Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Poor Economy Spells Bad News For Students Needing Aid

By Ronaldo Q Cacheezey

US college students are the latest victims in this global financial crunch and financing from lenders goes South. American students who need a student loan to pay their way through college, are starting to have a tough time accessing funds. An ever increasing number of public and private student loan lenders are cutting back on financial assistance, causing students hardship in finding student aid.

Word of a state agency pulling out of providing education assistance, has surfaced. This will affect 100 colleges and universities alone, and the fear exists that many more will become similarly affected. The reason behind this drastic move is cited as being the credit squeeze.

Traditionally, student aid have been backed by some of the major US banks, including JP Morgan, Sachs Goldman and Citibank. These banks will no longer be supporting the auction system that allocated resources for money. There are also predictions that education assistance will become more pricey.

The major source of loans for students is a federal government scheme in which it backs loans to means-tested students. The student aid are often used for tuition fees and then a further private loan is usually needed to cover general expenses. It is these private loans which will become more difficult to obtain. As yet, there is no evidence to suggest that lenders are failing to support their obligations to the federal loans.

The other area of concern is the growing number of families who have been caught by the mortgage crisis - many will have college-aged children. The people most affected by the disappearance of student loans will be low income earners and people with a low credit score, and families suffering with their mortgages are now included in this group. There will be a growing number of students who will be refused loans due to their parents' credit rating.

An estimated 100,000 college students will no longer qualify for federal government or private company loans this year because of the problem of poor credit ratings. This situation adds to the reduction in the number of companies providing student loans to make a grim future for some aspiring college students.

Students caught up in this financial crisis and who are unable to obtain student aid still have a few solutions left. You should go and talk to the student aid department at the school you're wanting to attend to see if there are any scholarships or grants available to you. They may also be able to get you enrolled in a State aid program or find you a source of aid not available to just anyone.

Always remember this, never lose hope. If you can't get a hundred percent of your college needs financed, you may have to cut back on classes and get a full or part time job and work your way through college. I know, some will go without college rather than work, but you can't deny that it's effective.

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