June 4th, 2008
Put the Brakes on Affordable Education
At least, if you’re planning on attending a community college or “for-profit” school (yes, that even includes some online schools). Since when was affordable education up for the highest bidder?
Some of the major private lending companies (aka Wall Street tycoons) are actually dropping students who usually need the most financial aid and loan assistance. As many of us have experienced, students who are seeking two-year degrees or earning general education courses at community colleges are usually working in their “spare” time or trying to save money to transfer to a four-year college. Doesn’t really leave a lot of options if you can’t even get a loan to cover those $200 Bio books.
Ironically, for students at those more expensive, more competitive private colleges – this new policy is actually a good thing. As of July 1, many families will have an additional $2,000 in available loans through the federal government (yes, at a killer interest rate).
What’s the bottom line? The students who have been dropped from the larger private loan companies are forced to seek out some other lending institutions with a higher interest rate, lower reputation, and no added benefits (like having your rate go down if you pay on time).
Since when did attending an affordable school become so unaffordable? Maybe my write-up last week makes a little more sense – why wouldn’t we have the government control student loans if they’re required by law to provide equal opportunity?
My parents earned too much money for me to qualify for grants, and not enough money to fund my college education. My saving grace was low interest rate student loans and part-time jobs. I started at a community college to save money, and then transferred to a four-year university. Why should I have had to pay more for my loans?
It’s a disgrace that qualified, lower-income students have to pay higher rates. This is not equal opportunity education for all.
Comment by Priyanka — June 6, 2008 @ 11:50 am
[...] at larger universities, but it just rubs some American students the wrong way. Especially after the reduction of loan opportunities for students at community, for-profit, and non-competitive [...]
Pingback by WorldWideBlog » No, Your New Classmate is Not a Terrorist — June 6, 2008 @ 12:31 pm
It’s amazing how the government calculates the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) for students to qualify for grants and loans – and now they’re not even considering students who go to comm. college first?! You find that two-parent working class or lower middle income lose out the most.
Comment by uni.versatility — June 8, 2008 @ 3:10 pm
[...] I’ve written in an earlier blog, the some of the largest lending institutions have ceased providing loans to students at community [...]
Pingback by WorldWideBlog » Denying Access to Student Loans — July 31, 2008 @ 8:39 am