Thursday, January 22, 2009

Slowing Economy Shuts Out Many Needing Student Loans

By Ronaldo Q Cacheezey

College kids bound for U.S. colleges the latest victims as the global credit crisis worsens and money from lenders goes South. American students who need a student loan to pay their way through college, are starting to have a tough time accessing funds. An unheard of number of public and private student loan lenders are beginning to quit handing out education assistance, affected by the credit squeeze and the declining profit of federal government backed loans for education.

Word of a state agency pulling out of providing money, has surfaced. This will affect 100 colleges and universities alone, and the fear exists that many more will become similarly affected. The reason behind this drastic move is cited as being the credit squeeze.

Most student loans has traditionally been supported and provided by some of the largest banks like Citibank, JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs. They have ceased supporting the low-risk security that funds for college"loans for students have always been behind. On top of this, financial experts are predicting that funds will start to become more expensive, putting extra strain in this area.

The biggest scheme that provides college loans is the Federal government-backed student loan scheme, providing loans to means-tested students. Students mainly use these loans to pay for tuition and then seek a private loan to cover their additional expenses. It is these private loans that are set to become more difficult to find, although it looks as though companies are still supplying funds for the government scheme.

The other area of concern is the growing number of families who have been caught by the mortgage crisis - many will have college-aged children. The people most affected by the disappearance of student loans will be low income earners and people with a low credit score, and families suffering with their mortgages are now included in this group. There will be a growing number of students who will be refused loans due to their parents' credit rating.

The current estimation is that 100,000 students will not qualify for the Federal government or private student loans because of credit rating issues. This, coupled with the reduction in the number of loans actually available, will make attending college difficult for many US students.

A Student needing financial aid should visit the counselor at the school of their choice. These counselors may be aware of scholarships or grants that are not widely known about. They also are a source of little know student aid that Students or Parents with poor credit may qualify for.

Just remember, don't lose hope. If you can't get a hundred percent of your college needs financed, you may have to cut back on classes and get a full or part time job and work your way through college. Yeah, this is an unpopular way of getting help, but you can't deny that it's effective. - 14915

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