Monday June 10, 2002
On July 1, School Loan Rates to Hit a New Low
Students and parents paying off college loans will be able to save hundreds or thousands of dollars thanks to all-time-low interest rates starting July 1.
SF Gate reports, “With the new rates, almost 2 percent lower than the current ones, a student who borrowed $10,000 would save $1,133 in interest payments over the standard 10-year life of a loan, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The rates will be the lowest in the history of the federal student loan program, which started in the mid-1960s.
You can help your readers, viewers, listeners and online users take advantage of this program. The new rates won’t apply to everyone. Borrowers who already consolidated their loans are committed to whatever interest rate was in effect at that time.
The new rates will automatically apply for Stafford and PLUS loans issued since July 1, 1998. For loans issued before then, borrowers can get the new rates only by consolidating. Time Magazine advisers, “Don’t make a move before July 1 — unless you apply through a consolidator like Collegiate Funding Services www.cfsloans.com), which is accepting applications that it won’t process until then. And although these rates will be in force for a year, if you’re in the six-month grace period in which you don’t have to pay anything, you have to time things carefully. Consolidating early can bring your respite to an early end. But acting before it expires can save you more than a half of a percentage point in repayment. So bide your time. Then pounce.”
Federal student loans are used by millions of people. This year, 5.4 million students and parents borrowed a total of $35.6 billion from the government, averaging just under $4,000 each. The average debt for a new graduate is $16,928.
Annular Eclipse Monday Evening at Dusk
Don’t miss it. This eclipse is actually a special kind of partial eclipse called an annular eclipse. During an annular eclipse, the Moon passes directly in front of the Sun but is unable to completely cover it because the Moon’s disk appears smaller than the Sun. The annular phase of the eclipse can only be seen from a very narrow track called the path of annularity. Although June’s annular path is nearly 14,000 kilometers long, it is only 13 to 78 kilometers wide.
From Asia and the western Pacific, the eclipse actually occurs on June 11 because of the International Date Line.
• See a picture of what to expect.
• NASA’s Eclipse website.
Sex Abuse and Schools for Deaf
I picked up this story while I was at the Investigative Reporters and Editors Convention last week. The Seattle P-I last November, found “problems of sexual or physical abuse at many of the nation’s 50 state run residential schools for the deaf. The paper said: “at least half of the nation’s taxpayer-funded schools have been embroiled in controversies about sexual and physical abuse over the last two decades.” The paper said, “Scores of parents shared the haunting secret. Most walked away. For decades, officials at the Washington School for the Deaf have ignored or discounted a persistent pattern of sexual abuse.” Take a look — then go find out what is going on in your state.
Festival Finder
Here is a website that lists fun summer festivals, city events, state fairs and the like in all 50 states. It is a nice resource for you to link to.
