With gas prices climbing, home sales dropping and the cost of education rising, the media has delivered some good news for those with student loans and a heart for public service.
For those working in certain fields, law being one, the College Cost Reduction and Access Act makes public service more attractive. The act ensures that the Federal government will forgive the balance of Federal Direct Loans when the borrower: 1) makes 120 payments on the loan following October 2007 and 2) works in public service continuously during the 120 payments (10 years).
To my surprise, several columns and blogs have covered this Act and the benefits it could provide. Some financial news reports have even provided details on how the Act would affect individuals.
This type of reporting warms my heart, because it does more than give readers information on who, what, where, why, when and how. If a reader can get clear information on the personal affect and importance of a news article or story, then the reporter has done a thorough job.
After reading about the Act, I personally wanted to know which public service jobs counted. After a 10-minute Google search, the most clear explanation came from a blog.
While government sponsored websites gave a great deal of information, the articles, columns and blogs I found were much clearer. That proved to me that civic journalism lives and the media can find better ways to report good news.
4 years ago
