UPDATE: Applications for Investing in Innovation + 5 Things You Need To Know About Your Student Loans | ED.gov Blog

5 Things You Need To Know About Your Student Loans | ED.gov Blog:

5 Things You Need To Know About Your Student Loans

Posted on November 8, 2013 by Nicole Callahan

If you’re anything like me, you probably neglected to read all the fine print when you first took out your student loans. Now it’s time to start repaying them, and you have no idea where to begin…

Lucky for people like us, many federal student loans have a grace period, which is a set period of time after you graduate, leave school, or drop below half-time enrollment before you must begin repaying your student loans. The grace period gives you time to get financially settled and to select your repayment plan. For those of you who have graduated within the last six months, chances are that time is almost up.

So to get you started, here are five things you should know about your student loans:

1. Loan Types

You may have federal loans, private loans, state loans, loans from your school, or some combination. Different loan types can have very different terms and conditions, so be sure you know what types of loans you’ve got.

To see all of your federal student loan information in one place, you can visitwww.nslds.ed.gov. Once you log in, you can access a list of your federal student loans, including the loan type and information for your loan servicer.  A loan servicer is the company that will handle the billing and payments on your federal student loans.

For all other types of loans, consult your records. If you have questions about the type of a loan, you can try contacting the financial aid office at the school you were attending when you took out the loan.

2. Loan Balance

Once you’ve tracked down all of your loans, you’ll want to find out what your total loan balance is. This will help you determine a plan for repayment.

For your federal student loans, www.nslds.ed.gov will display your loan balance. For private and other student loans, you’ll want to check with your lender.

3. Loan Interest

Remember, a student loan is just like any other loan—it’s borrowed money that will have to be repaid with interest. As interest accrues, it may be added to the total balance of your loan if left unpaid. As a recent graduate, you may want to consider making student loan interest payments during your grace period to save money on the total cost of your loan.

4. Repayment Options

Depending on the types of loans you have, you will have different repayment options.

Federal student loans offer great benefits, including flexible repayment options. Some options include tying your monthly payment to your income, extending your payments over a longer period of time, or combining multiple loans into one.

Want to compare what your monthly payment would be under each of our repayment plans? Try our Repayment Estimator! Once you figure out which repayment option is right for you, contact your loan servicer to enroll in that plan.

For non-federal loans, you’ll want to check with your lender to see what types of repayment options are offered.

5. Repayment Terms and Benefits

Familiarize yourself with the repayment terms of all your loans. Here are some things to keep an eye out for:

• Ways to save on interest, like enrolling in automatic debit
• Options for paying more than your monthly required payment
• Forgiveness, cancellation, and discharge options

Ok, that’s a lot to take in, but hey, if you could survive the final exams, the all-nighters and even a crazy roommate or two, figuring out a plan for repaying your student loans should be a walk in the park. If any point you have questions or need advice, don’t hesitate to contact your loan servicer. That’s what they’re there for.

Nicole Callahan is a new media analyst at the Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Highest-Rated Applications for Investing in Innovation 2013 Competition

NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Contact:  

 Press Office, (202) 401-1576, press@ed.gov 

Related Resources
	2013 Highest Rated Applications Dataset
	2013 Highest Rated Applications Map

The U.S. Department of Education today announced results for the fourth round of the Investing in Innovation (i3) competition, which will award the 25 highest-rated applications (HRAs) more than $135 million to expand innovative practices designed to improve student achievement. These 25 potential grantees, selected from 618 applications and representing 13 states and the District of Columbia, must secure matching funds by Dec. 11, 2013, in order to receive federal funding.

"In this era of rapid change, we must make sure that our students are keeping pace with the rigor, relevance and changing demands of the global job market," U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said. "I am encouraged by the innovative ideas to accelerate student achievement demonstrated in these applications."

Of the 25 HRAs, 18 are in the "Development" category and seven are in the "Validation" category (see list of applicants below). This year, the Department did not identify any potential grantees for the "Scale-up" category, instead choosing to invest in promising projects in the other two categories. The Development category attracted the greatest participation similar to the past three years of the competition. With the 18 Development HRAs from this competition, there will potentially be a total of 77 Development i3 grantees nationwide implementing new, promising practices to improve outcomes for students.

As in the past, the HRAs this year address a variety of issues, including programs that develop and implement initiatives for training parents and families in the skills and strategies that support their children's educational growth, and redesigning Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) course content and instructional practices to engage students and increase their academic achievement.

This year's i3 competition used newly revised evidence standards and definitions that were established in the i3 Notice of Final Priorities, published in March 2013. Validation applicants had to meet the moderate evidence of effectiveness standard, and Development applicants had to choose to apply under evidence of promise or strong theory in order to be eligible for a grant. The Department is encouraged by the number of high-quality applications that were able to apply and meet these more rigorous evidence standards, and excited about the new evidence all i3-funded projects are expected to produce.

"The fourth round of the i3 competition continues to demonstrate that there are organizations across the country that are eager to implement a wide range of innovative and effective practices to improve educational outcomes for students," said Acting Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Nadya Chinoy Dabby. "Each year, we are able to grow the portfolio of solutions and the body of evidence that supports these practices."

The i3 competition requires all grantees to secure private-sector matching funds. This year, each HRA must submit evidence of 50 percent of the required private-sector match prior to the awarding of an i3 grant. The i3 grantees must then provide evidence of the remaining 50 percent of the required private-sector match no later than six months after the project start date. As part of its efforts to support potential grantees as they secure private matching funds, the Department has been encouraging applicants over the past few months to reach out to potential private-sector donors. In addition, the Department has provided resources on its website to help potential i3 grantees in their efforts to secure a private-sector match. If these 2013 highest-rated applicants secure matching funds, in total the i3 program will encompass 117 grantees that are utilizing more than $1 billion in federal funds to address some of the most important challenges in education.

The 2013 i3 grant awards will be announced no later than Dec. 31, 2013. A list of the 2013 highest-rated applicants is below. More information about the i3 program can be found on the i3 website:http://www2.ed.gov/programs/innovation/index.html. More information about the 2013 highest-rated applications can be found at http://www.data.gov/education.

Highest-Rated 2013 Applicants for Development and Validation Grants

Validation
Expeditionary Learning Outward Bound, Inc. (NY)
Jacksonville State University (AL)
Teachers College, Columbia University (NY)
The Regents of the University of California (CA)
Spurwink Services, Inc. (ME)
SRI International (CA)
Waterford Institute (UT)

Development
Cabarrus County Schools (NC)
Carroll County Schools (GA)
CASA de Maryland, Inc. (MD)
Center for Applied Linguistics (DC)
Challenger Center for Space Education (DC)
ConnectED: The California Center for College and Career (CA)
Maricopa County Education Service Agency (AZ)
National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform (IL)
NYC Leadership Academy, Inc. (NY)
Pennsylvania State University (PA)
Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles (CA)
Seneca Family of Agencies (CA)
Sonoma State University (CA)
The Children's Aid Society (NY)
The Providence Plan (RI)
United Way of Greater Atlanta (GA)
University of Massachusetts Boston (MA)
University Public Schools, Inc. (AZ)