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Post-Annual Meeting Resources

Even though the 2012 NAICU Annual Meeting is history, you can continue to benefit and learn from the many presentations and speeches that were offered, and are now available on line.


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Another Highlight


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Student Financial Aid


Student loan debt: The next financial disaster?

CBS Money Watch
February 9, 2012

Student loan debt is pushing a growing number of Americans into bankruptcy and an organization of bankruptcy lawyers predicted this week that the college debt problem could become as big a catastrophe as the home mortgage crisis.

Taking on Robin Hood

Inside Higher Ed
February 7, 2012

In his proposed budget, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell is seeking to cap the use of tuition dollars from in-state students to provide financial aid, a practice employed by almost all colleges and universities, public and private. McDonnell has said he is pushing the cap to spur conversation about aid policies and to keep down the cost of college education, saying the current structure is placing a higher burden on middle-income students.

Student Loan Debt Woes Fuel Bankruptcy

Investor's Business Daily
February 7, 2012

A new survey by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys found that 81% of bankruptcy attorneys say that potential clients with student-loan debt have increased either "significantly" or "somewhat" in the last three to four years. The sharp recession and historically sluggish economic and jobs recovery have taken their toll. But the numbers are another sign that major troubles may lie ahead for higher education. Critics contend that we are in the middle of a "higher education bubble," meaning that increasingly the value of a college degree does not match the rising cost.

How Davidson offers high quality education, but not debt

Charlotte, N.C., Observer - Opinion Piece
February 3, 2012

Davidson College President Carol Quillen testified Thursday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions as part of a hearing on "Innovations in College Affordability." Here are excerpts from her remarks.

Online Campaign Prompts Sallie Mae to Change Fee Policy for Loan Suspensions

New York Times
February 3, 2012

On Thursday, three months after Bank of America backed down from imposing a $5 monthly debit card fee in response to an online petition, Sallie Mae changed its fee policy in response to an online petition. For years, Sallie Mae had required unemployed people who could not afford their monthly payments to pay a $50-per-loan fee every three months to suspend their payments temporarily, even as interest charges mounted. Sallie Mae called this forbearance fee a "good faith deposit" - but it was neither credited to the borrower's account nor refunded.

Unemployed Criticize Sallie Mae 'Forbearance Fee'

Inside Higher Ed
February 2, 2012

A petition asking Sallie Mae to revoke the $50 quarterly "forbearance fee" that the lender imposes on borrowers who are unable to repay their student loans has gathered more than 75,000 signatures. Forbearance, when loans continue to accumulate capitalized interest although borrowers do not have to make payments, is the last resort to avoid default, and the petition protests the $50 fee as an "unemployment tax."

US Senate wants insight into Davidson’s ‘no loan debt’ program

WSOC-TV, Charlotte, N.C.
February 2, 2012

People across the country are trying to learn from Davidson College, where students can attend four years of classes without ever taking out a loan. College President Carol Quillen spent a day in Washington showing lawmakers how Davidson manages the program. The college made news in recent years with its Davidson Trust program. The program does away with student loans and replaces them with more financial aid and grants, which means less debt for needy students.

Obama’s disappointing college plan

Washington Post - Opinion Piece
February 1, 2012

The president boasts of having increased the maximum value of Pell Grants to $5,635 next year, up $905 since 2008. Sounds good. But according to the Department of Education, the maximum Pell Grant in 1976 covered 72 percent of costs at a typical public four-year college. Today it covers about half that much. In other words, the outer limits of the president's ambition is to leave public colleges half as affordable via federal aid as they were under Presidents Nixon and Ford.

Aid Experts and Officials Question President's College-Affordability Plans

Chronicle of Higher Education
January 30, 2012

Of president's proposals, college officials and student-aid experts were particularly curious to learn more about the proposal to tie campus-based aid-a small fraction of federal aid spending, which is dominated by Stafford Student Loans and the Pell Grant program-to tuition policy, value, and the enrollment and graduation of low-income students. The idea that some federal student aid would be based on holding down net tuition and/or tuition growth could be particularly troubling for public colleges, which have been increasing their price tags to help make up for cuts in state appropriations.

College Officials Welcome Obama's Focus on Higher-Education Costs, but Raise Some Concerns

Chronicle of Higher Education
January 30, 2012

In the budget President Obama will release next month, the administration will ask Congress to change the criteria under which funds from three federal aid programs known as "campus-based aid" are awarded. Details on the new formula are still being refined, but a document released by the White House on Friday said it would reward institutions that admit and graduate a relatively higher proportion of low-income students, demonstrate that their students complete college and find employment, and set "responsible tuition" policies.

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