Hope for grads deep in debt
College students are graduating into an ocean of debt, with limited job prospects. How will they ever repay those student loans, which average $22,000 -- but could be much more than $100,000? The idea that a college degree will pay for itself is wearing thin, as new grads face the most dismal hiring market in decades.
Starting July 1, there will be new help for recent grads -- or those who have been out of school for a while and are struggling to repay student loans. The new federal Income-Based Repayment program will allow those with low incomes to pay as little as zero on their student loans, as long as they qualify based on income and amount of debt.
The rules are a bit complicated, but basically if you owe more on student loans than you earn in a year, you will probably qualify.