Reports here in October showed that the problem of increasing college costs is still in place as there were some indications that college tuition at a typical four year public university increased this year, which is a trend we have seen in the past as many colleges and universities are seeing higher tuition and fee requirements for new students. Obviously, there are many theories and ideas as to why this problem is still in place but students are in a situation where they are in need of more financial assistance but worries over student loan debt remains a major problem for some and has made attending college more expensive or simply not an option that some feel they have.
While there are changes that are hopefully on the horizon in the area of student loan repayment options, forgiveness plans, and hopefully more affordability when it comes to repaying student loans debts, many officials are in a position where they hope student loans will not become as easily accessible or necessary for students as there are those who feel that the ability of students to access student loan funding so easily has led to some higher costs. There are private banks that are attempting to compete with federal loans when it comes to offering financial aid to students but there are arguments that these loans from private banks are not as easy to come by, especially when a lender may take into account aspects of a borrower’s financial life, and this could lead to a situation where a student may not be able to borrow a loan to meet their needs.
Yet, the federal loans have been one option that both traditional and nontraditional students have had for quite some time as even those who are in a bad credit situation may be able to get an affordable student loan to help me college costs, but the excessive amount of debt that has been seen over the past months and years has led some to question whether this easy access to financing may be one reason that universities are increasing their tuition costs at rates that are higher than earnings on some college savings plans, which was recently reported here in October as well.
Since many parents and college students are unable to meet costs out-of-pocket or may be attempting to save for school with certain types of plans that may not be keeping pace in terms of their earnings versus increases in tuition, there are more students who are focusing on free sources of financial assistance like scholarships and grants, despite the fact that there are some proposals that may reduce the amount of certain types of federal grants or make traditional financing from these resources more difficult for some.
Since students are in a position where they can get college loans to help meet their needs, advisers are still pointing out that it has usually served graduates well to make sure they only borrow what they need, keep the total amount they borrow in a range where it will be much lower than what they expect to earn during their first year of employment, and obviously students should avoid turning to loans at all until they have absolutely exhausted all forms of scholarships or grants that may be available for their specific areas of study, from their university, or even from local or state financial aid sources.