Best student loan refinance rates as of May 21, 2026: #studentloans

The 2026-27 federal student loan rates: 6.52% undergrad, 8.07% grad, 9.07% PLUS. Borrowing without a repayment plan is the #1 mistake families make. Updated calculator ties your debt to projected earnings by major: #CollegePlanning #PersonalFinance

The Education Department fired half its Federal Student Aid office last year. Now FSA is hiring 380 new workers to keep the $1.7T loan system running for 43M borrowers. NPR's reporting suggests "dismantling" is mostly a rebrand. #education #studentloans

The U.S. Surgeon General's new screen time advisory wants schools to ban phones bell-to-bell and shift back to pen-and-paper work — citing research that classroom multitasking hurts grades, test scores, recall, and reading. #education

Harvard faculty voted 458-201 to cap A grades at 20% per course starting fall 2027. Last year, 60% of undergraduate grades were A's. The most aggressive grade-inflation reset at an elite school in decades. #highered #harvard #education

The best 12 month CD rates are still up to 4.05% APY as of May 20, 2026: #banking #cdrates

Jeff Bezos slammed NYC schools on CNBC, citing $34,717 per student. The real FY2026 figure is $43,778 — the highest of any major school system. NY 4th graders still rank 46th in the country in math. #EducationPolicy #PersonalFinance #StudentLoans thecollegeinvestor.com/80970/bezos-...

May 20 = National Be a Millionaire Day. The 2026 math: $500/mo at 8% for 40 yrs = $1.75M. A 25-yr-old saving $400/mo beats a 45-yr-old saving $1,200/mo. Playbook + calculator → #Investing #FIRE

New University of Oregon review of 74 studies: more time in school does raise achievement. The four-day school week is also showing measurable test score drops. #education

Breaking: 23 state AGs (plus DC and the governors of KY and PA) sued the Education Department today over a rule excluding nurse practitioners, PAs, DPT, and SLPs from the $200K "professional" student loan cap. #StudentLoans #HigherEd

Looking for the lowest student loan rates? Here are the best options today: #studentloans

America's most expensive colleges for 2026: Colgate takes #1 at $76,828/year — tuition only, no room or board. All 30 schools on the list now charge over $72,000/year. Tuition rose 4.5% on average. #studentloans #highered #college

Looking for the best high-yield savings accounts? Here are the top rates as of May 18, 2026: #savings

The Workforce Pell final rule is out. Starting July 1, 2026, Pell Grants can fund 8- to 15-week job training programs that clear a state approval gate and a new value-added earnings test. Full breakdown: #PellGrant #StudentAid #HigherEd

DOJ has concluded Yale's medical school discriminated by race in admissions across the 2023, 2024, and 2025 classes — and says Black applicants had up to 29x higher odds of getting an interview than Asian applicants with similar credentials. #highered #medschool #studentloans

Financial planner Tyler West (former higher ed admin, ex-college consultant) joined our podcast at MilMoneyCon. His core message: only 49% of students who start a degree finish one, and most families optimize the savings vehicle instead of the conversation. #highered #studentloans #collegeplanning

Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt got booed by the class of 2026 at the University of Arizona — loudest when he addressed AI and jobs. We've reported 42% of new students now factor AI into their career choices. The trust gap is showing up in real time. #AI #HigherEd #StudentDebt

Minnesota's House passed its higher ed bill 101-33 Friday — but the $131M State Grant shortfall stays unaddressed. 88,000 students face ~38% cuts; 18,000 lose grants entirely. Even the bill's sponsor called the omission "disappointing." #HigherEd #StudentAid #Minnesota

The University of Chicago will offer free tuition to families earning under $250,000 starting fall 2027 — the highest income cap among major U.S. universities. Harvard, MIT, and Penn all top out at $200K. Full breakdown: thecollegeinvestor.com/80739/uchica...

MIT will admit ~500 fewer graduate students next year. Federal research awards are down 20%+ year over year, and the new 8% endowment tax keeps squeezing the budget. President Kornbluth says faculty can't fund the students they used to. #highered #studentloans #research

Extended! CIT Bank just extended their awesome APY bonus offer:

This week in college finance: federal loan rates rise to 6.52% undergrad / 9.07% Parent PLUS, Canvas paid the ransom after the 275M-user hack, and a new Texas study confirms program > school for ROI. #StudentLoans #HigherEd #PersonalFinance

The U.S. Department of Education has cut 45% of its staff since 2024. Sec. Linda McMahon defended that — and new $100K graduate loan caps — before the House Thursday. Here's what borrowers and parents need to know: #studentloans #highered #policy

Student loan refinance rates are also getting competitive. Here are the lowest rates to refinance your student loans as of May 14, 2026: #studentloans

The minimum credit score to refinance student loans is roughly 650-680 across major lenders — but the rates they advertise require a 740+ FICO, autopay, and the shortest repayment term. Here's where every top lender actually draws the line: #StudentLoans #PersonalFinance #CreditScore

The Education Department's IDR backlog dropped to 530,295 in April 2026 — but zero IDR plan discharges were processed all month. The next batch got stuck in data validation. Full breakdown of the latest court filing: #StudentLoans #IDR #PSLF

You can still secure a 12-month CD for 4.15% APY, and some banks and credit unions have been raising their rates lately. Here's the best CDs right now:

Democrats filed a bicameral CRA resolution May 1 to block ED's final OBBBA student loan rule — the one ending SAVE, capping grad/parent borrowing, and rolling out RAP on July 1. Bonamici and Merkley lead. #StudentLoans #SAVE #HigherEd

The NY Fed's Q1 2026 household debt report is out. 3.6 million federal student loan borrowers have defaulted since October. The average defaulter is 38.9 years old — and most weren't past due before the pandemic pause. #StudentLoans #PersonalFinance #FederalReserve

Are there any charities that will forgive your student loans? #studentloans

2026-27 federal student loan interest rates are locked in: 🎓 Undergrad: 6.52% 🎓 Grad: 8.07% 🎓 Grad PLUS & Parent PLUS: 9.07% All up ~13 bps year-over-year from the May 10-year Treasury auction. Apply to loans disbursed after 7/1/26. thecollegeinvestor.com/80477/federa...

The lowest rate private student loans start at 2.59% APR. See where you can get the best rates: #studentloans

South Carolina's higher ed agency: $25M short on scholarships already awarded this year. Three years ago, same agency had a $152M surplus. Forecasting state college aid keeps missing — students are safe, taxpayers cover the gap. #StudentLoans #HigherEd #SouthCarolina

GAO report just dropped: the new FAFSA worked. 9.9M students were Pell-eligible in 2024–25 (+570K). 1.9M more qualified for the full $7,395 max award — a 31% jump. Biggest gains went to middle-income families. Full breakdown: #financialaid #pellgrant #fafsa

Higher ed economist Preston Cooper joined our podcast at the ASU+GSV Summit. His take: 20-30% of degrees don't pay off, and it's almost always one of three reasons — paid too much, didn't finish, or picked a weak field. Completion is the #1 factor. #highered #studentloans #collegeROI

UC Irvine cut its Flex MBA tuition by $30,000 to slip under the new $100,000 federal grad loan cap. But the annual cap is $20,500 — so a 2-year MBA student can only borrow $41,000 federally anyway. Full breakdown: #StudentLoans #HigherEd #MBA

The Education Department has stopped updating the Digest of Education Statistics — the federal go-to for school spending, teacher pay, enrollment, and safety data since 1962. Most tables haven't refreshed since January 2025. New contracts won't be awarded until September. #Education #StudentLoans

The SAVE forbearance officially ends soon. Roughly 7 million borrowers must pick a new repayment plan or be auto-enrolled in Standard — often the most expensive option. About half had $0 payments. The shock is going to be real. #studentloans #SAVE

Wage garnishment on defaulted federal student loans restarts this summer. 7M+ borrowers face a 15% paycheck cut — more than RAP or IBR would charge. #StudentLoans #PersonalFinance

Student loans 101: How to actually take out a student loan to pay for college #studentloans #financialaid

Canvas, the LMS used by 41% of North American higher ed, was knocked offline by hackers as finals week approaches for many. ShinyHunters claims data from nearly 9,000 schools — including Harvard, Duke, Johns Hopkins. Ransom deadline: May 12. #CyberSecurity #HigherEd #StudentLoans

New Sallie Mae + Ipsos report: 95% of U.S. high school students plan to continue their education, average college savings hit $42,307 (up 61% since 2020), but only 22% of families know when student loan interest actually starts accruing. Full breakdown: #studentloans #financialaid

The CFPB found that 90% of cosigner release applications on private student loans are denied. Vague "sufficient income" rules and undisclosed criteria make the process nearly opaque. Most borrowers find refinancing is the cleaner path. #studentloans #personalfinance #cfpb

New Education Department rules effective July 1, 2026 may block most SAVE borrowers from switching to PAYE — even though the Department's own website says there are no enrollment restrictions. The fine print says otherwise. #StudentLoans #PAYE

Most "credit union" private student loans in 2026 are actually run on one of two fintech platforms: LendKey or Student Choice. Student Choice alone has 212 credit unions in its network. Knowing the model changes who services your loan. #StudentLoans #HigherEd

College students expect $80,004 starting salaries. Actual average: $56,153.That's a $24K gap — and 79% of them are deciding how much to borrow based on the inflated number.The Class of 2026 reality check, by major: #StudentLoans #HigherEd #PersonalFinance

The most underrated account in personal finance: the custodial Roth IRA. If your teen has earned income, a parent can open one and the money grows tax-free for 50+ years. We broke down every option — Roth, UGMA, 529, teen brokerage.

Five state-chartered non-profit lenders — Brazos (TX), ISL (IA), MEFA (MA), OSLA (OK), RISLA (RI) — often beat national private student loans on rate. They fund through tax-free municipal bonds and pass the savings on. Worth a look before signing anywhere else. #studentloans #highered

Parent PLUS loans get capped July 1: $20K/year, $65K lifetime per student. Grad PLUS phases out entirely. Families at higher-priced schools just lost their federal backstop. What to do now: #StudentLoans #PayingForCollege #HigherEducation

Trump signed an executive order this week creating TrumpIRA — but the $1,000 match it promotes was already passed under Biden's SECURE 2.0 Act in 2022. Here's what the order does and who actually qualifies in 2027. #investing