During college, many students rack up enormous amounts of debt in the form of student loans. And although many private student loans that are credit based may be eligible for discharge during a bankruptcy proceeding, those loans that were obtained from the United States Department of Education do not qualify for discharge under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. If the majority of your past due and delinquent debt consists of student loans, bankruptcy is usually not the best option.
Better Options For Student Loan Borrowers
Bankruptcy can represent a new beginning for many borrowers, but the effects of filing bankruptcy can be felt on your credit file for as long as the next decade. Although many borrowers, especially students with massive amounts of student loan debts, often feel that there is no other option or that there are other alternatives, managing your student debt can be accomplished in other ways.
Forbearance and Deferment Options
Once you have graduated and received the last degree that you will be working on, most student loans are written so that you must begin repayment after six months. However, if you are unable to find work, there are ways to get around paying on your student loans until you become gainfully employed. One such way is through forbearance. During forbearance, your student loans will continue to incur interest, but you will not be required to pay.
Forbearance can give you a reprieve from paying on your student loans until you are better off to do so financially; however, forbearance will only be granted for a short period of time and a limited number of times over the life of your accumulated loans.
A better solution to forbearance of your student loans may be deferment, which is an entitlement under the U.S. Department of Education. Deferment is much like forbearance, although in certain instances, interest may not continue to accrue, although that fact differs from lender to lender.
Student Loan Consolidation
Another option is student loan consolidation. As a student loan borrower, you no doubt have multiple loans with multiple lenders or servicers, which means that you will make multiple payments. During student loan consolidation, student borrowers can consolidate the entire bulk of their student loans into one big loan with one monthly payment that better meets their financial ability to repay their student debt. You can consolidate both private and government student loans.
Defaulting on Your Student Loans
Managing your student loan payments may be difficult, but by actively working with your lender or consolidating your student loans, you can get through the repayment period and get on with your life and your career. The outcome for those who do not take repayment of their student loans seriously is grim. The U.S. government can seize any income tax refunds that you are entitled to, and can actually garnish your wages at your future place of employment.
Additionally, your credit rating will bear the scars of defaulting on your federal student loans for many years, and you will always owe the government (and the government always collects). The only way to have your loans completely discharged is if you become legally disabled.
Showing posts with label Student. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Student. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Iowa Student Loan Grant Program Will Assist First-Year Teachers
A new grant program from Iowa Student Loan will provide ,000 cash grants to first-year teachers in Iowa who accept assignments in certain "shortage areas," as designated by the state Department of Education.
The ,000 one-time awards are not student loans and do not have to be repaid. The grant program, which is expected to continue annually, will be funded from Iowa Student Loan's operating revenue and is expected to help more than 60 teachers each year. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
>> Applying for an Iowa Student Loan Teacher Career Establishment Grant
First-year teachers in qualifying subjects like mathematics, science, English as a second language, foreign languages, music, agriculture, industrial arts, and special education can apply for the grants online.
The program, named the Teacher Career Establishment Grant Program, is designed to help new teachers with living expenses. The grants can be used to help repay student loans and reduce student loan debt but can also be used for any other expenses. Iowa Student Loan doesn't place restrictions on how the money can be spent.
The Iowa Student Loan grants are intended to help recruit and retain new teachers in Iowa. The program is open to all recent graduates, regardless of your current state of residence or where you went to college.
In order to be eligible for the grant program, you must be contracted to begin your first teaching job after Jan. 1, 2011, and you must teach in an Iowa classroom. You may not have taught in any other state prior to teaching in Iowa.
>> State Hopes Financial Aid Will Attract More Teachers
The Iowa grant program has been established in response to a growing need among Iowa school districts for qualified teachers.
A 2009 survey conducted by the Iowa Department of Education reported that the state had nearly twice as many math teachers who were ready to retire as it had incoming math teachers. The same survey also showed that the ratio of retiring teachers to new teachers in other academic shortage areas, like physics, was similarly lopsided.
One goal of the grant program is to convince Iowa education students to remain in the state and pursue teaching opportunities locally. By helping with newly minted teachers' first-year expenses, Iowa Student Loan hopes to bolster the number of highly qualified teachers that remain in the state after graduation.
For its part, the state has also recently moved to increase starting salaries in Iowa schools to make the decision to teach in Iowa easier on students who may be carrying a large debt burden from college loans.
Historically, Iowa had offered starting salaries for teachers that were among the lowest in the country. Recently, however, starting salaries for teachers in Iowa have risen from the bottom one-quarter of all state starting teacher salaries nationwide to about the national median starting salary.
>> Iowa Grants Begin as Student Loan Forgiveness Program Ends
These new Teacher Career Establishment Grants replace a student loan forgiveness program that was instituted in 2006 and is winding down this year.
The Teacher Education Loan Forgiveness Program, also sponsored by Iowa Student Loan, provided student loan debt reduction for more than 300 teachers who enrolled in the program. The student loan forgiveness program provided millions of dollars in student loan debt relief for teachers who accepted assignments in areas where teacher shortages were apparent.
The student loan debt forgiveness program has paid out approximately 20 percent of its committed funds and will pay the remaining 80 percent as program participants fulfill their teaching commitments. The Teacher Education Loan Forgiveness Program stopped accepting applications at the end of the 2009-10 academic year.
>> About Iowa Student Loan
Iowa Student Loan, based in Des Moines, is a private, nonprofit financial aid organization established in 1981 to help Iowa students and families obtain the money they need to pay for college. The organization also provides benefits in the form of discounted college loan products and student loan forgiveness programs, and it supports free college planning services for students and their families.
The ,000 one-time awards are not student loans and do not have to be repaid. The grant program, which is expected to continue annually, will be funded from Iowa Student Loan's operating revenue and is expected to help more than 60 teachers each year. Grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.
>> Applying for an Iowa Student Loan Teacher Career Establishment Grant
First-year teachers in qualifying subjects like mathematics, science, English as a second language, foreign languages, music, agriculture, industrial arts, and special education can apply for the grants online.
The program, named the Teacher Career Establishment Grant Program, is designed to help new teachers with living expenses. The grants can be used to help repay student loans and reduce student loan debt but can also be used for any other expenses. Iowa Student Loan doesn't place restrictions on how the money can be spent.
The Iowa Student Loan grants are intended to help recruit and retain new teachers in Iowa. The program is open to all recent graduates, regardless of your current state of residence or where you went to college.
In order to be eligible for the grant program, you must be contracted to begin your first teaching job after Jan. 1, 2011, and you must teach in an Iowa classroom. You may not have taught in any other state prior to teaching in Iowa.
>> State Hopes Financial Aid Will Attract More Teachers
The Iowa grant program has been established in response to a growing need among Iowa school districts for qualified teachers.
A 2009 survey conducted by the Iowa Department of Education reported that the state had nearly twice as many math teachers who were ready to retire as it had incoming math teachers. The same survey also showed that the ratio of retiring teachers to new teachers in other academic shortage areas, like physics, was similarly lopsided.
One goal of the grant program is to convince Iowa education students to remain in the state and pursue teaching opportunities locally. By helping with newly minted teachers' first-year expenses, Iowa Student Loan hopes to bolster the number of highly qualified teachers that remain in the state after graduation.
For its part, the state has also recently moved to increase starting salaries in Iowa schools to make the decision to teach in Iowa easier on students who may be carrying a large debt burden from college loans.
Historically, Iowa had offered starting salaries for teachers that were among the lowest in the country. Recently, however, starting salaries for teachers in Iowa have risen from the bottom one-quarter of all state starting teacher salaries nationwide to about the national median starting salary.
>> Iowa Grants Begin as Student Loan Forgiveness Program Ends
These new Teacher Career Establishment Grants replace a student loan forgiveness program that was instituted in 2006 and is winding down this year.
The Teacher Education Loan Forgiveness Program, also sponsored by Iowa Student Loan, provided student loan debt reduction for more than 300 teachers who enrolled in the program. The student loan forgiveness program provided millions of dollars in student loan debt relief for teachers who accepted assignments in areas where teacher shortages were apparent.
The student loan debt forgiveness program has paid out approximately 20 percent of its committed funds and will pay the remaining 80 percent as program participants fulfill their teaching commitments. The Teacher Education Loan Forgiveness Program stopped accepting applications at the end of the 2009-10 academic year.
>> About Iowa Student Loan
Iowa Student Loan, based in Des Moines, is a private, nonprofit financial aid organization established in 1981 to help Iowa students and families obtain the money they need to pay for college. The organization also provides benefits in the form of discounted college loan products and student loan forgiveness programs, and it supports free college planning services for students and their families.
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