Got a Student Loan?

You Should Probably Read this NYT's article .

The Price Of College

I spent the better part of an hour today listening to this Talk of the Nation show  entitled  The Price of College. Good stuff.  Listen here.

The SallieMae planner talked about is here

Here is the  SallieMae/Gallup study How America Pays for College  (PDF)

Also

The Rockin' Dr. Barbra Nightingal passed this link via facebook about how the  Costs Of College Can Be Eased With A Little Work

KQED's Forum spends a half hour on student loans

Give it a listen

• Mark Kantrowitz, publisher for FinAid.org, a free website for students seeking financial aid information, advice and tools (first half hour)

• Nancy Coolidge , coordinator for federal and state programs, student financial support - office of the president, University of CA
• Robert Shireman, president of the Institute for College Access and Success (first half hour)

Loan Crisis Hits College

All Things Considered, August 8, 2008 · The credit crunch has dried up the market for private loans. Students at selective schools are finding they can still get enough money to attend schools, but low-income students at lesser-known schools are having a harder time.  Listen

July 1 Brings Record-Setting Drop in Student Loan Interest Rates

MSNBC has the story here

Talk to the financial aid peeps at your school about the specifics as they apply to you. 

Student Loans Are Getting Harder To Obtain

MarketPlace just did a great piece on the state of the student loan industry.  Here's the blurb: Bank of America and a unit of Citigroup have joined a growing list of lenders cutting back on student loan programs. At the same time, the House passed an emergency bill that would enable lenders to have more cash to keep making loans. John Dimsdale reports.

This morning, long before I was awake, MarketPlace did a piece on what congress is doing to stabilize and expand federally guaranteed student loans.

The Houston Chronicle has an excellent Q&A on what you need to know about the state of the student loan industry.

Credit Woes Hit Funding For Loans to Students

That headline is from this Wall Street Journal piece. If you have a student loan-- loan is usually sold off before you ever receive a check. Heck, sometimes it's sold off before you even apply.

Say you, and a million other peeps, take out a student loan. The loan companies only have so much money right? So they need to get more money to make new loans. What the loan companies do is take like a million dollars worth of loans (or some other number) bundle them together and securitize them. Once they are a security, other people and institutions them.

The bank is happy because it now has more money. It can make more loans which it will later securitize so it can get more money and make more loans. It’s the circle of life if you are a bank. The students who took the loans are happy they get to go to college. The peeps who bought the securitized loans are happy because student loans are unbelievably safe. By the time these loans are paid off, and the securities reach maturity, the peeps who own the security will be rolling in dough.

But here is the new problem. No one is buying the bundled loans! Thus far, I have read several pieces and no one is talking about Stafford or Perkins loans --yet.

But I'd keep watching this issue or reading this blog.