The College Investor Audio Show

It's currently estimated that there are about 3,000,000 millionaires in the United States today. And given that there are about 300,000,000 Americans according to the latest Census data, that means about 1 in 100 are millionaires. Even more startling is that means that you probably know someone who is a millionaire, and you probably live within a stone's throw of other millionaires that you don't...

For many parents scrolling  Facebook , the same comment keeps appearing under college-related posts:  “I don’t know how we’re supposed to pay $30,000 a year for college.” The fear is understandable. Sticker prices at four-year colleges have climbed for decades, and tuition figures are often presented as unavoidable facts. But the assumption behind those comments — that most families real...

Starting in 2026,  Grad PLUS loans are ending , and there will be new borrowing options for graduate and professional education. The  new borrowing limits  ($20,500 annually for graduate students and $50,000 for students in designated professional programs) represent a sharp break from the prior model that allowed borrowing up to the full  cost of attendance . The  line be...

The vast majority of student loans in the United States remain effectively paused, and delinquency rates are climbing again, according to  new data from the nonpartisan California Policy Lab  (PDF File). The analysis, released Wednesday and based on  credit bureau  records through the third quarter of 2025, offers one of the clearest pictures yet of a repayment system strained...

The Department of Education has filed its first  status report  (PDF File) since the government shutdown in response to its  lawsuit with the American Federation of Teachers . The report offers a snapshot of how income-driven repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness backlogs are moving — and where they remain stuck. The report filed on December 15, 2025 in federal court was del...

Tipping during the holidays isn’t about keeping score — it’s about showing appreciation to the people who help you all year. Whether that’s your babysitter, delivery driver, or building staff, a thoughtful tip or small gift can mean a lot. Every year, as it gets closer to Christmas, I see more and more stories about holiday tipping etiquette and who I should tip. I understand tipping in the hospit...

Millions of federal student loan borrowers are entering a new repayment era. After years of uncertainty (payment pauses, injunctions, administrative forbearances, and changing policy) the United States is preparing to consolidate repayment options, ending multiple plans (including SAVE, PAYE, and ICR) and replacing them with the  Repayment Assistance Plan, or RAP . The challenge is that many...

The latest national data on college completion shows a stark picture:  the cohort of students who started college in fall 2019, only 61.1% earned a degree or certificate within six years . That figure has hovered between 61.1% and 61.4% since the 2016 cohort. While the pattern of stability shows a trend - it's also a reminder that  one-in-three college students never finish . The slight...

A long-running legal battle over the Biden administration’s Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, plan reached a conclusion on Tuesday, when the U.S. Department of Education and the State of Missouri announced a  proposed joint settlement agreement  (PDF File) that would terminate the program, pending final court approval.  The  announcement , which has been expected for mon...

Getting an inheritance is the epitome of a mixed blessing. You receive a financial windfall, but the cause is the death of a loved one. On top of complicated emotions, you may be dealing with the largest sum of money you’ve ever seen. Nobody is born knowing how to handle an inheritance, and few people are prepared to handle one. But if you’ve received an inheritance, you can take a few steps to us...

Students today are worried about whether AI use is allowed in college admissions essays,  whether schools use AI detectors , and if an application can be rejected over suspected AI content. As AI increasingly weaves its way into our lives, we are entering a new phase of college admissions. More and more, AI has become second nature for students in their schoolwork while concerned teachers and...

Practicing law can be a fulfilling and lucrative career, but the price of a J.D. keeps rising. In 2024, the  average law school graduate  had $130,000 in student loan debt. That’s more than twice as much as a starting public defender earns in a year. Outside of the public sector, lawyers tend to earn more ($120,000 on average). But with a six-figure debt hanging over your head, that six-...

Getting a  financial aid award letter  is the first step in making a college admissions decision. You’ve been accepted to your school of choice and have been awarded a financial aid package. This is certainly an exciting time, but once you open the financial aid award and begin reading, your excitement turns to confusion and frustration. Welcome to the annual interpreting of your financi...

The Department of Education moved this week to counter a wave of online claims about how the federal government will classify nursing programs under  new student loan limits taking effect next year . The guidance, released in a post titled " Myth vs. Fact: The Definition of Professional Degrees ", attempts to clarify how the term “professional degree” will be used under President Trump’s&nbsp...

House Democrats are moving to curb the benefits of  Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) , arguing that the popular tax-advantaged accounts  increasingly double as investment vehicles for the wealthy  rather than a way for families to pay medical bills. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, a longtime Texas Democrat and the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, has introduced the&...

Giving a gift of stock is a fantastic way to help a child (or anyone) learn about the power of investing to build wealth. Plus, there are some really fun ways to gift - such as a framed stock certificate. When you ask a parent what their kids want for Christmas, they’ll likely start with a long sigh followed by, “Well… She really likes K-Pop Demon Hunters and Dress Up.” If you press further, you’l...

Would you rather have a penny that doubles each day for a month or 1 million dollars?  I saw this question the other day, and it reminded me of one of my favorite stories from high school math (yes, that's pretty nerdy, but this is a personal finance blog). So, before I tell the story, think about it: If a genie appeared and gave you a choice, what you would choose:  would you rather hav...

The  student loan debt tax bomb  can happen when you have to pay taxes on the student loan forgiveness you received. However, most people will avoid the tax bomb due to a tax process called  insolvency .  While some  student loan forgiveness programs , like Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) are tax-free, others - like when you get your student loans discharged under I...

When families talk about the rising cost of college, tuition tends to dominate the conversation. But for many students,  tuition isn't the largest expense .  Room and board , which covers housing and meals, often makes up the majority of the bill. Even at the  most expensive colleges ranked by tuition , room and board adds a significant price. Recent data show that at public four-ye...

More than one in three students who enroll in college never complete their degree. That figure is not just a statistic - it represents millions of families who invest time, money, and hope into higher education, only to see it fall short of its promise. Only 62% of students who start college earn a degree within 6 years, according to  data from the National Student Clearinghouse . That number...

California families have more tools than ever to save, invest, and build long-term financial security but many people don’t know these programs exist or how to use them. In this episode, Robert Farrington sits down with California State Treasurer Fiona Ma and Thomas Martin , Executive Director of CalABLE , for a candid, wide-ranging conversation about college savings, disability savings, and the m...

The Trump administration has escalated its campaign to defund the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau - setting in motion what could be its effective closure within a year. In a  court filing  (PDF File) this week, the administration said the CFPB cannot seek additional money from the Federal Reserve - its usual source of operating funds. The bureau said it has enough reserves to contin...

For nearly two decades, the  Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program  has offered a straightforward promise: make 120 qualifying payments while working full-time for a government agency or a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and any remaining federal student loan balance will be forgiven. The idea helped schools, hospitals, local governments, and nonprofits recruit workers who might otherwise avoid l...

The Trump Administration continues its efforts to hollow out the U.S. Department of Education by sending six programs to other federal agencies. The U.S. Department of Education announced the changes in a  press conference  on Tuesday, November 18, 2025.  Although federal law assigns responsibility for these programs to the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Secretary of Education L...

In 2011, some protestors encouraged borrowers to refuse to repay their student loans as part of Occupy Wall Street. They said that if enough borrowers joined this protest, the lenders would have no choice but to cancel the student loan debt. Few people participated, and even those that did only lasted for a month or two. Nobody went into default as part of this protest. More recently, after the U....