College tuition and fees have gone through the roof as government funding has dried up. This comes at a particularly bad time as college-saving accounts have toppled. At the same time, supplemental work for students has dried up as older American's, laid-off from career-track jobs, willingly accept minimum-wage jobs just to bring in some cash. College endowments also continue to shrink, ...

With federal financial aid application deadlines looming for more than 18 million college-bound students, Sallie Mae announces "FAFSA February," a public service initiative to help demystify the often confusing and universally dreaded ritual of completing the FAFSA. Families can access new, free online tools to help them hit the submit button on the all-important aid application. They can also chat with ...

University of California students will get a much larger tuition bill next year. The Board of Regents on Thursday approved a 32 percent increase in undergraduate student fees, despite protests by hundreds of demonstrators outside the regents' meeting at UCLA. By next fall, undergraduate fees will be boosted by $2,500, sending the average annual education cost at a UC campus to ...

The presidents of six colleges and universities in South Carolina met Thursday morning with the chief executive officer of a private foundation that has given at least $2 million to a pair of historically black colleges and universities in this state. Rip Rapson, president and chief executive officer of the Troy, Mich.-based Kresge Foundation, met with students and toured the campus ...

The clock is ticking for Alisha Hull. She's been looking furiously for a job since she graduated from Ball State University in May with a degree in microbiology. But with the economy sagging and no real prospects in sight, the honors graduate soon will have to make that first payment on her $55,000 in student loans -- or ask her lenders ...

Tens of thousands of veterans who headed to college this fall under a new GI Bill that promises to cover most, if not all, of their expenses are scrambling to pay bills because of delays in benefit checks, say students, colleges, and veterans groups. "The GI Bill is a mess," said Rutgers University-Camden freshman Robeen Billings, 24, a former naval electronics ...

Planning for college can be exciting and stressful. While students are fretting over applications and transcripts, parents are worried about how to pay for it all. College tuition has increased 429 percent over the last 20 years, making funding a college education one of the biggest expenses in a parent's life. One year at a large state school in South Carolina, ...

Tennessee education lenders and Republican lawmakers are fighting a bill that could end federally subsidies for private student loans, saying the legislation would eliminate competition and choice for borrowers. "President Obama's blueprint for a federal takeover of the college-loan industry will create a new entitlement that will cost taxpayers billions and will never go away," according a statement by Knoxville-based Edamerica, ...

INDIANAPOLIS, July 28 /PRNewswire/ -- USA Funds , the nation's leading education loan guarantor, announces the award of nearly $3.4 million in scholarships to help 2,282 low to moderate income students nationwide pursue higher education. USA Funds awarded $1 million to 667 first-time recipients of USA Funds Access to Education Scholarships for the 2009-2010 academic year. In addition, USA Funds awarded ...

Aaron Beswick, a SESP senior graduating this winter, barely has time to celebrate his graduation before he has to worry about repaying $32,000 in student loans. But new federal government initiatives plan to ease burdens like Beswick's with direct loans in which students borrow money straight from the government rather than bank lenders. The Income Based Repayment Plan allows for monthly ...

Jul. 30--An estimated 100,000 Ohioans could see relief from costly student loans through legislation introduced yesterday by U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown. Brown's bill would allow college graduates and others who are no longer enrolled to swap their private loans for federal loans with lower interest rates. "Too many Ohioans are still paying for college decades after they graduate -- through private ...

Some student aid out of reach More than 20 percent of community college students in Virginia do not have access to federal loans, according to a national study. The report by the Project on Student Debt found that one in 10 community college students in the United States are barred from financing their education with federal loans, considered the most affordable ...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Federal stimulus funds allocated to Virginia's public colleges helped keep the average increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates to about 5 percent for the upcoming school year. A report by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia shows that the average annual in-state tuition and all mandatory fees at Virginia's 15 four-year schools is ...

Getting the first loan seems a little bit like magic. For students who can't afford the school of their choice, student loans are a viable alternative. Apply for a loan and the money seems to appear as if out of thin air. But after the second one, it begins to sink in. At some point, the money has to be paid ...

Dr. Michael Clifford, the principal of SignificantFederation (www.sigfed.com), a company that has invested or has a financial stake in more than a dozen online colleges and universities around the country, has decided it is time to give back. Clifford announced today that SignificantFederation plans to make $1 million in scholarships available to smart students, who can no longer afford to pay ...

BOULDER, Colo. -- Ryan Nowakowski -- a University of Colorado graduate with an aerospace engineering degree -- juggled jobs, sometimes working 40 hours while taking a full load of classes. That way, his paychecks helped cushion his debt load, paying for rent and his monthly $400 grocery bills. ("I'm 6'6 and eat like it's nobody's business," Nowakowski admits). But he used ...

HOUSTON -- One-third of students are changing their college plans because of the economy, according to the 2009 Back to College survey. The nationwide survey, conducted by Money Management International, a nonprofit full-service credit counseling organization, measured the toll of the economy on students' plans for attending and paying for college. Tuition, room, and board for the average undergraduate student in ...

Oct. 27--Oregon students continue to apply for financial aid in record numbers even though the state's main assistance program stopped awarding new grants more than two months ago. Unemployed workers who lost their jobs after the grant cutoff date have been hit particularly hard. Thousands of people who applied for state financial aid to attend community colleges have been turned down ...

YAKIMA, Wash. -- When Kyle Torrens graduated from Central Washington University last June, he dreamed of working as an account executive in an advertising agency. He called all of his contacts, checked every Web site he could think of, but he found nothing in either the Portland or Seattle areas. Seven months later, the 22-year-old is living with his parents in ...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ College students are facing a sea change in borrowing to pay for their degrees _ unfortunately, many would still be drowning in debt. The change, perhaps as soon as July, would end the Federal Family Education Loan program that has dominated the federal student loan pool for more than 40 years. Banks and other private sources would ...