Jeff Mictabor
Jeff Mictabor Quick Facts
Jeff Mictabor is an enthusiast on the topic of student loan issues in the news. He has been writing for the past 10 years for a variety of education publications. He now offers his writing services on a freelance basis.
Articles by this expert
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Article
Paying for College: Evaluating Your Financial Aid Package
Prospective college students who have filled out their applications for federal student aid (the application known as the FAFSA) should now be receiving information about their financial aid packages for the upcoming school year. College financial aid packages usually contain a combination of scholarships, grants, and student loans. Some student aid awards include federal work-study dollars. Alongside award amounts, financial aid letters also let students know how much money
April 9, 2011
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Community Colleges and the Dangers of Student Loan Debt
For high school students who are on the hunt for ways to reduce the cost of a college education, your local community college may look like a way to keep your expenses down and avoid the crush of debt from school loans. In fact, many financial advisers recommend that, if you’re a cost-conscious student, you complete your first two years at a community college before transferring to a four-year university to receive your degree, as a way of cutting college costs by as much as
April 7, 2011
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Keeping Tabs on Your Federal Student Loans: Using the NSLDS
For the majority of students, college loans are part of the reality of higher education. Two-thirds of bachelor’s degree students who graduated in 2007–08 left college with debt from school loans, and their average student loan debt load was $23,186, according to FinAid.org. Keeping track of student loan data has taken on added significance as college students have progressively taken on more debt, often from multiple lenders and sources, to help pay for college. To help se
March 19, 2011
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Paying for College: Using Employment Prospects to Drive Decisions
For college students who are approaching graduation, the employment picture may be looking slightly better than it has in the past couple of years, as the country slowly recovers from the Great Recession. This recovery doesn’t mean, however, that job prospects are rosy; it just means that new graduates are being less particular about the job offers they accept. For college graduates who may be facing tens of thousands of dollars in debt from student loans, the employment num
March 12, 2011
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Consumer Law Report Blasts For-Profit Colleges for Private-Label Student Loans
A new report issued in January by the National Consumer Law Center accuses for-profit colleges of saddling their students with unregulated private-label student loans that force these students into high interest rates, excessive debt, and predatory lending terms that make it difficult for these students to succeed. The report, entitled “Piling It On: The Growth of Proprietary School Loans and the Consequences for Students,” discusses the boom over the past three years in pri
March 1, 2011
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Student Loan Default Rates on the Rise
Updated statistics released by the U.S. Department of Education show that student loan defaults are rising. According to the latest figures, the default rate for federal student loans that entered repayment in 2008 is 13.8 percent, up 2 percent from the default rate for federal student loans that entered repayment in 2007. The current official national student loan default rate, which stands at 7.0 percent, measures the percentage of borrowers who default on their federal e
February 16, 2011
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Does Parents’ Divorce Translate Into More Student Loan Debt?
A study conducted by researchers at Rice University and the University of Wisconsin and published in the December 2010 issue of the journal of Family Issues concludes that college students whose parents are divorced or remarried receive less financial support from their parents than do students who remain married to each other. The study, which examined 2,400 dependent undergraduate college students, concludes that students of divorced and remarried parents have to pay more
January 28, 2011
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Health Workers to Get Help With Student Loan Debt
The National Health Service Corps is accepting applications from primary medical care professionals who are willing to work in underserved areas in exchange for a reduction in their student loan debt. Through the NHSC student loan repayment program, you can receive up to $60,000 toward the balance on your student loans if you successfully complete the program’s two-year service requirement. Two-year half-time commitments are also being sought, in exchange for $30,000 in stud
December 10, 2010
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Student Loan Debt Highest Among Middle-Income Students
According to a new report issued by the College Board, students from families whose median annual income falls between $60,000 and $90,000 leave school owing about $35,000 in student loans, compared to students from lower-income families, who graduate with about $25,000 in student loan debt. Students whose yearly family income exceeds $120,000 are least likely to borrow money in the form of student loans, and those high-income students who do turn to college loans borrow les
November 9, 2010
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Student Loan Debt on the Rise
The Project on Student Debt, an initiative sponsored by the Institute for College Access & Success (ICAS), has released its fifth annual report on the extent of student loan debt in the United States. The report examines student loan debt nationwide and on a state-by-state basis. According to the most recent findings, students who graduated from college in 2009 left school with an average of about $24,000 in student loans. This figure represents an increase of about 6 percen
October 28, 2010
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Can’t Afford to Pay a Parent Loan? You Might Get One Anyway.
The U.S. Department of Education issues federal parent loans — known as PLUS loans, for parents of undergraduate students — designed to help families pay for college. PLUS loans, like federal student loans, are fixed-rate college loans. They carry a slightly higher interest rate than federal student loans do and are not subsidized the way that some federal student loans are, meaning that the government won’t pick up the tab for any interest that accrues while the PLUS loans
October 22, 2010
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‘The Year Of The Youth Vote’: McCain And Obama Work To Attract Young Voters
Student Voters Look to Candidates for Answers to Crisis in Student Loans and College Affordability With problems growing in the student loan industry, spurred both by an ongoing credit crunch with its roots in the subprime mortgage crisis and by congressional legislation that cut subsidies to lenders of federal student loans, the affordability of a higher education has remained at the forefront of young Americans’ minds this election year. Increases in college tuition conti
September 5, 2008
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Conce s About College Costs Shaping More Students’ Decisions
Freshman conce s about college affordability are at a 35-year high, according to a recent survey by the Higher Education Research Institute.
March 10, 2008
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Student Loans
NextStudent offers a complete college funding portfolio. Student Loans, Private Student Loans, Student Loan Consolidation and one of the largest scholarship search engines.
January 11, 2008
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Student Loan Consolidation
Have a personal Education Finance Advisor assist you with your Student Loan Consolidation and answer all of your student loan questions. Federal and private student loans, PLUS Loans, and Scholarships. NextStudent - College Funding Made Simple.
September 23, 2007