top stories in News Reel
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Reassessing Property Taxes
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5 Housing Markets Not Sinking (Too Much)
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PLAYFacebook and the St. Petersburg Paradox
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4 of 8
Wilting ETF Returns
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5 of 8
Taking a Walk on the Wildlife Side
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PLAYNasdaq Soars to an 11 -Year High
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7 of 8
The Top Foreign Stock Funds
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8 of 8
5 Ways to (Legally) Track People
How-To Guides
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How to Save for College
Thanks to benefits in the tax code, saving specifically for college and other education expense can have some advantages
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Start Paying College Loans
WSJ.comAttention, spring college graduates: It's almost time to start paying back those students loans. The typical six-month grace period is about to end for many borrowers, and the first payments are due within 30 to 60 days, depending on loan ...
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Sizing Up the President's College-Debt Initiatives
WSJ.comWith student-loan debt exceeding credit-card debt for the first time last year, President Obama recently announced initiatives designed to help ease college graduates' debt burden.
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Fixed-Rate Student Loans—With a Catch
WSJ.comWith tuition bills due in a few weeks, a growing number of banks are offering stretched parents and students new, fixed-rate loans that promise protection from the specter of rising rates -- for a price.
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Education Department Has Improved Student Loans
WSJ.comYour Sept. 30 editorial "Washington's Quietest Disaster" and the letters of Oct. 11 raise important concerns about the debt burdening college students but miss the mark in describing the role of the federal student-loan program and its ...
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Obama set to unveil student-loan plan
MarketWatchWASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama is set to unveil Wednesday a plan to reduce the burden of student loans on college graduates as the amount of debt for higher education surges.
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Obama Unveils Plan to Ease Burden of Student Loans
WSJ.comDENVER—President Barack Obama unveiled a plan Wednesday to ease the burden of student debt, speaking in personal terms about the high cost of college.
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Washington's Quietest Disaster; Student loan defaults are growing, and the worst is still to come.
WSJ.comWhen critics warned about rising defaults on government-backed student loans two years ago, the question was how quickly taxpayers would feel the pain. The U.S. Department of Education provided part of the answer this month when it reported ...
Fixed-Rate Student Loans, With a Catch; Now borrowers can swap the potential for higher rates later with the certainty of higher rates now
SmartMoney.comWith tuition bills due in a few weeks, a growing number of banks are offering stretched parents and students new, fixed-rate loans that promise protection from the specter of rising rates -- for a price.
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Discover to Buy Citi Student Loan Portfolio
WSJ.comNEW YORK—Discover Financial Services has reached an agreement to buy a $2.5 billion student-loan portfolio from Citigroup Inc., a follow-up to last year's deal in which Citi sold its 80% stake in Student Loan Corp. to Discover in a ...
For Student Borrowers, a Hard Truth; More people are defaulting on their student loans -- and discovering the consequences are far-reaching.
SmartMoney.comAs many students and parents struggle to make payments on their student loans, many are finding this debt comes with some serious strings attached.
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Graduates With Debt Owe an Average of $25,250
WSJ.comThe average debt of college seniors who graduated in 2010 with student loans rose 5% from a year earlier to $25,250, according to a report. That figure doesn't include data from for-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix, whose ...
10 Things Student Loan Companies Won't Say; Sure, they'll help pay for college. But good luck paying them back.
SmartMoney.com1.Your co-signer could do you more harm than good Before they will lend thousands of dollars to a college-bound 18-year-old, many lenders will require a cosigner. Approximately 80% or more of private loans have a cosigner, according to the ...
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9-9-9? Nein. A transcript of the weekend's program on FOX News Channel.
WSJ.comPaul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," from Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan to Rick Perry's flat-tax proposal, is real tax reform finally possible? Plus, with many Occupy Wall Street protesters demanding relief from student loan ...
How to Manage Student Loans After Graduation
SmartMoney.comIn 2010, two thirds of bachelor's-degree recipients graduated with education debt, including roughly $25,000 per person in student loans, according to estimates by FinAid.org. On average people take 16 to 18 years to repay this debt, ...
Have Private Student Loans Become Smarter?
SmartMoney.comDeferred payment plans. Rock-bottom rates. Even loan balances wiped out for good behavior. These are all features of new loans designed to help college students and parents swallow the increasing costs of college – but they may not be as ...
Credit Comes Back
SmartMoney.comAfter more than two years of tight lending, banks are loosening their grip, offering more mortgages, student loans and credit cards. In a continuing series, SmartMoney charts the slow return of easier credit, and examines the good deals and ...
Buying Your Way Into College
SmartMoney.comForget the standard advice that everyone should apply for financial aid. This year, forgoing aid applications may actually boost the chances of getting accepted.
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Student-Loan Default Rates Worsen
WSJ.comThe default rate for federal student loans rose to 13.8% from 11.8% for students beginning repayment in fiscal 2008 compared with those starting a year earlier, according to new data released Friday by the Department of Education.
Borrowing from a 401k, cosigning student loans, and required minimum distributions
SmartMoney.comQUESTION: I pay $180 a month for private mortgage insurance. Should I borrow from my 401(k) to pay down the principal and use the $180 toward repayment? Is there more value in this strategy than having it evaporate into the insurance?
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More student-loan lenders likely to merge; Student Loan Corp. sale may signal start of consolidation wave
MarketWatchCHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Citigroup’s sale of its student-loan business may signal the beginning of a wave of consolidation among private lenders who were cut out of the federal college student-loan program this summer.
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Government Sees High Returns On Defaulted Student Loans
WSJ.comDefaulting on federal student loans may not be such a bad thing--at least, not for the federal government. After paying the companies that actually collect the loans and other costs, the U.S. Department of Education expects to recover 85% of ...
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Consumer watchdog may be too weak, advocates say; Will bank-reform proposals work to protect consumers from future crises?
MarketWatchWASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Far-reaching legislation aimed at overhauling the nation's financial-services regulatory system is moving forward in Congress, but advocates say some of the proposed consumer protections are too weak.
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Presidential address focuses on health care, student loans
MarketWatchCHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- President Obama reflected on the passage of health insurance reform on Saturday, but mainly used his weekly address to talk about changes in the student college-loan system.
For-Profit Schools Face New Debt Rules
SmartMoney.comTaking out federal student loans to help pay for a college education may soon become less risky. The Department of Education this week proposed new rules that would require for-profit colleges and universities to keep the amount of loan debt ...
Student Loans Demystified
SmartMoney.comFor many students, sorting out student loan options is as much a part of the college application process as writing a college essay for admissions. And it's a rare student who isn't confounded by the process. This section should ...
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Parents, students dig deeper to pay for college; Almost half of rising tuition costs paid by parents from income, savings, loans
MarketWatchNEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Faced with rising college expenses, families dug deeper into their own pockets and borrowed more money to pay tuition bills in the 2009-10 school year, according to a survey by Sallie Mae and Gallup released ...
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When Student Loans Live On After Death
WSJ.comIn July 2006, 25-year-old Christopher Bryski died. His private student loans didn't. Mr. Bryski's family in Marlton, N.J., continues to make monthly payments on his loans—the result of a potentially costly loophole in the rules ...
6 Last-Minute Tips for Financial Aid Applicants
SmartMoney.comdeadlines to apply for financial aid are fast-approaching. Over the next few days or weeks, many students will be making sure they're filing the required paperwork accurately and on time — two factors that can be just as important as ...
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Citi Sheds Its Student-Loan Business; Once-Thriving Operation Was Hurt by Government Change; Discover Financial Buys Most of It
WSJ.comCitigroup Inc. is selling its 80% stake in Student Loan Corp. to Discover Financial Services as part of a $600 million transaction that marks the bank's biggest step yet to shed assets from its discard pile.
Financial Reform Targets Private Student Loans
SmartMoney.comConsumers with mortgages and credit cards aren’t the only ones who stand to benefit from the financial reform bill. College students and graduates with private student loans could see new protections as well.
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It’s payback time for student-loan borrowers; For those who can’t pay, there are a variety of payment plans that can help
MarketWatchSCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (MarketWatch) — Many recent college graduates will soon be a little poorer each month. The reason: the six-month grace period for federal Stafford loans, the most popular type of student loan, is about to end for those who ...
Private Student Loans Are Making a Comeback
SmartMoney.comGetting a private student loan is about to become easier. A new push by private lenders and credit unions to capture some of the college lending market could open more doors for students looking to borrow, but the loans these businesses ...
Congress's Unfinished Tax Business (Part 2)
SmartMoney.comCongress departed Washington at the end of September with a big pile of unfinished tax work left behind. It’s unlikely anything tax-related will get done until after the Nov. 2 midterm elections. Until then, here’s Part 2 of my scorecard of ...
Health-Care Reform and Your Student Loans
SmartMoney.comChanges to Medicare, prescription coverage – and student loans? The health-care legislation approved by the House on Sunday does more than just revamp the health-care system. It also shakes up federal student loans and Pell grants.
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Student Loan Chutzpah; Mr. Petri's bill of college subsidies.
WSJ.comIn a nearby letter, Republican Congressman Tom Petri writes that we have been "sold a bill of goods on student loans." Our sin is to oppose a government takeover of college financing, which will take a giant leap forward if ...
Will Private Student Loans Get Safer?
SmartMoney.comPrivate student loans could soon become more borrower-friendly — if two pieces of legislation moving through Congress don’t push away too many lenders in the process.
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Sallie Mae Keeps Student Loan Portfolio
WSJ.comNEW YORK—SLM Corp. will keep its portfolio of federal student loans on its own books as it seeks cash to repay upcoming debt maturities and find other ways to unlock value for shareholders.
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Student Loans Get a Makeover
WSJ.comFamilies shopping for student loans to help pay for college this fall could find it easier to get a federal loan—and will probably pay less, too—as new laws relegate private lenders to a smaller role. But securing a private loan could ...
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The $555,000 Student-Loan Burden; As Default Rates on Borrowing for Higher Education Rise, Some Borrowers See No Way Out; 'This Is Just Outrageous Now'
WSJ.comWhen Michelle Bisutti, a 41-year-old family practitioner in Columbus, Ohio, finished medical school in 2003, her student-loan debt amounted to roughly $250,000. Since then, it has ballooned to $555,000.
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What the New Student-Loan Policy Means; Columnist Sue Shellenbarger answers readers' questions
WSJ.comQ: I have two student loans, a private variable-rate loan from a bank with a floating rate currently at about 3%, and a fixed-rate loan at 6.8% from the government. How will the government's new student-loan policy affect these kinds ...
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Student Loans: Legislation to Clarify Co-signer Obligations
WSJ.comWhen a student dies, the bill for his student loans often lives on – to the painful surprise and dismay of his co-signers. New Senate legislation seeks to change that, by requiring lenders to make clear the obligations of co-signers in the ...
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Sallie Mae Is Back in Shape
Barrons.comSallie Mae is a real beauty, but few investors are giving her a second look. Sallie, whose formal name is SLM, is a complex, one-of-a-kind financial company, with an attractive business mix that involves holding, originating and servicing ...
College Loans 101: New Rules for Borrowers
SmartMoney.comWith college costs still climbing—private-college tuition has soared almost a third since 2004—more students are becoming first-time borrowers. Indeed, 53 percent of incoming freshmen reported using loans last fall, the first significant ...
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Wells Fargo To Forgive Loans In Student Death, Disability
WSJ.comWells Fargo & Co. is changing the terms of its private student loan agreements, forgiving loans beginning Friday if a student beneficiary dies or is permanently disabled.
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