Jun 14, 2007

Thursday, June 14 , 2007 Study Shows College Graduates Are More Religious By Brooke Heath A recent study indicates that college graduates in the United States are more likely to attend houses of worship or maintain religious practices and beliefs than people who never attended colleges or universities. The study, entitled "Losing My Religion," was conducted by sociologists at the University of Texas at Austin. The researchers found that young adults who attended four years of college or received degrees considered religion to be an important aspect of their lives, whereas their non-degree-seeking counterparts were more likely to have turned away from their faith or abandoned it altogether, according to a press release from the University of Texas at Austin.  read more New Legislation Introduced to Forgive Private Student Loans upon Bankruptcy By Brooke Heath This week, legislation was introduced by Illinois Senator Dick Durbin (D) that would allow private student loans to be forgiven upon bankruptcy. Currently, neither private nor federal student loans will be discharged for a borrower who files for bankruptcy, with the rare exception of extreme hardship. Private student loans, also known as alternative loans, offer students an option other than federal student loans, which are backed by the federal government. Private loans are borrowed through private institutions but are not administered by the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program.  read more Cuomo, lenders testify before U.S. lawmakers New York Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who rang the bell on student loans abuses and exposed universities and lenders' links, now plans to widen his probe. He hopes to examine what criteria the lenders use in underwriting these loans and find if they infringe civil rights statutes. While testifying before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Cuomo said that the federal regulators were "asleep at the switch" while abuses occurred in the student lending system. Wisconsin University's new student loans rules The University of Wisconsin is reviewing a new proposal to bar the student lenders from bribing with gifts and payments in exchange for students. The proposal is up for approval this week. The university wants to reassure those students seeking loans that it has their best interests in mind, notwithstanding the industry currently mired in controversy. It would also set out how university employees and companies can evade improper relationships. The UW System Board of Regents controls 26 different four- and two-year colleges, and its students took out a record $592.7 million in loans in 2005. The UW plan has provided that employees can serve on advisory committees but cannot be rewarded. The school can keep a list of preferred lenders with a minimum of three companies.  read more To ensure that the Graduate School Loans Newswire is delivered to your Inbox, please add registration@graduateschoolloans.com to your address book. © 2007 Graduate School Loans. All rights reserved. Office: 175 South Lake Avenue, Suite 200, Pasadena, CA 91101