Daily Aid 8: Free textbooks, Student Loan ECASLA Continuance
Daily Aid 8: Free textbooks, Student Loan ECASLA Continuance
Student Financial Aid News
Citing continued turmoil in the U.S. financial markets, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly today to extend by one year a federal rescue plan for student-loan companies. The 368-to-4 vote came only hours after the investment-banking firm Lehman Brothers (ticker: LEH) announced that it had filed for bankruptcy. Supporters of the extension, including lenders and financial-aid officers, said the legislation would ensure that student loans remained widely available in the 2009-10 academic year.
If approved by the Senate and signed into law, the bill will allow the secretary of education to buy up federal student loans, through July 1, 2010, that lenders have struggled to sell to investors. It will also give the secretary the continued authority to advance federal funds to guarantee agencies so those agencies could make loans, if necessary, under a collegewide “lender of last resort” system.
Commentary
Good news, generally, for the student loan program, especially since credit market issues aren’t going away any time soon. On the chopping blocks today are Washington Mutual Bank, Wachovia Bank, and insurer AIG, all three of which show weakness that could cause them to fall. Both WaMu and Wachovia offer student loans as well, so if they do go out of business, students who used them for student loans will need to find different lenders.
Corporate plug: The Student Loan Network is open and ready to help you with your student loans.
In protest of what he says are textbooks’ intolerably high prices — and the dumbing down of their content to appeal to the widest possible market — Professor McAfee, an economics professor at Cal Tech, has put his introductory economics textbook online free. He says he most likely could have earned a $100,000 advance on the book had he gone the traditional publishing route, and it would have had a list price approaching $200.
Download a legal free copy here! (PDF)
Commentary
This guy has his head on straight. Basic knowledge like Economics 101 is indeed free already in many places; the fact that he’s making the digital version free makes total sense, and I applaud him. Oh, and I downloaded his textbook for free as well. Not only is it free, it’s licensed under Creative Commons!
More on this later today as I talk about the coolest thing ever when it comes to textbooks.
Scholarship Update
Scientists and Engineers for America has a unique opportunity for students to learn more about current science policy issues while earning scholarships for school. Help us add information to the SHARP Network, our science policy wiki, and win one of three $250 prizes. The contest runs through the entire Fall semester, ending December 1, 2008. SEA staff will compile all the additions to the wiki and determine the contest winners. Two winners of $250 will be determined by the total number of characters added that contribute to the mission of tracking science, health, and related policy positions of incumbents and candidates. A third winner will receive $250 for the most interesting information added. “Most interesting” will be determined by the SEA Staff. In order to count towards your total, additions must be unbiased, factual, and include a citation. SEA has sole discretion in considering which edits meet these criteria. Contest winners will be announced on December 15, 2008.
Details at our free college scholarship search site
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