FAP738: Debt is not wealth, FFELP loan availability Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + It’s Presidents’ Day, and in honor of this, I’ve got a widget on the Financial Aid Podcast web site for people to register to vote - if you haven’t registered, do so today so you can vote this fall + Inside Higher Ed: Career Education Inc. on Friday announced plans to shut nine colleges, seven of them part of the Katherine Gibbs chain, following a “teach out” period to help current students. A statement from Career Education said that the move was part of a previously announced strategy to focus on key areas, and that attempts to sell the colleges didn’t succeed. Supporters of New Hampshire’s McIntosh College, one of the institutions being shut down, are angry and frustrated, Seacoast Online reported. + Reminder: if a school closes, you do not have to repay Stafford federal student loans if you have not completed the coursework + Twenty-one members of the U.S. House of Representatives have written to the secretaries of treasury and education to request action to deal with the credit crunch that is resulting in a tightening on the availability of student loans (though almost entirely private, or alternative, student loans so far). The letter calls on the Bush administration to work “without delay,” before the situation “decreases access to higher education.” + Read statement here + Is there a possibility that federal student loans won’t be available? I call it small but non-zero - and it all depends on the credit markets + If the Student Loan Network needs to change its lending policies, you’ll find out about it here first. Scholarship Search + Try this Google search query. Whatever your school name, search site:domain and the word scholarship + Here’s an example from SUNY Dutchess Community College, which is the school that Susan Mead, last week’s Expert Interview guest, was from + Results input into our free college scholarship search site + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! Economics 101 + Debt is not wealth + Blog post on FinancialAidPodcast.com Mail Bag + Mark writes in: Our family income will drop significantly in August, just when my son starts college. What can I do to have that reality refleted in my son’s eligibility for aid? + Contact your school’s financial aid office today and ask to speak to a financial aid administrator. Ask for their advice, present as much documentation as possible, and specifically ask for a professional judgement on future earnings, which is jargon for asking for an override of the FAFSA results based on documentably incorrect estimates of what you can pay for college + Bear in mind that the school may not be able to help + Whether or not they can help, your son should be cranking out the scholarship applications like mad right now + Every Sunday, submit at least THREE scholarship applications + This is scholarship season! + With the turmoil in the student loan markets, there is an unlikely but non-zero possibility that borrowing the full cost of education may not be possible in the fall - and scholarships are always the best form of financial aid + Free scholarship search secrets eBook Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you . Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis Less