The stimulus plan provides billions of dollars to not only state and local governments, highway departments, national parks, police departments and schools, but to consumers. And the question becomes: What’s in it for me? The law, which Obama signed Tuesday to revive the moribund economy, offers a range of financial benefits: People paying college tuition can get tax credits, more grant money and clearance to use 529 college savings plans for computer purchases.

The plan also will add $200 million to the $1.1 billion work-study budget, allowing tens of thousands more students to earn an average of $1,479 to help pay their tuition.

"What this means is that more students will be able to participate in work-study," said Justin S. Draeger, vice president for planning at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. "Students who participate in work-study are more likely to graduate."

The full article was originally published in The Washington Post on Feb. 22nd.

The U.S. Treasury agreed to commit as much as $60 billion to shore up the market for student loans and help reduce the illiquid assets clogging banks’ balance sheets, according to three people familiar with the matter. The department will use its Federal Financing Bank to provide a backstop for an initiative put together by Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley, the people said. The so-called conduit will purchase existing and new student loans from banks, and issue asset-backed commercial paper to finance itself.

The conduit will be an improvement over the temporary programs because those have only been available to lenders with cash on hand, said Justin Draeger, vice president of planning with the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators, which represents about 3,000 colleges and universities.

Because the conduit will buy old loans, “lenders who have been forced out of the market should be able to reenter it,” Draeger said. He said the program provides “vital” assurances for the type of loans that make up the largest part of most students’ financial-aid packages.

The full article was originally published in Bloomberg on January 29th.

"Despite some banks’ decision to discontinue their student loan programs, federal student lending is rebounding due to aggressive government efforts and an influx of cash to fund private loans, according to experts…

Frills on federal loans aren’t as favorable as they once were, since banks no longer compete with discounts and perks based on payment options.

“Borrower benefits at this point have gone by the wayside,” said Justin Draeger, vice president of planning for the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators in Washington, D.C… 

But Draeger said Congress helped stabilize the market last May by passing the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, which let lenders sell new loans to the Department of Education.

“I think it stopped a mass exodus of lenders, who had been leaving in droves,” Draeger said. “We saw a stabilization.”

The full January 20th article is available online.

I was eating lunch with a group of friends last week and we began talking about our morning routines. Everyone has them… here’s mine.

- Kids wake me up nice and early

- Stumble into my office and check work email, my calendar, and then my personal email

- Open up my Netvibes page and skim through over 100 RSS feeds. You can see nearly all of my RSS subscriptions on MyNetvibes Web page to catch up on news and current events. (Some - like all my friends and family blogs - I keep private.)

- The RSS feeds I never miss include:

• USA Today
• The Wall Street Journal
• The Daily Beast
• Friends and Family Blogs (not listed on my public page)
• Silicon Alley Insider
• Robert Reich’s Blog
• Lifehacker
• Web Worker Daily
• Woot
• Everything under the Education Tab

- After about 15 or 20 minutes of catching up, I head downstairs (when I’m working from home) or outside (when I’m at the office) for some breakfast

- Once I’m back to my desk, I go through my to-do list

- I take an 8 1/2 sheet of paper, divide it into thirds, and schedule out my day with items that must get done that day

So there it is in all it’s glory!!  If I ever woke up and my Internet wasn’t working, I would probably just sit and stare at my monitor all morning. Do you have a morning routine?

The full article was published in the January 7, 2009 Lansing State Journal.

The Legislative Commission on Government Efficiency, a commission charged with finding ways to save the state money, is likely going to recommend eliminating the Michigan Promise Grant. This is a merit-based financial aid program that grants up to $4,000 to qualifying high school graduates who successfully complete two years of postsecondary education. Michigan residents should be paying close attention to these proposals because cutting any student financial aid programs is dangerous business.