The College Investor Audio Show

For most borrowers after July 1, 2026, consolidating federal student loans no longer offers a real upside — and it can quietly erase progress you've already earned towards loan forgiveness . The one situation where it still helps is getting out of default . Consolidation used to be a helpful tool for many borrowers. It turned old FFEL loans into Direct Loans , unlocked income-driven repayment and...

The U.S. Department of Education announced a final rule that will, for the first time, strip federal student loan eligibility from college and career programs whose graduates fail to out-earn workers who never enrolled . The Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings Accountability rule applies a single standard across every sector of higher education, from public universities to...

The biggest overhaul of federal student loans in a generation just took effect. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act , borrowers who take out federal loans on or after July 1, 2026 face fewer repayment options, hard borrowing caps, and slightly higher interest rates . While many of these changes apply to new loans going forward, some borrowers do have choices to make. For example, borrowers in the...

Home / News / ED Expands Professional Degree List to 29 Programs After Court Stay ED Expands Professional Degree List to 29 Programs After Court Stay Updated: June 30, 2026 By Robert Farrington | < 1 Min Read Leave a Comment (Edit) Many or all of the products featured here may be from our partners who compensate us. This doesn't influence our evaluations or reviews. Our opinions are our own. In...

A federal judge has thrown out the Department of Education's controversial n ew Public Service Loan Forgiveness rule , ruling it unlawful one day before it was scheduled to take effect. In a 68-page decision issued June 30, 2026, U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun of the District of Massachusetts (PDF File) held that the rule was "contrary to law," exceeded the Department's statutory authority, was...

The two largest faculty unions in the country are drawing a line against three-year bachelor's degrees , just as more states moves to make them real. The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) issued a joint statement opposing accelerated degrees after Massachusetts approved its first pilot programs. The pushback lands the same week Virgi...

Syracuse University Chancellor J. Michael Haynie told the community last week that it will not hit its undergraduate enrollment target for the fall and, as a result, will run a budget deficit "something the University has not experienced in quite some time." His letter framed the shortfall as the product of national forces: a shrinking pool of 18-year-olds, fierce competition for students, and a d...

The future of student loan repayment for SAVE borrowers has been finalized by a court settlement , and the exodus will start on July 1, 2026 in tranches of individual borrowers. According to the most recent communication from the Department of Education , student loan servicers will begin sending official notices to borrowers in SAVE starting July 1, 2026. These notices will come in tranches, roug...

Robert joined the Money Life Show with Chuck Jaffe to talk about the latest updates with student loans: new repayment plan changes and new student loan limits that go into effect this week. If you have student loans, or are planning on borrowing student loans, here's what you need to know. Check out the Money Life Show with Chuck Jaffe here .

A coalition of states is pressing a federal judge (PDF File) to halt the Department of Education's new Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) rule before it takes effect July 1, 2026. This comes after the Department moved to add a sworn attestation to the program's certification forms in a Federal Register notice (PDF File). The new rule lets the Secretary of Education strip PSLF eligibility from...

The U.S. Department of Education announced that its quadrupling the interest rate discount for federal student loan borrowers who enroll in autopay, raising it from 0.25% to a full 1 percentage point starting July 1, 2026. Borrowers who sign up for automatic payments (or who are already enrolled) will get a 1% reduction on their federal student loan interest rate . The discount is temporary: borro...

Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) announced she will introduce a resolution to impeach Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, accusing her of illegally gutting the Department of Education by shifting more than 100 programs to other federal agencies without congressional approval. The resolution alleges McMahon violated her oath of office, made false and misleading statements to Congress, and broke feder...

Student loan servicers have started placing automated phone calls to SAVE borrowers, warning them that their loans will reenter repayment when the forbearance ends and that they'll need to pick a new plan or one will be chosen for them. Some borrowers have begun shared transcripts of the messages online. One automated message from Nelnet tells borrowers their "loans will reenter repayment when the...

In today’s world, a company’s bottom line doesn’t always mean its profit or loss for the year. Increasingly, investors are demanding that companies measure and improve their environmental and social impact along with their financial performance. Triple bottom line investors care about people, the planet, and profits. If you’re interested in doing well by doing good, you may want to consider ESG in...

The federal government does not have the legal authority to forgive all student loans through executive action. But in narrow circumstances, it can compromise — meaning settle, discharge, or write off — federal student debt on a case-by-case basis, and it can suspend or terminate collection on defaulted loans it decides aren't worth pursuing. That authority matters more in 2026 than it has in year...

In recent years, many colleges and universities have adjusted their campus pet policies to meet the changing needs of students. Having a pet in college was once a rarity, but pet-friendly campuses are now more common as colleges work to create a more supportive environment for their students. That said, having a pet as a college student is a big commitment in terms of financial responsibility and...

Overall, 38% of undergraduate students graduate college without student loan debt. This includes a third of students in Certificate programs, more than half (52%) of students in Associate’s degree programs and less than a third (31%) of students in Bachelor’s degree programs. There are several ways you can increase your chances of graduating without any student loans, based on an analysis of data...

International graduate enrollment at U.S. colleges fell again this year, and the financial damage is showing up fast in layoffs, budget deficits, and shuttered degree programs. For years, foreign graduate students were a quiet engine of university finances: paying full tuition, staffing research labs, and filling master's programs that schools built out to grow revenue. Now that engine is stalling...

Sixty-two members of Congress are demanding the Department of Education act before millions more borrowers fall into default and they want answers by June 22. A June 7 letter (PDF File) led by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), along with Representatives Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and André Carson (D-Ind.), warns Education Secretary Linda McMahon that the U.S. is facing...

Over the past several weeks we've heard multiple reports from graduate students about financial aid delays and miscommunication as they start summer classes. For medical, dental, and veterinary schools that start as early as May, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) changes are causing delays and chaos. One student reported that they received an inaccurate notice claiming they hit the updated gr...

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies released its fiscal year 2027 spending bill (PDF File), and it pays for a Pell Grant increase by permanently ending subsidized federal student loans . The bill cuts the U.S. Department of Education's budget by 10%, or roughly $8 billion, with deep reductions to K-12 programs, Federal Work Stu...

The federal student loan system is about to see its biggest changes in decades — and most borrowers have no idea what's coming. In this episode, Robert Farrington sits down with U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent, the top federal official overseeing the $1.7 trillion student aid portfolio, to break down exactly what's changing on July 1 and what you need to do about it. The...

Hampshire College and Anna Maria College have both announced plans to wind down, joining a a list of other colleges that have announced closures this year . Families committing tuition dollars now have a real interest in spotting financial trouble before it surfaces in a closure announcement. More than 30 New England colleges have closed or merged over the past decade, per the Boston Fed. Huron Co...

The price a college advertises and the price a family actually pays out of pocket are two very different numbers, and the distance between them is rarely an accident. Behind the published sticker price sits a system of selective discounts, mandatory fees, and rules that can turn four years of tuition into five or six . Some of these practices have drawn federal scrutiny and lawsuits. Together they...

Americans' financial literacy has slipped to its lowest level in a decade, according to the 2026 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index released this month. U.S. adults correctly answered just 47% of the 28 P-Fin Index questions in 2026 — a significant drop from the prior year and the weakest result since the survey launched in 2017. The figure has never exceeded 52% over the decade. The shar...