College Needn’t Bankrupt You

Hi,
It's hard for students to get loans that meet their needs! Working at my school financial aid office, a day without parents calling on loan and/or scholarship issues is rare. Ideally, we'd all be able to get at least some scholarship money... because obviously you don't need to repay, but alas... that's not reality!

A friend sent me to Wells Fargos' Backstage website a little while back, and I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful and user-friendly it was. As a college student, I've done my share of exhausting research on student finance and loans, etc.. and it's a daunting task. AND, I was shocked at how hard it was to find a kind of "all inclusive" site that had everything I was looking for. Anyway, Wells Fargo nailed it - http://backstage.wellsfargo.com/# - I've sent this on to countless friends of mine since first coming across it.

My advice would be, if you???re a high school student, to enroll in Wells Fargo???s College STEPS Program. In it, you get a plethora of information on scholarships, financial aid, testing, and prepping for college. Pretty much exactly what we all need before we leave the nest for our college careers!

Anyway, I hope this helps!
Cheers
Lin

Hi,
It's hard for students to get loans that meet their needs! Working at my school financial aid office, a day without parents calling on loan and/or scholarship issues is rare. Ideally, we'd all be able to get at least some scholarship money... because obviously you don't need to repay, but alas... that's not reality!

A friend sent me to Wells Fargos' Backstage website a little while back, and I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful and user-friendly it was. As a college student, I've done my share of exhausting research on student finance and loans, etc.. and it's a daunting task. AND, I was shocked at how hard it was to find a kind of "all inclusive" site that had everything I was looking for. Anyway, Wells Fargo nailed it - http://backstage.wellsfargo.com/# - I've sent this on to countless friends of mine since first coming across it.

My advice would be, if you???re a high school student, to enroll in Wells Fargo???s College STEPS Program. In it, you get a plethora of information on scholarships, financial aid, testing, and prepping for college. Pretty much exactly what we all need before we leave the nest for our college careers!

Anyway, I hope this helps!
Cheers
Lin

ciaoo

Comment: dtechba: Well luckily your daughters could count on you to help them. I'm not so lucky, until recently my dad was dying from congestive heart failure and wasn't able to work for years. He got a transplant, which is the only reason he's alive now. Mom hasn't held down a job for a long time now, and was going to college as well. She has medical problems. I get to deal with all my college costs on my own, and even though they are cheap colleges I still have trouble. And I have medical problems as well, so it's been that much harder. YOU ARE IN NO POSITION TO JUDGE.

Stop going to schools you cannot afford and using student loans to finance your lifestyle. Kids do it all of the time and then want to complain they have been the victim of predatory lending. No, you weren't. Both daughters went to school in the past couple of years and both went to low cost state schools that offered them some aid. I funded the rest. The first daughter's four year degree cost me in the neighborhood of $15,000 after her grants and discounts for working as an RA of about $10,000. Her good grades got her fully funded graduate and not postgraduate educations. She graduated owing zero dollars because she worked with me to find a school we could afford and then worked to pay as much of the bill as she could without compromising her studies. Stop whining and make smart decisions. The rest of us are tired of paying for the rest of the country's poor financial decision making, be it mortgages or student loans. They were your decisions, live with them.

I am a member of a PAC called Student Loan Justice. Our website is studentloanjustice.org. We have been published in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.

Just as the mortgage industry has been plagued by corrupt loan practices, targeting minorities and low income people, with little recourse other than bankruptcy and foreclosure, so has the student loan industry, but with several exceptions.

1. There is no consumer protection for student lending. Canada offers this protection. This leads to borrowers who fall on hard times due to health, disability, or other reasons, to commit suicide, receive ruined credit, have driver's licenses removed, and destroyed entire families.

2. Loan shark tactics are used. High interest rates. No communication. Double billings. Double collections.

3. Social Security income can be garnished.

4. No credit checks are performed on applicants. ANYONE can qualify for a student loan. Your ability to repay is not considered because the lender makes more money if you default.

We are talking BILLIONS of dollars again.

I am a member of a PAC called Student Loan Justice. Our website is studentloanjustice.org. We have been published in the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, etc.

Just as the mortgage industry has been plagued by corrupt loan practices, targeting minorities and low income people, with little recourse other than bankruptcy and foreclosure, so has the student loan industry, but with several exceptions.

1. There is no consumer protection for student lending. Canada offers this protection. This leads to borrowers who fall on hard times due to health, disability, or other reasons, to commit suicide, receive ruined credit, have driver's licenses removed, and destroyed entire families.

2. Loan shark tactics are used. High interest rates. No communication. Double billings. Double collections.

3. Social Security income can be garnished.

4. No credit checks are performed on applicants. ANYONE can qualify for a student loan. Your ability to repay is not considered because the lender makes more money if you default.

We are talking Billions again, and rich fat cats at the top of the food chain.

The purpose of Higher education act, was to help avoid america going thru a "brain drain" that is not having enough qualified people to fill jobs that needed a higher level of education. The benifits of which would have benifited the entire nation.
Now the student loan industry has become a cash cow for many banking institutions who also bet on a better economic times. But unlike the banks, if a student goes bankrupt, he or she cannot get the loans forgiven. We bailed out the S&L fiasco, and now are about to bail out the home morgage fiasco, but no help for students who get crunched fiancialy and end up totaly bankrupt. Yes, Student loan industry is the next taxpayer bail out. And it will be that way because congress failed in its duty when it removed all consumer protections from student loans (the only loans that are not protected), and the US Dept of Education failed to provide the necessary oversight as required, according to US Senate reports.

Studentloanjustice.org is working on a call for reform, and intends to offer postive suggestions as to how to overhaul this system that needs it so badly, so that student loans will be afordable and available for future generations to come.

Of course, before 28 years of "help" from the GOP and the "Conservative Revolution" (e.g. the NEW Tammany Hall), college didn't bankrupt anyone.

Another real problem, drowned in a flurry of BS about family values from criminals who make Machiavelli look like a saint.

The part of peace, indeed.

The key is to pick a school that really wants you- that will try to make it possible for you to go there. You will never know what you can get unless you apply to the school. Unless you know that you are getting a good deal, do not lock yourself into one school by applying early.