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Episodes from The College Investor Audio Show
Cal State Approves 3-Year Bachelor’s Degrees Across All 22 Campuses
California State University, the largest public college system in the U.S., just voted to allow (PDF File) the creation of bachelor's degrees that can be completed in as little as three years. This is a massive shift that could reshape how working adults and community college transfers earn a credential.The first shortened degrees could launch as early as fall 2027, though 2028 is more likely.
Education Department Sends SAVE Borrowers a “Courtesy” Warning Before July 1 Formal Notices Begin
The U.S. Department of Education has started emailing borrowers enrolled in the Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan a second round of reminders (which we're dubbing as "courtesy" notices) ahead of the formal transition emails set to start July 1, 2026.Why it matters: Around 7 million borrowers are still sitting in SAVE forbearance after a federal court order killed the plan. Once a borrower's servicer sends the official notice, a 90-day clock starts to pick a new repayment plan or the servicer will move the borrower into one automatically (likely the Standard Plan). Borrowers who still don't...
How Mandatory College Fees Like SMU’s $8,080 Catch Families Off Guard
Families comparing colleges usually start with the published tuition number. That number is rarely what they will actually owe. While most families don't pay sticker price, another line item is becoming a shocking addition: fees.Buried in the fine print, the mandatory student fee can add $1,000, $4,000, or even $8,000 to the annual bill before housing and food. At Southern Methodist University (SMU), the general student fee is rising to $4,040 per term in 2026-27, or roughly $8,080 across two semesters, on top of $63,376 in undergraduate tuition and fees published for 2026-27.Stack on the other charges colleges break...
Wage Garnishment On Defaulted Student Loans Restarts This Fall
The U.S. Department of Education, with the Department of Treasury, plans to resume administrative wage garnishment on defaulted federal student loans this fall, restarting involuntary collections after a months-long pause announced earlier in 2026.The timing will likely reflect the end of the period of time for borrowers to select a new repayment plan. While specific details have not been announced, multiple members of the administration have pointed to getting borrowers back into repayment on their loans.
Dan Zibel of Student Defense on AI in Admissions, Student Data Rights, and the AI Bill of Rights
Student Defense co-founder Dan Zibel joins The College Investor at the ASU+GSV Summit to talk about how colleges are using AI in admissions, grading, and student lending — and why students deserve transparency about it.Recorded live at the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego, Robert Farrington sits down with Dan Zibel, co-founder of Student Defense, to talk about how artificial intelligence is reshaping higher education — from admissions decisions to classroom grading to student lending — and what students and families should be asking about it.
UC Irvine Cuts MBA Tuition to $99,000 to Slip Under New Federal Loan Cap
UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business is cutting tuition on its Flex MBA program by $30,000 and its Executive MBA by $48,000 starting this fall — a reduction of up to 38%. The school is openly framing the move as a response to new federal graduate borrowing limits that take effect July 1, 2026. However, this move raises more questions than answers.Why it matters: At the new $99,000 price tag, Merage's Flex MBA squeaks in just below the $100,000 lifetime aggregate cap on federal graduate borrowing established by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.The school's pitch: "University of Ca...
Education Department Stops Updating Key School Data After Cutting Research Arm
Key federal databases that tracked American schools since 1962 is now running on outdated numbers. After Education Department gutted their research arm last year, large portions of the Digest of Education Statistics (covering per-student spending, teacher pay, enrollment, and student safety) have not been refreshed in more than a year.The Department says new contracts are coming, but the public (and researchers) are operating without current school data in the meantime.
Federal Student Loan Rates Set To Rise For The 2026-27 School Year
Federal student loan interest rates are heading higher for the 2026-27 academic year, following Monday's May 10-year Treasury Note auction (PDF File). Undergraduate Stafford Loans will carry a 6.52% fixed rate, up from 6.392% a year earlier, with graduate and PLUS borrowers seeing similar increases of roughly 13 basis points.The new rates apply to federal student loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026, and remain fixed for the life of the loan.
SAVE Forbearance Is Ending: 7 Million Borrowers Face Repayment Restart
The payment pause protecting borrowers in the SAVE plan is winding down, with loan servicers set to begin notifying borrowers starting July 1 to move into a new repayment plan.Once a borrower receives that notice, the clock starts: forbearance ends 90 days after the official notice is sent, which means most affected borrowers will be back in active repayment by the end of September 2026. This means either the borrower selects a new repayment plan, or will default back into the standard repayment plan.The bottom line - nearly all of these borrowers will have a payment...
Tyler West On Saving For College, Picking The Right School, And Avoiding The Student Loan Trap
Financial planner and former college admissions consultant Tyler West joins The College Investor Audio Show at MilMoneyCon to talk about how families should actually approach paying for college — from 529 plans to commuter schools to the conversations parents aren't having with their kids.Recorded live at MilMoneyCon, Robert Farrington sits down with Tyler West, an associate financial planner at CL Sheldon & Company who works with military and veteran families. Before financial planning, Tyler served in the Army, worked in higher ed at the University of Colorado, and ran his own college planning business advising high-net-worth families on admissions an...
8 Colleges Closing In 2026: Here's What To Know About These Closures And Mergers
Anna Maria College's closure announcement last week brought the 2026 U.S. nonprofit college shutdown count to eight. The 80-year-old institution in Paxton, Massachusetts said its Board of Trustees could no longer project the financial resources to sustain academic operations past the spring 2026 semester. This decision came less than two weeks after the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education formally flagged the college as a closure risk.Anna Maria's announcement came the same day workers at Hampshire College (which announced its own permanent closure on April 14) launched a relief fund ahead of June layoffs. Together, the two Massachusetts institutions...
Department of Education Finalizes Loan Limits and Repayment Plan Changes
The U.S. Department of Education published its final rule implementing the student loan provisions of the Working Families Tax Cuts Act, ending Grad PLUS for new borrowers, capping Parent PLUS for the first time, narrowing the definition of "professional student", and consolidating the federal repayment system into two plans for new borrowers.Most provisions take effect July 1, 2026, with rehabilitation and deferment changes following on July 1, 2027, and the legacy income-contingent plans fully sunsetting on July 1, 2028.The 647-page rule (PDF File) follows a negotiated rulemaking process that opened in late 2025 and drew more than 80,000 public comments...