Foreign college students studying in Canada may find it easier to work in the country after they graduate thanks to changes to the Citizenship and Immigration department’s Post-Graduation Work Permit Program, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education (“Canada Makes it Easier for Foreign Students to Work After Graduation,” April 23, 2008).
Under the new changes, eligible foreign graduates from the country's colleges and universities are no longer required to have a job offer to get a work permit and they may work anywhere in Canada for up to three years after receiving their degree, as opposed to two years under the previous program.
The changes come after foreign–study academic advisors and students complained about the restrictions of the 2005 Post-Graduation Work Permit Program. Under the previous program, international students had only 90 days after graduation to land a job, potential employers often lacked proper information about the program, and the program’s official documents often contained contradictory information.
by student loans
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Canada Tweaks its Work-Permit Program to Better Retain International Students
Best possible condition and Easy To Get Student Loans
Best possible condition for a Student Loan Consolidation program
The best possible condition for a Student Loan Consolidation program would be one that:
Will be at a lower interest rate that you already have
Lower the total amount of your overall loan repayment amount
Lower your monthly loan payment
Have a clause in the contract that allows you to re-negotiate your interest rate in the case rates become lower in the future.
There are many, many Student Loan Consolidation programs that are offered by lenders. Be sure to understand the agreement fully and don't just accept any offer because it reduces your monthly loan payment amount. If you do your research, you can find a Student Loan Consolidation program that allows you to lower your monthly loan payments and reduce the overall total of the loan.
Easy Get Student Loans
College students today are lucky. When scholarships savings aren't enough students today can get various types of student loans.
As students proceed through college student loans do not have to be paid until the student graduates from college or quits.
Using a private loan can be extremely expensive to pay back at a high interest rate. To ease the burden on students upon graduation Federal student loans are available.
Private Student Loans vs. Federal Student Loans
The best thing to do is get a Federal student loan. Federal loans have lower interest rates and are readily available to students. Private loans are more expensive to pay back and are not recommended if they can be avoided.
The reason Federal student loans are so available is because graduates of college will usually make a lot more money than other people.
This gives the lenders confidence that their money will be repaid. The top education student loans are available through Sallie Mae.
Sallie Mae Student Loan
Sallie Mae is a financial institution than handles Federal student loans. Student loans given are from the government or Federal sources have more favorable terms than private loans.
Sallie Mae offers a combination of student loan options that can meet the type of financing needs of a student all in one place.
For example, the Federal Stafford loans are the most common. They have a fixed rate and low interest. These student loans are very available to undergraduate students.
To receive this loan the student must be attending an accredited school at least half time. The Stafford loan is the most common student loan used today
Generally speaking, student loans are easy for students to receive. Because of their fixed rates and low interest, the Federal Stafford Loan is the recommended one first.
A student loan can make the difference for students to graduate from college so more students are able to complete college today than anytime in the past.
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Let's go to you dream
Student Loans In USA ( United States ).
A loan given to a student to help him pay for higher education is termed as Student Loan. In the United States, these loans are usually given by the government.
The Higher education loans differ from grants and scholarships. A student loan has to be repaid by the student after completion of his studies while grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid. Normally a student loan can be in the form of a federal loan that is given to a student or as a private loan that is given to the student and the student’s parents.
The Federal student loans are made directly to the students. They are given to supplement the student’s personal and family resources. A federal student loan can be subsidized or unsubsidized depending on the financial need of the students. Both subsidized and unsubsidized loans are guaranteed by the United States Department of Education either directly or through guarantee agencies. Nearly all students are eligible for federal student loans which have grace period of six months. Subsidized federal student loans are given to students who have to prove their financial need for the loans. While in an unsubsidized student loan, the government does not pay the interest amount on the loan. The interest is allowed to accrue during the college and the student must pay after completion of studies.
The Parents have an option of borrowing money to cover the educational expenses of higher education. This type of loan is called Parent Loan of Undergraduate Student. In this type of loan, no grace period is provided and payments start as soon as the loan is disbursed.
The Private Student Loan is loan that is extended by banks and other financial institutions directly to the student. A Private Student Loan has a grace period of six months and payments have to be made after completion of the studies. There are occasions when the grace period is extended up to 12 months and this is subject to approval by the lending authority. Most private loan programs are tied to one or more financial indices such as the Wall Street Journal Prime Rate or the BBA LIBOR rate plus an overhead charge. This type loan invariably has a one time origination fee which depends upon the loan amount.
By Nigel Kerry
The Private Student Loan vs The Federal Student Loan
Federal Student Loan is the most common college student loan. There are mainly two kinds of federal student loans.
Subsidized college student loan: Government pays the interest whilst the student is attending the college.
Unsubsidized college student loan: there is no interest free period and you will have to pay the interest with principal amount, after completion of education.
Not all students qualify for a federal student loan. In case when students are unable to grab a federal
student loan, there is another kind of student loan known as private student loan. Many lenders offer private student loans and the rate of interest vary greatly.
Private student loan also known as personal student loan or alternative student loan will help you paying the college fees, hostel rent, stationary and other expenses, at much competitive interest rates than credit cards. Nevertheless, private student loan should be only used when there is no option left. You should be very cautious while borrowing money from the lender, as you will have to pay it back with interest.
Qualifying for private student loan depends upon the credit criteria established by the lender. Credit criteria mainly differs with private student loan, whether the borrower is a parent or a student.
Here are some factors, which decide eligibility for a private student loan.
1. Your credit report
2. Your parents credit report
3. Excessive debt loads
4. Delinquency problems
5. A cosigner will be an advantage in getting a private student loan because when primary borrower fails to repay, that responsibility falls to the cosigner.
Before applying for a private student loan you should study the offers at your local financial institutions. Then compare this search with the offers made by the online student loan companies. Only then you will be able to know the best one tailored for you.
By Oliver Turner
Student Loan Corporations
A student loan corporation is a complete financial aid services company that manages loan applications of students and client accounts. There are also a number of student loan corporations that act as civic services and are a part of the state funded loan programs. Example of a student loan corporation would be the Kentucky Higher Education Student Loan Corporation which is a non profit student loan processing service works for the Kentucky State government.
Like other educational loan services, these student loan corporations give students advice on saving for a college education, choosing and applying for the right kind of student loan. They also give detailed and comprehensive information on repaying the loan and at times give options on how to apply for debt consolidation loans.
The Student Loan Corporation is a subsidiary of Citibank and is one of the leading educational lending institutions in the country. They manage the loan accounts of millions of students and thousands of educational institutions. At present, Citibank, in conjunction with the Student Loan Corporation, has joined forces with Yahoo to offer students an online Student Resource Center.
Any student loan corporation handles the business end of college funding. It is an enormous undertaking for each bank, college and university to manage their student loans. The technological demands of such an undertaking have increased the need to outsource data management and critical account services. The business of student loans is a specialized branch of the banking industry. Therefore, most private banks have also become involved in the student loan business.
By Nigel Kerry
Student Loan Consolidation Is Great Money Management Which Save Money and Time With a Loan
Finished College and you need to reduce your student loans? Student Loan Consolidation is a great way to manage your money after you have completed school. With current history low interest rates your student loan consolidation couldn’t come at a better time. You can combine federal and private loans under a single low monthly payment. Student Loan Consolidation Is Great Money Management which save money and time with the loan consolidation.
With your student loan consolidation you can save money and pay federal and private student loans off at the same time. With interest rates at record lows you can benefit with low monthly payments. After graduation consolidation loans can help reduce the stress of repaying by putting all your student loan all under one easy monthly payment. Everyone saves time and money with a loan consolidation.
Making the right step to reducing your student loan can make your future alot easier by going with a consolidation loan. Take the time to benefit from a student loan consolidation. Student Loan Consolidation is great Money Management which save money and time with a loan consolidation The stress can all be reduced with a loan consolidation and you will save money monthly with a lower payment overall. Apply for your consolidation loan today!!
By Ken Bissonette and Deidre Bissonette
Student Loan Nightmare
Consolidate your loans so you can finally sleep at night
By Michelle Suthard
You may have heard the news recently that the government increased the student loan interest rate 1.93 percentage points for the first time in five years. This may seem like a huge increase, but don't lose sleep over it--rates are still at a 38-year low.
So what does this information mean for you? Now is your chance to consolidate your loans and save!
Types of Loans
First you will need to know about the different types of loans you may have. Let's start with the Federal Perkins Loan. This type of loan is generally granted by your college's financial aid office. Since it's a need-based loan, the university's financial aid office must determine who qualifies for the loan and how much they will receive. Universities only have a limited amount of funds to distribute, however, so these loans are awarded on a very selective basis.
The majority of college students have Federal Stafford Loans instead. This is the most common loan available to both undergraduate and graduate students. If a Stafford Loan is subsidized, the federal government pays your accrued interest while you're in school and during the grace period after graduation. If your Stafford is unsubsidized, however, you'll be footing the entire bill.
Lastly, you may have one or several private education loans. There are a variety of lenders that provide private education loans. Most banks and financial institutions offer private student loans to help supplement the costs that other financial aid resources won't cover.
Consolidating Your Loans
Now that you better understand what kind of loans you have, you're probably wondering what's next. Pay off time! It may sound daunting to have to payback all of those loans, but don't even think about attempting to dodge your bills.
Not paying your loans back will cause your credit rating to plummet. And remember, declaring bankruptcy is not an option. Student loans are immune to bankruptcy. You may also face IRS penalties and possible garnishment of wages if you hold off on payment--so make those monthly payments on time.
So what's a good plan-of-action when beginning to repay your loans? A smart move is to look into consolidating your existing loans now while interest rates are still low.
Consolidation involves refinancing one or more of your student loans. The original balance is paid in full, and a new loan is originated for the combined amount and for a new term--all with a low fixed interest rate. Consolidation loans often reduce the size of your monthly payment by extending the term of your loan beyond the 10-year repayment plan that is standard with federal loans.
Depending on the loan amount, the term of the loan can be extended from 12 to 30 years. The reduced monthly payment may make the loan easier to repay. However, by extending the term of a loan the total amount of interest paid is increased. You can always make more than the minimum payment each month to cut the repayment period down and reduce the amount of interest paid.
Get a Head Start
For those of you that haven't graduated yet, there's something new this year. Under a new interpretation of the rules, students don't have to wait until they graduate to consolidate. Students still in school can consolidate existing loans. If you subsequently take on more student loans, then you can consolidate those loans either separately from the initial low-rate consolidation, or as part of a blended package. If you've just graduated and are in your six month grace period, you can get an extra one-half of one percent cut off the consolidation rate if you consolidate within the first six months after graduation. And by consolidating during the grace period, you may also be able to retain the entire grace period. If the lender delays disbursing the consolidation loan until the end of the grace period, you get the benefit of the grace period and are also able to lock in current interest rates. Not too shabby!
Which loans should you consolidate? You can consolidate Perkins, Stafford and PLUS loans (parent loans for students) and even some previously consolidated loans. Unfortunately, you cannot consolidate private loans that are not federally guaranteed. Also, most lenders will only consolidate loans for students with loan balances of at least $7,500. For most of you, this threshold won't be a problem. According to a recent Nellie Mae study, the average student upon graduation owes an average of $18,900 in student loans.
Benefits of Consolidating
What are the benefits of consolidating your loans? The main benefit of consolidation is that it allows you to lock in a low fixed interest rate for the life of the loan. Understand though, that not everyone gets the lowest rate on consolidation. While some can lock in a very low rate close to 3.5%, others may pay slightly more depending on the original loan rates. So check with your lenders (or one of the Web sites listed on page 34) for information on how much your rate will decrease. Each Web site has online calculators, and you can even apply for a consolidation loan online. Note also that there is no fee for you, the borrower, to consolidate.
Another benefit to consolidation is that now you only have to make one monthly payment and to only one lender-saving you a headache each month from sorting out to whom and what you owe. There are also added bonuses, for instance, many lenders offer interest rate and payment reductions if you pay on time over a period of months and/or have your monthly payments automatically withdrawn from your checking or savings account.
Check out the Web sites, do a little homework and in the end you'll save yourself a nice sum of cash for consolidating your loans. Start the process now, so you can relax, get some sleep and focus on what's really important, your first real job!
Friday, May 2, 2008
Sen. Hillary Clinton Unveils Plan to Tackle the Student Loan Crisis
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton recently announced the details of a sweeping plan to help ensure students have continued access to federal student loans amid a flurry of private lenders leaving the federal student loan program.
“Hundreds of thousands of students who are actively considering how to finance their education could be left in the lurch, without the ability to pay for college,” Clinton wrote in a press release on April 25.
Clinton urged the Bush administration to act quickly to support her plan, which includes:
Creating a way for colleges to quickly make a switch from the Federal Family Education Loan Program to the Department of Education’s Direct Loan Program — a move that currently takes colleges about six weeks.
Allowing parents’ applications for credit-based federal PLUS loans to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Currently, parents will be denied outright for the low-cost federal loans if they have defaulted on a mortgage, or if they are 90 days late on a loan payment.
Authorizing the Education Department to advance money to state or private entities that issue student loans and to purchase federally guaranteed loans from private lenders that are no longer able to service the loans.
President Proposes to Use College Federal Financial Aid Model for Private K–12 Education
At the end of January, in his final State of the Union address, President Bush revealed continuing plans for expanding federal funding of private K–12 schooling with the proposal of a $300 million Pell Grant for Kids program.
This program, named after the long-running college Pell Grants program, would provide federal grants to low-income families with children in underperforming schools to help send those children to private, faith-based, or higher performing out-of-district public schools.
The president’s call for congressional support immediately raised questions among lawmakers as to whether the proposed funding would be enough for participating low-income parents to avoid having to take on debt from supplemental private student loans or other financial aid resembling student loans.
Pell Grants for Kids vs. College Pell Grants
Presenting the Pell Grants for Kids proposal as a need-based scholarship initiative modeled after the Federal Pell Grant program for college students, the administration uses as one of its selling points the assertion that “the same choice, flexibility, and support now available to students seeking a quality college education should be offered to low-income families with children in chronically low-performing schools.”
College Pell Grants, unlike federal student loans, do not have to be repaid, and are available to low-income undergraduates to apply toward their cost of attendance at any public or private school that participates in the federal student aid programs.
Pell Grants for Kids, like college Pell Grants, would be “gift” money from the government that wouldn’t need to be repaid. In contrast to the college Pell Grant program, however, Pell Grants for Kids would go beyond an evaluation of a student’s financial need to determine eligibility, also taking into account a student’s educational environment.
Students eligible for a Pell Grant for Kids award would be those currently attending a school that has failed to meet the performance standards of the No Child Left Behind Act for five years, or that has a graduation rate of less than 60 percent.
Grants or Vouchers?
The administration seems to be purposefully attempting to associate Pell Grants for Kids with the college Federal Pell Grant program, perhaps in hopes of garnering the broad bipartisan support that college Pell Grants have received.
Detractors, however, argue that the Pell Grants for Kids initiative, unlike the college version, is actually a school voucher program in the guise of a broad-based federal grant program.
Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, the Democratic chairman of the Health, Education, and Labor Committee, has been quick to criticize the proposal, suggesting that there will actually be a negative impact on educational opportunities for the country’s most needy children as more funds are diverted from public schools in the form of vouchers for private school tuition.
“The president didn’t commit the resources to expand educational opportunity,” said Sen. Kennedy. “Instead, on top of the $70 billion shortfall in funding for his own education reforms, he again proposed to siphon scarce resources from our public schools to create new voucher programs.”
Sen. Kennedy’s use of the word “voucher” may be a strategic political move, as the word does not poll well — which supporters of the program know, and which may explain the administration’s emphasis on branding Pell Grants for Kids a “scholarship program.”
On the other hand, Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who aggressively supports the initiative, doesn’t shy away from the characterization of Pell Grants for Kids as a voucher program. Citing the GI Bill, college Pell Grants, and federal student loans as other federal voucher programs that have been “enormously successful,” Sen. Alexander says there’s “every reason to believe the Pell Grants for Kids would be too.”
Pell Grants for Kids Award Amounts
As part of his commitment to the Pell Grants for Kids initiative, Sen. Alexander has proposed his own budget of $15 billion — a figure 50 times higher than the president’s proposal of $300 million.
But even at that higher budget, the program would only be able to offer each of the country’s 30 million low- and middle-income children enrolled in public K–12 schools a $500 annual voucher. President Bush’s plan would offer each of the 15 million low-income children an annual grant of $20.
To be able to offer students an annual grant amount of $2,500, the Pell Grants for Kids program would have to limit its number of recipients to 6 million students under Sen. Alexander’s plan — 20 percent of the total number of the country’s low- and middle-income children currently enrolled in public schools.
Under the president’s plan, the program would only be able to offer a $2,500 annual award to 120,000 students each year — less than 1 percent of the total number of the country’s low-income children currently enrolled in public schools.
K–12 Private Student Loans
With tuition at the nation’s private K–12 schools averaging $4,689 a year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, it seems clear that even a $2,500 Pell Grant won’t, on average, cover the full cost of private tuition for low-income families.
In this respect, Pell Grants for Kids would also resemble college Pell Grants: Federal Pell Grants for college students were capped at $4,310 for the 2007–08 academic year, while average in-state tuition and fees at four-year public colleges for 2007–08 were $6,185, exceeding the max Pell Grant award amount.
In the same way that college students awarded postsecondary Pell Grants must often supplement their grant award with other financial aid, such as work-study and federal student loans, the low-and middle-income families who would qualify for a Pell Grant for Kids may need to turn to other financial aid options to help meet the full cost of private K–12 tuition.
Parents of elementary and high-school students in private programs can generally apply for credit-based K–12 private student loans similar to the private student loans available to undergraduate and graduate students.
However, whereas undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to seek out low-cost federal college loans and graduate student loans before turning to typically higher cost private student loans, there are currently no such K–12 federal student loan programs available as a low-cost alternative to K–12 private loans for families needing to supplement the money they would receive through the Pell Grants for Kids program.
Your Money: Careful when consolidating student loans
If you plan to graduate from college this spring, your mailbox may soon be filled with congratulatory cards from family friends, checks from distant relatives and reminders from your alma mater that your diploma will be rescinded unless you pay your overdue parking tickets. But if you borrowed to pay for college, much of your mail will come from lenders, urging you to consolidate your student loans.
Loan consolidation pitches aren't new. For years, loan consolidation has allowed borrowers to reduce their monthly payments and avoid interest-rate increases. But lenders will be even more aggressive this year than in the past, predicts Kevin Walker, CEO of SimpleTuition, a loan comparison website.
In part, that's because a law enacted last year eliminated the decades-old "single-holder" rule. That rule required borrowers who had all their federal student loans with one lender and wanted to consolidate to use that lender. Now, borrowers can consolidate with any lender. Smaller lenders are eager to lure student loans from the major players, Walker says.
In addition, lenders will have to work harder this year to convince borrowers that they should consolidate their loans. In the past, consolidation let borrowers lock in interest rates for the life of their loans, avoiding future increases. But last year, Congress eliminated variable rates for federal Stafford loans. All loans issued after July 1, 2006, have a fixed rate of 6.8%, so consolidating no longer affects the interest rate those borrowers will pay.
Why consolidate?
While there are still advantages to loan consolidation, recent investigations into some lenders' marketing tactics have pointed up the need for vigilance. Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, has asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate "unfair and deceptive" marketing practices by lenders seeking to consolidate student loans. And New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating whether some college alumni groups received payments from Nelnet, a major loan consolidator, to steer students to Nelnet.
Reasons to consider loan consolidation:
•You still have variable-rate loans. Unless they've already consolidated, this year's graduating seniors will have a combination of variable-rate and fixed-rate loans, says Rob LaBreche, president of consumer marketing for College Loan Corp. By consolidating, you can lock in the rate on the variable-rate loans, avoiding future rate increases.
If you consolidate your variable-rate loans during your grace period — the six-month window before you're required to start paying off your loans — you can lock in a rate of 6.54%. If you include your fixed-rate loan in the consolidation, your rate will be 6.875%, Walker says.
The new rate for variable-rate loans, which is tied to short-term Treasury bills, will be calculated at the end of May. Mark Kantrowitz, founder of FinAid.org, predicts that the repayment rate for variable-rate Stafford loans will rise to 7.2% on July 1. But many lenders let you hedge your bets. Lenders with "best rates" programs will accept your application but won't process it until the new rate is determined. If the new rate is higher, they'll consolidate your loans before July 1; if the rate falls, they'll wait until after July 1.
•Lower payments. The standard repayment for a federal Stafford loan is 10 years. By consolidating, you can extend the term to up to 30 years, thereby reducing your monthly payments.
If you're worried that you can't afford your monthly payments, consolidating will make your debt more manageable. It's important to understand, though, that extending the term of your loan will increase the amount of interest you'll pay over the course of the loan. Ideally, you should increase your monthly payments as soon as your finances improve.
•Fewer bills to pay. If you have loans with several lenders, consolidation allows you to combine them into one loan.
•Borrower benefits. Even though the maximum rate for Stafford loans is set by the federal government, some lenders offer discounts for good behavior. Most will cut your interest rate by a quarter point if you agree to have your payments automatically deducted from a bank account. And many will reduce your rate by 1 percentage point once you've made a certain number of consecutive on-time payments (see box).
If your current lender doesn't offer discounts, consolidating with a lender that does could save you money. But be sure to read the fine print, Walker says. Ask the lender how it defines an on-time payment and whether your discount can be revoked if you make a late payment in the future.
"Borrower benefits have the potential to save you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars," Kantrowitz says. "But you need to be very realistic about your ability to get those benefits."
by Sandra Block
