What Students and Parents MUST Know about Student Loans – Tax Deduction
What Students and Parents MUST Know about Student Loans
John Williams
A student loan helps you get through college. Then you come out into a high-paying career. Its a great investment in your or your sons/daughters future.
Student loans generally give you a good deal. You get below-market interest rates, and you get a $2500 federal tax credit on interest paid over any period of time previously first 60 months only
It doesnt matter if the student, or parent takes out the loan; tax deduction remains the same.
* Did you know the federal government has a $50 billion student loan program
Not surprisingly, the federal government provides the largest percentage of student loans. Other student loans may come direct from colleges, private lenders or state governments.
One of the key advantages to a federal guaranteed loan is exactly that - its guaranteed. That means you dont need collateral. It also means the terms are kinder than a typical lender might offer. Of course, your educational program has to be approved by the government.
Types of student loans
* Federal Stafford Loan - for undergraduate or graduate students
A popular and cost-effective source of a student loan. Stafford loans provide low-interest, government guaranteed funds.
Stafford Loans come in two types, subsidized or unsubsidized. Whether or not youre eligible for subsidized depends on household income. The school ought to advise on this.
For subsidized, the government covers the interest right up to start of repayment i.e. they pay interest incurred during the course, in deferment and during the grace period before repayment begins. If you qualify for subsidized, its a great deal
For unsubsidized, the student must pay all interest incurred at all times, though they dont start repaying until after grace period.
* Federal PLUS Loan - for parents of undergraduates
Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students PLUS allows parents to take a loan on their Childs behalf. They can contribute to their Childs future, and get a great low- interest loan with continuing future tax relief.
PLUS actually allows parents to borrow the total cost of their childs education, minus any grants or other financial aid awarded. All tuition fees, meals, books, transport etc. can be included in the loan.
This really is a great deal, and has no income or asset requirements. Even poor credit history may be overcome. Repayment is flexible, and can include zero payments for up to 4 years.
Only one drawback to the Federal Stafford and Federal Plus loan - your school must be approved to participate in these programs. If your school isnt approved, then youve got some other options...
* Banks
Many banks offer unsubsidized Stafford loans. You still get the money, which you must have to attend college, but repayment options are more limited. Some deals offer you an interest rate reduction if you make payments on time.
* State Loans
Most states offer guaranteed student loans. Apply direct to Banks, wholl administer the State program. Its usually a more expensive way to borrow than Stafford.
* College Board Extra Credit Loan
Administered by your college. Can be expensive, and best used only in an emergency e.g. your aid is withdrawn.
* Other Loan Sources
A number of other sources may be worth trying if you get a problem with your first choice lenders. Academic Management Services affiliates with approx. 2000 schools. AMS pay your tuition fees if you repay them in less than a year. College Resource Center also has loans available.
If your parent served in the military, then a military loan should be investigated.
College can be the experience of a lifetime. A child starts college as a high school kid, and emerges a full grown adult with high-earning potential
Turnitin.com Infringes Upon Students Rights – Legal
Turnitin.com Infringes Upon Students Rights
Zack Anderson
Turnitin.com is undeniably an effective deterrent to plagiarism, but it is the very issue of copyright infringement that has people questioning the legality of the site. What many people dont understand is that works do not need to be registered to be copyrighted. Every literary work that is saved to a tangible medium this includes paper, computer disk, etc. is protected by federal copyright laws. Thus, the works submitted to Turnitin.com are copyrighted and the authors hold complete rights to the works. What the Turnitin.com system does, however, is it stores the submitted paper on their servers. This is done without the students permission. Turnitin.com is operating under the pretense that teachers will force their students to submit to Turnitin.com. Thus, student papers are stored in iParadigms the company that runs Turnitin.com database. This in itself is a blatant violation of the 1976 Federal Copyright Act. Turnitin.com is duplicating copyrighted material without the consent of the student. The student is forced to submit to the site, so submissions are not considered voluntary. In addition, the site does not ask for permission to store the paper, instead, it is done automatically.
iParadigm and their team of lawyers admit in their legal page that the archiving of papers is treading on shaky legal ground. They affirm, however, that their services constitute "fair use" by grounds that their service does not limit the marketability of the paper. The claim that their service doesnt limit the marketability of a paper is false. If one were to sell a term-paper that was already in the Turnitin.com database, the paper would be of little use to a potential student buyer because any similarities from the students paper would be red flagged. The very addition of a paper to the Turnitin.com database severely limits the feasible marketability of the paper. That is, the archiving of ones paper eliminates other students with the same assignment as potential buyers of the paper.
Another strikingly illegal aspect of the Turnitin.com service is the fact that many teachers submit student works without the students permission. Turnitin.com is operating under the pretense that this is occurring. When a student gives a teacher a paper for grading the assumption is that evaluative rights are given to the teacher. In no way is the teacher entitled to submit the paper to be copied to the iParadigm servers. iParadigm is breaking copyright laws by duplicating a paper without the copyright holders consent. In effect, the paper but not the copyright becomes property of Turnitin.com. Turnitin.com is clearly making a profit off the papers that students submit. Without the database of some 60,000 student-submitted papers, the Turnitin.com service would not be as effective. Every paper submitted makes the service more effective and the company therefore yields greater profits. Schools that use the service have to pay large amounts of money in the thousands to ten thousands of dollars range. It is clear that the company is profiting off of students copyrighted hard-work. Interestingly enough, the very place that the Turnitin.com service originally started now has grave doubts over the legality of the Turnitin.com service. Turnitin.com founder John Barrie was a graduate student at UC Berkeley when he started developing the software that the site runs on. Currently, UC Berkeley does not subscribe to Turnitin.com because they feel the site may be infringing upon students copyrights.
About The Author
Zack Anderson is currently a student at Beverly Hills High School. He is the publisher of Beverly Underground Newspaper, an online publication that can be found at http://www.beverlyunderground.com
Are you ready for Your Students Student Loans – Legal
Are you ready for Your Students Student Loans
Mike Yeager
Your son or daughter is a high school senior and your worried about the coming year, and more importantly, the coming student loans College has become so important in your childrens future that parents have begun to plan for it at their childs birth. But, not all of us, as new parents thought that far ahead or could afford too. So, now what Student loans, whether they are federal loans or not, are options to considered, but to understand first.
Many students that enter college need financial aid. College financial aid provides for instruction as well as the costs of books. But, usually, it does not provide for living arrangements or meals. These are added expenses most of the time.
Federal financial aid or Federal student loans are very common choices for college. Federal financial aid are usually grants which do not have to be paid back. Federal loans are loans backed by the government and do have to be paid back but with a low interest rate. These loans usually have ten years to be paid back. These loans are usually referred to as direct student loans as they are paid directly to the higher learning establishment.
Finding the right student loans for your child can seem a bit overwhelming. It can become worrisome if you do not get the information you are looking for. So, what can you do to prepare for your students expenses First, once the school has been chosen, make an effort to go to or contact the schools financial aid offices. These people can help you one on one and evaluate your needs. They job is to provide you with information about funding your child education. Of course, they want your child to attend their school, so they will offer you ever bit of advice you need. But, you can also find this information online as well as at local libraries. Forms will be available there.
So, take a few minutes and plan out your ideas for funding your childs education. And since many of us have not been able to save for their future, we must take the time to find the lowest interest rate loans available to do so. Spending this time learning, will enhance and empower you to help your child with their learning.
About The Author
Mike Yeager
Publisher
http://www.a1-loans-4u.com/
mjy610@hotmail.com