The Project on Student Debt is providing information to borrowers on two new programs that Congress enacted last year: Income Based Repayment (IBR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. NASFAA has signed on as a partner organization in their efforts to disseminate this information to borrowers. The following is a press memo announcing the new resources on student loan repayment/forgiveness.
MEMO TO HIGHER ED & PERSONAL FINANCE REPORTERS
FROM: Robert Shireman, executive director, Project on Student Debt
SUBJECT: New resources on student loan repayment/forgiveness,
and fact sheet on access to student loans - is there a crisis?
DATE: March 11, 2008
CONTACT: Gretchen Wright, 202/371-1999; Edie Irons, 510/883-7302
We've been getting a lot of phone calls and e-mails lately.
Some of the calls are from borrowers asking about the two new programs that Congress enacted last year: Income Based Repayment (IBR) and Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The callers want to know how the programs work, if they will qualify, what loans are covered, and what steps they can take now. Perhaps the question we hear most often is: When will more information will be available?
To address these questions, we have developed a new ongoing web-based resource, IBRinfo.org. The site explains the programs and will be updated as new information becomes available. In addition, users have the option of registering with their email addresses to get updates on important developments. A growing list of partner organizations is committed to spreading the word about IBRinfo to a wide audience including students, parents, college administrators, nonprofit sector workers, and teachers.
It will take a while before the U.S. Department of Education has all of the regulations for these programs written, and the systems up and running. There will be glitches, and technical amendments in Congress to fix those glitches. Our goal is to help fill the information gap.
The other calls we have been getting have been from reporters. They want to know whether the credit crunch spawned by problems with mortgages is going to mean that students aren't going to be able to get loans for college this fall. In short, our answer is "no, there’s no reason to expect any major problems." Our review of the situation is that some students (no more than five percent) will have a harder time finding private (non-federal) loans because the student does not have a good credit record. For them (and for other families who want to know more about their options), we have produced a new one-page cheat-sheet: Getting Access to Good Credit Options for College.
Posted 03/14/08 to www.NASFAA.org. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited. Please submit Web Site questions or comments to Web@NASFAA.org.
