Earlier this week, President Obama talked about the new College Scorecard tool in his State of the Union Address. This new tool provides college data to students and families going through the college selection process and aims to provide some statistics that allow families to assess the return on investment.

Tool Features

The College Scorecard allows users to evaluate colleges on:

• Costs
• Graduation rate
• Loan default rate
• Average borrowing
• Employment outlook

While historically, many families have chosen schools based on social environment, location, and academic programs, college costs are now a driving factor. The College Scorecard allows families to make better decisions around college expenses, by providing average borrowing and default rates of schools.
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With the holidays coming to a close, many of you are putting down the eggnog and starting to prepare for the upcoming year. All those who will be entering college in the fall, whether it be for their freshman or senior year, are trying to minimize the costs of school, and the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid, is one of the best ways to do that.

I’m back from my third semester of college to provide some tips for filing the FAFSA. So, without further ado, here are my five pieces of FAFSA advice.

1. Do It

Many families don’t file the FAFSA because they believe that they earn too much to qualify for federal aid. Income is only one of the factors that determines eligibility, so you should file the FAFSA regardless of income. Even if you only qualify for $500 of federal aid, this is certainly better than nothing.
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It’s January, and that means FAFSA season is underway! Students can now file their FAFSAs for the 2013-2014 academic year. As you prepare to file, we wanted to make sure that you have all the information at your fingertips, so read on to learn about some of the changes and enhancements that were made to the FAFSA form this year.

Food Stamps

To stay in line with program changes, references to food stamps have been altered to say Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Additionally, explanatory text regarding this name change has been removed from questions 74-78 and 95-99.

High School Information

Starting this year, if you answer “High School Diploma” to the high school completion status question, you are now required to complete the subsequent questions about the name, city, and state of your school. This change is intended to better-ensure applicant eligibility.
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Great news for student loan debt holders who are struggling to pay those loans every month. Have you heard of the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program, or the “Pay as You Earn” plan? Well if you haven’t, you might want to listen up.

To give you a little history- the US Department of Education implemented an Income Based Repayment (IBR) program in 2007, which aimed to help borrowers pay off their student loan debt, relative to their earnings. However, the program wasn’t cutting it as the student debt number continued to rise to $864 billion in federal loans and most students out of college were landing low paying jobs.

The improved version of this program, also referred to as the “Pay as You Earn” plan, is designed to address this issue and will launch on December 21st, 2012.

This plan is designed to do two things:

1. Reduce the cap on monthly payments from 15 to 10 percent of discretionary income.
2. Accelerate the time it takes for students’ loans to be forgiven from 25 to 20 years.

Here is an example of potential savings with this improved plan for a household of 1 with an income of $45,000/year and $60,000 in loans:

To qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” program:

• You must have taken out a federal student loan after October 1, 2007 AND have taken out at least one loan on or after October 1, 2011 (Private student loans do not apply).
• Use the IBR calculator to determine if you are eligible for the Income Based Repayment Program.

The Department of Education estimates that at least 1.6 million borrowers qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” plan, but very few are aware that it exists, so spread the word and share this important information with your peers! Learn more about Income Based Repayment.

Happy Veterans Day, and National Military Family Month! In the words of Maya Angelou, “How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!” To thank all of the military men, women, and families who serve our nation, here are some resources to help veterans everywhere take advantage of their education benefits.

Funding Education

Scholarships for Veterans and Families

There are hundreds of scholarships out there to help veterans and their families receive a college education. Whether you’re a veteran, or the spouse or child of a soldier, there are lots of scholarships to take advantage of. Here are just a few:

• Veterans Tuition Awards
• Military Service Recognition Scholarship
• Regents Award for Children of Veterans
• Veteran, Spouse of One Disabled From Service Scholarships
• Military.com Scholarship Finder
• Tillman Military Scholarships
• Leave No Veteran Behind

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With millions of students putting in the effort to search for scholarships, it seems a shame not to share the findings! That’s why StudentScholarshipSearch.com asked students, just like you, to suggest their scholarship lists – and the results were fantastic! Students picked topics that were important to them, created their lists, and now they’re being shared with you!

From scholarships for southpaws to no essay scholarships, and scholarships for single parents, it’s never been easier for students to find scholarships relevant to them. To find a student scholarship list relevant to you, head on over to StudentScholarshipSearch.com and get started!

We should also mention that if you’re a student who has put a lot of time into researching scholarships, you can share your list, too. Suggest a list and help other students find scholarships – after all, why reinvent the wheel?

Back in July 2011, Neville R. Brown, the President of the Eastern Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (EASFAA), created Financial Aid Day. This third Wednesday of October serves as a day to stop and appreciate all that financial aid administrators do for their students and their schools.

According to the Financial Aid Day Explanatory Text,

On FAD, colleagues are encouraged to do something special – have an office party, a potluck, a toast, etc., to celebrate our contribution to our profession. Colleagues are also urged to take lots of pictures to record this momentous occasion, so that we can share them with our regional, national, state and federal colleagues, as we demonstrate our respect, love and passion for Financial Aid: A Grand Profession.

So, from the Student Loan Network, thank you to all the Financial Aid Administrators out there!

With the presidential election creeping closer and closer, it’s important that students know how the candidate’s policies will affect them. While Obama and Romney agree on a few education points, there are some key differences consumers should take note of. Here’s a quick overview of the major differences:

Student Loans

One point of agreement between the candidates is the importance of keeping student loan costs low for families. Both parties were in favor of the 3.4% interest rate extension that was enacted back in July 2012.

Obama – President Obama ended the Family Friendly Education Loan Program (FFELP) and in its place created the Federal Direct Loan Program. This shifted the student loan program from the private sector to federal as part of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (HCERA).

Romney – Candidate Romney is in favor of reversing the “nationalization of the student loan market”, bringing competition back through private lender participation. While it is unclear whether FFELP would be reinstated, he does propose an end to the Direct Lending Program created under Obama’s Administration.
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Finding scholarships is tough. With so many students looking for aid, many often get discouraged and stop applying. However, searching for scholarships has never been easier. Recently relaunched, the new StudentScholarshpSearch.com allows students to find scholarships quickly and easily, no registration required!

With Student Scholarship Search, you can find scholarships for all sorts of things like state scholarships, scholarships by interest or even by career. The important thing when searching for scholarships is to look for what’s unique to you. Are you a 6’5″ girl? Search for tall scholarships. Do you live in Hawaii? There are scholarships for that too. Searching for scholarships is more effective when you narrow down your criteria – it’s less overwhelming, and you can be more productive.

To make it even easier, you could always use the scholarship matcher, which identifies applicable scholarships based on 5 simple questions like your GPA or gender. Or you can check out scholarship lists created by other students with your interests.

With thousands of scholarships in one place, you can now spend less time hunting, and more time winning money to help get you through school.

Head on over to StudentScholarshipSearch.com to see what scholarships you can find!

Every year we get the same question, so here is your answer:

For the 2013–2014 year, the FAFSA will be green, with a purple section for parents.

For the current year, 2012–2013 the FAFSA is orange.

In previous years:

• 2011–2012 FAFSA was Yellow
• 2010–2011 FAFSA was Blue

For detailed information on completing the FAFSA, visit FAFSAonline.