“Student Loans 2010: Five Websites Everyone With Student Loans Should Know (Black Voices)” plus 1 more

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Student Loans 2010: Five Websites Everyone With Student Loans Should Know (Black Voices) Posted: 08 Feb 2010 10:10 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. It's 2010. Do you know the current state of your student loans? It takes the average college graduate 15 years to repay his or her student loans, according to the College Board. A lot can happen over that time. So if you ever find yourself struggling to pay your college debts – or even just needing more information about the loans you're carrying – the following five websites just might prove to be indispensable. 1. http://www.nslds.ed.gov This is the website for the National Student Loan Data System. If you're confused about your college debt, or don't even remember how many student loans you took out and who you owe, this is the place to start. The NSLDS database gives you 24/7 access to an itemized list of all the federal loans you took out, including info about the student loan status (in deferment, default, repayment, etc.), loan amount, date, the amount cancelled (if any), as well as the outstanding principal and interest you owe. Tip: To access the NSLDS, you must first obtain a four-digit PIN from the Department of Education (http://www.pin.ed.gov/). 2. http://www.finaid.org/calculators This is the website for the online college student loan calculators provided by FinAid. These calculators help you figure out how much principal and interest you'll pay over time for various federal student loans, based on the four different student loan repayment programs you can select: • The standard loan repayment plan, where you pay a minimum of $50 a month and your payments last for as long as 10 years; • The extended repayment option, which also requires at least $50 monthly payments, but which lets you pay off your student loans over 12 to 30 years; • The graduated repayment program, which lasts from 12 to 30 years and allows you to pay as little as $25 a month; and • The income-contingent repayment plan, which permits you to make payments as low as $5 a month and which lasts for 25 years. They have fame, fortune and are blessed with ability to entertain. Acting and singing are part of their repertoires and they make outrageous sums of money... but how many of them have higher education? BV has taken the liberty to highlight just a few celebrities who have hit the books at one point or another and some who even obtained college degrees. Welcome to Hollywood U! Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed They have fame, fortune and are blessed with ability to entertain. Acting and singing are part of their repertoires and they make outrageous sums of money... but how many of them have higher education? BV has taken the liberty to highlight just a few celebrities who have hit the books at one point or another and some who even obtained college degrees. Welcome to Hollywood U! Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Alicia Keys - Accepted to Columbia University After graduating valedictorian of the Professional Performing Arts School in Manhattan, a 16-year-old Keys was accepted to Columbia University in New York. However, the talented songstress decided to drop-out and forgo a college ed to pursue her musical career. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Sean Combs - Attended Howard University Hip-hop music mogul Sean Combs briefly attended Howard University in 1987 with a major in business administration. Combs honed his chops promoting parties and meeting many of the producers who would go on to help him found Bad Boy Records. Combs dropped out of Howard in his second year to become of of the most successful and powerful individuals in music and fashion with an estimated net worth of $400 million. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed David Banner - Attended Southern University and the University of Maryland (grad school) No stranger to contradiction, southern rapper David Banner is as well-read as they come. He is one of the few rappers that can boast a college degree as well as an MS in business! His music can often be as polarized as his life as he integrates raunchy and violent themes with conscious fare on his albums. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Denzel Washington - Graduated from Fordham University Dr. Washington? Believe it or not, everyone's favorite actor once aspired to be a doctor. But while at Fordham he caught the acting bug and switched his major to journalism. By the time he graduated with a B.A. in Journalism and Drama in 1977, Washington already had his sights set on acting. Nearly two decades later most would agree that that was a pretty smart decision. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Boris Kodjoe - Graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University Before he was a film and television heartthrob, actor Boris Kodjoe was well on his way to being a tennis superstar. Kodjoe went to school at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he played for the Rams. After a back injury halted his sprorting aspirations, the poor guy had to settle for being a model... what a sad life. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Nicole Ari Parker - Graduated from New York University Born in Baltimore Maryland, Nicole used to pretend that she was Willona from the TV show 'Good Times.' After being named the best actress in Maryland at a high school competition, it further solidified her desire to act. Parker was accepted New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and graduated with an acting degree in 1993. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Common - Attended Florida A&M University This Chicago legend attended Florida A&M University to study business administration. It wasn't too long afterward though that Common was featured in the Unsigned Hype column of the 'Source Magazine' and dropped out of college to be a rapper. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Duane Martin - Graduated from New York University The former 'All of Us' star played basketball for NYU's team and was even drafted into the NBA by the New York Knicks. While he may not be acting at the moment, Martin is currently the owner of both a sports agency and a real estate company so that college ed may be paying off after all. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed Will Smith - Could have gone to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology The biggest actor on the planet had a chance to go to one of the country's premiere colleges, but turned it down to pursue his music career. "My mother, who worked for the School Board of Philadelphia, had a friend who was the admissions officer at MIT. I had pretty high SAT scores and they needed black kids, so I probably could have gotten in. But I had no intention of going to college," said Smith. Hollywood U: Celebs and Higher Ed 3. http://www.opm.gov This is the website for the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). Here's where you can learn about the government's Federal Student Loan Repayment Program. In a nutshell, this program allows any federal agency that you work for to pay off up to $10,000 worth of your student loans per year, up to a maximum of $60,000. So if you haven't made a real dent in your student loans, get the government to pay off your college debts. For more info, call the OPM at 202-606-1800 or write: Office of Personnel Management; 1900 E Street NW; Washington, D.C. 20415. What's the catch? You have to work for a government agency – any one, at any location in the country. Here's a direct link to specifics about the program: http://www.opm.gov/oca/PAY/StudentLoan/index.asp. 4. http://www.loanconsolidation.ed.gov This is the website for the Federal Direct Consolidation Loan Info Center. Go to this site to get answers to any questions you may have about consolidating your student loans. You'll find information on who is eligible to consolidate college loans, how to handle defaulted student loans, and even tips on consolidating student loans that have already been consolidated. (Despite many misconceptions on this topic, multiple loan consolidations can be done under certain circumstances). 5. http://www.ombudsman.ed.gov This is the website for the Federal Student Aid Office of the Ombudsman. This agency's role is to help you, as a last resort, to resolve difficulties you may have with your lender or loan servicing company. To first try to resolve a problem yourself, use this online "Self Resolution Checklist" from the Ombudsman's office: http://ombudsman.ed.gov/resources/toolschecklists/selfresolution-checklist.html. If you have complaints about your lender or disputes you haven't been able to settle, the Ombudsman will listen to your grievances, and if they're justified, contact the lender on your behalf. To reach the Ombudsman's office, call: 877-557-2575, or write: U.S. Department of Education; Debra Wiley, FSA Ombudsman; 830 First Street NE; Fourth Floor, Washington, D.C. 20202-5144. Lastly, for more information on paying off your student loans, check out my book, 'Zero Debt for College Grads: From Student Loans to Financial Freedom.' Get the book now on Amazon.com, from my financial advice blog, www.AskTheMoneyCoach.com, or from your local bookstore. Lynnette Khalfani-Cox, an award-winning financial news journalist and former Wall Street Journal reporter for CNBC, has also been featured in top newspapers including the Washington Post, USA Today, and the New York Times, as well as magazines ranging from Essence and Redbook to Black Enterprise and Smart Money. Check out her New York Times bestseller, 'Zero Debt: The Ultimate Guide to Financial Freedom.' Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. 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Gang of six used stolen IDs to take out loans (Kathimerini) Posted: 08 Feb 2010 01:14 AM PST Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it. Police in Thessaloniki are looking for six suspects who are believed to have obtained the personal information of two victims, which they then used to take out loans totaling almost 500,000 euros from several banks in the city. Officers said on Saturday that they have built a case against the six men, aged between 27 and 44, but have not yet arrested them. They said that the men were all ethnic Greeks from abroad but did not reveal any further details. The suspects allegedly obtained the tax documents and identity cards of two people. They also forged pay slips from the victims employers and used all this documentation to apply for bank loans. Police said that the gang was thus able to take out a number of loans from different banks. The identity of the victims was not revealed. Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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