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Archive for October, 2013

31
Oct

College Costs 2013/2014: Increases Slow, but So Does Growth in Grant Aid

Every October, the College Board releases its Trends in College Pricing report that highlights college cost increases for the current academic year along with trends in the world of higher education. While costs can vary significantly depending on the region and individual college, the College Board publishes average cost figures, which are based on its survey of nearly 4,000 colleges across the country.

In its report, the College Board noted that even though this year’s increases in tuition and fees were the smallest in many years, the growth in student grant aid from previous years has not kept pace. As a result, many students will be facing higher costs, even in the face of smaller price increases.

To read the full Trends in College Pricing 2013 report, go to trends.collegeboard.org.

 Following are cost highlights. Note that total cost figures include tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, and a sum for transportation and personal expenses. Together, these items are officially referred to as the “total cost of attendance.”

Public colleges (in-state students)
Tuition and fees increased an average of 2.9% this year to $8,893
Room-and-board costs increased an average of 3.6% this year to $9,498
Total cost of attendance for 2013/2014 is $22,826 (up from $22,261 last year)

Public colleges (out-of-state students)
Tuition and fees increased an average of 3.1% this year to $22,203
Room-and-board costs increased an average of 3.6% this year to $9,498
Total cost of attendance for 2013/2014 is $36,136 (up from $35,312 last year)

Private colleges 
Tuition and fees increased an average of 3.8% this year to $30,094
Room-and-board costs increased an average of 3.5% this year to $10,823
Total cost of attendance for 2013/2014 is $44,750 (up from $43,289 last year)

Cost trends 
In its Trends in College Pricing 2013 report, the College Board noted that college prices have been rising more rapidly than the prices of other goods and services over the last three decades and that “the increasing economic inequality in the United States over recent decades has exacerbated the difficulty in paying for college for many students, in addition to straining federal, state, and institutional budgets.”

The College Board noted that even though this year’s increases in tuition and fees were the smallest in many years, the growth in student grant aid from previous years has not kept pace. As a result, many students will be facing higher costs, even in the face of smaller price increases.

 

 
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17
Oct

Last-Minute Agreement Ends Government Shutdown, Suspends Debt Ceiling

After a 16-day federal government shutdown and gridlock over whether to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, a last-minute agreement brought a temporary end to the impasse. The measure, formally known as the “Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014,” was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama shortly after midnight on October 17–the day on which the Treasury had said it would begin running out of cash to pay the nation’s bills.

What does the agreement do?
The legislation suspends the debt ceiling until February 7 and provides sufficient funding to reopen the government for the next three months (through January 15). It applies retroactively through October 1, the day on which the federal government was forced to begin furloughing roughly 800,000 employees.

To try to address longer-term issues, the agreement also establishes a congressional budget conference that would issue a report no later than December 13. That will be run by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), who head their respective chambers’ budget committees. The across-the-board budget cuts known as the sequester, which were adopted as part of the agreement that ended the 2011 debt ceiling and were implemented earlier this year, remain in effect. The new agreement also requires income verification for people receiving subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, and if the debt ceiling is reached again in February, the Treasury will not be prohibited from using measures like those it has been using since May to cope with the current debt ceiling.

What exactly is the debt ceiling?
The debt ceiling represents a limit on the amount the Treasury is allowed to borrow to manage the national debt (the total amount currently owed by the U.S. government). An increase in the debt limit does not authorize additional government spending, which only Congress can approve; it enables the Treasury to help manage its cash flow and pay bills that have already been incurred.

 Technically, hitting the debt ceiling is not the same as defaulting on payments. In fact, the Treasury actually hit the debt ceiling in May, and has been using various accounting measures since then to temporarily extend its ability to borrow. That created greater uncertainty about whether hitting the debt ceiling on October 17 would have prevented the country from meeting its financial obligations. That was a special concern not only for recipients of Social Security and Medicare benefits but also for investors. Because Treasuries have traditionally been seen as the safest sovereign debt in the world, overseas investors hold a substantial amount of it. The uncertainty helped underscore fears not only of a default, but that some countries might increase calls for alternatives to the U.S. dollar as the global reserve currency.

How will the agreement affect financial markets?
Investors’ immediate reaction to the news was extremely positive. Word on Thursday that a deal had been reached sent the S&P 500 up 1.4% and added 206 points to the Dow Jones Industrial Average in a single day. Even if that enthusiasm fades as equities once again start to respond to other influences, it was a far cry from the reaction to the 2011 extension of the debt ceiling, which was followed by a 10.6% decline in the S&P over the week following the August 2 signing. But investors now must turn their attention once again to corporate earnings season and the question of whether the shutdown’s economic impact will affect when the Federal Reserve starts to taper its economic support.

The new agreement also helps protect the nation’s credit rating from a threatened downgrade that would have affected borrowing costs. Yields on 1-month Treasury bills, which had soared in October when several institutional investors began unloading them as the debt ceiling deadline neared, were cut in half overnight after the announcement.*

When will government agencies return to fully functional status?
The roughly 800,000 federal employees furloughed during the shutdown were instructed by the Office of Management and Budget to be ready to return to work the day after the agreement was signed. However, individual agencies may vary depending on the method each uses to notify employees, who will be entitled to receive back pay for the shutdown period.

 What was the economic impact of the shutdown?
Standard & Poor’s estimated that as of the day before the agreement, the shutdown had cost the U.S. economy $24 billion, cutting roughly 0.6% from inflation-adjusted Q4 gross domestic product.** (S&P also estimated that had there been a default, the result would have put the economy into recession.)

*Source: U.S. Treasury Resource Center (www.treasury.gov) Daily Treasury Yield Curve Rates as of 10/17/2013.
**Source: Standard & Poor’s press release, October 16, 2013.
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14
Oct

Conventional wisdom does not always apply.

This is the subject in Gregory Karp’s article, “Turning conventional wisdom on its head”, in his October 6th article in The Chicago Tribune.  Following are excerpts from that article.

“Getting credit cards at a younger age can be a good thing. ‘It seems that the type of people who get credit early are better borrowers – less likely to default…’”.
“Part of the reason young borrowers become better borrowers may be that they are once bitten, twice shy.  ‘They have some minor delinquencies and they learn their lesson’”.
“The takeaway? Don’t necessarily discourage a young adult from getting a credit card.”

“You might think that sticking with your auto insurer year after year breeds good will and maybe even lower rates…according to the Consumer Federation of America…some insurers are illegally jacking up car insurance rates on people who, faced with higher rates, are less likely to shop for a better deal, a practice called price optimization.”  “…the takeaway is tried-and-true advice regardless of price optimization:  Regularly shop around your insurance coverage to make sure you’re not overpaying.”

“Those ‘use by’ and ‘sell by’ dates on food items seem like helpful guides, but they actually don’t mean much.  That’s because they are not standardized or regulated…”

Based on this article and numerous other similar articles, it may be more important than ever to exercise due diligence rather than rely on conventional wisdom. 

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1
Oct

U.S. Government Shutdown Explained

Congress failed to agree on a spending bill for the fiscal year starting October 1, 2013, resulting in the first government shutdown since 1995. According to the Congressional Research Service, this is the 18th time the federal government has shut down as a result of a failure to agree on an annual appropriations bill. Most shutdowns have lasted only a few hours or a few days. The most recent shutdown, in 1995, lasted three weeks.

What happens when the federal government shuts down?

When the government shuts down, federal agencies must generally suspend operations and furlough their employees. However, there are significant exceptions for government functions that promote national security, or protect human life and property. As a result, a shutdown doesn’t impact certain essential functions like the military, law enforcement, TSA, air traffic control, border patrol, emergency and disaster assistance, food safety, foreign embassies, prisons, and federal medical care (among others).

 A shutdown also doesn’t impact federal entitlement programs (like Social Security and Medicare) that aren’t funded by discretionary annual appropriations. Funding for these programs is considered mandatory, because the legislation creating the benefit obligates the government to make payment. So benefits under these programs continue uninterrupted, and the employees who administer those benefits are generally exempt from furlough.

Finally, some agencies are funded by multiple year appropriations. Even though these agencies don’t yet have any funds appropriated for the new fiscal year, they may still have funds remaining from prior appropriations, which they can use to continue operations until those funds run out.

So what does a government shutdown mean to you?

What you can do during the shutdown:
Receive and send mail–the post office is an independent agency unaffected by the budget process
Buy insurance through one of the new health insurance Exchanges
Receive your Social Security and Medicare benefits, or apply for new benefits
Get a passport or visa–but only until the State Department’s available funding runs out (during the 1995 shutdown, 200,000 U.S. applications for passports went unprocessed)
Conduct business with the United States Patent and Trademark Office–but only until the USPTO’s available funding runs out
Receive unemployment benefits and food stamps
Get an FHA or VA mortgage
Receive medical care at a veterans hospital
Use the federal court system–but only for about 10 days

What you can’t do during the shutdown:
Stop paying taxes–the IRS will continue to process electronically submitted tax returns, but if you’re being audited, you’ll get a temporary reprieve
Get taxpayer assistance from the IRS
Get a small business loan
Go to a national park, zoo, or museum–if you’re already overnighting in a national park, you generally have two days to leave
Get a paycheck, if you’re a federal employee–unless you’re the president, a member of Congress, or in the military; however, in the past workers were paid retroactively after a new appropriations bill was passed
If you need more information, most government agencies have posted their shutdown contingency plans on their websites.

And there’s more to come…

The shutdown is separate and distinct from another looming crisis–the debt ceiling. According to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, it’s anticipated that the United States will run out of funds as soon as October 17, and will default on its debts, unless Congress acts to raise the debt ceiling before then. More on that crisis to follow…

The shutdown is separate and distinct from another looming crisis–the debt ceiling. According to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, it’s anticipated the United States will run out of funds as soon as October 17, and will default on its debts, unless Congress acts to raise the debt ceiling before then.

 

 
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