According to information found on the website philanthropy.com   , America’s top 50 donors gave a total of $10.4-billion in 2011, which was noticably more than the 3.3 billion donated in 2010.   29 people donated  50 million or more including the bequest of   Margaret A. Cargill of  6 billion, and the bequest of   William S. Dietrich II  of  500 million.

I always say that you never know what may happen in your future, and I just love the story of how during  2004 Mr. Robert L . Tidwell told a childrens  hospital  he wanted to donate a computer. He was offered a tour of the facility by members of  the hospital foundation, and then last year when he died it was discoverd that he had left $30 million to the  foundation.

Show your support for the StudentLoanList ! Donations are always welcome to help with the operating expenses. It’s simple to donate – just click on the DONATE button. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated. While our operating expenses are minimal, they do add up over time. Thank you!

You probably know someone that has a student loan. Maybe it is you.  I have recently met some wonderful young people who are carrying the burden of student loan debt. Every student has a different story that tells about how he/she ended up borrowing for college costs. Here are the profiles of some of the  people that I have had a chance to talk to.  While the stories are true, the names have been changed to keep their identities protected.

Mitzi is a brilliant student who excelled  in math and science at her small town high school. Her parents are self employed and did not attend college. Mitzi chose to attend a large university in a city within her state, but far enough away that she couldn’t commute. Her student loan helped with her tuition and made it possible to  pay for housing in the dormitory on campus.

Tom had a good paying job as a welder at a busy factory. He was a hard worker but wanted to do something different. He began attending classes at night and on weekends, and took some on line classes.  After several years of working and studying he was able to complete the requirements for a degree in business. He is now employed as a manager at another location, but is struggling to make ends meet as he begins making his student loan payments, rent and a car payment.

Karen was in a marriage that was not healthy for her or her three young  children. She decided to pursue career training as part of her exit plan. Her controlling husband got very upset that she was attending school and Karen and the children ended up moving out of the family home and into a shelter. Karen rides the bus to and from  cosmotology school every day and her children now ride a school bus to and from school. Student loans made it possible for Karen to remain in school and pay her tuition.

While these three people are all very different and have  different reasons for atttending college and taking out student loans, what they do have in common is massive debt. As children, they did not intend to grow up and be in debt. They just wanted to grow up and have a career. They were not able to get the money they needed from their parents, but they were able to borrow from Uncle Sam.  But he is not a patient guy, and not very forgiving if debts are not repaid as agreed.

I hope that the StudentLoanList website will bring some relief to people like Tom,Mitzi and Karen. They deserve it.

Show your support for the StudentLoanList ! Donations are always welcome to help with the operating expenses. It’s simple to donate – just click on the DONATE button. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated. While our operating expenses are minimal, they do add up over time. Thank you!

Have you ever wondered what the price difference is between public and private colleges ? You are probably aware that public colleges are the less expensive option, but here are the exact figures from an article  on the collegeboard.com website.  Average costs for tution and fees at  public 4 year college:  $8244 per year  and    private 4 year college:   $28,500 per year.  For four years of college that  comes out to $32,976  vs.   $114,000.  To read the complete article from collegeboard.com  click here

Show your support for the StudentLoanList ! Donations are always welcome to help with the operating expenses. It’s simple to donate – just click on the DONATE button. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated. While our operating expenses are minimal, they do add up over time. Thank you!

In November I stopped by the campus of Los Angeles Pierce College, and  just  loved the name of the coffee shop “The Freudian Sip” .  This was the first school that I attended (a long time ago) and I was so excited to be enrolled in college!   Back then tuition was very inexpensive and students didnt need loans to make it through a semester

Show your support for the StudentLoanList ! Donations are always welcome to help with the operating expenses. It’s simple to donate – just click on the DONATE button. Any and all donations are greatly appreciated. While our operating expenses are minimal, they do add up over time. Thank you!

On our twitter feed today we got a link from the Huffington Post to an unusual article about the “top 11 schools for hippis” . Although the article was rather brief, and the method of determining the selections was not revealed, it was interesting to review their list.

Do you follow us on twitter ? follow us @studentloanlist

Have you ever wondered how much you will really spend? How long will you be paying on your student loan ?  Several factors will need to be considered to find your answers. What is the amount of your  initial debt? Your interest rate? Your monthly payment and the number of years that you will be paying will also matter. The longer you pay the more you will pay due to the additional interest. The sooner you can pay off your loan the better!

If you want to find out how much you will have to pay each month on your student loan debt try using the easy to use loan calculator at the website  http://www.finaid.org

As we approach the end of our first full month on line, we would  again like to say “welcome” to the students and graduates that have signed up on the StudentLoanList.  We have had page views from all across the United States as well as Canada, Germany, United Kingdom, India, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Russia and Thailand.  We have been active on twitter and also have made posts on our Facebook page.

Our advertising thus far has been directed at students, and as the list grows we will be advertising for donors. The more listings we have from one area or from one school increases the likelihood of target marketing in that area.

We ask that you help the StudentLoanList grow to become a website that will truly be  useful to you. Please spread the word about the StudentLoanList by telling your friends !  Follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook !