As a part of the much-hyped health care bill that President Obama signed into law three key of relief measures where given to students that will make a big impact on your personal finances while in college and immediately after college. These measures are changes in eligibility for health insurance; changes of the way student loans are administered and a change for students receiving Pell Grants.
A provision in the health care plan made changes in eligibility for health insurance. This included a provision that allows children to be covered under their parents health insurance until age 26.
Currently you are not allowed to be under your parents if you are over the age of 18, but most health insurance companies allow you to be covered if you are a full-time student (hence why most undergraduate and graduate students are still under their parents plan)
The change in age will be implemented immediately and will help graduating seniors who are in between graduation and obtaining a job.
This will also help increase the number of employers that are hiring recent college grads, since some students will opt to be under their parents plan, saving employers for paying health benefits for the first 4-5 years.
Also buried under the massive health care bill are two provisions about the way student loans are administered.
The first provision eliminates a middle man in the loan process by getting the government to directly administer loans rather than subsidize a third party to issue the loans.
Although the interest rates for student loans will be unchanged (at 6.8% for the unsubsidized Stafford loan) the rate for PLUS(parent) loans will be lowered from 8.5% to 7.9% as a result of this provision.
The second provision (titled the income provision) will affect a student that will be entering school starting in 2014.
As a part of the income provision the government caps student debt repayments, by adjusting for the income of your family and the size of your family.
This provision caps repayments to 10% of your take-home (after-tax) pay and it will forgive your debt if you do not pay after 20 years. There are also adjustments if your family is larger or smaller.
The Final provision buried in the healthcare bill is an increase in funding for Pell Grants. Students are eligible for pell grants if your family makes $50,000 a year or less. It will increase the funding base for these grants.
Students seeking more information on financial aid and student aid can check out the resources from St. John’s (http://www.stjohns.edu/services/financial) or the free website FinAid (http://www.finaid.org)
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