Home & Education News Network

In an article in U.S. News and World Report, they take a look at some common questions investors might have as to whether the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch’s sale to Bank of America will affect mortgage rates as well as the ease or difficulty by which buyer’s can get approved for a loan.

According to the article, mortgage rates have dropped due to the recent news as well as the government’s takeover of both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, but these drops might be only temporary. Customers are also warned that while rates for mortgage loans might be lower, down payments will most likely be higher, as will the credit scores needed to secure such lower rates. Experts also warn to “know thy lender,” due to the recent volatility in the lending market and lenders closing down left and right, a second funding source is recommended when trying to secure a mortgage loan.

It’s a very interesting and, I think, helpful article, and you can find it in its entirety here.

That’s the question an article from NWANews.com raises in its article, “High cost of fuel means more students going online.” According to one local source, enrollment has increased thirty percent over the year prior due to higher fuel prices as well as increased awareness in the availability of local online degree programs. The article also cites several students touting the benefits of getting an online education, such as having an easier time focusing, classes fitting into their busy schedules and more. Overall it’s a good article that shows a microcosm of the expansion of online education in the U.S. as a whole.

You can read the entire article here.

According to a story on Bloomberg.com, mortgage foreclosures and delinquencies sped to new highs recently. New foreclosures rose to 1.19 percent, the first time it has been over 1 percent in nearly thirty years, while existing foreclosures rose to 2.75 percent. Home values are also quite low, which apparently is hurting the overall U.S. economy. In a quote:

The drop in home sales and values, along with tighter credit conditions and higher energy costs, probably will “weigh on economic growth over the next few quarters,” Federal Reserve policy makers said Aug. 5 when they decided to hold their benchmark rate at 2 percent. The central bankers cut the rate seven times in the last year in an attempt to avert a U.S. recession.

A big factor is adjustable rate mortgages, or ARM’s, which have seen their foreclosures triple only in the past year. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and things will return to normal, but until then we have to ride the wave. For the entire story, click here.

According to an article in the International Herald Tribune entitled, “US sites conjure mortgage quotes, play up privacy,” they discuss how many websites that offer mortgage quotes are now playing up their friendliness, anonymity and privacy. In the article they compare two websites, Zillow.com and MortgageMarvel.com. MortgageMarvel.com claims to be similar to travel sites such as Travelocity or Orbitz. Zillow.com is a little more thorough, using an “honor system” of sorts, trusting people to enter their own information in order to get proper quotes.

The article goes onto say, however, that the quotes on websites such as these and others might not be wholly accurate due to lack of information or brokers low-balling their quotes to get a sale. It’s an interesting article, and for more, head over here.

A group called America’s Health Insurance Plans has launched an educational campaign to help inform people about the risks of not having long-term cheap health insurance coverage when you have health problems. “Too many Americans are not adequately protected against the risks of needing long-term care,” said Karen Ignagni, chief executive of America’s Health Insurance Plans. With a new website that helps inform people about the ins and outs of health insurance and health care as well as an association with over 1,300 companies, America’s Health Insurance Plans hopes to educate everyone into getting the health coverage they need.

For more information, head over to the full article in the Washington Business Journal.

In an article in the San Francisco Chronicle entitled, “Census shows widening wealth gap in U.S.” discusses the seemingly widening gap between rich and poor, insured and underinsured. In a recent study released by the Census Bureau shows that figures from 2007 show that while poverty still held around the same level as the year before, as did the level of uninsured, and that the median income rose about $700 a year, but that these were from before the current economic downturn. Here’s a quote:

From top to bottom, these are punishing numbers: a nation of great wealth with yawning economic disparities. At the least, Congress should try again to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which was extended only through March of 2009, after President Bush vetoed enlarging it.

This article goes onto show that poverty is higher than it was in the 1990’s, and shows that while the economy has grown since 2000, the adjusted income of most workers didn’t. These are slightly startling figures that hopefully show that more needs to be done to provide health care and affordable health insurance quotes to everyone, not just those who can afford it. For the entire article, click here.

In an article entitled, “Online schools simulate real world” in the Seattle Post Intelligencer, author Lisa McClure looks at how online schools can help simulate real-world learning activities and opportunities through the use of online whiteboards, chatrooms, voice transmission and much more. Online schools such as Capella University offer these features, for example. By learning to work collaboratively through these online methods, the author says that online schools can simulate many of the learning activities and opportunities found in a real classroom. I think this quote says it best:

Technology has truly opened up a whole realm of educational opportunities. Online education — once considered simply a new education “option” for students — has become an integral component of the educational landscape, offering many unexpected advantages for a wide range of students.

If you would like to read the entire article, click here.

In another local article, this time from Connecticut, an article entitled “Online College Courses Gain In Popularity,” from the Courant looks at a local college and find that it too is growing in attendance. The most interesting thing about this article on online education, I find, is the following quote:

The advent of online classes, which typically include discussion threads or message boards for students to replace in-person interaction, has transformed learning from a location to an activity,” says Charter Oak President Ed Klonoski on the subject of online education. This is a very succinct and precise way to explain why online education has been growing in popularity.

The article goes on to say how older and younger students both benefit from online classes at places such as Axia College Online, and how even campus classes and facilities will shift their focus to a more online, internet-based approach. To read the entire article, click here.

It’s also been our own findings that more people are dinging online schools through misspellings as well, such as “University of Phoneix” instead of the actual University of Phoenix. This common occurance is getting more and more frequent in those searching for an online education.