Published on Friday, September 28, 2007 by The Boston Globe



[Parts of 8 short articles on colleges Costs & Debts—count as 1 Rdg.][College] Net Price Keeps Creeping UpTuition and fees increased by a few percentage points across the board, and aid failed to keep pace, annual College Board report shows.By Rick Seltzer 25, 2017 In what has become a familiar pattern in the last several years, published tuition and fee prices increased at a relatively low, steady rate this year -- but financial aid again failed to keep up, resulting in students paying more to attend college.Tuition and fees increased by less than 2?percent between 2016-17 and 2017-18 after adjusting for inflation, according to new College Board reports released Wednesday. The reports, “Trends in Student Aid” and “Trends in College Pricing,” are released annually, showing both short-term changes and trends over longer periods of time.Private nonprofit four-year institutions’ average published tuition and fees increased by 1.9?percent, to $34,740, in 2017-18, after adjusting for inflation. Public four-year institutions’ tuition and fees rose by 1.3?percent, to $9,970. Public two-year colleges’ tuition and fees increased by 1.1?percent year over year, to $3,570…. [Dunn cut some for space reasons]In the decade from 2007-08 to 2017-18, published prices rose by an average of 2.4?percent?annually at private nonprofit four-year institutions, after adjusting for inflation. They rose by 3.2?percent annually at public four-year institutions and by 2.8?percent at public two-year institutions.Seemingly small annual increases can add up over decades. The published tuition and fee price in the public four-year sector was 3.13 times higher in 2017-18 than it was in 1987-88. The tuition and fee price in the private nonprofit four-year sector was 2.29 times higher in 2017-18 than it was 30 years earlier. The price in the public two-year sector was 2.25 times higher. [Dunn cut rest]Hogan wants to expand tuition-free college program [in Maryland]Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (Patrick Semansky/AP)By Ovetta Wiggins and Danielle Douglas-Gabriel 16, 2018 Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) wants to expand a new scholarship program that will allow some students to go to community college tuition-free. [This program begins 2019]On Monday, he said graduates of the College Promise program should be able to also attend four-year public state colleges at no cost.Maryland would become the second state, after New York, to guarantee free tuition for bachelor’s degrees for certain students who meet income and other eligibility requirements. The proposal is one of three initiatives, totaling $386?million over five years, that the governor is pushing to make college more affordable and reduce student debt.Free college tuition is a centerpiece of the campaign platform of Ben Jealous, Hogan’s Democratic challenger this November. For the past year, Jealous has touted his plan to allow all Maryland high school graduates to attend community college tuition-free and create a work-study program that would pay students at the four-year public colleges the equivalent of their tuition so they can graduate debt-free.Jealous said he would pay for the programs with a 1?percent tax on the top 1?percent of earners and savings from reducing the prison population by 30?percent… [Dunn cut some for space reasons]Hogan said none of his plans will involve a tax increase, and because of Maryland’s improving economy he would not have to cut another program to pay for them….The already approved College Promise program [for free community college] provides scholarships of up to $5,000 to students whose families earn less than $150,000 a year and adults earning less than $100,000. The state covers tuition left over after factoring in other scholarships and grants, and the legislation instructs the Maryland Higher Education Commission to prioritize need in distributing the money.The program includes requirements that supporters say will encourage students to graduate faster but proponents say will limit the number of students who are eligible. Participants must enroll in one of Maryland’s 16 community colleges within two years of finishing high school or obtaining a GED — requirements that could shut out adult learners. Part-time students, who comprise the lion’s share of the community college population, may also not be eligible, because students must take 12 credit hours of courses to qualify… [Dunn cut rest for space reasons].These States Offer Tuition-Free College Programs Several states now cover the cost of community college for residents.By Farran Powell , Reporter . 1, 2018 Share× Share on Facebook Post on Twitter Post to Reddit Email Share in LinkedIn Share on StumbleUpon Share on Google Plus West Virginia is the latest state to consider offering free community college.Lawmakers passed legislation on Jan. 30 that proposes the WV Invests Grant, a program that provides tuition-free college at the two-year level to in-state residents.One catch: Graduates have to reside in state for two years after completing their degree or certification. But tuition-free programs in other states have similar requirements. The Arkansas Future Grant, which focuses on high-demand fields, requires graduates to remain in state two years after completing their qualifications, as an example.Similar to other state programs, the proposed WV Invests Grant is a last-dollar program. This type of scholarship, often referred to as a promise program in most states, provides grant dollars to cover the remainder of tuition costs after Pell Grants and state aid are exhausted.Over the last three years, several states have enacted these promise-type programs for tuition-free college. The movement gained momentum after President Barack Obama's State of the Union address in 2015.In that speech, Obama said, “Tennessee, a state with Republican leadership, and Chicago, a city with Democratic leadership, are showing that free community college is possible. I want to spread that idea all across America, so that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today."At the time, the Tennessee Promise scholarship was one of two last-dollar programs at the state level. Since 2015, a number of states have enacted legislation for a promise program: New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Montana, Minnesota, Kentucky, Arkansas and Nevada. [& California & Delaware—See link below]Many of these programs bear similar hallmarks: a last-dollar grant program that primarily assists recent high school graduates at two-year colleges. New York with its Excelsior Scholarship program, however, is the only state program to offer last-dollar assistance to students at the four-year level.To qualify for these tuition-free programs, in-state students must usually apply to the state's tuition-free scholarship program and submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The following map below [click on link] shows states that currently offer two years of tuition-free community college to high school graduates. the University of California Set the Gold Standard for College Affordability Most students in the University of California system don’t pay a dime for tuition—and administrators pull it off without breaking the bank.by Kim Wilcox 28, 2018 Earlier this year, the West Virginia State Senate unanimously passed legislation making?community and?technical?colleges free, albeit with some controversial conditions. Last?year, New York made headlines?by creating the “Excelsior Scholarship,” which covers full tuition at the state’s public two- and four-year colleges for families under a certain?income level. These initiatives join programs in states like Oregon, Arkansas, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Louisiana, which have their own versions of free tuition. The free tuition debate even received an airing during the last presidential election, with the Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns offering proposals to make college free, or at least debt-free, nationwide.Of course, politicians can’t wave a magic wand and make tuition disappear. The money has to come from somewhere.?Considering the price tag of such endeavors, it is perfectly reasonable for taxpayers to ask: is it all worth it?Fortunately, California has a decades-long record showing that?the answer is a resounding yes—as long as you do it right.?The University of California (UC) system stands as one of the premier institutions of higher education in the world. What many don’t realize, however, is that for most of our in-state undergraduate students, it’s also free. Californians whose family income is less than $80,000 pay no tuition at UC’s nine undergraduate campuses.?That covers 56 percent of the 180,000 undergraduate California students in the system. Students with family incomes between $80,000 and $165,000, meanwhile, receive varying degrees of discounted tuition.UC is a model of a public university system that achieves both academic excellence and broad accessibility. It suggests that a successful free tuition effort must meet three essential criteria: one,?it must be financially sustainable; two,?it must help students attend?college who otherwise wouldn’t; and, three, it has to make a difference in student outcomes. California’s program meets all three.First, in terms of financial sustainability, UC relies on a robust partnership between the institution itself, the state, and the federal government….But ensuring sustainable funding is only one component of the free tuition equation. The second piece relies on answering?a?critical question: Does making tuition free help lower-income and disadvantaged students, or is it just a giveaway to upper-middle-class families who could?have otherwise afforded college??Why spend all this money if students can afford it anyway?At the University of California, more than 90 percent of grants and scholarship are?based on need, and the results speak for themselves.?Currently, 38 percent of UC undergraduates receive Pell Grants, which support low-income college students, with the campuses at Berkeley and Los Angeles enrolling 27 and 34 percent Pell Grant recipients respectively. (At UC Riverside,?where I work,?more?than half of our undergraduate students receive Pell Grants). To compare?with?other prominent public universities: the University of?Michigan enrolls 15 percent Pell Grant students and the University of Virginia enrolls 13 percent—roughly the same totals found at Ivy League campuses…Finally, making tuition free can only be justified if it makes a difference. If investing in public higher education isn’t moving the needle on student outcomes after graduation, then it is certainly fair to question the public expense. On this measure, the University of California again serves as evidence for the effectiveness of free tuition.Stanford University economist?Raj Chetty?has?calculated?“mobility rates” for colleges across the country, by?examining the proportion of low-income students enrolled by college and the likelihood of each college’s low-income students moving into the top of the income distribution after graduation. The University of California’s?average mobility rate is nearly three times greater than the nation’s other public flagship universities and two times greater than Ivy League universities. This means not only that UC enrolls substantially more low-income students, but also that these students earn significantly more than their parents—a cornerstone of the American Dream… [Cut rest for space reasons]Top US student loans official resigns over 'open hostility' from White House In his resignation letter, Seth Frotman said Trump’s budget director was serving ‘the most powerful financial companies’Associated Press Aug 2018 The government’s top official overseeing the $1.5tn student loan market resigned in protest on Monday, citing what he says is the White House’s open hostility toward protecting the nation’s millions of student loan borrowers. Seth Frotman will be stepping down as student loan ombudsman at the end of the week, according to his resignation letter. He held that position since 2016, but has been with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since its inception in 2011.Frotman is the latest high-level departure from the CFPB since Mick Mulvaney, Donald Trump’s budget director, took over in late November. But Frotman’s departure is especially noteworthy, since his office is one of the few parts of the US government that was tasked with handling student loan issues.The office was at the center of the lawsuits against for-profit institutions like Corinthian Colleges and is currently heading up a lawsuit between the CFPB and Navient, one of the nation’s largest student lenders. The Navient lawsuit has been mired in bureaucratic red tape as the Department of Education, headed by Betsy DeVos, has been unwilling to help the CFPB with their lawsuit. Since its creation, the student loan office has returned $750m to harmed borrowers. “You have used the bureau to serve the wishes of the most powerful financial companies in America,” Frotman wrote, addressing his letter to Mulvaney. “The damage you have done to the bureau betrays these families and sacrifices the financial futures of millions of Americans in communities across the country.”Congress created the student loan ombudsman office when it established the CFPB, citing a need for a go-to person to handle student loan complaints nationwide… [Cut rest for space reasons]Student-Debt Firms Protected From State Probes Under Trump PlanBy Shahien Nasiripour ? ?25?, ?2018? ? Student-loan debt collectors accused of misleading borrowers would get protection under a proposal from the Trump Administration.The Department of Education may issue a statement that federal law prohibits state governments from regulating companies that collect student debt on the department’s behalf, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The proposal, which would reverse the department’s position in 2016, could aid publicly traded companies such as Navient Corp. and Nelnet Inc., which collect monthly payments and counsel borrowers.Former President Barack Obama, whose administration tried to tighten oversight of the companies, was too aggressive in those efforts, Mick Mulvaney, the new chief of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, has said. More than 1 million Americans annually default on loans made directly by the department, federal data show.ADVERTISINGThe Education Department “seems to have taken a position that servicers are more important to the department than borrowers trying to repay the loans,” said Whitney Barkley-Denney, a lawyer at the North Carolina-based nonprofit Center for Responsible Lending....Half of the nation’s state attorneys general, including some Republicans, urged Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reject the student-loan industry’s requests to block state investigations into their businesses… [Dunn cut rest for space reasons]Student Loan Collector Cheated Millions, Lawsuits SayBy STACY COWLEY and JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG. 18, 2017 Navient, the nation’s largest servicer of student loans, has for years misled borrowers and made serious mistakes at nearly every step of the collections process, illegally driving up loan repayment costs for millions of borrowers, according to lawsuits filed on Wednesday by a federal regulator and two state attorneys general.Navient handles $300 billion in private and federal loans for some 12 million people — touching about one in four student loan borrowers. Every customer may have been affected by Navient’s misdeeds, said Lisa Madigan, the attorney general of Illinois, announcing her own lawsuit with the one filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.Navient does not make the loans, but it holds lucrative contracts to collect payments each month on behalf of banks, government and other lenders.The damages sought could reach billions of dollars, said Ms. Madigan, who sued Navient and Sallie Mae — which split into the two companies in 2014. Washington State’s attorney general, Bob Ferguson, filed a similar lawsuit against both companies.The lawsuits describe routine mistakes and lapses in oversight that over time added up to systematic failures, eerily similar to the mortgage servicing industry’s bungling of borrower accounts and property foreclosures during the 2008 recession. Financial companies eventually paid more than $100 billion to settle mortgage-related lawsuits. Navient mishandled loan payments, buried critical information in fine print and set obstacles for borrowers trying to release co-signers from their loans, among other failings, according to the consumer bureau’s legal filing.The move was one of a series of late-hour actions by the Obama administration just days before the inauguration of Donald J. Trump. It is also a politically perilous time for the consumer bureau, which has long been the target of criticism by Republican lawmakers. Several have called for the president-elect to fire its director, Richard Cordray — a move that would likely set off a legal challenge over the president’s authority to do so.Republicans have also taken aim at the Dodd-Frank Act, the 2010 law that imposed more regulations on banks and created the consumer bureau. The law also specified that the bureau’s director can be fired only for cause, defined as “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance.”Crushing student debt was a flash point on the campaign trail, as students complained that loans had diminished their career prospects. The issue helped fuel Bernie Sanders’s campaign in the Democratic primaries, and sparked discussions about reining in college costs. Total outstanding student loan debt hovers at more than $1.4 trillion. Student loan debt has surpassed credit card and auto loan debt.“The allegations of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau are unfounded, and the timing of this lawsuit — midnight action filed on the eve of a new administration — reflects their political motivations,” Patricia Nash Christel, a company spokeswoman, said in a written statement. “We will vigorously defend against these false allegations.”Regulators and consumer groups have long complained about widespread abuses in the student loan market, but Wednesday’s coordinated state and federal action, which stems from investigations that began about three years ago, is a legal attack that is likely to resonate throughout the industry.Navient is accused of deliberately steering borrowers away from income-based repayment plans that could have lowered their loan costs — in order to maximize its own profits. Enrolling customers in such plans can be time-consuming and complex, and Navient’s compensation system for its customer service representatives encouraged them to push struggling customers toward other options, according to the bureau’s complaint….Student debt protests planned after armed marshals arrest man for old loans Rupert Neate in New York February 2016 Seven US marshals armed with automatic weapons turned up at Paul Aker’s home in Houston, Texas, last week to arrest him over a $1,500 student loan debt dating back to 1987.“It was totally mind-boggling,” Aker said. “I was wondering, why are you here? I am home, I haven’t done anything ... Why are the marshals knocking on my door? It’s amazing.”Aker said he was arrested, shackled and taken to federal court. “I was told: ‘You owe $1,500.’ I just couldn’t believe it,” he told Fox 26. “I was taken before a judge surrounded by seven marshals.”Texas representative Gene Green, a Democrat, said it was unacceptable that US marshals are being used to collect decades old student loans. “There’s bound to be a better way to collect on a student loan debt that is so old,” he told the station.Aker is unlikely to be the only person to be surprised by marshals collecting on student loans. A source at the marshal’s office told Fox 26 that it is planning to serve warrants on 1,200 to 1,500 people over student loan debts. Student debts are at a record high, with 2015 graduates saddled with an average debt of $35,000, according to analysis of government data by Edvisors, a student finance advice site. That level of debt is more than twice the amount US graduates had just two decades earlier, even adjusted for inflation. About 40 million Americans have outstanding student loans.The reports come as students and graduates are preparing for a series of meetings on the Capitol demanding action over escalating student debt. Students from Corinthian Colleges, a for-profit college company that went bankrupt last year, will on Wednesday be joined by students from other for-profit colleges including the Art Institutes, ITT Tech, and the University of Phoenix in a “fight back against educational debt” protest.Last year, 15 former Corinthian students launched the nation’s first student debt strike, refusing to pay back loans incurred to attend for-profit Corinthian Colleges... [Dunn cut some for space reasons]Federal student loans often make up the vast majority of for-profit colleges’ revenue. They have been criticised for spending more of that money on marketing and recruitment than they do on education. [Dunn cut rest] ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download