Student Loans Rates Rise
Students who took out Student loans and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2014 had an average debt load of $28,950, up 2 percent from the year before and 56 percent more than their peers from 10 years earlier, reported today by the Institute for College Access and Success. Click Here to view how your state compares to other states and the debt loan per college.
REPAYE
According to the Education Department, it will expand the income-based repayment program, Pay As You Earn (PAYE). The new plan goes into effect this December. Nearly four million Federal direct loan borrowers are enrolled in the current income-driven repayment plans.
The new version is called REPAYE (the “RE” stands for “revised”) and will allow 5 million more federal student loan borrowers to enroll. The new plan accomplishes this by letting borrowers sign up regardless of when they borrowed their loans or their debt-to-income ratio. The existing PAYE model is only available to people who borrowed after 2007 and whose debt significantly outweighs their income. Those enrolled in the REPAYE plan can have their payments capped at 10% of their income. Extending the program to an additional 5 million borrowers will cost the federal government an estimated $15.4 billion over the next ten years.
Federal Pell Grant
The Federal Pell Grant Program was designed with the intention of assisting lower income individuals to achieve higher education. Typically, a student would fill out a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form to apply for a Pell Grant.
High school students are not able to access federal financial aid to help pay for dual-enrollment courses because Pell Grants are only available to students who hold a high school diploma or its equivalent.
The Obama administration wants to change this policy, at least on a limited basis. Last week the U.S. Department of Education announced a plan to open up temporary access to Pell Grants for high school students in dual-enrollment courses.
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