<p>SEEN ON THE WEB
From poster JustAMomOf4 on the blog College Confidential:
Colleges and universities prey on families with encouraging private loans when grants and federal loans are not enough. Perhaps, when there is a whole generation of college students stuck paying back loans of $100,000, there will be a revolt.</p>
<p>Pretty cool to see one of "our own" quoted!</p>
<p>To add to that particular discussion, I don't know that it's all the fault of the colleges themselves. I work at a public college. The truth is that even publics require more money than many, many families have available to them without loans. Students who have EFC's of $10,000 are not going to get anything but loans & perhaps work study (if the kids can find a WS job, which isn't always easy at some schools). The family is borrowing to bridge the gap between the EFC and the COA - plus, the majority are borrowing to pay the EFC. Kids are maxing out sub & unsub Stafford loan eligibility. Families are borrowing large PLUS loans. The "new" problem is families being turned down for PLUS loans - I have seen families who make more than $150k/year (a lot in these parts) turned down on the PLUS credit check. Now their kids can borrow an additional $4000-5000 unsub Stafford each year. If this isn't as much as they needed, they turn to alternative loans. Is our school pushing alternative loans? Absolutely not. Are our students taking them out? Yes.</p>
<p>I don't call College Confidential a blog. It is a Web-based discussion forum. </p>
<p>I don't think there will ever be a whole generation of college graduates with loans piling up to $100K, at least not while the dollar is still worth what it's worth today. Most families draw the line at much lower debt amounts, and of course plenty of students get no family support and have to work their way through school.</p>
<p>Hear, hear! Good quote JAMO4</p>
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I don't call College Confidential a blog. It is a Web-based discussion forum.
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<p>Of course, you are exactly correct. But the media are a bunch of slow-learners when it comes to evolving jargon. </p>
<p>These kinds of vocab errors really get under my skin. I manage a website AND contribute to media relations at a health insurance company. It's like a perfect storm of vocabulary. </p>
<p>I can't begin to tell you how many times consumers and the media alike think "health coverage" and "health care" are interchangeable terms. Another example: people think "HMO" "healthcare provider" and "insurance" are all the same thing. Why? Because, in their haste to file a report, the media don't care what the words really mean. They just like using sexy new words and apperaring on the leading edge of information. >:-<</p>
<p>Rant over. (I feel better now.)</p>
<p>ETA: Website and portal aren't the same thing, either! UGH!</p>