360PR Blog

It’s August and that means back-to-school time.  But many students planning to enter college this fall still have not secured financing.  According to a July survey by Tuitionbids.com (a 360PR client), 60% of students/parents seeking school loans were still trying to lock down financing for the upcoming semester.  More than half said they will have to change their plans to attend college this fall if their loan applications aren’t approved.

On top of this all, last week Beth Healy’s article in The Boston Globe reported that the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority would not be able to provide financial assistance to more than 40,000 families who were depending on that money to pay for school, blaming “ongoing turmoil in the nation’s credit markets.”  That’s just one state, but unfortunately it’s a nationwide trend.  Wachovia is the latest of the major banks to pull out of student lending and if the current trend continues, they won’t be the last.

As a recent college grad myself, it is easy to understand what these students and families must be feeling as it becomes harder and harder to find money for college.  The last month of summer is supposed to be fun, a chance to spend a little more time with family and friends before heading to campus.

Personal finance expert Terry Savage recently wrote about the woes of the student loan market in her column “The Savage Truth” for the Chicago Sun-Times, offering advice for loan-shopping.  Online resources, such as Tuitionbids.com, are providing an important, new avenue to find student loans – last-minute or otherwise.  Hopefully that means more students will truly be going back to school this fall.

Filed under: 360 Public Relations, Internet |