Guest post from Sabrina Manville, Co-founder and COO of Edmit

When talking about student debt, many people cite the average student loan burden of bachelor’s degree graduates these days, which is around $30,000. But this number omits an important reality: the fact that many parents are taking on more of the financial burden to pay for their children’s college. And increasingly, this burden is in the form of additional debt. 

With the latest admissions scandal, it might feel like the only way to get into an Ivy or similarly selective university is through bribery. We’re going to discuss the reality of getting into these highly selective institutions. We’ll also help you prepare to start paying off your student loans and discuss how the pandemic might be impacting that process. Finally, as early admissions results start coming in, we’re laying out what students can expect from those decisions.

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

Important news for student loan borrowers coming out of the Department of Education this weekend!

Secretary of Education Betsy Devos announced the extension of the automatic loan forbearance for federal student loan borrowers through January 31, 2021.  This forbearance was originally granted by the CARES Act and was scheduled to end September 30, 2020. President Trump later extended the forbearance by executive action through December 31, 2020, and Devos’ latest action ensures that struggling borrowers will not need to make payments prior to the new administration taking office in late January.

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

• The net worth of the median Black family is one-tenth that of the typical white family. (Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System)
• Black Americans are paid less than white Americans at every education level, with Black college graduates earning $26/hour compared to $31/hour average wages for white graduates. (Economic Policy Institute)
• Black college graduates, on average, borrow $7,400 more each in student loans than their white counterparts. Four years later, the remaining debt of Black grads is double that of whites. (Brookings Institution)
• Over one-third of Black Parent PLUS Loan borrowers have household incomes less than $30,000/year (compared to 12% of white borrowers). (New America)
• Black student loan borrowers default on their loans at 2.5 times the rate of white borrowers. (Center for American Progress)

Do these statistics concern you?

With the pandemic disrupting in-person classes and raising the question of whether or not students will be on campus this fall, some families are investigating distance learning. Join us to learn more about who might flourish in distance learning and what to look for in the options available. We’ll also go through what parents need to know about borrowing money to pay for college, and a College Coach educator will share his personal experience with a post-graduate year of study between high school and college.

by Shannon Vasconcelos, former financial aid officer at Tufts University

In a welcome reprieve from the sea of bad news we’ve been drowning in lately, today we have some good news for student loan borrowers.  We now know what federal student loan interest rates will be for the 2020/21 school year, and… drum roll, please… those interest rates have dropped to historic lows!

Amid the health concerns associated with the global pandemic, the coronavirus has brought with it business closures, stock market volatility, and unprecedented economic uncertainty. People are worried about their jobs, their savings, and—yes—their student loans.

While the social distancing measures necessitated by the COVID-19 outbreak—cancelled events, school closures, and forced remote work—have inconvenienced nearly all of us, for some, coronavirus has meant economic catastrophe. Workers who become ill without access to paid sick leave, small business owners forced to close up shop, and hourly and/or tip-dependent employees dealing with either closed—or simply empty—workplaces can quickly find themselves teetering on the edge of financial solvency.

In recognition of this dilemma faced by many working families—and, specifically, many student loan borrowers—President Trump announced on Friday afternoon that his administration will be temporarily waiving interest charges on federal student loans. 

When college students graduate, they have a grace period of a few months before they need to start repaying their student loans. As that grace period is coming to an end, we have some thoughts on getting started on the repayment portion. In other segments, we’ll discuss who should consider a gap year, and offer suggestions for next steps if you are deferred in the early round from any of your colleges of interest.

Dear Debt’s Melanie Lockert paid off $81 thousand in student debt in just a few years. She’ll join us to talk about how she got to $81 thousand in the first place, what she would do differently if she could do it all again, and what led to the creation of her Dear Debt blog (now also a book). We’re also discussing how to choose your Common App prompt and what Common App supplemental essays are all about.