About the Blog
This blog was started by Monique Leonard in 2006. The daughter of two accounting majors – finances were in hew blood, so to speak. The blog is now maintained by her colleagues at the Student Loan Network, who still want to help people wade through the financial aid process.
“As for why I’m writing this blog, I graduated college in 2002 and we’re still paying off my husband’s student loans, although to be honest we were some of the lucky ones as I had a scholarship for women in the sciences. I work for a student loan company now, the Student Loan Network, and one thing I hear about more than anything is that people don’t understand the Financial Aid process. I want parents to know what I know so they’re better prepared when all the paperwork hits.
I know my parents were overwhelmed by the process, and, well, I wasn’t exactly a big help at age 18. Most parents will be handling a good chunk of the financial aid process, and the more you know ahead of time, the better prepared you’ll be when things start happening. Also, if you know how the game works you’ll be able to play it a little better. 
“
Ry Rivard said,
January 8, 2007 at 11:47 am
I’m a staff writer with the Daily Athenaeum, the college newspapers of West Virginia University. I’m working on a story on the College Student Relief Act of 2007. If you have time to talk about your perspective, I’d appreciate it. My deadline is 5pm, EST, Wednesday.
moniqueleonard said,
January 8, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for the inquiry, Mr. Rivand. And check your email.
Bill said,
January 16, 2007 at 12:44 pm
FYI, YDA is doing an SMS petition in support of cutting interest rates. The info is @ http://www.yda.org/collegeaffordability
moniqueleonard said,
January 16, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Thanks, Bill. I try to keep my own political vewout of the bog, but if any of my readers are interested, Bill has listed the link above. For those of you who aren’t sure, YDA stands for the Yound Democrats of America.
Tracy said,
October 17, 2009 at 9:26 am
Dear Monica:
You are so fantastic. I am going through such a thing with the SalleMae company. I have been paying on my loan for 1 1/2 yrs. And while looking at my account, none of the money is going toward the principal, they are putting all the money toward the interest, so they can be sure to get the money for them first. My bill is constantly going up instead of down. I have requested a different payment date, no I can not have this, a deferrment because of hardship, no I can not have this. Then when I pay, it takes four days at their end to post, then they charge me a late fee. A $4,000 loan will cost me $7k. They need to be put out of business. I trusted this as a good thing for a person, but they are not. What can I do to take fight them, with others, I would travel to wherever to go to court and stop this terrible injustice. To help others who are trying to become something in life. Thank you Tracy Roe
financemedia said,
September 19, 2007 at 6:55 pm
I would like to exchange links with your blog. I have some financial blogs and sites. Please contact me at: charls413@yahoo.com
Thanks
Student Loan Relief said,
October 21, 2007 at 8:24 pm
Love your blog! I have just launched a web site dedicated to raising money to support college students and graduates who have incurred substantial student loan debt. I would like to exchange links with you. Please contact me at kbostwick@mchsi.com
Thanks,
Kerry
Renée said,
November 8, 2007 at 1:19 am
Love your blog! You provide an excellent resource for parents of college students, and I have listed you as such on my blog.
I hope you will consider blogrolling me, The Empty Nest, “A 50-something mom’s journey sending an only child off to college. Sharing laughter, experiences, and resources for fellow parents of college students.” http://theemptynestblog.blogspot.com
Please contact me at rt4563@gmail.com.
Thanks,
Renée
Martin Haworth said,
December 11, 2007 at 7:42 am
Nice blog Monique, with lots of relevant and perhaps unexpected information that possibly would be hard to find elsewhere.
I love the photo, which seems to sum up your love of life!
Martin
CHB said,
December 11, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Hi Monique,
I’ve been visiting your blog for a while now, and am trying to motivate myself to start a similar blog to help others (I’ve worked in financial aid offices the past few years). Would you be willing to email me to offer your advice on your financial aid blogging experience? I plan on concentrating more on student loans than parent loans. I would appreciate anything you have to say on the subject, Thanks!
moniqueleonard said,
December 12, 2007 at 8:28 am
Thanks, CHB, that’s very nice of you to say.
The only advice I can offer you is to stay current. Never stop reading, never stop researching.
Good luck!
Lynn said,
February 7, 2008 at 1:52 am
Hi Monique,
I’ve been reading about doing graduate work at King’s College London and stumbled upon your blog. As an american, I would love to hear a little more about your experience there because I am considering studying there in the fall. If you wouldn’t mind emailing me, I would really appreciate it!
Thanks,
Lynn
bibomedia.com said,
March 8, 2008 at 7:33 am
Guy McD said,
April 25, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hi,
I love your site and what you are doing personally to help people. Good job! I’ve started my own site to help people avoid or overcome student debt burdens.
There is also a forum there where people dealing with student loans in anyway can talk and support each other or post news.
If you don’t mind, I’d like to add your site to my site’s list of links. If you’d like to add my site to yours, that’d be great, but it isn’t necessary.
Cheers,
Guy
[Edited to remove website URL with inappropriate content]
moniqueleonard said,
April 25, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Thank Guy, that’s very nice of you to say.
I wish you luck on your website! Feel free to link to my blog, I do it so people have a place they can come and find the latest news.
Andrea said,
April 30, 2008 at 7:18 am
Monique: My site is not up yet but it is an hourly full and part-time employment site that includes information about student loans. I would love to add some of your articles to my site. I look forward to hearing from you.
Valerie said,
May 2, 2008 at 8:48 am
Monique,
I love your website- it’s very informative. I wish that it was here when I was going through the process myself. I do have a couple of questions that I’m hoping you can answer for me. It’s about loan repayments and the NCO.
moniqueleonard said,
May 2, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hi Valerie,
I’m assuming you mean NCO Financial? I don’t know much about them, but a little googling showed me that they tend to get loans that are defaulted on.
Feel free to post your question, I’ll be happy to share any knowledge I have or perhaps give you some links where you might find the information if I can’t answer your question.
Andrea said,
May 2, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Monique: While I was waiting to hear from you I looked at my post and realized I didn’t include that you would receive full credit for the article and that the article would have a link to your site.
Best regards
moniqueleonard said,
May 2, 2008 at 1:21 pm
Hi Andrea,
Feel free to link to my site but I would hesitate to use my “articles” in full on your site. Most of my articles are really summarizations of news story, or excerpts of them as provided for by the Fair Use Doctrine and I link to the original authors every time. I can’t take credit for that as original work, as I merely summarize and organize it so other people can find it more easily.
If you want to link here with a summary, or quote what I’ve actually written myself, please feel free, but I don’t want to introduce any legal foibles regarding copyright infringement as I’m not the copyright holder nor author of the excerpts I quote. So I’d recommend against copying the articles over fully, as is.
Good luck on your site!
Craig said,
May 9, 2008 at 3:33 am
Hello everyone,
I would like to add this site here that has helped me with finding the information I was looking for. I hope you find it as usefull as I did.
Good Luck.
http://www.juiste.net/student-loan/
Mark said,
May 13, 2008 at 11:13 am
Feel free to post your question, I’ll be happy to share any knowledge I have or perhaps give you some links where you might find the information if I can’t answer your question.
Joseph said,
May 28, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Hi – I graduated from law school in 2004 and have been in the public sector ever since. After graduation, I consolidated my loans with American Education Services and I got a great interest rate (I think about 4 or 5 %). If I want to participate int the loan forgiveness program, I have to reconsolidate, correct? If so, could my interest rate actually go up? Should I consolidate right away? If it turns out I don’t make it another 10 years in the public sector, am I in a worse position than if I never signed up with the program? How can I figure out what is best for me?
Bob Blick said,
August 11, 2008 at 10:59 am
Monique – I am working on adding a link page to my site on student loans at http://www.student-loans-digest.com and I came across your blog. This is very informative and I will add a link to it with your permission.
In researching information about financial help for college – things change often and a blog like this will be helpful to my visitors.
moniqueleonard said,
August 12, 2008 at 7:50 am
Hi Bob, feel free to link to this blog!
gina m said,
August 14, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Hello
I have exorbitant medical and law loans. I teach at a small rural communty college – in the sciences. I understand there are underserved areas for high school but not a community college. Is this true?
Anyone know how to get my school covered or get me help? Do I go to the PA dept of education? Governor?
Anyone know who the leading attornies are helping the class action cases? Anyone know of firms to help out? I am in over 250k.
g
moniqueleonard said,
August 18, 2008 at 6:29 am
Gina,
I’m not aware of any loan forgiveness programs for community college professors, but you can call the federal Department of Education to ask.
And no, I am not aware of any class action lawsuits.
Wanting to remain anonymous said,
October 12, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Monique,
I posted a comment on here with my actual name on it about a year ago…is there any way I can get my name off? If you could e-mail me and let me know, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks!
moniqueleonard said,
October 14, 2008 at 7:12 am
Dear anonymous,
I have a policy of not emailing people back as a way to maintain my own privacy. If you’d like your name removed, either post another comment with your name (and i’ll remove both), or tell me which article you posted on and the timestamp of your comment and i’ll remove your private information.
Thanks.
Kim Clark said,
January 9, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Hi. I cover higher ed for US News & World Report. I’m focusing a lot on financing college and sometimes even break a little news. Here’s a piece I just posted reporting that more students may have to drop out because they have unpaid tuition bills and can’t register for the second semester. That seemed like something you might be interested in.
It looks like the wave of economic problems is starting to swamp colleges. This exclusive story reports troubling indications from registrars’ offices across the country. And we offer some good advice about what to do if you can’t pay your college bills.
http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/2009/01/09/unpaid-college-tuition-bills-rise-survey-finds.html
I hope you like the story.
I have also started a blog called college cash 101 where I try to answer questions about financial aid.
I hope you find it useful.
Kim Clark
US News & World Report
1050 Thomas Jefferson St. NW
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 955-2064
moniqueleonard said,
January 13, 2009 at 7:47 am
Hi Kim,
Thanks so much for sharing. I think your article offers great strategies for saving money and finding more aid.
Lisa Benson said,
January 24, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Hi! I am a divorced parent of a 2nd year college student and wondered if you would know if the FAFSA takes this into consideration for qualifying for grants. When I was married the annual income was too high to qualify, but now my sole annual adjusted groos income is $40,000 and my son’s parttime income is around $7,500.
moniqueleonard said,
January 26, 2009 at 8:10 am
Hi Lisa,
The government will take your new information into account; that’s the point of the FAFSA, to document your current financial circumstances. As you are the custodial parent, your income will be on the FAFSA, as well as your son’s.
Bob Ugiansky said,
February 10, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Your blog is great. The public service website I work on has lots of info on financial aid as well. Please feel free to use Adventures In Education (www.AIE.org) as a resource whenever you see fit. Thanks!
Justin said,
March 13, 2009 at 2:24 pm
Can getting the educational money by participating in Americorps make your “need” go down and thus lose money from other means?
moniqueleonard said,
March 13, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Hi Justin,
I’m not certain how much money you receive during Americorp, but it was my understanding it was just a basic living stipend. My friends in Americorp a few years ago qualified for food stamps.
Obviously any income will affect your “need” and expected family contribution. If that’s your only income, and you have no assets, then it likely will not affect you much.
The department of education has a tool where you can input your income and assets, and it will estimate how much you’re expected to pay out of pocket. The link is: <http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov/
Justin said,
March 14, 2009 at 3:36 am
Yes, there is a small living payment, but they also have an education award of $4,725 upon successful completion of the program which is what I was referring to. I talked to someone in financial aid and they said it would not effect Pell grant, but it could effect other money. If you go after college it makes no difference I suppose.
moniqueleonard said,
March 16, 2009 at 7:48 am
Justin,
It really depends on your other income and any assets you may have. I suggest visit the US Department of Education’s EFC estimation tool, The link is: http://www.fafsa4caster.ed.gov. This should help determine if it will affect any other financial aid.
Lisa and Mike Merritt said,
April 25, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I have just started a business that sells college care packages and wanted to inlcude a links page of useful resources for college parents. Your blog fits the bill perfectly. Could I inlcude a link to your blog in my links section?
Thanks!
Lisa
moniqueleonard said,
April 28, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Feel free to link to this site, Lisa!
Lisa and Mike Merritt said,
April 28, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Thanks for letting us post your blog on our site (www.redship.com). Feel free to post our site on your blog. Your link is on our links page (The link button is in the bottom left corner of each page). Thanks again! Lisa
Miranda said,
May 24, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Very useful blog! You provide an excellent resource for parents of college students. Thank you.
moniqueleonard said,
May 28, 2009 at 11:50 am
Thanks, Miranda!
Lis Sowerbutts said,
June 10, 2009 at 1:58 am
Do you accept guest posts – if so drop me an email at the above email address
moniqueleonard said,
June 10, 2009 at 6:58 am
Sorry Lis, I only accept guest posts from people I know well and trust.
Nadia said,
June 28, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Dear Monique,
I am in a difficult personal situation in terms of financing education. Would you be willing to shoot me an email, so as to help with advice. I would prefer to keep my situation private.
moniqueleonard said,
June 29, 2009 at 6:29 am
Nadia,
I’m not a financial expert. Beyond the general recommendations here, I would suggest you contact someone in the financial field. They would be a much better source of financial advice than I.
michael brandon said,
June 29, 2009 at 4:50 pm
how would i find out contact info for the people involved with the IBR Plan?
moniqueleonard said,
June 30, 2009 at 6:12 am
Contact the US Department of education – their website is http://www.ed.gov
loan said,
November 9, 2009 at 8:04 am
I found your blog on google and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Look forward to read more from you in the future.If interested in link exchange please contact me.