statiastudent is doom-n-gloom in every post he/she makes

id go ahead and send in your credit reports like they say, because last time i talked to them they sounded confident they were getting the Royal Bank of Scotland

Royal Bank of Scotland's secret talks with FSA


By Mark Kleinman

Last Updated: 11:52pm BST 19/04/2008

Sir Fred Goodwin, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, held secret talks with the City regulator over a multibillion pound rights issue days before he reveals that the group has racked up £6bn of losses from the turmoil in the credit markets.

Goodwin met with Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, in the last fortnight, and is understood to have been given the FSA's support for the biggest-ever rights issue by a British company. The capital-raising will be confirmed this week and is expected to total between £10bn and £12bn.

The Sunday Telegraph has also learned that AIG, Allianz, Axa and Generali have made preliminary enquiries to buy RBS's £5bn insurance division, which includes Direct Line and Churchill, as the board of the British banking group convenes to decide how to restore investor confidence in its strategy and its chief executive.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that the Bank of England will accept only British and European mortgages and credit card loans as collateral because of the dire state of the US housing market. These will be the highest-grade loans held by the banks, and any "credit event" which leads to them declining in quality - such as an arrears default - would trigger a clause demanding they be replaced.

As Goodwin prepares for the toughest week of his 10-year spell at the bank, RBS's board will meet in London today to hammer out a statement likely to be made ahead of its annual meeting in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

"Caution is the order of the day," said the source.

The fallout from the RBS issue will include serious questions about the future of RBS.

RBS's audit committee, chaired by Archie Hunter, a former senior partner at KPMG, the accounting firm, met yesterday for preliminary discussions about this week's announcement.

RBS may opt to formally put its insurance businesses up for sale this week, although Goodwin is understood to have been reluctant to consider such a move.

Bottom line here for now, things will get better. There are thousands of banks that will lend, and some at better rates than Terri. Anyone that even may think that their loans are going to dry up or what not, needs to simply have someone help them start to put into place a back-up plan.
Most American students can't recall what a recession is/was because we've had it really freaking good over the past almost 30 years. Now is the time to plan and notto freak out. Statia will be teaching and those that can plan will be learning and moving on!

Given the reality of the situation and the economy and the fact this morning I saw gas at $4.50 per gallon, I beg to differ that 1000s of banks will be lining up to loan money to a class of students such as ourselves who have such an overall poor perforamnce on the usmle and poorer chance of ever repaying.
although the mission of teri is noble, the fact is that with the number of schools who admit students based upon their pulse rate and not academic performance, successful repayment of their loan amounts was not always been easy.
As someone just finishing up, I beg to differ and I have been hearing it from school administrators that further consolidation among the schools in the carib region will occur and most of the landlords and their properties housing the institutions will revolve back to office parks, homes or resort properties.
the future is not pretty for the industry, the schools and the students.

i agree with this

there are many schools in this situation. some bank is going to realize the potential here and step forward. they might be more strict on who they loan to, but they will be there...

Lender Layoffs and Loan Program Suspensions


This page provides a list of education lenders who have laid off staff or temporarily suspended or permanently exited one or more student loan programs since March 31, 2008. (Some of these lenders may have exited FFEL or private student loan programs for reasons unrelated to the subprime mortgage credit crisis or the cuts in FFELP lender subsidies.)

Lender Layoffs
The total job loss estimate for the student loan industry is more than 5,012 layoffs. This estimate does not include the National City figures in the totals since those figures are not specific to the student loan division. This estimate understates the actual total due to several lender layoffs for which no total could be obtained.
Lenders laying off staff (including attrition):

• Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation, Academic Finance Corporation
• College Loan Corporation
• FinanSure
• First Marblehead/IEFC/TERI
• Goal Financial
• Illinois SAC
• Loan to Learn
• MOHELA
• NELNET, Union Bank & Trust
• National City Bank
• National Education
• NextStudent
• Sallie Mae
• Student Assistance Foundation of Montana
• Student Loan Xpress
• US Education Finance Group

Loan Program Suspensions
The following table lists the 63 education lenders who have exited or suspended their participation in all or part of the federally-guaranteed student loan program (FFELP). The table indicates whether they have suspended participation on all of FFELP (53 lenders) or just consolidation loans (10 lenders). It also indicates whether the lender has suspended its private student loan program (22 lenders).
Nonprofit state loan agencies are listed with the name of the state in brackets after the name (10 lenders). Five state loan agencies -- PHEAA, NorthStar Guarantee, MEFA, MHESLA and Brazos -- have suspended all FFELP originations.
Rank information is based on FY2006 federal loan volume data and is included only for lenders who have left the federal loan programs. If a lender has suspended only their private loan programs, no rank information is included.
These lenders account for 13.6% of FFEL Stafford and FFEL PLUS loan origination volume and 76.0% of FFEL consolidation volume. These lenders originated more than $6.7 billion in Stafford and PLUS loans to more than 800,000 borrowers and more than $55.0 billion in consolidation loans to more than 1.8 million borrowers in FY2006. So far 9 of the top 10 and 33 of the top 100 consolidation lenders have stopped making consolidation loans, and 21 of the top 100 originators have stopped making Stafford and PLUS loans.
Most of the major lender partners of school as lender schools have ended their participation in the school as lender program, including Sallie Mae, Nelnet, PHEAA, CollegeInvest, Brazos and MHESLA, as well as six other lenders. The 45 affected schools are now looking for new lender partners, but are unlikely to find them. These schools originated $1.7 billion in Stafford loans to more than 200,000 borrowers in FY2006 (3.3% of loan volume) and include 10 of the top 100 Stafford and PLUS loan originators.
If school as lender schools are included in the totals, a grand total of 108 lenders have suspended participation in one or more FFEL loan programs. In FY2006 these lenders originated more than $8.4 billion in Stafford and PLUS loans to more than 1 million borrowers (16.9% of overall loan volume) and more than $55.0 billion in consolidation loans to more than 1.8 million borrowers (76.0% of overall consolidation loan volume). They include 31 of the top 100 originators of Stafford and PLUS loans and 33 of the top 100 originators of Consolidation loans (and 9 of the top 10 consolidators).
Some of the smaller lenders who have exited the student loan programs have reported an inability to liquidate their education loan portfolios even after they have exited.
LenderWhat?FY2006 Federal RankOriginationsConsolidationsHoldingsAcademic Funding Group / Provincial BankFFELP
Private57Academic Loan GroupFFELP1731Access GroupConsolidation111213Affinity Direct/Educational DirectFFELP19ALL Student LoanFFELP Outside California434242American Education Services (AES) / PHEAA [Pennsylvania]FFELP1977Ardent FinancialFFELPBank of AmericaPrivateBank of Lake MillsFFELP3180Bankers TrustFFELPBoeing Credit UnionFFELPBrazos HESC [Texas]
Brazos Student Lending, Academic Finance Corporation, Educational Funding Services, Inc. and Acapita. FFELP2394Capitol Federal Savings, KansasFFELPCapital One/AxiomFFELPCiti Student Loan CorporationConsolidation232College BoardFFELP2573College Loan CorporationFFELP868College Solutions NetworkFFELP9678Collegiate SolutionsFFELP5570CollegeInvest [Colorado]Consolidation4838Comerica BankFFELP
Private3781Cornhusker BankFFELPFederal Student Loan SolutionsFFELPFinanSureFFELP
Private2460First Niagara BankFFELPGCO-ELFConsolidation3314Goal FinancialFFELP510Graduate LeverageFFELP14HELP Alternative LoansPrivateHSBC Bank USA, NAFFELP417653IEFCPrivateIndependent Bankers BankFFELPIowa Student Loan [Iowa]Consolidation
Private2625ISM Education Loans [Indiana]Consolidation582335K2 Student Loan SolutionsFFELP3761Kansas State Bank of ManhattanFFELP
Private62Loan to LearnPrivateLoanster Financial Group LLCConsolidationM&T BankFFELP409791MEFA [Massachusetts]FFELP747269MHESAC [Montana]Consolidation3436MHESLA [Michigan]FFELP
Private6029MOHELA [Missouri]Consolidation
Private1512National EducationFFELP263118National Student Loan Group LLC (NSL Direct)FFELP61NELNET, Union Bank & TrustConsolidation
Private
Private Consolidation1623NextStudentFFELP100445NHHELCO [New Hampshire]PrivateNorthStar/T.H.E. [Minnesota]FFELP132115Sallie MaePrivate (Recourse Loans Only)
Consolidation111Security Bank of Kansas CityFFELPSovereign BankFFELP828888Spokane Teachers Credit UnionFFELPSAF-MT [Montana]FFELP outside MontanaStudent Capital CorporationFFELPStudent Loan XpressFFELP
Private1589TCF BankFFELP4498TD BanknorthFFELP
PrivateTHE National BankFFELP
PrivateTierOne BankFFELPUniversity of MiamiFFELP86Urban Ed ExpressFFELP
PrivateWashington MutualFFELP
Private83West Des Moines State BankFFELP
PrivateWidener UniversityFFELPZions BankFFELP
Private6197
In addition, 5 lenders that provide K-12 loans have suspended those products: GCO-ELF, M&T Bank, Bank of America (PrepGATE), Brazos StudentLoans.com and TERI PLEASE.
Failed Securitizations
Lenders with failed student loan securitization (auction rates) include:

• Brazos
• EdSouth
• College Loan Corporation
• Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation
• Mississippi
• Sallie Mae
• First Marblehead
• Vermont (VSAC)

Chronology of Lender Actions
This table shows a timeline of actions that lenders have taken with regard to the changed environment for lender profitability, such as suspending one or more loan programs, laying off staff, closing servicing centers and suspending loan acquisitions.
LenderWhen?What?Loan to Learn1-AUG-07Layoff many staffCollege Board22-AUG-07Exits FFELP 10/15/07 due to NY SLATENELNET6-SEP-07Layoff 400/3,300 (12%)National City Bank19-SEP-07Layoff 1,300 due to credit crisisGCO-ELF25-SEP-07Suspending consolidation loan acquisitionsPHEAA28-SEP-07Hiring freeze, attritionBoeing Credit Union28-SEP-07Exiting FFELP effective 9/28/07Loan to Learn30-SEP-07No new private student loansNextStudent1-OCT-07Suspending new Stafford/PLUS loans. Layoff 100/409 (24%).SunTrust3-OCT-07Sells a portion of loan portfolio to Nelnet and will close Murfreesboro TN servicing center in April 2008. Will continue to service FFELP loans.First Niagara Bank4-OCT-07Exits student loansRISLA4-OCT-07Ends NELNET partnershipUS Education Finance Group?Layoff 25/45 (56%)FinanSure26-OCT-07Exit FFELP/Private, layoffsIllinois SAC7-NOV-07Layoff 50/470 (11%) + 18 vacant (4%)JP Morgan Chase8-NOV-07Hired 125 of Nelnet layoffs 12/1/07College Loan Corporation12-NOV-07Layoff 340/700 (49%)Federal Student Loan Solutions17-NOV-07fsls.net site no longer respondingStudent Loan Xpress30-NOV-07Ended private student loan, continuing FFELPStudent Capital CorporationDEC-07Dissolved brand, absorbed into College Loan CorporationLoanster Financial Group LLC14-DEC-07Suspending consolidation loansSallie Mae27-DEC-07Halting FFELP spot market purchasesGoal Financial31-DEC-07Exits FFELP, layoff 134/300 (from Warn Act Notices, company web site)National Education9-JAN-08Suspending FFELP 1/15/08, layoffs?Sallie Mae18-JAN-08Layoff 350/11,000 (3%). The company also announced plans to cut costs by 20% by 2010 which will likely entail further layoffs of thousands of employees. Sallie Mae18-JAN-08Sallie Mae ended recourse loans effective 3/1/08 at Corinthian, Career Education, ITT Educational Services Inc., DeVry, Education Management Corporation, Lincoln Educational Services.NELNET23-JAN-08Layoff 300 (10%)NELNET23-JAN-08Stops making new consolidation loansKentucky HEAA25-JAN-08Ending 3 loan forgiveness programsCollege Loan Corporation31-JAN-08Suspending FFELP 3/1/08, layoff 260/360 (72%), no longer offering private loans at certain for-profit collegesNextStudent1-FEB-08Suspending new FFELP consolidation loans (continuing private loans and private consolidation loans)Ardent Financial / National Student Loan Group LLC (NSL Direct)1-FEB-08Suspending participation in the federal consolidation loan program effective 2/1/08. Still making private consolidation loans.Silver State Helicopters4-FEB-08Silver State Helicopters, a Nevada-based helicopter flight school, blames "a rapid, unprecedented downturn in the U.S. credit markets, which severely curtailed the availability of student loans for the company's flight academy students and resulted in a sharp and sudden downturn in new student enrollment" for its Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing and closure. This affected more than 2,500 students.Collegiate Solutions5-FEB-08Exiting FFELPFirst Marblehead6-FEB-08Layoff (estimate) more than 100 of 1,100, plus attrition and freezing. Company refused to confirm actual number.Independent Bankers Bank7-FEB-08Exiting FFELP 2/15/08Michigan Higher Ed SLA12-FEB-08Suspending MI-LOAN private student loan 2/15/08ISM Educ. Loans (Indiana)14-FEB-08Suspending Consolidation LoansAmerican Educ. Svcs (AES)15-FEB-08Suspending FFELP effective 3/7/08Security Bank of Kansas City15-FEB-08Exiting FFELPCapital One/Axiom15-FEB-08Exiting FFELP 4/1/08MOHELA (Missouri)15-FEB-08Suspending consolidation loans, private loans. Layoff 16/271 (5.9%) plus 23 jobs through attrition. Iowa Student Loan18-FEB-08Suspending FFELP loan acquisitions and FFELP consolidation loans 2/29/08.NorthStar/T.H.E.18-FEB-08Suspending all loan discounts (including existing borrowers)Sallie Mae20-FEB-08Ending serial (subsequent) private student loans at certain for-profit colleges, not just new borrowers.PHEAA26-FEB-08Suspended FFELP loan originations and secondary market acquisitions effective 3/7/08. Affects 140,000 borrowers, $500M loan volume. Still guaranteeing and servicing loans.HELP Alternative Loans22-FEB-08Discontinued private student loan program.Brazos25-FEB-08Suspending in-house originationsLoan to Learn1-MAR-08Layoff additional staff. Still servicing existing portfolio.College Solutions Network1-MAR-08Suspended participation in FFELP. Still offering private student loans.CollegeInvest1-MAR-08Suspending consolidation loansUrban Ed Express1-MAR-08Exited federal and private loan programs effective 3/1/08.K2 Student Loan Solutions3-MAR-08Exiting FFELP (consolidator)Kansas State Bank of Manhattan5-MAR-08Exiting FFELP and private effective 3/31/08 Spokane Teachers Credit Union5-MAR-08Exiting FFELP effective 3/14/08New Hampshire Higher Education Loan Corporation (NHELCO)5-MAR-08Suspending LEAF private student loan effective 3/11/08. Continuing to participate in Federal Stafford and PLUS loans.Brazos Higher Education Service Corporation7-MAR-08Layoff 163 employees (60%) throughout spring and summer 2008.MOHELA7-MAR-08Layoff 16/271 (5.9%) plus 23 jobs lost to attritionPenn State University10-MAR-08Penn State announced that it will be switching to the Direct Loan program because of concerns over the stability of the FFEL program in the aftermath of PHEAA's suspending its participation. According to the US Department of Education, a total of 42 schools have switched to the Direct Loan program so far.Nelnet10-MAR-08Nelnet ends its participation in the School-as-Lender program, blaming the credit crisis as the reason. Iowa Student Loan12-MAR-08ISL suspends its private student loan program, effective April 2008. TCF Bank12-MAR-08Exiting FFELP effective April 1. Still offering private loans.ALL Student Loan12-MAR-08Suspending new FFELP originations outside California effective 3/14/08.Graduate Leverage13-MAR-08Suspends new FFELP loan originations. Not fulfilling spring disbursements. Northeastern University17-MAR-08Northeastern University announced that it will be switching to the Direct Loan program because of concern about the credit crisis. HSBC Bank17-MAR-08Exiting FFELP effective May 31, 2008.M&T Bank18-MAR-08Suspending participation in FFELP effective April 1, 2008. Cornhusker Bank18-MAR-08Suspending participation in FFELP due to Nelnet's temporary suspension of loan purchases. Assessing options. NorthStar/T.H.E.19-MAR-08Suspending consolidation loansSallie Mae20-MAR-08Sallie Mae reduces premiums paid to schools participating in its School-as-Lender program. HEWI20-MAR-08HEWI cancels its International Student Lending Conference, which was scheduled for April 11, due to a tepid response to the call for registration, another casualty of the student loan credit crisis.Brazos24-MAR-08Suspending all FFELP originations at four Brazos lenders (Brazos Student Lending, Academic Finance Corporation, Educational Funding Services, Inc. and Acapita) effective 3/27/2008. Still offering private student loans through afclending.com, studentloans.com and efsi.net. Capitol Federal Savings, Kansas26-MAR-08Exiting FFELP effective 4/1/08.Zions Bank27-MAR-08Suspending FFELP loans effective 3/31/08. THE National Bank30-MAR-08Suspending FFELP and private loans. NorthStar/T.H.E.1-APR-08Suspending all FFELP loans, including Stafford, PLUS and consolidation loans. Still making private student loans.Student Assistance Foundation (SAF)1-APR-08Sent letter to schools outside Montana indicating that it was suspending FFELP loan originations outside Montana. Staff reduction of 35 people through attrition. Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation (MHESAC)1-APR-08Continuing to originate Stafford, PLUS and Consolidation loans to Montana students. Will decide in a few weeks whether to suspend consolidation loans. Student Loan Xpress (CIT Group)3-APR-08Exiting FFELP effective immediately. Unspecified number of layoffs. No longer making any new loans, federal or private.Strengthening Student Aid for All Act of 20083-APR-08Senator Edward M. Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Strengthening Student Aid Act for All Act of 2008. The legislation is intended to help avert the impending student loan credit crisis by increasing unsubsidized Stafford loan limits, allowing Parent PLUS loans to be deferred while the student is in college, allows the Direct Loan program to act as a secondary market for buying loans from FFELP lenders, allows lender-of-last-resort to be implemented on a college-wide basis instead of a student-by-student basis, and increases the maximum Pell Grant by up to $750 for the lowest-income Pell Grant recipients. This legislation represents a well-thought-out approach to addressing the challenges faced by education lenders and will go a long way toward resolving the student loan credit crisis, if enacted by Congress. The Education Resources Institute Inc. (TERI)7-APR-08TERI, the largest nonprofit guarantor of private student loans, filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. This came after Moody's Investors Service downgraded TERI's rating on March 26, 2008 to non-investment grade (junk) status. TERI had previously laid off 25 employees (about 20% of staff). First Marblehead stock dropped 37% on the news, as TERI was the guarantor for most of the company's loans. (The stock has fallen from a high of $77.35 on November 24, 2006 to an all-time low of $4.63 a share on April 9, 2008. The stock price has fallen 89% in the last 12 months.) Fitch Ratings announced that it may be downgrading some of First Marblehead's asset backed securitizations as a result of the bankruptcy. First Marblehead will be writing down the value of its residual income because it will now be shouldering the risk of default on its private student loans. First Marblehead will also not be able to use the $1 billion line of credit offered by Goldman Sachs as part of a previous deal to invest up to $260.5 million in the company. At the time the deal would have involved about 20% of shareholder equity. If Goldman Sachs were to complete the remaining $200.7 million investment it would now pass a 25% threshold which would require regulatory approval.
Nelnet9-APR-08Nelnet announced in a SEC filing that it had sold two portfolios of student loans, one on March 31, 2008 and the other on April 8, 2008. The company will realize $18 million in after-tax losses on the first portfolio ($858 million in FFELP loans) and $10 million on the second portfolio ($428 million in loans). $842 million of the portfolio involved consolidation loans. The loans were sold at a purchase price of approximately 98% of the principal balance to an unnamed "large National Bank active in student lending and education finance". The sale agreement also provided for Nelnet to continue servicing the loans and to provide future loan origination and servicing activities, so Nelnet expects to receive servicing fee revenue from the purchaser. After the loan sale Nelnet is left with $4.5 billion in student loans. Nelnet also reported that as of March 31, 2008 it held approximately $600,000 of private student loans that were insured by TERI. Nelnet has suspended its private student loan programs, including both the Nelnet Academic Private Loan (NAPL) and the Nelnet Private Consolidation Loan. Nelnet announced to schools on April 7, 2008 that it would be partnering with other lenders to provide private student loans.
Sallie Mae11-APR-08Suspending consolidation loans, effective April 11, 2008. Suspending Stafford loan origination fee waiver, effective May 2, 2008. Access Group11-APR-08Suspending consolidation loans, effective April 11, 2008. Suspending the Stafford loan origination fee waiver. JPMorgan Chase14-APR-08Informed schools that it would only make FFELP loans at schools where they can meet their profitability goals.TD Commerce Bank (TD Banknorth)14-APR-08Exiting FFELP effective April 15, 2008.MHESAC14-APR-08The Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation (MHESAC) announced that it would be cutting its loan discounts from $4.2 million in FY08 to less than $1.2 million in FY09, a 71% reduction. These changes include eliminating the origination fee and default fee waivers on their loans. MHESAC is also asking its business manager, Student Assistance Foundation (SAF), to streamline its operating expenses. Michigan Higher Ed SLA (MHESLA)15-APR-08Suspending all FFELP loans effective April 21, 2008. Michigan State University reacts by switching to the Direct Loan program. MEFA15-APR-08Suspending all FFELP loans effective July 1, 2008. Still making private student loans. Citi Student Loan Corporation16-APR-08Suspending federal consolidation loans effective May 1, 2008. Still making private consolidation loans, private student loans, and federal Stafford and PLUS loans. Citi will, however, stop making loans at schools where the loans are not profitable or the loans too small, such as two-year colleges. Sallie Mae16-APR-08Sallie Mae's Q1-2008 quarterly report revealed that it had laid off nearly 1,000 employees (9%) over the last six months.
Sallie Mae also indicated that it has primary liquidity of $18.4 billion, consisting of $4.9 billion in unrestricted cash and liquid investments, $6.5 billion in unused commercial paper and bank lines of credit, and $6.9 billion in ABCP facilities. Sallie Mae originated $8.7 billion in student loans ($6.3 billion in Stafford and PLUS loans and $2.5 billion in private student loans) in the first quarter. Sallie Mae's primary liquidity would last three more quarters if it is unable to securitize any of the $19.2 billion in unencumbered FFELP loans. (The total origination volume in Q2 through Q4 of 2007 was $17.5 billion. Assuming a 8.75% growth rate brings the total to $19 billion, exceeding the primary liquidity.) This might stretch to another quarter through ongoing securitization activity (it is unclear how much of the $19.2 billion in remaining stand-by liquidity from unencumbered FFELP loans is from pre-10/1/07 loans) and prepayments from borrowers consolidating with other lenders and the Direct Loan program.
Some statements made by Sallie Mae's management suggest that the company's liquidity constraints may be bleaker than the analysis presented in the previous paragraph. Not all of the $18.4 billion in primary liquidity may be available for the origination of new education loans. Much of the primary liquidity may already be committed to pending corporate debt maturities. For example, Jack Remondi, Sallie Mae's CFO, said during the earnings call that "we will not do business that puts our liquidity position at risk". He also testified at the April 15, 2008 Senate banking committee hearing that "we do not have months, or even weeks to decide the best course of action". Sallie Mae's 2008-04 securitization also priced at a weighted average margin of 141 basis points over the 3-month LIBOR at a 12% CPR, up from 93 basis points at the end of February.
Bank of America Student Lending17-APR-08Suspending all private student loan products effective April 18, 2008. Will be focusing on federally-guaranteed education loans. Had previously suspended all Google advertising for education loans on April 1, 2008. Comerica Bank17-APR-08Suspending all federal and private education loan products effective April 17, 2008.IEFC22-APR-08Suspending the ISLP private student loan program due to Bank of America suspending its private student loan programs. MHESAC [Montana]23-APR-08The Montana Higher Education Student Assistance Corporation (MHESAC) announced that it was suspending the origination of federal consolidation loans. JPMorgan Chase24-APR-08JPMorgan Chase is calling schools to tell them that it will no longer offer origination and default fee waivers on its loans. JPMorgan Chase is also indicating that it no longer expects to grow its FFELP market share. PHEAA24-APR-08PHEAA announced that it is cutting the Pennsylvania state grants by as much as $752 per recipient. PHEAA will no longer be supplementing state funding for the grants with $35 million of its own revenues as it has suffered recent financial losses in its student loan business ($37 million for the nine months ending March 31, 2008). The maximum grant will drop from $4,700 in 2007-08 to $3,948 in 2008-09. PHEAA also anounced several other cost-cutting measures: voluntary layoffs of an unspecified number of non-union staff, elimination of overtime and comp-time for management, and elimination of cost-of-living increases for non-union staff. Student Assistance Foundation (SAF)25-APR-08The Student Assistance Foundation (SAF) of Montana announced layoffs of 23 of 195 staff (11.8%). SAF is also reducing professional, travel and consulting expenses. Note: Student Loan Xpress and Goal Financial have not returned numerous telephone calls and email messages. The Goal Financial layoff figures are based on the Warn Act Notices.

Way too much information. My girlfriend heard the exact same things when she attended AUC over 10 years ago. In the economy as a whole there will be woes, lay-offs, downsizing and reconstruction due to all sorts of varibles. The banks can write more off than you may think. These are some trying times for everyone for sure- students, parents, grandparents.....but like I stated previously, this is when each and every individual is the master of their destiny.

Its a prime example of when the going gets tough, the tough get going.

Think of it this way, is a bank more prone to lend you as a med student money to finish school, or to "help" (bad choice of words prehaps) you pay for a house or car as a med-school drop out?

Failure is an option only you can choose.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step- so does the journey for a thousand loans.

Its true that a banker is someone that offers you an umbrella on a sunny day and will take it back when it rains.....but if the stress of finding money to finish med school is tough, what are you going to do when your doing ER?

I would be really interested to know if you have any family or friends that are docs that were, and are not leveraged to their eyeballs regardless of when they went to med school or how many years they have been out.
Because I know quite a few, and they would still tell you and me that if you had to make a chioce based on a forecast (financial or otherwise) of where your best investment lies, it is in your medical education.

To all that read this- you've come a long way to get to this point. This is not the first ime you've freaked out about something and it aint gonna be the last! Pony-up and take care of your business and we'll all be docs soon enuff!
"bow-applause-thanks,,,,,,"

How many of you will be checking into getting a private (e.g. education, health education) loan from your personal bank?