Latest posts
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Student Loan Rehabilitation vs Consolidation: Exit Default
Student loan rehabilitation vs consolidation is the choice a borrower faces when a federal loan is in default, and the good news is that both are real exits. Neither one requires paying the whole balance. Each has a different strength: rehabilitation removes the default record from your credit history, and consolidation doesn’t require a nine-payment…
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Parent PLUS Loan Limits 2026: Smart Ways to Cover College
The Parent PLUS loan limits 2026 change how much parents can borrow for a child’s college costs, and it’s worth understanding them before the first tuition bill arrives. Starting July 1, 2026, new Parent PLUS borrowing is capped, and ED Financial lists the Tiered Standard plan as the only repayment plan available for Direct Parent…
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Nursing Professional Degree Loan Cap: What to Do Now
The nursing professional degree loan cap is one of the most closely watched pieces of the new federal loan rules, and for graduate nursing students the situation has been changing. The short version: the Department of Education’s final rule defined “professional degree” narrowly, a federal court preliminarily stayed part of that definition, and the Department…
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Graduate School Loan Gap: 10 Ways to Close It
A graduate school loan gap is simply the difference between what your program costs and what federal loans plus your other funding will cover. Under the new federal caps, some students will see one. The encouraging part is that, in my view, this is one of the more fixable problems in higher education. A gap…
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Graduate Student Loan Limits 2026: Plan Your Budget
Graduate student loan limits 2026 are the biggest change to grad school financing in years, and the good news is that the change is easy to plan around once you see the numbers. Grad PLUS has ended for new borrowers, there are now annual and lifetime caps on federal loans, and some programs will cost…
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Student Loan Forgiveness Tax: Plan Before It Hits
The student loan forgiveness tax is the federal income tax that can apply when an income-driven plan forgives your balance, and it can reach into the thousands of dollars. For several years, certain forgiven student debt was federally tax-free under a pandemic-era rule. That rule covered discharges before January 1, 2026, which means balances forgiven…
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PSLF 2026: Protect Your 120 Payments
PSLF 2026 looks different from the version you may have read about a few years ago. SAVE forbearance months don’t count, a new plan called RAP is a qualifying plan, and there’s a new rule about employers. If you work for a school, a hospital, a government agency, or a nonprofit and you’re chasing Public…
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RAP vs IBR: Pick the Cheaper Plan for Your Income
RAP vs IBR is a comparison where the right answer isn’t the same for everyone. The two plans use different formulas, so which one is cheaper flips depending on your income, how many people live in your household, and whether you’re aiming for forgiveness. Once you see the formulas side by side, it’s a pretty…
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SAVE Plan Ended: What to Do in 90 Days
The SAVE plan ended, and if your loans were on it, you may have noticed servicer notices arriving. A 90-day clock starts the day yours does. The good news is that this is a very fixable situation. You need a date, a few numbers, and about an hour. This post is for people who were…
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Mortgage Payment Too High? 7 Fixes That Work
A mortgage payment too high for your budget is fixable. The payment on your statement is a stack of pieces, and nearly every piece can be tested, trimmed, or restructured. Some fixes cost nothing and take one phone call. Others take a few weeks and a little math. And if things are truly tight, the…