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Income-Based Repayment now comes in cartoon form! Please post it to your Facebook profile and email it to friends to help get the word out about this valuable new program.
Income-Based
Repayment will become available for the first time on July 1, 2009. At least a million federal
student loan borrowers will be able to lower their monthly loan payments
through this program, providing much-needed financial relief. There is also
good news for students still in college, including more money for Pell Grants
and lower interest rates for some student loans.
 Learn more about July 1 changes to federal student loans
See a summary of federal student loan terms for 2009-10
Read the press release
New federal data show that the percentage of undergraduate students who borrowed private
student loans jumped from 5 percent in 2003-04, to 14 percent in
2007-08. At proprietary (for-profit) colleges and universities, the
percentage of students who took out these loans skyrocketed from 13
percent in the 2003-04 school year, to 42 percent last year. The
release includes other findings and comments from Lauren
Asher, Acting President of the Project on Student Debt.
Read the press release
Student Loans and the Economic Crisis
With all of the problems in the credit markets, it is logical to ask whether
families are able to get the student loans they need for college. Fortunately, federal
student loans are as available as ever. Since most student loans are made or
guaranteed by the federal government, policymakers were able to intervene to
make sure that students could continue to borrow federal loans at reasonable,
fixed interest rates. (See background on
why there is no
reason to worry about federal student loan availability).
A small portion of student borrowing has been in the form of private,
non-federal loans. This market has had the same difficulties facing other types
of credit, so private loans have become less available and more expensive. Many
people who had relied on private loans are discovering that there are grant and
federal loan options
that can fill that void. This has resulted in a substantial increase in
federal loan borrowing.
In tough economic times it is more important than ever to reduce the need to
borrow and make college more affordable and accessible. Both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the stimulus package), and President Obama's proposed budget move in this direction, and our 2009 Policy Agenda suggests other important ways to achieve these goals.
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The Institute for College Access & Success
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