Presidential Issue #3 

Is Financial Aid Welfare
for the Rich, the Poor and Educational Institutions?
 
President Obama's education policy originally directed toward
college in general and two-year colleges in particular has been
changed to correctly include vocational education. 
 		  Please 
Return to Education Libraries

Aid For the Wealthy
Bachelor's 6 Year Completion Rate1 is 60%
Certificate/AA Reasonable Period Rate1 is 29%

Four year American Opportunity Tax Credit
for qualified higher education expenses for most taxpayers.

Eligible student include individuals and a spouse or dependent claimed as an exemption on a tax return.

Maximum annual credit of $2,500/student for those with modified adjusted gross individual income of $80,000 or less and $160,000 or less for married couples filing a joint return.

The credit is phased out for taxpayers with incomes above these levels.

Forty-percent is refundable so taxpayers not owing taxes can get up to $1,000 in cold cash or hot cash depending on you outlook.

Lifetime Learning Credit

$2,000 for qualified education expenses paid for all students enrolled in eligible educational institutions with no limit on the years so this is particularly helpful to graduate students, students who are only taking one course and those who are not pursuing a degree. Did this extend the traditional bachelor's degree from six years to seven, eight ...

  

Aid For the Not So Wealthy
Graduate Student Rules Differ

PELL Grants of up to $5,775/year depending on Financial Need

A few years ago I stopped by Lake County CC in Leesburg Florida and asked three questions. How much is a Pell Grant. 
Answer $5,500 per year.

What is fulltime tuition? Answer is $92 per credit so 24 credits = $2,208 per year.  Spending money (most students don't buy books and live at home is $3,292 per year or $63 per week.  It's about $100 per week if you exclude summers or go just one term. A 2015 credit cost is $107 so 24 credits cost $360 while PELL is up $275. Taking one less course or spend less or work more.

I asked if there were other grants that don't have to be paid back. Answer, yes, our state also has grants, mostly based on need, but this year's have been awarded.

Federal Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant of $100 to $4,000 are administered by approved schools depending on need.

Work Study is hourly work administered by schools.
 

Many of these students are attending school for the money and quickly drop out and keep the grant money. Others try, but since the programs are designed for the most academically
gifted, many get poor grades. These students stick around for something to do and spending money with little chance of failing because teachers have many reason for not flunking them.
 		   A 2010 USA Today story about the high cost of college drop outs from four-year schools. It seems state appropriated funds of 6.4 billion dollars from 2003 through 2008 to educate students at four-year schools for students who did not return for their sophomore year. In addition, state and federal grants of 1.4 and 1.5 billion dollars went to students who did not return for their sophomore year.

I decided to see how some colleges I had been associated with in relation to completion rates and here is the result.

Completion Rates For Schools of Interest
Those wanting to view additional schools should visit http://collegemeasures.org/
School I Know About   Harvard
where sister  graduated		 University of NH where
I live		 Saint Anselm local private school in NH Marietta College, Ohio where I graduated S N H U
a local private school		 Franklin Pierce University where I worked
Goal Strategic Measure            
Completion and Progression Graduation Rate 96.8% 73.5 71.0 56.1 50.1 41.3
First-year retention rate 97.0% 89.0 85.0 73.0 73.0 62.0
Efficiency Cost/student (FTE) $86,239 12,680 23,127 21,146 13,479 17,072
Productivity Cost per degree $276,042 52,769 105,190 92,200 32,894 68,887
Cost of attrition* $4.3m 3.7m 2.0m 2.4m 1.9m 3.4
Gainful Employment Student loan default rate 0.6% 1.1 0.2 3.6 2.7 4.0
Ratio of student loans payments to earnings per recent graduate** 1.0% 5.8 8.3 No Data No Data 6.4
* Amount spent by the college to educate first-year undergraduate students (first-time, full-time) who did not begin a second year.
** Median starting pay data presently available for 949 of the 1,576 colleges featured on this website.
1Source

Figure 1. Percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduates retained at 2- and 4-year degree-granting institutions, by institution level, control of institution, and acceptance rate: 2012 to 2013

Editor's Note: While data shows that AA graduates earn about 50% more
than HS graduates, recent data indicates that first-year top AA earners
make about $40,000 and those at the bottom less-than $20,000 annually.
Source Presidential Issue Is Investing in College Worthwhile

 


 

"How to get your student loans forgiven

by Peter Wylie on Aug 4, 2015, 10:35 AM

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There is more than $1.3 trillion in outstanding student loan debt weighing down personal balance sheets for recent (and not so recent) college graduates. Fortunately, there are many state and federal programs that help people manage this loan burden by getting part of their student loan debt forgiven

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) is the largest forgiveness program. It is a federal government plan available to you if you have federal student loans and are Working for a qualifying institution anywhere in the US.

You qualify for PSLF if your employer is any level of government organization, any 501(c)3 non profit, or a private company that provides public services. The full list is provided by Studentaid.gov, and Gradible’s student loan evaluation tool can help you determine if your organization qualifies.

To participate in PSLF, you also need to have federal loans issued through the Direct Loan Program. Federal loans issued through the FFEL program (prior to 2010) or Perkins program loans, private loans, and Parent PLUS loans your parents took for you unfortunately do not qualify. If you have FFEL and Perkins government loans, you can consolidate these loans into the Direct Loan Program at no cost to gain eligibility, just be sure not to consolidate any Direct Loans you already have, because you would lose qualifying payments on those loans. The final step to PSLF is being enrolled and making payments on an Income-Driven repayment plan, because you can only receive the PSLF benefit after you have made 120 qualifying payments (ten years) on your student loan.

If you meet those 3 broad qualifications, you need to file a Certification of Employment to demonstrate that your employer is in fact qualifying. All qualifying payments you have made after July 1, 2007 count toward your 120 needed payments, so the first people eligible for PSLF can claim their benefits in August of 2017.

State Level Forgiveness

Many states offer programs that provide an annual amount of debt forgiveness for specific types of jobs that are in high demand and benefit the community. New York is even beginning to offer its “Get on Your Feet” plan, which covers the income-based federal student loan payment for state residents making less than $50,000.

Not all states offer student loan forgiveness, but those that do tend to focus on occupations in health services, education, social work, veterinary services, and legal work. Gradible offers a comprehensive list of state level student loan forgiveness plans in our student loan evaluation tool. To claim state level benefits, you need to fill out an application with your state’s higher education authority and follow any additional instructions they provide.

Perkins Loan Cancellations

Perkins Loans are loans made by colleges and universities to students with financial need. These loans are eligible for cancellation if you are employed in a public service field, such as education, active duty military, health services, and public safety, among others. If you think you might be eligible for Perkins Loan cancellation, check out the full list here.

Military Forgiveness

The National Guard, Army, the Air Force, and the Navy all offer student loan forgiveness options for those serving who have student loans. There are also additional programs for former servicemen and women who enter the health services field. As mentioned previously, if you served in the military in active duty, you are also eligible to have your Perkins Loans cancelled.

Income-Driven Repayment Forgiveness

Finally, you can get your remaining balance on your student loans forgiven after 20 to 25 years of on-time payments on an Income-Driven Repayment plan, such as “Income-Based Repayment” or “Pay As You Earn”. Any amount you have left after paying for those periods will be eliminated, but keep in mind that the balance forgiven will be treated as taxable income."

Thanks!
 Walter Antoniotti, creator of the Free Internet Libraries, textbooksfree.org/,
author of the free Quick Notes Learning System books series, and President of 21st Century Learning Products which enhanced his extensive college admissions experience with an education concerning the college book business and home schooling.