free student loan consolidation
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Counting Down the Hours Until Student Loan Deadline
PASADENA, Calif., June 27 /PRNewswire/ -- As many student loan borrowers already know, interest rates for all federal student loans will be increasing by around 2 percent on July 1.
For most student and graduates with education loans, this increase will cost tens of thousands of dollars in added fees and interest.
However, many savvy borrowers have taken advantage of a free government program to save this money and eliminate a few financial worries, as well: student loan consolidation.
Student loans can be consolidated until 11:59 p.m. on Friday, June 30. Consolidation allows borrowers to lock in a low interest rate for the life of their loans and make just one, low monthly payment for the duration of the repayment period.
As the federal deadline approaches, student loan consolidation companies are being swamped with requests for information on this program.
More free student loan consolidation info
Panel blasts aid system
With the July 1 deadline for student-loan consolidation looming over already-thin wallets, many are wondering what is being done to alleviate the problems of complicated application forms and paltry aid checks.
In an effort to remedy the problem, a Department of Education committee lambasted the country's financial-aid system in a recently released report. At the Commission on the Future of Higher Education's closed-door meeting Wednesday, members addressed proposed changes to higher-education affordability, access, accountability, quality, and innovation.
"The commission is committed to ensuring that America's colleges and universities are productive, efficient, and affordable," the report states. "But to our dismay, we have found that our nation's system of higher-education finance is increasingly dysfunctional, inefficient, and inadequate."
The report called for an overhaul of student financial-aid and recommended a "significant increase" of need-based financial-aid, a simplification of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and a consolidation of the 17 federal financial-aid programs.