With time ticking down, lawmakers voted to keep student loan interest rate for federally subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4% for another year, attaching the compromise language, formerly H.R. 4628, to the highway bill (H.R. 4348). The measure passed the House and Senate on Friday. Had Congress not acted, the current authorization subsidizing student loan rates was set to expire June 30. and th...
With a June 30 deadline quickly approaching, lawmakers are running out of time to prevent student loan rates from doubling. Leadership from both parties has said that a compromise will be coming before the deadline and suggested on Friday that they are close to a deal. In 2007, Congress approved PL 110-84, which gradually reduced loan interest rates over four years. but expires July 1. The is...
On Thursday, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted along party lines to approve FY2013 authorization for Labor-HHS-Education programs, including $68.5 billion for the Department of Education. This includes an $85 increase in the maximum Pell Grant award level, from $5,550 to $5,635, beginning in the 2013-14 school year. Funding for most other student financial aid programs would remain at curr...
On Tuesday, administration officials announced a White House partnership with 10 colleges and universities to give students better information on the cost of higher education and financial aid options. The schools, which include the University of Massachusetts System, have voluntarily committed to adopting an information sheet for incoming students to help them understand the costs of college and ...
The OECD invites New England higher education leaders to attend its Programme for Institutional Management in Higher Education's 2012 General Conference on “Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education” to be held from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19 in Paris.The conference will examine:
Where have we got to in attaining and sustaining mass higher education?
What can higher education contribu...
In a bid to break the stalemate over offsets for student loan interest rate legislation, Republican leadership in the House and Senate proposed two alternative proposals on Thursday. While general agreement exists on the desire to extend the current 3.4% interest rate on federal student loans for one year, delaying an increase to 6.8% scheduled for July 1, lawmakers have been unable to ...
The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission will hold a symposium on Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Ensuring Success in Higher Education, at Salem State University on Wednesday, June 6 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.The symposium is designed to educate college and university staff who work with veterans to ensure their success in pursuing higher education. The event is open to all colleges and uni...
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked a motion to proceed on the Senate Democrats' bill (S. 2343) to extend current interest rates on federal student loans for one year. With a vote of 52-45, the cloture motion failed to garner the needed 60 votes to proceed. Republicans objected to Majority Leader Harry Reid's (D-NV) refusal to allow a vote on the Republicans' alternative legislation (S. 2366). ...
On Wednesday, Senate Democrats introduced a bill (S. 2343) to extend the current interest rate on subsidized student loans for one year beyond the July 1 expiration date. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the cost of a one-year extension to be $6 billion, which the bill would pay for by ending a tax benefit for S corporations. Under the bill, shareholders of these corporations w...
Americans now owe more on student loans than on credit cards, auto loans and mortgages, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Department of Education. For the first time, student loans taken out in 2011 exceeded $100 billion with total student loans surpassing $1 trillion. Mounting student debt has forced many students to drop out, resulting in the low college-complet...
With time ticking down, lawmakers voted to keep student loan interest rate for federally subsidized Stafford loans at 3.4% for another year, attaching the compromise language, formerly H.R. 4628, to the highway bill (H.R. 4348). The measure passed the House and Senate on Friday. Had Congress not acted, the current authorization subsidizing student loan rates was set to expire June 30. and th... 
The OECD invites New England higher education leaders to attend its Programme for Institutional Management in Higher Education's 2012 General Conference on “Attaining and Sustaining Mass Higher Education” to be held from Sept. 17 to Sept. 19 in Paris.The conference will examine:
Where have we got to in attaining and sustaining mass higher education?
What can higher education contribu... 
The Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission will hold a symposium on Veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury Ensuring Success in Higher Education, at Salem State University on Wednesday, June 6 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.The symposium is designed to educate college and university staff who work with veterans to ensure their success in pursuing higher education. The event is open to all colleges and uni...