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Resource Library

Welcome to our library. Here you’ll find access to a plethora of information from third-party sources.

Feel free to return often as new content is added consistently.

While we do our best to provide access to objective information it should be noted that the views, information, or opinions expressed through any of the links within are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of HUG Your Student Debt, Inc. “HUG” and/or its employees or representatives.

Date:
02/19/2019

Student advocates have for years complained about the complex set of options borrowers must navigate to repay their student loans. Student loan borrowers are faced with a dizzying nine repayment plans based on their income, in addition to a standard 10-year loan-repayment plan.

There's a growing consensus that Congress should reduce those options to one income-based option on top of the standard plan.

Senator Lamar Alexander, the chairman of the Senate education committee,...

Date:
04/04/2012

More than a decade after Aurora Almendral first set foot on her dream college campus, she and her mother still shoulder the cost of that choice.

Almendral had been accepted to New York University in 1998, but even after adding up scholarships, grants, and the max she could take out in federal student loans, the private university — among nation's costliest — still seemed out of reach. One program filled the gap: Aurora's mother, Gemma Nemenzo, was eligible for a different federal loan...

Date:
04/04/2014

Parents are increasingly struggling to repay federal loans they’ve taken out to help cover their children’s college costs, according to newly released federal data.

The Parent Plus program allows parents to take out essentially uncapped amounts to cover college costs, regardless of the borrower’s income or ability to repay the loan. As the cost of college has risen, the program has become an increasingly critical workaround for families that max out on federal student loans and can’t...

Date:
03/03/2014

The national default rate for Parent PLUS loans has nearly tripled in recent years, but it remains well below the

default rates for other federal student loans, according to data released for the

rst time last week by the U.S.

Department of Education.

Of all parent borrowers whose PLUS loans entered repayment in the 2010

scal year, the data show, 5.1

percent were in default three years later. That

gure has risen steadily from the 1...

Date:
02/21/2019

Parents often try to do what’s bestfor their children, including helping with studentloans and college tuition — but at what

costto them?

About 47% of parent cosigners felttheir children’s student debt had affected their retirement, according to a survey of 850

parent cosigners. More than 62% said their credit scores were negatively affected by cosigning private studentloans, and

40% said their decision to cosign has hurttheir ability to...

Date:
12/20/2016

To recoup student-loan debt, the government is leaving people who rely on Social Security with benefits that

fall below federal poverty guidelines, the Government Accountability Office said Tuesday.

The number of older Americans defaulting on education loans has steadily increased in recent decades, as many

have returned to college or co-signed loans for family members. Unpaid debt has resulted in the government

garnishing the benefits of...

Date:
02/13/2019

The experience of being crushed by student debt is no longer limited to the young. New federal data shows millions of Americans who are retired or nearing retirement face this burden, as well as the possibility of having their Social Security benefits garnished to make payments.

Americans age 60 and older are the fastest-growing age group of student loan debtors. Older debtors, many of whom live hand-to-mouth on fixed incomes, are more likely to default. When that occurs with federal...

Date:
02/21/2019

Most debt you can get out of—painful as it might be. Credit card debt can be

cleared in bankruptcy. A mortgage can end in foreclosure. But student debt is

more sticky, and it turns out it can have big consequences in retirement.

Renold Zergat—Getty Images

2/20/2019 Retirement & Student Loans: Student Loan Crisis Affects Retirement Savings | Money

http://money....

Date:
05/20/2017

When it comes to helping Neela Hummel's mother-in-law repay the parent PLUS

(https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/paying-for-college/student-

loan/articles/2010/08/17/parent-plus-loans-frequently-asked-questions) loans she borrowed years ago for

her son's schooling, the family has an informal arrangement.

Neela and her husband Tom regularly log into his...

Date:
05/29/2017

Over the years I have seen many retirement plans ruined, simply because substantial amounts of investment dollars, originally allocated for retirement, were used to pay for college education.

This selfless act of support can create a long-term problem for the retiree. However, it is not the act of paying for the education that is at issue but rather how and when you choose to pay is what needs to be explored.

First, let's take a look at general college costs; according to...

Date:
05/06/2013

With more sources of debt and fewer repayment options, seniors are nowthe fastest-growing age group for student

loan debt.

We’ve all heard about the dire straits today’s college students face

upon graduation: tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt that

they may never be able to fully repay. But what about senior citizens?

The truth is, Americans aged 60 and over are in a financial situation

just as...

Date:
08/08/2018

It's no secret that student loans are a hot topic in the United States nowadays. They are mentioned in the news, both in a positive and negative light, almost every day.

With all of this news circulating around the internet, television​, and in print - it is natural to become curious about the numbers behind student loan debt.

$1.52 trillion the total amount of outstanding student loan debt

45 million the total number of student loan borrowers

$27,975...

Date:
08/07/2017

Employers eager to recruit and retain skilled workers in a tight labor

market have about 1.34 trillion reasons to expand their benefits

package to include assistance in helping employees repay their

student loans.









New work perk: Paying off student

loans  2:52 PM ET Thu, 14 July 2016 | 01:53

MARKETS BUSINESS CNBC TV MENU

2/18/2019 Student...

Date:
02/06/2019

A new credit assessment program could help millions of Americans instantly improve their credit scores, simply by adding data from their checking account.

Consumers who choose to use Experian Boost (an online platform set to launch early this year) give the company permission to access their online banking accounts to look at utility, cable TV and phone payments for the past 24 months. The entire process should take about five minutes and the updated FICO score is delivered to the...

Date:
02/07/2019

There's a new student loan repayment program - and it can help you repay student loans to the tune of $75,000.

Here's what you need to know.

New Student Loan Repayment Program

This new student loan program helps attack two epidemics in the U.S.: student loan debt and opioid addiction.

Student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt category - second only to mortgages and higher than credit card debt. According to personal finance site Make Lemonade,...

Date:
02/19/2019

Some schools don't charge tuition.

Want to go to college but wish you could avoid tuition? It's possible. Schools throughout the country offer free tuition to admitted students. But read the fine print. Students may have to hail from a certain state or region or come from a low-income background. Some schools require on-campus work or service after graduation.

Updated on Sept. 10, 2018: This list has been updated to reflect information for the 2018-2019 school year.

Date:
04/03/2018

WATERVILLE — A graduate of Colby College has given the school $2.5 million, which will be dedicated entirely to financial aid for Maine students.

In a news release from Colby, the college announced that Steve Ford, who graduated from the college in 1968 and is a native of Gardiner, has committed to providing the support for Maine students at Colby, where he received financial aid and has family ties.

Steve Ford and his wife, Mary, have been consistent contributors to Colby...

Date:
04/25/2018

The Connecticut House of Representatives gave final passage Wednesday night to legislation that opens financial aid in the state to “dreamers,” the undocumented immigrants brought here as children, only to find themselves priced out of higher education as they come of age.

The legislation, passed on a 91-59 vote, makes undocumented immigrants eligible to apply for help from the $150 million pool of financial aid awarded annually to students at the state’s public colleges and...

Date:
01/03/2019

It looks like things haven't improved much for student loan borrowers: 99.5% of people who applied for public service loan forgiveness have been rejected.

Here's what you need to know and what to do about it.

Student Loan Forgiveness: Debt Statistics

The U.S. Department of Education released the latest statistics for public service loan forgiveness:

As of September 30, 2018, 41,221 student loan borrowers submitted 49,669 applications for public service loan...

Date:
02/15/2019

When it comes to determining a good SAT score for college applications, the answer depends on a student's ambitions.

The SAT, an admissions exam many colleges and universities require of applicants, is administered by the College Board and scores students on a scale of 200 to 800 for various sections. The new SAT was released in March 2016 and tests students on evidence-based reading and writing and math, with both sections worth a maximum score of 800 each. The essay portion is...

Date:
01/20/2017

Whether or not you believe the allegations, the jaw-dropping dossier of sins that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau accuses the nation’s largest student loan servicer of committing is useful for two crucial reasons.

First, it’s a reminder of just how much can go wrong when we force inexperienced young adults, especially, to navigate a complex financial services offering. We shouldn’t be surprised, but we should be ashamed: Elected representatives cut support for higher...

Date:
02/12/2019

Q. To assist our son in fulling his dream of becoming an Air Force pilot, we took out a Parent Plus loan to cover his tuition. We borrowed $90,000 over four years. Is there any write-off we can take? It's tough paying $1,200 per month and almost $1,100 goes to interest. It's killing my retirement.

-- Retirement-poor

A. You son is very lucky that you took out loans on his behalf.

Hopefully the day will come when he can help you with the payments.

That's a...

Date:
01/17/2019

College students from rural areas are moving to big cities for higher wages to help pay off their student loans, according to new research from the Federal Reserve.

Why it matters: A "rural brain drain" has been pulling college-educated people out of rural America and into urban areas, deepening an educational and political divide that is increasingly coming to define the country.

Show less

The average age of the U.S. rural population is going up, and the share of...

Date:
02/02/2019

Americans older than 60 are saddled by student loan debt worth a whopping $86 billion — a figure that rose 161% between 2010 and 2017, the largest increase out of any age group, the WSJ reports.

What's happening: Some of these seniors took out loans to pay for their children’s college education. In other cases, they went back to school after the 2008 financial crisis put them out of work and were forced to borrow to finance their education. In FY 2015, the government seized social...

Date:
05/21/2018

Some student loan borrowers will get another chance to qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.

Congress has set aside $350 million to help fix what lawmakers have called a "glitch" in the enrollment process.



Teachers, social workers, public defenders and others who work for the government or non-profits can qualify for student loan forgiveness after making 10 years of payments. But many who thought they were on track for forgiveness have...

Pages

“What I would like to do... once I take care of all my kids' student loans, is buy a red 1965 Mustang and fully restore it.”
– Mike Quigley
“This would be a much better world if more married couples were as deeply in love as they are in debt.”
– Earl Wilson
"If we don't change direction soon, we'll end up where we're going."
– Irwin "Professor" Corey
"Bankruptcy laws allow companies to smoothly reorganize, but not college graduates burdened by student loans."
– Robert Reich
The road to success is always under construction
– Lily Tomlin
"There is scarcely anything that drags a person down like debt."
– P. T. Barnum
"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
– Marie Curie