SoFi Blog

Tips and news—
for your financial moves.

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Benefits of Applying to College Early Action

You know which schools you want to apply to. You’re happy with your grades and extracurricular activities. It’s still the first semester of senior year, but you’re revved up and ready to start the college application process.

Good news: There is a deadline for people like you. It’s the early action college application deadline.

The early action deadline is fast approaching. If your top school options are early action colleges , you might be wondering if you should jump on the early action train or wait until spring semester.

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Whole Life vs. Term: Buying Term and Investing the Difference Part I

It’s easy to put off planning for the future, especially when that includes planning for the worst. When getting engaged, the first thought is likely to pop a bottle of champagne and celebrate, not pull out the prenup contracts.

When life’s most exciting moments happen, your top of mind priority probably isn’t life insurance. But major milestones like the birth of a child, marriage, or homeownership might be a good time to reflect on your circumstances and think about life insurance.

Life insurance can get pretty complicated—one of SoFi’s recent surveys found that even among members surveyed who have shopped for life insurance, roughly a third of people debate whether whole life insurance or term life insurance is more appropriate for them.

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Where to Travel in Octoberon

Let us tell you a little secret. Summer isn’t always the best time to take a vacation.

You’re shocked, I’m sure, but it’s true. Summer may appear to be an ideal time to set off on the adventure of a lifetime, however, the true star of the vacation show is actually the fall.

October is truly an ideal time to get away for a few days from work, stress, and your everyday life to experience something new. What makes this month so special? First off, the weather is nearly ideal in locations all around the globe. Secondly, places are less crowded as everyone else spent all their vacation days in the summer.

And, here’s another bonus: Places may actually be cheaper to visit in October because it’s the end of their high tourist season. You may even be able to score cheaper flights thanks to low supply and demand too. (That means you could spend a little less time squirreling money away in your travel fund.)

So, if you can, hold off just a little bit longer and plan your group, family, romantic, or solo travels for the month of October. But, just where should you go for the fall vacation of your dreams? Here are seven destinations where you could potentially travel to this October.

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What to Know Before Taking the GRE Exam

Taking a standardized test can feel like an anxiety-inducing task that you’d really rather skip, but if you plan on applying for graduate school you might have to buckle down and take the GRE. Scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) are a part of many graduate school applications.

The GRE is administered by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), which is responsible for the behind-the-scenes creation and scoring of around 50 million tests in more than 180 countries.

Prepping for the GRE can feel like a daunting task, but breaking it down into steps can make the process of taking the GRE less intimidating. While this information is subject to change, here are some tips about how to take the GRE today.

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Where the 2020 Presidential Candidates Actually Stand on Student Debt

In our efforts to bring you the latest updates on things that might impact your financial life, we may occasionally enter the political fray, covering candidates, bills, laws and more. Please note: SoFi does not endorse or take official positions on any candidates and the bills they may be sponsoring or proposing. We may occasionally support legislation that we believe would be beneficial to our members, and will make sure to call it out when we do. Our reporting otherwise is for informational purposes only, and shouldn’t be construed as an endorsement.



Editor’s note: This post was updated January 2020 to reflect current candidates.

You’d probably be hard-pressed to find a high-profile politician, these days, who’d disagree that a student debt crisis exists in the United States—or that the problem is still growing.

Some 43 million borrowers owe more than $1.5 trillion in federal government loans, according to numbers from the U.S. Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid. That’s more than $33,000 per borrower on average.

And in the first quarter of 2019, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports 10.9% of aggregate student debt was 90-plus days delinquent or in default.

Finding solutions? That’s where the debate comes in.

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