Archive for April, 2010
All About Federal Student Loan Consolidation and Its Specific Features
Posted by admin in Student Loan Consolidation on April 11, 2010
Student loan consolidation is essentially considered as a tool to manage one or more debts. Such a loan also allows any student to combine his/her federal or private student loans into one single mortgage with extended loan terms, which subsequently minimize the monthly payment.
For US students, there are two types of student loan categories namely as mentioned below
1. Federal student loans
2. Private student loans.
Federal Student Loan Consolidation:
The Federal student loan consolidation allows a student to consolidate all his loans for one single loan at a lower interest rate. The student could also lengthen his term (tenor) of payment. Many financial institutions provide federal consolidation student loans. The students have a right to choose the most reasonable loan package that suits them.
But ultimately, like several other loan options, the federal student loan consolidation also has its disadvantages. Though the students are offered a consolidated loan for less monthly installment, it unanimously increases the full total amount that has to be repaid.
Nevertheless, some of the beneficial features of Federal consolidation student loans are as follows:
* Interest Rate: Federal consolidation student loans have lower rate of interest than most of the private loan schemes.
* Monthly Payments: There is subsequent reduction in your monthly payments. As a student, this can take the load off from your monthly budget and you can also pay the installments easily.
* Single Loan: With loan consolidation, there is only one payment check to be paid each month. This is very convenient and uncomplicated form of payment scheme for any student.
Eligibility Factor for Consolidation Loans
A student is eligible for federal consolidation loans, when he/she is not enrolled in any school and has repaid the loans without any default. Even students who are in grace period after post graduation can apply for such loans. The minimum loan amount should be $10,000 or more.
Students having federal educational loans are also qualified to get a consolidation loan. Private education loans are not considered for student debt consolidation loans. Many institutions and companies provide federal student consolidation loans such as credit unions, banks and secondary markets.
Mixing up private loans and federal loans for student debt consolidation is not a good idea, as the federal loan interest amount is tax deductible. Some loan amounts are also forgiven depending on the nature of job or service. Private student loans are bereft of such benefits, as they are treated at par with normal loans. Combining private and federal loans for consolidation of debts makes you lose all the wonderful advantages of Federal consolidation loan student.
Student loan consolidation is specifically meant to minimize the monthly pay amount and for extending the repayable loan terms. It is very convenient for students struggling to pay their monthly installments scattered in several outstanding loan forms.
Illinois Scholarships And Grants For Mothers
Posted by admin in Scholarships and Grants on April 4, 2010
Mothers are a special part of the society. There are stay-at-home moms, working moms, single moms and others. These women earnestly and sincerely look after their family and kids and are content seeing them happy. Even with their jobs, they do not think much about their career growth. Statistics show that a very high percentage of mothers lack the required qualifications to work at white-collar jobs. The State of Illinois comprehends this situation of the mothers and have started in turn the Illinois scholarships for mothers, providing a great opportunity to the them to restart their education.
Certain scholarships are granted via the state representatives and senators, like the Illinois General Assembly Scholarship. The Merit Recognition Scholarship is mainly granted for the intellectual category of students and are mainly assessed through the high school exams and the grant of $1000 can be utilized for tuition at any Illinois college or university or even at studying at either of the four military academies. There are also certain auxiliary scholarships introduced by the private, affluent sponsors referred to as the Illinois Dollars for Scholars organization. These scholarships are granted with the help of the local high schools.
There are also several other Illinois scholarships which are available to mothers so as to continue with their education. A gist on the same has been mentioned below:
-Illinois Department of Public Health for Rural Health Allied Health Care Professional Scholarship Program – as the name suggests, this scholarship is awarded to twenty undergraduates who are studying for medical sciences. The students should definitely be Illinois residents and the scholarship amount will be in between $7500 to $15000.
- Illinois Department of Public Health for Rural Health Nursing Education Scholarship Program – this program is for the undergraduate students studying nursing and who are also Illinois residents. Scholarship amount of $1500 to $6000 is granted to several students.
- Illinois Monetary Award Program – every year scholarships up to $4968 are offered to undergrads of Illinois College.
- Indiana Scholarship – this financial aid of $1000 is provided to the freshmen at the Indiana College.
- Merit Recognition Scholarship Program – this is a huge scholarship program awarded to 5000-6000 freshmen undergraduates of Illinois College. This is a yearly program with the scholarship amount of $1000 to each student.
- Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship-Illinois – Every year, scholarship amount of $1500 is donated to 1100-1200 Illinois undergraduates.
The aspect of online education of many of these educational programs is a boon to the mothers. It is really difficult for mothers to lead such hectic lives and still be studying on-campus. With the online medium of study, the mothers can conduct their studies at a time of their convenience and the best part of these programs is that the online colleges and universities carry the same accreditation as the traditional ones.
An educated mother is the strong foundation of her family. The State of Illinois understands this and the various Illinois scholarships for mothers have been started with the same intent of providing good education without any financial strain to the mothers, to enhance her family life.