The civil action suit was originally filed back in May 2008, but the website Wikileaks recently posted the lawsuit before it was unsealed by the District court in Omaha, Nebraska.

The suit says that Nelnet payed telemarketers to sell gvernment student loan products and used false advertising to boost the number of applications it received. These inducements were illegal and Nelnet then presented these false claims to the U.S. Department of Education to receive funding.

Citi and JPMorgan are included in the suit because they allegedly “ratified and/or authorized the wrongful acts of Nelnet and have benefitted from such conduct.” The lawsuit seeks damages in the amount of $5,500 to $11,000 for each loan application Netnet presented to the government between 2004 and 2007, though the total number of loans involved is not clear.

Both JPMorgan and Citigroup had previously lent Nelnet $500 million to help the company pay for its legal issues.

According to the most recent Census Bureau figures, median earnings for people with a college degree are $47,000 a year. Contrast that with people who have only graduated high school who earn a median figure of $27,000 a year. Those who have some college education but not a degree fall in the middle with a median income of $33,000.

Over the course of a 40 year career, the difference between going to college and not going to college is a whopping $800,000, not taking into account inflation. Moreover, studies show that the income gap between the college educated and the non-college educated is only growing larger every year.

One of the better-known studies on college over the last decade is a paper by Stacy Berg Dale and Alan Krueger which found that it was more important to go to college than which college you happened to attend. So if your child doesn’t make it into Harvard, don’t despair. Just make sure you have the money available to send him or her somewhere to get a college education.

There have been numerous lists of good cars for college students, but one of the most thorough I have found was published by Smart Money Magazine last year. The criteria was the car must be low cost (under $18,000 MSRP), safe, and at least reasonably cool. While the list might be a tad old, the list of cars is still on the mark.

The Mazda 3, with an MSRP of less than $15,000 ranked as the best value. The car got high marks for features and great handling.

The safest car on the list was the Subaru Impreza which offers all-wheel drive and front, side, and rear airbags. It’s also one of the heaviest small cars which might not be great for gas mileage, but does make it a safe ride.

The Ford Focus ranked highest in fuel economy while the Honda Fit was tops in reliability. And if your kid is holding out for a flashy car, the coolest on Smart Money’s list was the Volkswagen Rabbit.

The savings to you for not having to buy a car may be obvious, but your child can end up saving money as well. The first consideration is car insurance. Young drivers are among the most expensive groups to insure. Whether you or your kid will be paying the insurance, it will likely be $100 or more per month.

The high cost of gas is another consideration. With the stop-and-go driving of college campuses, even fuel efficient cars can rack up high gas bills. Add on the cost of parking passes or meters and you’re looking at another $100 per month in expenses.

These days most college campuses have excellent shuttle systems that can take your child around the school easily. So think about all the money both you and your child will be saving before agreeing to a campus automobile.

Many of the people who lost their jobs when Woolworths went down are still having trouble finding alternative work four months down the line. Debt advice agencies are filled with people who feel themselves to be under an enormous strain because they have no idea how they are going to pay back the money that they owe when they have no job. Add to that the prospect of paying for children’s college educations and the stress just mounts.

When you have money coming in every week or month then it is all too easy to fall into a pattern of spend, spend, spend and when you run out of cash then you just start in on the credit cards. While things are ticking along nicely and you are still working then the debt is not a problem, but if your fortunes are suddenly reversed then you could find it a lot harder to pay back what you owe. Debt agencies, doctors and even Government ministers are well aware of the stress that is caused when people are in debt and have no way of meeting their financial obligations.

Money worries can ruin your life and some people take their debt so seriously that they can’t see any way out; unable to cope with any more stress they may try to kill themselves and even their families. Although it is extremely stressful if you have unmanageable levels of stress; it is not the end of the world. There are ways through the morass of debt that people get themselves into when they overspend on credit cards, are shopaholics or have a gambling problem, it is still possible to pay off what you owe and come out the other side.

If you are suffering from stress because you have a number of creditors then the first thing that you should do is to seek professional advice. The Citizen’s Advice Bureau is a voluntary agency that counsels people who are in debt and tries to help them manage their money and pay off their creditors. If you have a good counselor then they may even speak to your creditors on your behalf to see if they can’t arrange a voluntary agreement between you and your creditors where you have a period where the interest rate is cut to give you a chance to catch up on what you owe.

If you have a debt problem that is causing you stress then the sooner you seek help the better, debt is not worth losing your life over.

This would also help you when you have unsecured debts with high interest rates, such as outstanding medical bills, credit card debts, unpaid utility bills and departmental store cards. If your unsecured debts and student loans are hindering you from accomplishing financial independence, then student loan consolidation services may be the solution that you are searching for. You can easily consolidate your unsecured debts and college education loans as one single loan and you can enjoy a reduced monthly payment with minimized interest rates and late fees.

A large number of companies offer free and no obligation online student loan consolidation quotes. You can even save a considerable amount of money through consolidating your unsecured debts and student loans.

Following are some of the advantages offered by student loan consolidation:

• A repayment plan is arranged according to your affordability.
• You can get one monthly statement rather than many.
• You can become eligible for a student loan consolidation program in spite of the fact that your college education loans are at default.
• The debt management counselors working under these consolidation companies ensure efficient handling of your debts and suitable management of your accounts.
• You can qualify even if you are a school student.
• You can utilize student loan consolidation even though you have only one credit card debt or one loan.
• It is really advantageous for you since you can consolidate your Private, Direct, Federal and/or Medical Student Loans into a single loan irrespective of the number of debts you are paying off.

You can sign up for a student loan consolidation program even if you do not have any student loan. This program can reduce your debt burden to the extent of 70% and help you save a significant amount of money. You can also avail training from the counselors about how to avoid falling into debt in the future and how to suitably handle your finances.