LearnVest talks about a new way to get your student loans: from the school's alumni. It’s the newest thing in student loans: a social lending service where alumni can help finance the education of current students. SoFi, a service brought to our attention by Mashable, lets alumni “buy a share” of the students at a school who currently have loans. As the students pay off the loans, the Read more

More people are facing bankruptcy because of student loan obligations, according to a survey by the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys. In fact, the student loan debt has passed $1 trillion, which is more than the nation's credit card debt. There are several things you can do to put off paying your loans, but it's advisable to pay them on schedule. Still, there may be times Read more

Last week, President Obama announced the "Pay as You Earn" plan, which is supposed to make it easier for about 1.6 million students to pay back their loans. Right now, the student loan debt in the US totals up to over $1 trillion, which is even more than credit card debt. And the burden seems to keep growing — students who graduated in the Spring of last year had about $25,250 in loans each, Read more

We're thrilled to present this smart Kiplinger story here on Savvy! Editor's note: Our regular Kip Tips columnist Cameron Huddleston is taking a deserved vacation but has solicited the help of her favorite personal-finance bloggers to guide Kip Tip readers in her absence. The twenties. At no other point in time in your life will you be better able to set yourself up for financial success than in Read more

A guy wrote to The Frisky admitting a dark secret — he owes $190,000 in student loans. Without a medical degree in hand, he's feeling quite ashamed of the debt and has stopped dating because of it. He said that he has great career prospects and is financially responsible, but can't help feeling that women will flee once they hear how much he owes. Would a huge debt be a deal breaker for you? Read more

This post was shared by reader monnie72385 in our Ask Savvy group. I was recently contacted and was told I have defaulted on two of my student loans. I was given two options: (1) pay lump sum at a reduced rate or (2) pay 10 percent and make monthly payments immediately. I cannot do either at this point as I can't defer loans and go back to finish school because it is too expansive and my Read more

This question was shared by PeachyKeen19 in the Ask Savvy group. Do you have advice for her? Share your take in comments. My sister is a sophomore in college and needs some additional tuition money. I volunteered to co-sign a loan, but we were rejected twice (we applied through two different options). I'm surprised that that happened because I have co-signed on one other loan before for the same Read more

Obama signs major student loan reform — Huffington Post Russia hunts "Black Widow" cell made up of 21 female suicide bombers — London Times German Catholic Church launches sex abuse hotline — BBC Tim Geithner says, duh, women could do better job running Wall Street — Jezebel Overeducated Americans turn to census for work — NPR Health care overhaul will lower the cost of being a woman Read more

This question was submitted by member SexyAndy in our Ask Savvy group. I am very concerned about starting to pay off my student loans (graduated May 08). It's not a federal loan, it's a private one. It can be seen as four loans since I took one for each school year...I owe an obscene amount of money now and cannot afford to make the minimum payments, which is about $1,200. So far what I've done Read more