Alex FriedrichMinnesota college students graduated last year with slightly less debt than students did the year before, but a state expert says it’s unclear what caused it and whether it’s just a blip. The state Office of Higher Education put the median debt at $27,300 in 2013, down about $200. State analyst Tricia Grimes said she Read more →
MPR News Intelligence on higher education
Tag: student loans
Sen. Terri Bonoff, DFL-Minnetonka, the chairwoman of the Senate higher education committee, praises White House move to improve student loan terms. Read more →
MPR News reporter Tim Pugmire is reporting on Gov. Mark Dayton’s revised budget, which includes this higher-ed tidbit: Tax Relief for Students. The Governor’s tax plan would provide 285,000 recent college graduates up to $190 per year by deducting their student loan interest. Another 40,000 current college students and parents would receive a tuition deduction Read more →
Student advocates want to change a federal law that they say prevents many Minnesota college students from finding out about a low-cost, state-run student-loan program. Since 2010, colleges have been required to vet private lenders thoroughly before recommending them to students. Many schools say that’s too cumbersome, so they don’t recommend any lenders at all. Read more →
Globe University / Minnesota School of Business has entered the radar of Kyle McCarthy, cofounder of StudentDebtCrisis.org. In an article in The Huffington Post, he writes that the Globe Education Network offers its students a high-interest — 18 percent — private Educational Opportunities Loan (EdOp Loan). He says Globe is quite aggressive in how it Read more →
When I spoke to state Office of Education analyst Tricia Grimes on Friday about the increase in the student-loan default rate, I mentioned that Lumina Foundation’s Zakiya Smith had expressed alarm over the issue. Smith had told the higher ed publication Diverse that the defaulting students had begun their repayment period while the feds were trying Read more →
More Minnesotans are defaulting on their student loans within three years after leaving school — but we’re still doing better than much of the nation. The state’s overall failure rate rose from 9 percent to 11 percent of borrowers. That’s better than the national average and the average default rate for Big Ten states, both Read more →
The discussion over Congress’ move to put federal student loans on a variable market-based interest rate has so far focused on undergraduates and their Stafford loans. But what about graduate and professional students, and parents who take out PLUS Loans? I spoke again with Tricia Grimes, policy analyst for the Minnesota Office of Higher Education. Read more →
Democratic Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, who won the support of many students by trying to amend the Senate student loan rate legislation that passed yesterday, made this announcement about why he voted for the bill: “… My main goal throughout this process was to make sure we got students the best deal possible, which Read more →
It’s about time we got a little student perspective on the Senate’s deal over Stafford loan interest rates, which could come to a vote as early as today. I just got this announcement from the Minnesota State University Student Association, a group representing students at Minnesota’s four-year state-run campuses. They don’t like the proposed legislation, Read more →