The maximum Pell Grant award for the 2007-08 award year (July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008) is $4,310. The maximum award for the 2008-09 award year (July 1, 2008 to June 30, 2009) is $4,731. The maximum can change each award year and depends on program funding. The amount you get, though, will depend not only on your financial need, but also on your costs to attend school, your status as a full-time or part-time student, and your plans to attend school for a full academic year or less.
Your school can apply Pell Grant funds to your school costs, pay you directly (usually by check), or combine these methods. The school must tell you in writing how much your award will be and how and when you'll be paid. Schools must disburse funds at least once per term (semester, trimester, or quarter). Schools that do not use semesters, trimesters, or quarters must disburse funds at least twice per academic year. soruce:pellgrantonline.com
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Federal Pell Grant Award
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Don't get swamped by student loan debt
Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants
Are you or someone in your family facing heavy student loan debt? Recent graduates left college with an average of $19,646 in student loan obligations, according to a study by the Project on Student Debt. That was up 8 percent from a year earlier, while average starting salaries rose only 4 percent from the previous year, the study found. That means the debt graduates are carrying is growing faster than their initial chances to earn the money to repay it.
Thereís no reason to despair, though, according to the Minnesota Society of CPAs, because there are several steps that you can follow to manage weighty student debt.
Lower your payments
If your monthly loan costs are simply too much, one simple and immediate solution is to reduce them by finding out if you can lengthen the amount of time you have to pay the loan — from 10 years to 20 years, for example. You should be aware that extending the loan term means that you will end up paying more interest over time, but lowering the monthly payment amount may be your top priority right now. Remember, that you can always increase your monthly payments later — and thereby shorten the length of the loan — if your financial situation improves in the future.
Consider consolidation
Students often sign up for a number of different loans to finance their education. That may mean you end up writing several checks to different lenders at various points in the month. When you consolidate, you take out a new loan that is equal to your total debt and use it to pay off all your existing balances. You then can pay just one student loan bill each month. That will make life easier, but it may not necessarily lower your overall monthly outlay, depending on the new loan terms. If you do find a consolidation loan that will reduce your monthly payments, make sure to examine the loan terms carefully. And remember that if you will be paying off the consolidation loan over a longer period, the loan will cost you more in the end, so it may not be the best choice.
Do well by doing good
Do you wish you could make a difference in the world? It's possible to cancel some or all of your federal student loan balance by signing up for any one of a number of programs aimed at making positive change. For example, teaching in an elementary or secondary school in a low-income area can reduce some federal loan totals, while serving a two-year term in the Peace Corps can also lead to a reduction in your loan balance. Volunteers for AmeriCorps and VISTA may qualify to postpone loan payments while they are involved in the program and receive stipends that can be used to pay down student loan debt. Health professionals who spend two years working with the National Health Service Corps serving communities that have a shortage of medical help can qualify for loan forgiveness of up to $25,000 a year. In addition, many law schools have loan forgiveness programs for newly minted attorneys who take jobs in public interest law. If you have a strong interest in making a difference, then that commitment can also help you relieve some of your student loan obligations.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Another Hint of Student Loan Troubles?
There's growing evidence that some student lenders were as overly enthusiastic as some mortgage lenders in the recent past. A revealing blog post by an employee of a company that makes private educational loans documents how lenders' dependence on Internet applications and computerized processing might have made it too easy for students to borrow too much.
Christopher Penn of the Student Loan Network says he dissuaded a potential commission-paying client from taking out $50,000 in student loans because Penn realized what he believes predictive software programs couldn't—that the student was probably paying too much for courses that were unlikely to increase his earning power enough to cover the $500-a-month loan payments.
Similar concerns about the industry were voiced last month by federal fraud investigators in Seattle. They charged that a ring of women who allegedly borrowed nearly three-quarters of a million dollars in fraudulent student loans took advantage of student lenders who were overeager and overly reliant on technology.
The credit crunch has forced many lenders to pull back and refuse loans to students they believe to be bad risks. It will take years to see if lenders have modified their software and lending rules too much, enough, or too little.
