In a new blog post , the CFPB promotes its online financial aid resources to students who are now in the process of choosing which school to attend this fall. 

The blog post directs students to a just-launched “crisp new version of our Paying for College tool kit,” stating that “[m]aking apples-to-apples comparison of your financial aid offers has never been easier.”  The CFPB indicates that the kit incorporates “a more user-friendly design” and that the CFPB has also reintroduced “the GI Bill calculator, which gives servicemembers the ability to calculate the benefits available to them through the GI Bill and tuition assistance programs.”

The blog post also touts the CFPB’s continued piloting of  its “Financial Aid Shopping Sheet,” stating that the sheet will be sent to prospective students this fall by the “more than 2,000 schools” that have adopted the sheet.  The CFPB also includes a link to the Q&As about student loans that are part of the “ask cfpb” feature on the CFPB’s website.  

In a related blog post, Rohit Chopra, the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman, indicates that the “Paying for College tool kit” reflects expected increases this fall in new federal student loan interest rates.  His blog post includes current and estimated new rates on direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans for undergraduate students, direct unsubsidized loans for graduate/professional students, and direct PLUS loans for parents and graduate/professional students, and shows the effect of the higher rates on monthly payments.