general

Many of these weekly columns are about how you, as loving parents, can play a valuable role in your student’s development.  We’ve encouraged you to help your son or daughter to:

My travels with College Parents of America haven’t yet brought me to all fifty states, but I’ve had the pleasure of communicating with each of you – who are scattered among all of our states – and of learning the idiosyncrasies related to education in each of your locales. There is much to improve, of course, but also much to celebrate.And what better time than the 4th of July to share with you 25 reasons to celebrate education across America?

As college student affairs administrators gather in Chicago for their annual convention, they are coming to grips with a whole new generation of individuals invading their campuses.I’m not talking about a new generation of students, but a transitioning generation of parents. Very soon, the so-called “Gen Xers,” those born between 1961 and 1981 will be the dominant group of college parents. That’s right, college parents.

If you are the parent of a student with a federal loan for college, sometimes called in shorthand a “Stafford Loan,” then you are probably also aware that such a loan may come from one of two federal programs.  These are the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), operated on behalf of the government by private sector companies, and the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSL), operated by the U.S. Department of Education.