CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 2006--As of July 1, graduate students are eligible for borrower PLUS loans. The State of Ohio's designated nonprofit student loan lender, Student Lending Works (www.studentlendingworks.org), introduces new Ohio Grad PLUS Loans that provide unmatched benefits and are specially designed for Ohio graduate students.
Student Lending Works is offering Ohio Grad PLUS loans at a fixed rate of 8.5% and a 2.25% interest rate reduction option. Ohio Grad PLUS loans are great alternatives to private loans:
-- With private loans, borrowers cannot consolidate into the Federal loan system.
-- Private loans do not offer flexible payment options.
-- There is no cap on interest rates with private loans, other than state mandates, which can reach as high as 21% or 22%.
Top consumers are left to gobble up nutrients and experience a reproductive boom. The boom is felt throughout the system, though, as the booming species out-competes others, potentially driving the lesser species to extinction and reducing biodiversity.
Rooney refers to this type of ecosystem change as a "boom-and-bust cycle," when one species' population boom ultimately means another will bust. Bigger booms increased chances of a bust.
"With each bust, the population gets very close to zero, and its difficult getting back," he said.
Human role in 'boom-and-bust'
Humans often play a role in initiating boom-and-bust cycles by wiping out the top predator. For example, after gray wolves were hunted to near extinction in the United States, deer, elk, and other wolf-fearing forest critters had free reign and reproduced willy-nilly, gobbling up the vegetation that other consumers also relied on for food.