I am a senior citizen who is currently about half way through a graduate degree in social work. I find myself rather leery about borrowing money directly from the government. They don't have a good track record with most of the programs where they are in direct control. I will be watching this direct loan system very carefully. If it gets bogged down, I can still go to Sallie Mae (an excellent compahy who dealt with my undergraduate loans), borrow the money to pay the government off and get out from under them. I enter this new program with skepticism and caution.

i have read most of these comments and no one has even thought about how much the government will even loan us. I am a 33 single mom who needs all the help i can get.full-time i need my full Pell grant and the max available in Stafford loans. What if they lower the max?that wouldn't help. I don't think they should change a thing except gives us more $ in grants to help pay for our interest rates. And hopefully everyone is realistic about picking they're major in a demanding field. Instead of acting classes or something far fetched.....u get what I mean. And it's great for that 1 girl who seems 2 b sooooo self-sufficient and doesn't like free money....whatever....fine work ur a** off and i doubt u have a high GPA

This just said that the interest from our loans would go to Pell Grants, and then it said the government would be taking money away from the Pell Grant Program..did anyone catch that?

It's a guaranteed loan retard. Were you not reading it? And I believe it's the governments job to pay for health care. They take our money for everything else, in taxes, so that they can pay for things like that. If they're not paying for it then what the hell are they doing it for? There is no loan for health care, if you can't afford you don't have anything. I hope that you gain some compassion before you're put in a similar situation where you have nothing. When you can't afford something, you can't afford something. It shouldn't have to come between "My kids can either eat or we can have health care?" That's a decision no parent or anyone ever have to make. Grow up

JalisaM20.. okay since the bank won't be screwing you over.. instead it's the government.. wow big difference.

I had to have a co-signer, I am truly ignorant about any options I have, if I even had any. The government declares my parents "rich" because they make a little over 125k put together. Barring all of their car and home loans, they really are by no means rich. I received no grants, nor have I ever won any scholarships, on any of these websites. Also my degree is technically completely useless(Fine Arts), but I learned so much, most people ridicule liberal arts degrees. My fellow students and some instructors continually say that if we do not "make it" we probably never will. I'm now on my last year of school, and I don't even know what's next, will I even be able to even get a job above minimum wage and move out of my parents household? I don't even want them to pay a dime of my loans. I mean will I even benefit from this? Whatever this is promising even... I should be scared, but I am too baffled to be, being told I have to go to college at 17, it's almost a joke looking at it all now, I have no job, I still haven't been hired for the minimum wage jobs that I wanted. Yes these are my concerns, I'm sure there's thousands of others with worse problems, and everyone has worked 5 jobs while going to school fulltime and had some condition, blah blah blah, and have managed, believe it or not my concern isn't about myself, I just don't want my parents to end up paying my parts of the loans at all, I don't even know if minimum wage will be enough to pay my loans for the rest of my life. I certainly don't want to be living under my parents in the next 2-3 years.

I have to agree with NicoleM125. This is a great opportunity. Which would you prefer, the banks screwing you or the government giving you more financial opportunity. The banks have been in control long enough. And I wish everybody would stop cryihng over this healthcare situation. If you would just take the time and read about it and stop listening to political reporters you can adhere to what the plan is trying to do. Everybody keep crying about the they don't want the government controlling their healthcare, who do you think controls it now through Medicare and Medicaid? DAH!!!! It's time out for being a racist. The majority of the individuals who is against this financial plan and the healthcare plan are just upset because this is coming from a Black Man, who happens to be President. And yes I am not an African American and Yes I am a republican. So get over yourselves. There is just too much hatered in this world today. You are only hurting yourselves.

How does one apply for a direct loan from the govt? I was in the middle of applying for Stafford, and ran across these changes - my financial aid office did not mention it ...?