Can you go to college without financial aid?

With the averatge cost of attending a public university being roughly $67,000 for four years (let's round that to $17,000 per year) how many people (and who are they) can afford school without financial aid? If you are lucky you can land a grant or scholarship. According to an article from USNews.com, only half of students get any kind of grant or scolarship and the aid recieved averages only $4,000 per year. Big help, right? That leaves students and parents with $13,000 per year to cover - if the student got a grant or scholarship.

Even with the assistance of scholarship or grants, that leaves the student straddled with $52,000 in debt when they graduate. Some of us know first hand what it means to carry college debt into the next stages of our lives. And for those of us still carrying this debt, the cost could be going up. On the graduated repayment plan, loan payments increase with time. Unless you consolidate student loans or refinance the loans to lock in an interest rate and payment, you could be subject to these scheduled increases as well as the interest rate changes.

We are facing an interest rate hike on outstanding and future federal student loans on July 1. Students, graduates, and parents should be aware of the changes coming to student loan refinancing interest rates. Students who apply before July 1 can lock in rates of no more than 4.75 percent. Those who graduated more than six months ago can cap their rates at 5.375 percent. And parents with at least one unconsolidated loan can set a ceiling of 6.125 percent on their PLUS loans, saving themselves perhaps $1,000 in payments over the life of a $10,000 loan.

Your Checklist for College

This college preparation check list from Newsweek is probably one of the best resources for students planning to attend college. This is a checklist organized as a calendar with dates for SAT exams and studying, applying for student loans, college applications and more.

College Financial Aid Agencies By State

This is a comprehensive list of State agencies providing students with financial aid resources and access to federal student assistance. Many of these agencies offer solutions for college graduates such as student loan refinancing and loan consolidation.

Federal Deficit Reduction Act, Affecting Student Loan Regulations, Draws Legal Fire

PHOENIX, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumeradvocacy organization, has moved to take on the Deficit Reduction Act with itsown lawsuit, following the first lawsuit filed in February by an Alabama elderlaw attorney. Filed on March 21, Public Citizen's lawsuit challenges the bill's legalconstitutionality, as does the lawsuit filed by Jim Zeigler of Alabama. Controversy has surrounded the bill since before it was signed into lawFeb. 8 by President Bush. The bill includes major cuts to federal programs,with approximately $12.7 billion in cuts to federal student loans as well ascuts to Medicare and Medicaid. The legal constitutionality of the bill is being challenged due to aclerical error that occurred after approval of the bill and when it was sentto the House. A Senate clerk mistakenly changed wording in the House version.In effect, the Senate version was passed with wording stating that a Medicareprovision would pay for rental of 13 months of certain durable medicalequipment; the House version stated 36 months. Because of the error, manyargue the bill is not law as, according to the Constitution, both the Senateand the House must sign identical versions before a bill is signed into law bythe president. Adina Rosenbaum, a staff attorney at Washington-based Public Citizen,said, "What we've asked for is for the law to be declared unconstitutional."Public Citizen works on issues such as openness and democratic accountabilityin government, and effective, safe affordable healthcare. According to Rosenbaum, although Zeigler and Public Citizen filed lawsuitsin different courts, "What we're asking for is the same thing [as Zeigler]." "The ways we've been injured by the law are different," Rosenbaum said."The provisions that affect us and the provisions that affect him [Zeigler]are different, but in the end, he's also asking for the law to be declaredunconstitutional because it didn't pass the House and Senate in the sameversion." As the Deficit Reduction Act is "a law that affects millions of people,"she said, it would not be surprising for others to follow and challenge thebill. Zeigler said that many people and businesses have been affected by thebill and expects more lawsuits. He added that student loan companies couldjoin in as some have made inquiries. NOTE: Zeigler's lawsuit is Civil Action: 2006-80 and was filed in theU.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. Public Citizen caseis: Case No. 06-00523, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District ofColumbia.

Changes in the Federal Deficit Reduction Act Affect Student Loan Refinance and Student Loan Consolidation

The act eliminates in-school and “super-two-step” consolidations – Currently, Direct Loan borrowers may consolidate any eligible college loans that have been fully disbursed even if the borrowers have not yet entered a repayment or grace period (i.e., the student borrower may still be in their in-school period when consolidating). The “super two-step” was the ability of students to refinance a consolidation loan by consolidating out of Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) into Direct Lending, then back out of Direct Loans to a Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP) loan.

Loan Consolidation and Refinancing is Important as Federal Government Raises Interest Rates on Federal Student Loans

Long-anticipated legislation signed by President Bush raises interest rates on student loans starting July 1. The bill is a deficit-reduction bill that will cut $11.9 billion from the federal student loan program over the next five years. With college tuitions rising, students are being forced to take on more student loans as the cost of a college education and college loans will become more expensive.