Oftentimes, the trajectory for a typical American is to live at home with mom and dad until the end of high school, go off to college to experience life on one's own and then use that investment in higher education to advance into a lifestyle-sustaining career.
However, the formula today is not so simple. In the past decade, college tuition has skyrocketed, oftentimes costing more than $50,000 per year. And while higher education was, at times, subsidized by government organizations in previous years, the tenuous state of the economy led to funding cutbacks in many regions of the United States.
Consequently, the brunt of massive tuition fees is falling largely onto the shoulders of students and their families. In order to raise the funds necessary to support children in college, some families have attempted to increase the equity stake of their home by turning to lenders and refinancing at lower interest rates.
However, this proved to be problematic as well as when the housing bubble burst, and many families with college-aged students lost the equity of their homes. Moreover, getting through the economic recession in the late 2000s may have forced some families to cut into the savings put aside for their children's tuition as well.
In response, many have found lending to be the only way to afford exorbitant collegiate fees. In fact, according to an article published by the Philadelphia Inquirer, lending rates have tripled in the past decade. And with such high rates of lending being undertaken in the country, many students are deferring payment as long as possible and, at times, defaulting on their loans completely.
In this kind of landscape, lenders may need some assistance keeping up with all their clients and ensuring that payments are made on schedule. In order to complete these tasks with efficiency, lenders would benefit from investing in student loan management software and an amortization calculator.