Guide to Education Grants

 
 
Secretary Spellings announced the national student loan cohort default rate fell to 4.6 percent from last year’s rate of 5.1 percent.  Although default rates remain at historic lows, dropping from levels as high as 22 percent in the early nineties, they are still a major concern for those involved.    Lenders in the FFEL program attributed the decrease—a borrower and taxpayer benefit—to their efforts in financial literacy and default prevention.  One association described the news as “bittersweet,” as the customer service that allows borrowers to maintain repayment schedules is one of several benefits to borrowers, schools, and taxpayers that will have to be curbed in the wake of the recently passed $22 billion cut to the student loan program.
 
If you are having genuine difficulties making student loan payments, contact your lender.  It may not be something that you want to do and it may seem like you’re in a heck of a hole, but you have to remember the first rule of holes (“stop digging”) and make that call.  It does you absolutely zero good to be unreachable, and you’d be surprised at the number of lenders willing to work with you.  No one benefits—neither the borrower, nor the lender, nor the taxpayer—from a defaulted loan.   

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 7th, 2007 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Education Funding News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.