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10 Things Pet Stores Won't Say
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JetBlue's CEO Is Ready for Takeoff
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PLAYETF Rapid Growth Will Challenge Advisers
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10 Things Amazon Won't Tell You
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A $16,800 Soccer Team
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PLAYWorld Wealth Report 2012 Recap
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How Married Couples Can Boost Their ....
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Can Convertibles Make a Comeback?
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Retire Here, Not There: Arkansas
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Last -Minute Fourth of July Travel Deals
Welcome
How-To Guides
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How to Save for College
Thanks to benefits in the tax code, saving specifically for college and other education expense can have some advantages
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Which Comes First, 401(k) or Debt?
WSJ.comReaders are divided on the subject of new college graduates saving for retirement. Some feel these young adults shouldn't invest a dime until they pay off their student loans. Others feel equally strongly that they should contribute at ...
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Leaders Set Deal On Highway Bill, Student Loans
WSJ.comCongressional leaders agreed Wednesday to the outlines of a roughly $120 billion deal to extend highway funding for about two years, and hope to win congressional approval by week's end, according to senior aides from both parties.
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Congress Passes Bill on Highways, Student Loans and Flood Insurance
WSJ.comWASHINGTON—Congress passed legislation to renew funding for highways, freeze the interest rate on government-backed student loans and extend federal flood insurance.
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Does the New Student-Loan Legislation Go Far Enough?
WSJ.comA last-minute deal by Congress on Friday to prevent interest rates on student loans from doubling received a surprisingly lukewarm reception from some consumer advocates.
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Confront Your Debt
WSJ.comFor Daniel Pontarelli, building an adult life meant piling on the debt. Since graduating from college in 2010, the 24-year-old has taken on a loan for a new car and is helping his wife pay off around $20,000 in student loans. He took out a ...
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School Loans: New Options
WSJ.comLenders are pushing an unusual new product: a student loan that borrowers start paying off while they still are in school. Companies say customers can save thousands of dollars in interest over the life of the loan, but some experts are ...
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Student Loans: Two Can Play At This Game
WSJ.comThe Players: Mitt Romney and fellow Republicans The Play: Trying to outflank Barack Obama on student loans The Strategy: Polls give Mr. Obama a big lead among college students and voters under 30, an edge he enjoyed in 2008. Looking to ...
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Student Loans and Double Standards; The new rule on 'gainful employment' exempts nonprofit schools.
WSJ.comPresident Obama likes to say that everyone in America should "play by the same rules." Okay, so then why does the Administration's new student-loan rule apply to for-profit colleges, but not nonprofits?
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What you should know about college financial aid; A Q&A; with financial-aid expert Mark Kantrowitz
MarketWatchWASHINGTON (MarketWatch)—President Barack Obama opposes a push by Congress to double the 3.4% interest rate on federal Stafford student loans, but Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com and Finaid.org, has a different message: Let the ...
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The Politics of Student Loans
WSJ.comWhile visiting the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, last week, President Obama warned that student loan interest rates could double next month if Congress doesn't act fast. There he goes again.
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The Borrowing Surge Isn't to Splurge
Barrons.comCan there be a simultaneous boom and bust? It seems that's what's happening in student loans now. Amid all the attention paid to the crisis in the debts taken on by students, they're going to hock at an accelerating rate. Usually credit ...
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To Pay Off Loans, Grads Put Off Marriage, Children
WSJ.comBetween the ages of 18 and 22, Jodi Romine took out $74,000 in student loans to help finance her business-management degree at Kent State University in Ohio. What seemed like a good investment will delay her career, her marriage and ...
Can Private Student Loans Undercut Federal Rates? A provision in a law that has keep rates down on subsidized Stafford loans is set to expire -- unless Congress acts quickly.
SmartMoney.comThe rates on popular federal student loans could shoot up before the next academic season, depending on the outcome of a political battle brewing in Washington.
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College grads: Think about retirement now; Start saving early; avoid your parents’ problems
MarketWatchSTOWE, Vt. (MarketWatch) — The majority of this spring’s college graduates are not ready to take on the world financially. On average, two-thirds of students will graduate with student loans of $25,250 and more than $4,000 in credit card ...
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'Loophole' Closing Eyed to Fund Student Loan Policy
WSJ.comThe White House and Senate Democrats are looking at ending a tax provision benefiting some small business owners to pay for a year-long extension of a freeze in student loan interest rates, which are scheduled to double from 3.4% to 6.8% ...
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The Student-Debt Playbook
WSJ.comAre you or your adult children carrying a big load of student debt? Your family may well feel like the federal deficit is sitting on your shoulders.
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Despite Concern, Banks Give Student Loans the Old College Try
WSJ.comEven as the growth of student debt stirs debate on everything from whether the government should move to ease borrowers' burden to the ability to discharge obligations through bankruptcy, some banks are jockeying for position to lend to ...
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Due Diligence for All Future Student Loans
WSJ.comStudent-loan lenders have no incentive to perform due diligence on an applicant's creditworthiness, academic performance, future earnings potential and financial need because college loans are rarely forgivable in bankruptcy, and the ...
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Auto and Student Loans Drive Borrowing Surge
WSJ.comIn another sign that the credit freeze is thawing, the Federal Reserve said Americans ramped up their borrowing at the end of 2011. Household borrowing through credit cards, car loans, student loans and other installment debt—which excludes ...
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The Bill for ObamaLoans; New study: 27% of student borrowers have past due balances.
WSJ.comSpeaking of March Madness, the annual college basketball tourney has nothing on college financing. A recent report from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York has the disturbing details for taxpayers.
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How Not to Major in Debt
WSJ.comThe total amount of outstanding student debt has surpassed $1 trillion, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. If your child is in the process of choosing a college—or is already enrolled—your family might soon be adding to ...
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Consumers Ramped Up Borrowing in January
WSJ.comConsumer borrowing continued to climb in January, driven largely by student loans, sustaining a trend begun in the final months of 2011. Household borrowing through car loans, student loans, credit cards and other debt, excluding mortgages, ...
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The Feds and Rising Student Loans
WSJ.comYour editorial "The Bill for ObamaLoans" (March 14) rightly points out the fiscal failings of one of the largest government loan programs. At the rate it is going, in 10 years the federal government will create $1.2 trillion of ...
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Fixed-Rate Student Loans—With a Catch
WSJ.comWith tuition bills due in a few weeks, a growing number of banks are offering stretched parents and students new, fixed-rate loans that promise protection from the specter of rising rates -- for a price.
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Education Department Has Improved Student Loans
WSJ.comYour Sept. 30 editorial "Washington's Quietest Disaster" and the letters of Oct. 11 raise important concerns about the debt burdening college students but miss the mark in describing the role of the federal student-loan ...
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Obama set to unveil student-loan plan
MarketWatchWASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — President Barack Obama is set to unveil Wednesday a plan to reduce the burden of student loans on college graduates as the amount of debt for higher education surges.
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Washington's Quietest Disaster; Student loan defaults are growing, and the worst is still to come.
WSJ.comWhen critics warned about rising defaults on government-backed student loans two years ago, the question was how quickly taxpayers would feel the pain. The U.S. Department of Education provided part of the answer this month when it reported ...
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Obama Unveils Plan to Ease Burden of Student Loans
WSJ.comDENVER—President Barack Obama unveiled a plan Wednesday to ease the burden of student debt, speaking in personal terms about the high cost of college.
Fixed-Rate Student Loans, With a Catch; Now borrowers can swap the potential for higher rates later with the certainty of higher rates now
SmartMoney.comWith tuition bills due in a few weeks, a growing number of banks are offering stretched parents and students new, fixed-rate loans that promise protection from the specter of rising rates -- for a price.
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Start Paying College Loans
WSJ.comAttention, spring college graduates: It's almost time to start paying back those students loans. The typical six-month grace period is about to end for many borrowers, and the first payments are due within 30 to 60 days, depending on ...
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Discover to Buy Citi Student Loan Portfolio
WSJ.comNEW YORK—Discover Financial Services has reached an agreement to buy a $2.5 billion student-loan portfolio from Citigroup Inc., a follow-up to last year's deal in which Citi sold its 80% stake in Student Loan Corp. to Discover in a ...
For Student Borrowers, a Hard Truth; More people are defaulting on their student loans -- and discovering the consequences are far-reaching.
SmartMoney.comAs many students and parents struggle to make payments on their student loans, many are finding this debt comes with some serious strings attached.
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Sizing Up the President's College-Debt Initiatives
WSJ.comWith student-loan debt exceeding credit-card debt for the first time last year, President Obama recently announced initiatives designed to help ease college graduates' debt burden.
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Graduates With Debt Owe an Average of $25,250
WSJ.comThe average debt of college seniors who graduated in 2010 with student loans rose 5% from a year earlier to $25,250, according to a report. That figure doesn't include data from for-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix, whose ...
10 Things Student Loan Companies Won't Say; Sure, they'll help pay for college. But good luck paying them back.
SmartMoney.com1.Your co-signer could do you more harm than good Before they will lend thousands of dollars to a college-bound 18-year-old, many lenders will require a cosigner. Approximately 80% or more of private loans have a cosigner, according to the ...
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9-9-9? Nein. A transcript of the weekend's program on FOX News Channel.
WSJ.comPaul Gigot: This week on "The Journal Editorial Report," from Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan to Rick Perry's flat-tax proposal, is real tax reform finally possible? Plus, with many Occupy Wall Street protesters demanding ...
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It’s payback time for student-loan borrowers; For those who can’t pay, there are a variety of payment plans that can help
MarketWatchSCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (MarketWatch) — Many recent college graduates will soon be a little poorer each month. The reason: the six-month grace period for federal Stafford loans, the most popular type of student loan, is about to end for those who ...
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Sallie Mae Keeps Student Loan Portfolio
WSJ.comNEW YORK—SLM Corp. will keep its portfolio of federal student loans on its own books as it seeks cash to repay upcoming debt maturities and find other ways to unlock value for shareholders.
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More student-loan lenders likely to merge; Student Loan Corp. sale may signal start of consolidation wave
MarketWatchCHICAGO (MarketWatch) — Citigroup’s sale of its student-loan business may signal the beginning of a wave of consolidation among private lenders who were cut out of the federal college student-loan program this summer.
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When Student Loans Live On After Death
WSJ.comIn July 2006, 25-year-old Christopher Bryski died. His private student loans didn't. Mr. Bryski's family in Marlton, N.J., continues to make monthly payments on his loans—the result of a potentially costly loophole in the rules ...
Borrowing from a 401k, cosigning student loans, and required minimum distributions
SmartMoney.comQUESTION: I pay $180 a month for private mortgage insurance. Should I borrow from my 401(k) to pay down the principal and use the $180 toward repayment? Is there more value in this strategy than having it evaporate into the insurance?
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Citi Sheds Its Student-Loan Business; Once-Thriving Operation Was Hurt by Government Change; Discover Financial Buys Most of It
WSJ.comCitigroup Inc. is selling its 80% stake in Student Loan Corp. to Discover Financial Services as part of a $600 million transaction that marks the bank's biggest step yet to shed assets from its discard pile.
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Government Sees High Returns On Defaulted Student Loans
WSJ.comDefaulting on federal student loans may not be such a bad thing--at least, not for the federal government. After paying the companies that actually collect the loans and other costs, the U.S. Department of Education expects to recover 85% of ...
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Parents, students dig deeper to pay for college; Almost half of rising tuition costs paid by parents from income, savings, loans
MarketWatchNEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Faced with rising college expenses, families dug deeper into their own pockets and borrowed more money to pay tuition bills in the 2009-10 school year, according to a survey by Sallie Mae and Gallup released ...
College Loans 101: New Rules for Borrowers
SmartMoney.comWith college costs still climbing—private-college tuition has soared almost a third since 2004—more students are becoming first-time borrowers. Indeed, 53 percent of incoming freshmen reported using loans last fall, the first significant ...
Congress's Unfinished Tax Business (Part 2)
SmartMoney.comCongress departed Washington at the end of September with a big pile of unfinished tax work left behind. It’s unlikely anything tax-related will get done until after the Nov. 2 midterm elections. Until then, here’s Part 2 of my scorecard of ...
Student Loans Demystified
SmartMoney.comFor many students, sorting out student loan options is as much a part of the college application process as writing a college essay for admissions. And it's a rare student who isn't confounded by the process. This section should ...
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Student-Loan Default Rates Worsen
WSJ.comThe default rate for federal student loans rose to 13.8% from 11.8% for students beginning repayment in fiscal 2008 compared with those starting a year earlier, according to new data released Friday by the Department of Education.
Private Student Loans Are Making a Comeback
SmartMoney.comGetting a private student loan is about to become easier. A new push by private lenders and credit unions to capture some of the college lending market could open more doors for students looking to borrow, but the loans these businesses ...
For-Profit Schools Face New Debt Rules
SmartMoney.comTaking out federal student loans to help pay for a college education may soon become less risky. The Department of Education this week proposed new rules that would require for-profit colleges and universities to keep the amount of loan debt ...
Have Private Student Loans Become Smarter?
SmartMoney.comDeferred payment plans. Rock-bottom rates. Even loan balances wiped out for good behavior. These are all features of new loans designed to help college students and parents swallow the increasing costs of college – but they may not be as ...
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What the New Student-Loan Policy Means; Columnist Sue Shellenbarger answers readers' questions
WSJ.comQ: I have two student loans, a private variable-rate loan from a bank with a floating rate currently at about 3%, and a fixed-rate loan at 6.8% from the government. How will the government's new student-loan policy affect these kinds ...
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Sallie Mae Is Back in Shape
Barrons.comSallie Mae is a real beauty, but few investors are giving her a second look. Sallie, whose formal name is SLM, is a complex, one-of-a-kind financial company, with an attractive business mix that involves holding, originating and servicing ...
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Wells Fargo To Forgive Loans In Student Death, Disability
WSJ.comWells Fargo & Co. is changing the terms of its private student loan agreements, forgiving loans beginning Friday if a student beneficiary dies or is permanently disabled.
How to Manage Student Loans After Graduation
SmartMoney.comIn 2010, two thirds of bachelor's-degree recipients graduated with education debt, including roughly $25,000 per person in student loans, according to estimates by FinAid.org. On average people take 16 to 18 years to repay this debt, ...
Credit Comes Back
SmartMoney.comAfter more than two years of tight lending, banks are loosening their grip, offering more mortgages, student loans and credit cards. In a continuing series, SmartMoney charts the slow return of easier credit, and examines the good deals and ...
Buying Your Way Into College
SmartMoney.comForget the standard advice that everyone should apply for financial aid. This year, forgoing aid applications may actually boost the chances of getting accepted.
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Student Loans: Legislation to Clarify Co-signer Obligations
WSJ.comWhen a student dies, the bill for his student loans often lives on – to the painful surprise and dismay of his co-signers. New Senate legislation seeks to change that, by requiring lenders to make clear the obligations of co-signers in the ...
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Pack Mentality: More People Are Traveling With Pets
This summer, vacationers are finding more places than ever allowing pets. But do you really want Fido hovering over your foie gras?
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Inside the Life of a Stock Flipper
Does the high-speed world of day trading have anything to teach hands-on investors? A new book takes an inside look at today's professional stock traders.
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10 Things Divorce Attorneys Won't Say
Our heart-to-heart on why it costs so much and takes so long to get out of wedlock.