This year, the Economic Hardship Deferment program has new eligibility rules that allow more students to qualify for the program. To find out if you are eligible, you can use the Economic Hardship Deferment calculator or refer to a coversheet that outlines the requirements and documents you will need to provide when applying for deferment.

The Ramen Report is a blog sponsored by Total Higher Education, a non-profit student loan company. Our blog debuted on National Noodle Day (10/6/06).

As a non-profit lender, our mission is simple: lower the cost of financing a higher education. Along with lending money, we also educate students about money management, loans and lenders, budgeting and how to maintain good credit. The aim of our blog is to educate/empower students to make choices for themselves.

So, why ramen?

Well, we all know that ramen is the inexpensive meal of choice for financially-savvy students, and we thought it nicely personified our goals for this blog: quick, easy and filling.

• Quick: You don’t have a lot of free time to research student financing options and news. We’ll give you the highlights as quickly as we can.


• Easy: You’re online anyway, so why not swing by when you get a chance and learn a few things that could help you for the rest of your life (no joke).


• Filling: Let’s be honest, student loan info can be confusing. And not knowing what you need to know can leave you feeling, well, unsatisfied. We’ll do our best to fill you up with the latest news, commentary, tips, links and, best of all, input from your fellow students. You can talk to the experts here, but also connect with other students who have the same questions and experiences you do.

(This blog is not dedicated to ramen news, research, recipes or investigative reporting about those mysterious flavor packets. We regret any misunderstanding.)