| More Than a Rabble Rouser?
Some advocates for borrowers, while not specifically endorsing Student Loan Justice, argue that the more aggressive tactics are just one piece of the advocacy puzzle. “It's the same debate that people have been having forever," said Deanne Loonin, a staff lawyer for the National Consumer Law Center, which works on student loan and other issues. "Some people are comfortable keeping it in a ‘professional environment' where it's mostly lobbyists talking to each other, and some people are really uncomfortable with other sorts of strategies, the ‘take it to the streets' strategy. If you take a look at all of the political movements in the United States in the last 100 years, it's usually involved a combination." She adds: “Debt issues and debt borrower issues in particular are something where that ‘take it to the street' element has sometimes been missing." From Advocate to Lobbyist? But will Collinge's no holds barred message, so far isolated from the policy debate where more established players like the higher education associations and groups like the Project on Student Debt and U.S.
Out of the red with finance coach's help
Like many people, Ericka Young approached the idea of a budget reluctantly. "The word has negative connotations," she says. "People think, 'Oh, these are restrictions.' But that's not the truth. A budget is just a plan to tell your money where to go, so it doesn't tell you where it went." The budget coach knows debt issues firsthand. Like many young couples, Young, 31, and her husband, Chris, of Mesa, Ariz., found themselves in the red simply by trying to start their lives. "We both had student loans," she says. "Add in car loans and credit card debt, and we were $60,000 in debt when we got married. I had a decent-paying job. My husband had a decent-paying job. But no one tells you how to handle money once you get it." A course with budget guru David Ramsey taught them the virtues of financial planning.
Oregon students file class-action against BCTI
Department of Education, the school's loan-default rate nearly doubled between fiscal 2000 and 2002, to 13 percent. The national average among all higher education institutions was 5.2 percent in fiscal 2002. Oregon regulators and school accreditors confirmed they are investigating BCTI. Oregon Department of Education officials in June started to look at the school's recruiting, enrollment and job placement practices, as well as its staff turnover, after a former instructor said that the school inflated its job-placement rates and enrolled unqualified students. The Accrediting Council for Continuing Education & Training, the school's accreditor, has dismissed the instructor's complaint, but the agency is investigating other practices. In an August letter to the school, the agency said it was "troubled" by the school's dropout rate and the number of graduates it placed in training-related jobs.
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