plan in 2004, and recent scandals underscore the need for change.

Savings from the elimination of the guaranteed loan program will be redirected to fund need-based grants, such as Pell Grants. Based on the FFEL loans for 2007 alone, nearly $6 billion would be saved if those same loan amounts were disbursed through the direct loan program. Those savings could produce over one million new Pell Grants.



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Hot stuff : What Benefits Do Student Loan Payment Calculators Carry?

Student Loan Payment Calculators are designed to help students calculate their debt and choose the most suitable student loan repayment plan according to the results. The Student is asked to enter some information like the interest rate offered, the debt owed and the future income that will pay off the student loan debt. Some student loan payment calculators are more complex than others, giving the student loan detailed information about his future payments and the annual income needed to repay the debt.

Calculating the Best Student Loan Repayment Plan

When time comes to repay your Student Loans, you might find yourself facing a crossroad. What to do? Which repayment plan is the best? Many questions might come to mind, when time comes and you need to choose a student loan repayment plan. Using a student loan payment calculator will help you choose the best plan for you. Choosing the best repayment plan doesn’t necessarily mean selecting the repayment plan offering the lowest interest rate. A repayment plan should be one you will feel comfortable working with and will not create financial pressure.

You may do the calculation yourself however; an online student loan payment calculator will prove to come in handy. The fact that you can know how much money you will need annually to repay private student loans or any other type of loan, is very helpful. Once you know how much money you need to repay the debt and you have an estimate of your salary, only then you can make an educated decision

Payment Calculators for Student Loan Consolidation Programs

A student loan consolidation program is a loan that students apply for, in order to cover existing student loan debts. There are different funnels you can take when looking into consolidating student loan debt and a student loan payment calculator will once again help here. When consolidating loan you will need to know the fixed rate you are offered and if the consolidation loan is worth at all compared to the standard repayment plans. Those who have obtained private loans for bad credit rated students can also calculate their debt and decide whether to consolidate their loans or not.

As you understand there are many online student loans repayment plans available be sure to do research before applying for a program.

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