The most important thing for College Students to do today

2024-2025 Federal student loan interest rates

How to pay for school

Timeline of student loan forgiveness. What we know today 1/6/2023.

1/1/2023 repayment options. The programs are subject to chnage.

We are happy to announce our new international student loan solutions. You will be able to find solutions here to attend school and potentially refinance those higher rate loans. We know that international students have limited resources to attend school. Many of the loans must be cosigned or collateralized. Most lenders require a U.S. citizen or permanent resident to cosign. We found some lenders that do not and are more flexible. You can learn more here Are you an international student that has graduated? Want to potentially save some money? Who doesn't? Refinance Loans International students often have student loans that are cosigned and collateralized by their families with a home country bank. MPOWER is the leading lender in the world for international students and will refinance international student loans with no cosigner or collateral required while also offering competitive fixed rate loans. For non-U.S. citizens living and working in the U.S., no-cosigner and no-collateral loans can replace cosigned student loans, helping young professionals reduce their payments significantly in both the short and long term. MPOWER refinancing loans allow young, professional, non-U.S. citizens to: ● Release a cosigner and collateral ● Reduce their interest rate and lower monthly payments ● Eliminate the need to wire money internationally every month ● Potentially qualify for employer benefit programs that pay up to $5,250/year toward student loans tax-free ● Build U.S. credit history You can learn more here

Hopefully, you know you can get a free credit report annually at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/index.action What I didn't know was that due to covid, you can now get them free weekly until April 2021. I just found out about this and wanted to get the word out. Please share with your friends and family. The process is easy and it's free, as long as you do not add on your score. Just get your report and review it for any inaccuracies or fraudulent activity. Money is tight and people are worried and we have seen stories of folks getting desperate. Stay informed and stay safe. #freecreditreport #sharetheinfo

College Aid Direct wants to take a moment to thank all of the Health Care Professionals for their amazing efforts during the Covid-19 pandemic. We are moved by the never-ending stories of your compassion, long hours, and sacrifice. You rose to the occasion when humanity needed you most. We know we aren't out of the woods yet but hopefully, you are able to take a moment to catch your breath. We are here to help you. If you have any questions on your Student Loans, getting new student loans, or how to refinance your loans and potentially save money, we will try our best to help you. As a thank you for your service, no fees will be charged. Learn more at www.collegeaiddirect.com You can email us with questions. For any Nurses and allied health professionals displaced during these crazy days, we would like to introduce you to Kamana. Kamana may be able to help you find the next or better career. Learn more at www.kamanahealth.com . Kamana: Kamana is an online platform for nurses, allied health professionals, and healthcare staffing agencies to eliminate the inefficient and expensive processes used to fill jobs and find work. Kamana launched in 2019 with a focus on solving problems for the travel and per diem workforce, but the technology they are bringing to the industry is on track to modernize how healthcare credentials are managed and shared across the entire nursing and allied health community. The company was born out of the personal frustrations one of their founders, John Modica, experienced throughout his travel and per diem nursing career. Having spent more than five years working travel contracts across the country, John witnessed first-hand how the inefficient technology being used to attract, onboard, and manage healthcare professionals is resulting in missed opportunities and financial waste for him, his staffing agency, and the hospitals that they work for. For healthcare staffing agencies, Kamana provides a secure and mobile-friendly candidate portal that offers real-time talent collaboration, efficient onboarding and profile management, automated credential management, streamlined communication, rapid candidate submissions, and more. Kamana brings operational efficiency into the day-to-day workflows of a staffing agency and brings a much needed improvement to the candidate experience a healthcare staffing agency is able to offer to the nurses and allied health professionals they seek to employ. For nurses and allied health professionals, Kamana provides a single, secure, profile that can be used to manage credentials, onboarding, and relationships throughout every aspect of their career. A Kamana profile can be used directly in conjunction with, or completely independent of, a staffing agency that is using Kamana’s staffing software. The ability to efficiently use the same profile to manage relationships, onboarding, and documentation with multiple staffing agencies saves time and money on both sides. With Kamana, nursing and allied health professionals can put an end to repetitive and data-insecure applications and onboarding, and focus on the aspects of their career and life that matter most. Learn more at www.kamanahealth.com .

2020, what a year so far? We hope you are all well and safe. So how are you to pay for school safely during the pandemic? No need to go visit any loan officers or leave your house. Wash your hands and check out our tips below. APPLY EARLY! Good News: Due to the economic conditions, rates are at historic lows. Bad News: Due to the economic conditions, some companies have limited funds to lend this year. Navigating the process to pay for college can be confusing. We are here to help. If you have a few minutes, we can show you how to pay off that tuition bill. Watch our free video here: WATCH ME Then visit us here for options: SHOW ME THE MONEY You can apply to multiple lenders to shop for rates. We recommend you do. A few extra minutes could save you money in interest over the life of the loan. Just do it within 30 days so it doesn't affect your credit score. Rates are not going to stay this low. Carefully consider Fixed rates versus Variable rates. You may be able to lock in a great rate now. Most undergraduate private student loans require a cosigner. This varies by lender but 75-90% of undergraduate loans are cosigned. Using a cosigner may get you a better interest rate also. If you visit other websites or lenders, watch out for origination fees and any hidden repayment fees. Or you can email us with questions here: HELP If you need to fill out the FAFSA : https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa Remember it is free. DO NOT PAY ANYONE TO FILL OUT THE FORM !!!

Starting today, you can submit your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Why is this important? Many states offer Grants on a first come, first served basis . Need we say more? Why do I need a FAFSA? The FAFSA is a free online application for financial aid eligibility. It is used by the government and schools to determine your eligibility for financial aid, including grants, work study and federal student loans and some state programs. Many of the state programs have limited funds, so the early bird gets the “funds”. Tips: This is a free application located at https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa or on the myStudentAid mobile app. Do NOT pay anyone to fill out the form for you. Free is in the title. You must fill this out annually. Add it to your calendar for October 1st. Let’s get started: Information you will need. • Your driver's license • Your Social Security number • Your parents' Social Security numbers and birthdates • Your family’s latest federal income tax returns. • W-2 forms or other income information • Bank statements • Information on investments • FSA ID Submit your FAFSA and you can check your status online or in the app. Processing time varies but is usually 5-7 days. How is your financial eligibility calculated from your FAFSA? When you fill out your FAFSA, you provide personal demographic information and financial information about yourself and your family This information is used to determine your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Your EFC is calculated according to a formula established by the Department of Education and the information you provide on your FAFSA. The calculation considers many factors including enrollment status, year in school and the cost of attendance at your school. The results of the FAFSA are provided to you on a Student Aid Report (SAR) from the office of Federal Student Aid. Your SAR is a document that gives you basic information about the FAFSA data you submitted. You should receive your SAR within a few days of filing. After you receive your SAR, you should receive a financial award letter from the school or schools that you added in the FAFSA. Award letters tell you how much aid you’re eligible for at that school and can vary from school to school. You school look at this information and discuss it with your family before making the final decision of what school to attend. Financial aid award letters information: • The total Cost of attendance (COA). This is the current estimate of what you can expect to pay for one year of school. This includes tuition, fees, room and board (TFRB) and potentially even personal expenses. If you have extra expenses, speak to your financial aid office to see if they can be included. • Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is a calculated amount that your school uses to determine financial aid eligibility • Grants are need-based and can be state or federal grants. • Scholarships can be need or merit based and are awarded by a schools, companies, or private organization. • Federal Work Study is a program where you work at your school to earn your financial aid. • Federal Direct Student Loans. You borrow money directly from the federal government. • Private Student Loans. Your eligibility may or may not be listed here. It may show a Private loan or show an amount still due. Do your homework and compare Lenders. You can compare some popular Lenders Here . Financial Aid Myths: • My parents make too much to get aid. • I have a college fund, 529 or money saved for college, so I am not eligible. • My friends didn’t get aid, so I will not. • I can apply anytime. This is true but you may miss out on state grants. List of state deadline . https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/deadlines#2020-21-state-deadlines Apply, you never know what you are eligible for until you do. It’s free and usually required by your school. The Federal Student Aid site, An Office of the U.S. Department of Education, oversees the process and is the definitive source of answers on eligibility. Your financial aid office will be able to answer most of your questions. Here is a link to how aid is determined : https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/next-steps/how-calculated#cost-of-attendance EFC definition according to Federal Student Aid: Your EFC is an index number that college financial aid staff use to determine how much financial aid you would receive if you were to attend their school. The information you report on your FAFSA form is used to calculate your EFC. The EFC is calculated according to a formula established by law. Your family's taxed and untaxed income, assets, and benefits (such as unemployment or Social Security) all could be considered in the formula. Also considered are your family size and the number of family members who will attend college or career school during the year. The EFC Formula guide shows exactly how an EFC is calculated.