"In his State of the Union Speech last night, President Obama proposed reducing the interest rate on federally subsidized student loans in the 2013 fiscal year, expanding the Federal Work Study program, making the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent, and pressuring colleges to curb tuition growth," Stephen Burd writes in the Quick and Ed blog. "But he made no mention of Pell Grants."
"President Obama is proposing a financial aid overhaul that for the first time would tie colleges’ eligibility for campus-based aid programs - Perkins loans, work-study jobs and supplemental grants for low-income students - to the institutions’ success in improving affordability and value for students, administration officials said," the New York Times reports. "Under the plan, which the president is expected to outline on Friday morning in a speech at the University of Michigan, the amount available for Perkins loans would grow to $8 billion, from the current $1 billion."
"Undocumented students who get in-state tuition rates at Texas community colleges and universities will get annual reminders about their obligation to seek legal status in exchange for the break in their education expenses," the Texas Tribune reports. "The Texas Higher Education Board voted unanimously Thursday to tweak the policy for tuition breaks that can save students about half the cost of college tuition and fees."
"Congressman Joe Courtney today introduced legislation, H.R. 3826, to ensure that interest rates on certain student loans do not dramatically increase this year," LoanSafe.org reports. "In 2007, Congress made an historic investment in higher education when it passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act."
"College freshmen report more behaviors and attitudes that predict academic success than they did in recent years, according to a new national survey by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI) at the University of California, Los Angeles," the Christian Science Monitor reports. "The survey also shows shifts in political views, use of social media, and strategies for paying for college."
"More than 50,000 people have signed a petition on the online advocacy platform Change.org calling for education financer Sallie Mae to stop charging fees for late student loan payments, Change.org announced," the Credit Union Times reports. "The campaign’s leader, Stef Gray of Brooklyn, N.Y., argues that the education-focused financial services company unfairly charges a fee of $50 per loan for every three-month delayed payment time period, which unemployed college graduates can’t afford."
Jan. 26, 2012 - Higher education and economics expert David Feldman writes in the College of William & Mary's "Why Does College Cost So Much?" blog about his presentation at NASFAA's forum on "The State of College Access," and the perception that Pell Grants are the cause of price inflation in higher education.
"The collegiate graduation rate may well be the most poorly constructed and misunderstood statistic in all of higher education," the Washington Post reports. "The metric became fashionable in the 1990’s in an effort to track the academic condition of NCAA athletes who seemed to be leaving college in large numbers without graduating."
The Department of Education has made available Gainful Employment Webinar #5 Errors and Data Corrections in Gainful Employment Reporting on January 11, 2012 in Microsoft PowerPoint format.
"Attention college students: The interest rate on federal student loans is scheduled to double this summer unless Congress acts soon," CNN Money reports. "Loans taken out for the current school year carried an interest rate of 3.4%, thanks to a 2007 law that phased in rate reductions for subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduate students."
"In his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, President Obama delivered a brief message to colleges and universities: they are 'on notice,' and risk losing some federal money if net tuition prices continue to increase," Inside Higher Ed reports. "Just as quickly, Obama moved onto the next policy proposal without providing any further detail, such as what would constitute 'skyrocketing' tuition prices or what federal money might be yanked if colleges do not fight them."
"Rep. Bruce Braley on Wednesday introduced legislation that would indefinitely keep the interest rate for federally subsidized student loans at the current level of 3.4 percent," KCRG reports. "Braley, a Democrat representing Iowa’s First District said unless Congress takes action, student loan interest for subsidized Stafford loans will double to 6.8 percent on July 1, 2012."
"State University of New York trustees unanimously approved on Wednesday a resolution supporting a plan to offer state-sponsored tuition assistance, grants and scholarships to college-bound illegal immigrants who want to enroll in state schools," the New York Times reports. "The resolution adds the State University of New York to the growing roster of supporters for several bills circulating in Albany that would extend financial benefits to illegal immigrants, toppling what has perhaps been their greatest barrier to acquiring a college diploma."
"A large number of our young people are wasting valuable time and money in college when they could be learning a trade, working as apprentices, becoming entrepreneurs, or working in community service," author Karin Kasdin writes in the Huffington Post Post50 blog. "Increasingly, large companies today offer programs to teach employees the skills they need to perform in the jobs for which they are hired."
Jan. 25, 2012 - Education Week interviews NASFAA President Justin Draeger about President Obama's plan to decrease federal support for colleges if tuition keeps rising. "We're always concerned about proposals that would penalize schools, and ultimately students, for tuition increases when many times what causes a tuition increase is out of a college's hands," said Draeger.
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