The Guerrilla Guide to Mastering Student Loan Debt - Softcover

Stockwell, Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0062734350 ISBN 13: 9780062734358

Publisher: HarperPerennial, 1997

Synopsis

Skyrocketing tuitions have become a national concern. The average four-year college degree now costs more than $35,000, and that sum is growing at a phenomenal rate, forcing unprecedented numbers of college students into student-loan debt. In 1995, the Educational Resource Institute issued a report warning that borrowing has exploded to record levels and is expected to double in five years.

Whether they're just beginning to think about paying for college, are currently in school, starting repayment or already overwhelmed with debt, students, as well as recent graduates and parents, find The Guerrilla Guide to Mastering Student Loan Debt an indispensable guide to navigating the student loan maze. In clear, lively and reassuring chapters, it answers such time and money-saving questions as:

What types of loans are available, and how are they different?

How can I get the best possible deal?

What are my options for repaying my loan and can I postpone repayment?

How can I get a forbearance or a deferment?

How can I repair my credit rating?

About this title

About the Author:

Anne Stockwell, a survivor of the student loan process herself, has worked for Esquire, Rolling Stone, and New York magazine. Currently the arts and entertainment editor for The Advocate, she lives in Los Angeles, CA.

Review:

"An essential tool for people trying to get back on the path to a sound financial future. Stockwell's book should be read by every parent and student before applying for any college application or student loan because The Guerrilla Guide goes one step beyond the other "how-to" books by supplying different philosophies for living with your student loan and sound strategies for getting your life back on track. If you are tired of making up lies to get that collection agency off your back, this is the book to read." -- Cheryl Dunye, writer/director of The Watermelon Woman writer/director of The Watermelon Woman writer/director of The Watermelon Woman writer/director of The Watermelon Woman

"An extremely clear, humane, and practical guide...If you're off to campus, or dealing with the financial aftermath of higher education, read this and save yourself many sleepless nights." -- Anne Matthews, author of Bright College Years: Inside the American CampusToday

"Should be required reading for anyoneespecially a graduate/professional studentwho is thinking about borrowing to go to school. Even those now repaying their loans should read Anne Stockwell's book. Easy to read and easy to understand, The Guerrilla Guide will keep many students out of hot water over their student loans." -- Kevin Boyer, Executive Director, National Association of Graduate-Professional Students, Inc.

"This is must reading for all high school seniors and their families and should be read again by all college students while in their last year of school." -- Ernest T. Freeman, President, Educational Resources Institute

Marketers who want help in talking to Generation X'ers should look at The Guerrilla Guide to Mastering Student Loan Debt, by Anne Stockwell.

Written by a Boomer, this excellent guide is unhyped and nonjudgmental. It is also written with enough clarity and style to lure even the most print-averse young person. Ms. Stockwell, a journalist who financed her own education with loans, unjumbles with ease the confusing acronyms and arcane rules of lenders. She even sneaks in the political view that student borrowers -- mostly X'ers who have racked up $100 billion in debt since 1990 -- should get a better deal.

But the preaching stops there.

Everything else in this information-rich book is practical and unusually accessible. And everything else includes, well, everything -- even an entertaining section on how lenders track down deadbeats.

Students entering college this fall will find much that is useful in this book. So will their Boomer parents; it's a mini-expert's drea. So, of course, will their grandparents, who may, after all, wind up footing the bills. -- By Deborah Stead, The New York Times, 9/7/97

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPerennial
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0062734350
• ISBN 13: 9780062734358
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352