September/October 2004 MARYLAND FARM BUREAU SPOTLIGHT PAGE 21
Handling The Costs Of
A College Education?
A college education is a necessity for anyone hoping to meet the challenges in
our rapidly changing world. Years ago, the majority of employers expected work-
ers to have a high school diploma, today, a college degree is considered a mini-
mum requirement for most well-paying jobs.
As college costs have increased dramatically over the last decade, paying for a
college education has become one of the greatest financial challenges for many
families. In fact, the cost of a four-year education at many private colleges is
approaching the median price of a single-family house in the United States.
Farm Bureau Bank has partnered with a leading national provider of student
loans to offer a variety of education lending services for Farm Bureau Members.
There are products and options available to meet the different needs of parents,
students and consolidation loans.
Parents
If you are a parent of a student looking for financial assistance for college,
Farm Bureau Bank offers the Parent PLUS (Parent Loan for Undergraduate
Student) Loan. The Parent PLUS Loan is a federally guaranteed, variable rate,
10-year loan that covers the entire cost of your child's undergraduate education,
less financial aid. This loan provides an alternative solution to other lending
options. Since PLUS is not based on financial need, income or assets, your child
can get a quality education without your having to take a home equity line of
credit or obtain high APR private loans.
Students
If you are a student looking for college loans, Farm Bureau Bank's Student
Stafford Loan is a great option. The Stafford Loan is the most accessible form of
student aid available to full or half time undergraduate and graduate students,
regardless of financial need. The Stafford Loan requires no credit check, is fed-
erally guaranteed, has low variable interest rates never to exceed 8.25 percent,
has a flexible 10-year repayment term, no-penalty early payoff, a six-month post-
graduation grace period and deferment options.
Consolidation Loans
Farm Bureau Bank also offers the Federal Consolidation Loan which is a fed-
erally guaranteed loan that allows parents and graduates to consolidate existing
college loans into a single loan, reduce monthly payments, choose a flexible
repayment term and lock in today's interest rates for the rest of their repayment.
The Federal Consolidation Loan allows you to extend repayment terms, pay your
loan off early with no-penalties.
If you are or will be in need of assistance in financing college, visit Farm
Bureau Bank's website at www.farmbureaubank.com to find out more informa-
tion about any of the loan options. Use the online calculator to estimate your
monthly repayment costs, download a brochure that explains the financial aid
process in detail or apply online.
Video farm game gains popularity
John Deere American Farmer, a video game, has sparked renewed interest in
farming techniques. The game, which involves making financial and commodi-
ty-based decisions to return a profit, hit Amazon.com's top 10 best-seller list for
software within only a few weeks of its release.
Paul Rinde, chief executive of Destineer Publishing, which produces the game,
said, "There's a huge audience in America that's involved with agriculture, and
there's a huge audience for simulations. So we just kind of put two and two
together. Nobody's done a really good farming simulation."