Student Loan III

Many student loan providers offer low cost government and private loans with consistently high quality servicing and flexible repayment terms. FinAid maintains a list of education lenders, guarantee agencies, servicers and secondary markets who offer federal and private student loans, as well as advice on preferred lender lists and choosing a lender and tips on identifying the lenders that currently hold or service your loans.

Loan forgiveness programs (in which the borrower's loans are paid off in exchange for volunteer work, public service or military service) offer an option for easy repayment. If you are having difficulty repaying your education loans, see Solutions for Borrowers Who are Having Trouble Repaying Student Loans and Defaulting on Student Loans before you decide to skip a payment. These articles offer you several alternatives for repayment relief. (See also loan repayment protection for repayment assistance you can arrange for in advance when your loan is disbursed.) Loan Cancellation and Discharge Forms can be found on the US Department of Education web site.

Also, FinAid provides numerous calculators that can help you better understand your borrowing options. The loan calculators offer estimates of monthly loan payments, estimates of the amount of debt you can afford to repay, an analysis of the cost of capitalizing the interest and tools for comparing loan costs.

Use FinAid's Student Loan Checklist to keep track of your student loans.

Some students, because they do not have prior experience with debt and loan amortization, do not appreciate how much their loans will cost them. FinAid provides some tips concerning calculating the cost of interest.

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Stanfford Loan

The interest rate on the Stafford Loan for new loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2006 is a fixed rate of 6.8%. The same rate applies to the in-school, grace and repayment periods. (A lower interest rate is available on subsidized Stafford loans for undergraduate students for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2012. The rate in 2008-09 is 6.0%, then 5.6% in 2009-10, then 4.5% in 2010-11 and 3.4% in 2011-12 and returning to 6.8% for new loans in 2012-13 onward.) The interest rate on new PLUS Loans first disbursed after July 1, 2006 is a fixed rate of 8.5% in the FFEL program and 7.9% in the Direct Loan program.

The interest rates on existing variable rate Stafford and PLUS loans will continue to change annually on July 1, based on the last 91-day T-bill auction in May. The current interest rates on the Stafford Loan are 3.61% during the in-school and grace periods and 4.21% during the repayment period. The current interest rate on the PLUS Loan is 5.01%. FinAid recommends that students who have not yet consolidated their variable rate loans wait until May to decide whether to consolidate them at this year's rates or the new rates that will go into effect on July 1, 2009.

Borrowers may be concerned by the possible impact of the subprime credit crisis on the cost and availability of federal and private student loans. Federal loans will remain available, although loan discounts will likely be reduced significantly. A higher minimum balance may be required to consolidate. Private student loans will likely have stricter eligibility restrictions, requiring a higher credit score or a cosigner. There may be increases in the interest rates and fees on private student loans. Lenders will encourage borrowers to make payments of interest while they are in school.

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Student Loan II

The following table shows the percentage borrowing and average amount of cumulative debt per borrower among graduating students according to degree program. It provides the amounts borrowed for just the graduate education and also the combined totals for undergraduate and graduate education. Undergraduate students who graduate with a Bachelor's degree and no debt are 1.7 times more likely to enroll in graduate and professional school than Bachelor's degree recipients who graduate with some debt.

All Students Graduate Education Debt All Education Debt
(Grad & Undergrad)
Graduate & Professional Degree Programs Percent Borrowing Cumulative Debt Percent Borrowing Cumulative Debt
Total 56.4% $40,297 69.6% $47,503
Master's Degree 55.2% $31,031 69.4% $40,208
Doctoral Degree 45.8% $57,860 56.3% $58,967
Professional Degree 86.2% $87,308 87.9% $98,711
Master of Business Administration (MBA) 55.5% $31,927 68.9% $41,676
Master of Social Work (MSW) 72.3% $35,516 77.7% $49,017
Master of Science (MS) 49.8% $30,684 63.5% $40,362
Master of Arts (MA) 60.8% $29,975 73.7% $40,500
Master of Education or Teaching 55.9% $26,487 74.5% $35,946
PhD 35.4% $44,995 48.0% $45,455
EdD 65.1% $43,812 73.3% $44,880
Law (LLB or JD) 88.6% $80,081 88.6% $92,937
Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine 81.9% $119,424 83.2% $127,272
Pharmacy (PharmD) 82.2% $63,412 85.0% $81,838

The following table shows the percentage of graduating students at graduate and professional institutions who applied for federal student aid and graduated with debt and the average cumulative debt at graduation according to degree program. This demonstrates that graduating with debt is unavoidable for students pursuing degrees in law, medicine or business who need to apply for federal student aid.

Submitted FAFSA Graduate Education Debt All Education Debt
(Grad & Undergrad)
Graduate & Professional Degree Programs Percent Borrowing Cumulative Debt Percent Borrowing Cumulative Debt
Total 94.3% $46,865 96.9% $62,285
Master's Degree 94.5% $34,741 97.7% $51,223
Doctoral Degree 82.8% $73,885 85.0% $85,366
Professional Degree 99.4% $92,575 99.9% $105,705
Master of Business Administration (MBA) 98.2% $34,691 98.9% $53,779
Master of Social Work (MSW) 91.9% $36,924 91.9% $54,020
Master of Science (MS) 95.2% $34,824 98.3% $52,102
Master of Arts (MA) 94.0% $34,357 97.4% $50,102
Master of Education or Teaching 92.6% $31,540 96.8% $49,286
PhD 67.5% $58,353 72.0% $69,754
EdD 94.5% $51,695 94.5% $61,121
Law (LLB or JD) 99.9% $82,601 99.9% $95,914
Medicine or Osteopathic Medicine 100.0% $126,152 100.0% $136,474
Pharmacy (PharmD) 100.0% $66,319 100.0% $88,648

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Student Loan FIgures I

The following table shows the percentage of students borrowing and average cumulative debt per borrower (excluding PLUS Loans) at graduation according to type of educational institution but not restricted by degree program.

Undergraduate Education Debt
Institution Level & Control Percent Borrowing Cumulative Debt
Overall Total (4, 2 and < 2 year) 58.8% $18,625
Public 49.4% $16,369
Private Non-Profit 69.7% $26,683
Private For-Profit 93.1% $17,162
4-year Total 66.5% $22,656
4-year Public 61.1% $19,839
4-year Private Non-Profit 70.6% $27,349
4-year Private For-Profit 97.0% $24,635
2-year Total 44.8% $12,307
2-year Public 37.2% $10,444
2-year Private Non-Profit 64.0% $14,790
2-year Private For-Profit 97.6% $17,310
< 2-year Total 74.7% $10,172
< 2-year Public 36.1% $10,321
< 2-year Private Non-Profit 45.0% $10,990
< 2-year Private For-Profit 86.0% $10,123

Graduate and professional students borrow even more, with the additional cumulative debt for a graduate degree typically ranging from $30,000 to $120,000. The median additional debt is $25,000 for a Master's degree, $52,000 for a doctoral degree and $79,836 for a professional degree. A quarter of graduate and professional students borrow more than $42,898 for a Master's degree, more than $75,712 for a doctoral degree and more than $118,500 for a professional degree. At the 90th percentile cumulative debt for graduate and professional degrees exceeds $59,869 for a Master's degree, $123,650 for a doctoral degree and $159,750 for a professional degree.

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Student Loans

Few students can afford to pay for college without some form of education financing. Two-thirds (65.6%) of 4-year undergraduate students graduated with a Bachelor's degree and some debt in 2007-08, and the average student loan debt among graduating seniors was $23,186 (excluding PLUS Loans but including Stafford, Perkins, state, college and private loans). Among graduating 4-year undergraduate students who applied for federal student aid, 86.3% borrowed to pay for their education and the average cumulative debt was $24,651. (For just federal student loan debt, excluding PLUS Loans, the figures are 61.6% and $17,878.) Average cumulative debt increased by 5.6% or $1,139 a year since 2003-04. When one includes PLUS loans in the total, 66.0% of 4-year undergraduate students graduated with some debt in 2007-08, and the average cumulative debt incurred was $27,803. (About two in fifteen (13.5%) of parents borrow PLUS loans for their children's college education, with a cumulative PLUS loan debt of $23,298.)

These figures were calculated using the data analysis system for the 2007-2008 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics at the US Department of Education. (For comparison, cumulative education debt statistics from the 2003-2004 NPSAS are also available.) The 2007-2008 NPSAS surveyed 114,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 graduate and professional students. These statistics are not necessarily available from published NPSAS reports.

The median cumulative debt among graduating Bachelor's degree recipients at 4-year undergraduate schools was $19,999 in 2007-08. One quarter borrowed $30,526 or more, and one tenth borrowed $44,668 or more. 9.5% of undergraduate students and 14.6% of undergraduate student borrowers graduating with a Bachelor's degree graduated with $40,000 or more in cumulative debt in 2007-08. This compares with 6.4% and 10.0%, respectively, for Bachelor's degree recipients graduating with $40,000 or more (2008 dollars) in cumulative debt in 2003-04.

The following table shows the percentage of students borrowing and average cumulative debt per borrower (excluding PLUS Loans) at graduation according to type of educational institution but not restricted by degree program.

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Student Loans

An education loan is a form of financial aid that must be repaid, with interest. (Scholarships, on the other hand, do not have to be repaid.)

Education loans come in three major categories: student loans (e.g., Stafford and Perkins loans), parent loans (e.g., PLUS loans) and private student loans (also called alternative student loans). A fourth type of education loan, the consolidation loan, allows the borrower to lump all of their loans into one loan for simplified payment. A recent innovation is peer-to-peer education loans. Federal education loans are available in either the Direct Loan or federally-guaranteed student loan programs.

Federal law sets the maximum interest rates and fees that lenders may charge for federally-guaranteed loans. Nothing prevents a lender from charging lower fees. Many lenders offer a variety of student loan discounts to attract borrowers.

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Four Loan Tips

Four Loan Tips
Times are tough for lenders and borrowers. These tips can ease some of the pain:

Apply early.

A growing number of lenders are mulling over leaving the student loan business, so counselors are advising families to line up a lender by early July. To find one, try the Education Finance Council, or use Web tools such as the one at usnews.com/payingforcollege.

Stick with the federal loans,

if possible. Students who limit their borrowing to Stafford and Perkins loans won't graduate with burdensome debt loads and won't see their bills jump if interest rates rise. These loans might also be forgiven for those who take a public-service job.

Read the fine print.

The Federal Reserve's slashing of interest rates makes many private educational loans seem low. But payments will increase when interest rates rise again, as they inevitably will.

Be realistic.

Before borrowing big bucks to train for fairly low-paid careers such as social work, teaching, or cooking, compare the average salary with your total education loan payments. If what's left isn't enough to live on, try cheaper schools that would require less borrowing.

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