Ins and Outs of Student Loan Repayment
While students come by information during loan counseling, they often have further questions about how loan repayment works. Designed for students ...
While students come by information during loan counseling, they often have further questions about how loan repayment works. Designed for students ...
MUSCATINE, Iowa — The ears of unsophisticated professionals in Muscatine and across the county perked up after hearing about President Barack Obama’s design for student-loan forgiveness.
While speaking at the University of Colorado Denver Wednesday evening, Obama said it’s never been more substantial to get a college education, but it’s also never been more expensive.
The president’s plan, which he says he will impose by director authority, will accelerate a measure passed by Congress that reduces the maximum required payment on student loans from 15 percent of discretionary gains annually to 10 percent.
He will put it into effect in 2012, instead of 2014. In besides, the White House says the remaining debt would be forgiven after 20 years, a substitute alternatively of 25. About 1.6 million borrowers could be affected.
Obama will also allow borrowers who have a loan from the Federal Kinsfolk Education Loan Program and a direct loan from the government to consolidate them into one. The consolidated loan would carry an interest speed of up to a half percentage point less than before. This could affect 5.8 million borrowers.
Andrea Scott, 26, chairwoman of the Greater Muscatine Consortium of Commerce & Industry’s Young Professionals Network, said anything that helps minor people is beneficial. However, this may just be a bandage to a bigger problem.
“The issue of distinct loans needs to be discussed before people go to college,”said Scott, who is ramification manager of First National Bank of Muscatine’s Westside Office at 2017 Cedar Plaza Mean. “Everything is so important to know, we have to train people on everything.”
Scott said the one questions she gets asked the most from innocent professionals, or young adults just entering the job world, is about consolidating loans.
“A lot of people don’t hear tell how to or what consolidating is,” Scott said.
Scott said she generally refers people to the management’s website on load questions.
By DAWNE LEIKER
dleiker@dailynews.net
It's prevailing to require a shift of thinking to slow population decline in western Kansas counties. A hours Ericka Gillespie says is almost like "passing the baton."
Thirty-nine of 50 unwed counties have taken advantage of an opportunity to spur economic growth through the Georgic Opportunity Zone program, signed into law by Gov. Sam Brownback on April 11.
Gillespie, Quinter municipality administrator, together with Citizens for the Economic Development of Gove County, plan to adjoin with their county commissioners Monday night, asking them to "opt in" to the student loan forgiveness portion of the ROZ program.
"Our commissioners don't fully commiserate with it, and they want to take the opportunity to get their questions answered before they do go ahead and opt in," Gillespie said. The student loan forgiveness program offers up to $3,000 per year ($15,000 most benefit) for individuals who graduate from an accredited post-secondary institution and move to an ROZ county. The student loan forgiveness slice of the program is a county-state partnership.
Gillespie said several inquiries regarding the program had been fielded by her chore, but until the county opts in, no action can be taken.
Counties must opt in by Dec. 31 to be eligible for funds for the 2012 economic year.
Suffering a 12.2 percent population decline since 2000, Gove County residents have concentrated money-making development efforts on creating new opportunities in the community.
"This (ROZ program) is a tool in our toolbox to relief," Gillespie said.
"We're losing our greatest resource, and that's our people."
When asked by residents what the county's coming on investment for their contribution of $1,500 toward the student loan forgiveness program is, Gillespie said she explains individuals using the program tenable will pay vehicle taxes in the county, use medical services, pay for housing, buy groceries and perhaps have children in the secondary system.
Even after explaining the benefits, Gillespie said, "it's a tough sell right now."
"We're a very conservative county," she said. "We've affectionate of dug our heels in the sand a little bit and said we don't need help."
For Trego County, though, it wasn't an outcome of whether or not the county would opt into the program, but just how much of an investment they planned to make. About six weeks after being notified about the program, the county allocated funds for three people to take gain of the program.
"It's a great deal, and it's bringing people into the county and into the city of WaKeeney ... and we're lately going to move forward with it," said Trego County Economic Development Vice-president Jody Zeman.
She said she questions why some counties have not opted into the student loan forgiveness program, but pointed out it might be spectre the state would not pay its part of the program.
Zeman said not only should young people be encouraged to move back to the pastoral communities, but also retirees and early retirees, so the community has a "good mix."
An incentive of the ROZ program for those who don't have student loan accountability is a state income tax exemption for up to five years for individuals who move to an ROZ county from outside the shape.
Zeman moved back to her hometown of WaKeeney from Denver in 2003, after living there 30 years.
"I had semi-retiried -- at least I trifle so," she said. However, she took on the job as Trego County economic development director in May.
Gillespie, who had been Hays Judicature of Commerce director until she was recruited for the Quinter city administrator position in the summer of 2010, is another specimen of someone who reinvested time and talent in her own hometown.
"I had always advocated for home and community-based services, and this was my time to walk the talk," she said. "I took my daughter out of the Hays school, brought her back here and we started Citizens for Monetary Development of Gove County, an all volunteer group."
Although Gillespie said it was too much to wish to reverse population decline in the county, the group is working to slow the swing. She has found some residents hesitant to discuss the future of the county, but has encouraged them not to be afraid of the talk and provide input to their legislators.
"I meet a lot of resistance; maybe they think if we don't pay heed to it, it will go away," she said. "But it's a threat that we all face."
Sustaining rural populations is key, she added, to maintaining a rapport Kansas economy.
"We have clumps of metropolitan areas, but everything else is rural," Gillespie said. "We fancy in that way of life, and we have to do what we can to preserve it, because we feel we're equally as important.
"We may not manufacture airplanes or boats, but agriculture is what turns the pivot to get Kansas going."
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The Bottom Line book of freebies They also have gen on student-loan forgiveness programs for ... who will answer your questions regarding paying for college, loans, aid packages, ... |
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Congressional Record, V. 149, Pt. 3, February 12, 2003 to February 24, 2003 The Secretary shall give superiority in providing loan repayment under this section for a fiscal year to student borrowers who received loan repayment under ... |
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The 250 Personal Finance Questions for Your 20s & 30s You can get an application from your student loan lender. For more information on the loan forgiveness program for progeny care providers, ... |
Train wrecks always make for great photographs, but train wrecks only serve a purpose if we learn from them. If the allegations made by the New Jersey Attorney General against those running the Stevens Institute of Technology turn out to be true, Stevens will become one of the great train wrecks in nonprofit history. Already the story offers... Jack Siegel's book, A Desktop Guide for Nonprofit Directors, Officers, and Advisors: Avoiding Trouble While Doing Good , has quickly become the go-to guide for nonprofit executives and advisors. So what are people saying about the Guide? In the October 2007 edition of the The Federal Lawyer, New York lawyer George W. Gowen and nonprofit authority, wrote:
Some of our readers have followed the link to the Amazon.com Web site, but apparently have not bought the Guide. If they were turned off by the price, they should reconsider. One prominent attorney in the exempt organization field grabbed a review copy of the Guide and couldn't put it down. She has instructed a number of her clients to buy it, pointing out to them that for less than 1/2 hour of her billable time, they receive a lesson (and resource) that tells it like she would like it told. If you are starting a new charity, the Guide could save you thousands of dollars in legal fees by teaching you how to better utilize your legal counsel and framing the issues so you don't spin your wheels at $400 an hour. may explain how Stevens jumped the tracks, assuming the allegations are true. CEO Raveche was hired by Stevens in 1988 to serve as its president. According to the complaint, the bylaws were then amended to expand Raveche’s powers. Following the amendment, he not only served as president, but became CEO and a voting member of the board of directors. He also, according to the complaint, served as an By stating those alleged facts upfront, AG Milgram is showing her hand. She and her investigators view Raveche as an imperial leader. AG Milgram is taking the same approach that those who examined the American University and Smithsonian compensation scandals took. She is painting a picture of an out-of-control CEO. Throughout the complaint, AG Milgram supports her view of Raveche by examining the role played by the board of trustees. We see that in Paragraphs 119 through 126. When it came to the receipt of financial information, one board member apparently told AG Milgram or a member of her staff, “The Board of Trustees is a Mushroom patch and always has been from my experience.” That trustee could “almost guarantee…that the Trustees did not know about the actual performance of SIT.” Another trustee reported that the board was never provided with final budgets or a report reconciling proposed and actual budgets. A third trustee stated that during his years of service (1996 to 2005) there “was never a report on the state of any of the endowments.” A fourth trustee who was interviewed apparently told AG Milgram or a staff member that the board was not provided with key financial information documents. This trustee indicated that when questions were asked, “[t]he President, Chairman of the Board obfuscated the results so you could not tell what happened.” The discussion of Raveche’s compensation also suggests a strong executive and passive board (Paragraphs 323 through 359) AG Milgram alleges that the compensation committee was an ad hoc committee that was not created in accordance with Stevens’ bylaws or New Jersey law. Until 2003, the board did not nominate or vote for members of the compensation committee, according to the complaint. The complaint refers to a retroactive salary adjustment, email authorization of a loan to Raveche for $500,000 secured by a home in Vermont (the board apparently was not advised of prior to the loan closing), and after-the-fact notifications of the board regarding Raveche’s salary. One trustee wrote an email to a professor which described the process by which Raveche’s compensation was determined, which stated: Another trustee allegedly reported that from 1999 to 2005, the board never voted on, approved, or was shown comparability analysis relating to Raveche’s compensation. AG Milgram then does something that we are seeing more frequently. She alleges that Stevens failed to make adequate disclosures regarding Raveche’s compensation in its Form 990. AGs are using the Form 990 misstatements and omissions in their enforcement actions. Both PricewaterhouseCoopers and Grant Thornton are named as key actors in the introduction to the complaint (Paragraphs 18 through 19), but there are no allegations of wrongdoing on their part. Every auditor should read Paragraphs 138 through 179 of the complaint. PwC, in what apparently was a 2005 management letter, wrote: According to the complaint, Stevens had to pay approximately $1.5 million to PwC before PwC could finish the PwC 2004 Report and its FY2004 audit. The PwC report indicated that on an “overall basis…[the] internal controls at Stevens Institute are below acceptable levels throughout the organization.” The report concluded that the staff did “not possess the requisite sets to process, account for and manage financial information." According to the complaint, the board was not provided with the complete 2004 PwC Report, nor was its advised of the key conclusions. On January 7, 2005, PwC informed the audit committee: This is less likely to happen today because of changes in the auditing standards that now require that auditors communicate with the board. Those pronouncements permit communication with the audit committee, but assume the audit committee is independent. Paragraph 158 aptly demonstrates why the board, not management, should retain and control the relationship with the auditor and why Raveche should not have been an ex officio member of the audit committee. The engagement letter should require that the auditor provide at least several independent members of the board with all communications from the auditor. It should also require that every member of the board be informed if the auditor withdraws from the engagement and the reason for the withdrawal. Senator Grassley will be particularly interested in Paragrpahs 372 through 447 of the complaint. These paragraphs focus on the use of outside compensation consultants. Paragraph 373 alleges that certain insiders attempted to influence the executive-compensation comparability study conducted by Towers Perrin. According to the Paragraph 374, one email from Stevens CFO: Paragraph 384 alleges that none of this information was shared with the full board. At some point, Stevens replaced Towers Perrin with Hewitt Associates. Paragrapgh 392 alleges that Hewitt’s preliminary report concluded that Raveche’s total compensation was far above market value. Hewitt doesn’t fair as well in the complaint as Towers Perrin. There are allegations suggesting that Hewitt was more amenable to making peer group adjustments than Towers Perrin. While we are sure that all consultants know this, there is an obvious lesson here for auditors, lawyers, and compensation consultants: Don’t be thrilled when you replace a competitor unless you know the true reason for the change of horses. And if you are replacing a competitor, make sure you the real reason for the departure. As for Senator Grassley: You are in such a hurry to eliminate the rebuttable presumption because it is an impediment to the IRS. If the allegations in the complaint are true, the IRS should have no trouble overcoming the presumption in this case. Do we, however, want IRS agents second guessing honest business judgments? We think not given the costs of those battles. And so we come to the question of the day: Why didn’t AG Milgram name the full board in the complaint? A spokesperson for the board described the board as being composed of “sophisticated men and women” James Queally, Stevens Tech Makes Pre-emptive Move as AG is Set to Slam Hoboken College , NewJersey.com (Sept 17, 2009). If the allegations are true, there was a concerted effort to keep the board in the dark, but we do not believe that excuses the board. Until boards, particularly those comprised of sophisticated individuals, understand that they perform an important oversight function and must be prepared to push back and demand information, we will continue to see stories like this one. And that is why we believe AGs should get tough with boards that abdicate their duties. We are reluctant to second-guess AG Milgram at this point in the process. It may be that she is holding the Sword of Damocles over the board’s head, hoping that they will vote to replace or sue key members of management. She also may be pulling her punches in an effort to gain their cooperation, which may already be bearing fruit, as several statements from board members in the complaint demonstrate. Time will tell, but at this point, if the allegations prove to be true, we are unwilling to give the board a pass. Sophisticated people should know how to ask questions, make demands, and discharge their responsibilities as board members. Internal Revenue Service - Circular 230 Disclosure: As provided for in Treasury regulations, any advice (but none is intended) relating to federal taxes that is contained in this communication is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any plan or arrangement addressed herein. Copyright 2009, Charity Governance Consulting LLC. All Rights Reserved. You may not copy any portion of this post to a computer "clipboard" for re-posting anywhere or e-mailing, or otherwise reproduce this post. If you want others to review this post, you may provide them with a link to this web blog. Any use of the material or ideas in this post by reporters or other publishers shall make reference to Jack Siegel, author of "A Guide for Non-Profit Directors, Officers and Advisors: Avoiding Trouble While Doing Good" and this web blog. For additional information call 773-325-2124
Make sure that what you are looking for the best student consolidation loan you know if you’re looking for a private student loans consolidation or you’re looking for a Federal student loan consolidation. You may give a any kinds of loan forgiveness that were previously available. I’m sorry, that was kind of half baked. Can I consolidate my plus loans with my Stafford loans? It is commonly known as FAS SA. They should answer your questions regarding any kind of student consolidation loan. WhoWhen looking for grants for single mothers , make sure you take a look at federal grants as well as privately offered grants. Either way, grants are better because you don’t have to pay them back.?? I want to avoid feeling naughty. You could forfeit original repayment incentives.