By Lauralynn Schueckler Hooray! Spring has finally arrived, and students all across the country are receiving college acceptance letters in the mail. It’s an exciting opportunity, but it comes with a lot of life changing decisions to make, like how to pay for it. Cracking the code on financial aid is a big (and often [...]

By Shannon Doyle Student loan default rates are on the rise. Defaulting on your student loans can have massively negative consequences: the federal government has powers to recapture your tax refunds, garnish your income without taking you to court, and can even garnish certain amounts and types of Social Security income. Not to mention there is [...]

By Gail Cunningham For incoming freshmen college often means one thing: freedom. That freedom can come in the form of no curfew, no set study time, or no one looking over your shoulder as you spend money. Such freedoms can be part of a positive growth experience, or create negative situations which take years to recover [...]

By Lauralynn Schueckler When you default on a student loan, the government will usually hire debt collection agencies to collect on these loans. It’s not quite as straightforward as you might like to think, to try and get this loan to just disappear. The collection agencies are sometimes known to twist their words around to [...]

By Kim Cole Dear Kim, I filed my taxes and was expecting a $2000 return. I received a letter from the IRS stating that my return is being applied to an old student loan that I didn’t pay. Can they do that? That loan had nothing to do with my taxes! I think I owe [...]

By Sara Gilbert Recent Associated Press headlines, and an article in May’s issue of Consumer Reports have identified student loans as the next potential head-on collision that Americans will have with their debts in the coming months and years. A few years ago over-extended mortgagors and a loose mortgage lending environment helped to initiate the [...]

By Jason Alderman I’m a firm believer that the more knowledge you acquire, whether through college, trade school or self-study, the richer your life will be. But as college tuition and fees continue to skyrocket, students and parents increasingly are asking, “Is a degree really worth the cost?” For many people it certainly is: On [...]