Public Safety

The mad dash to cobble together college funding will soon be under way.
In the weeks ahead, colleges will begin mailing out their much-anticipated acceptance letters and financial aid packages. The notices will alleviate pent up anxiety and finally give high school seniors a clearer idea of what their futures will hold.
But amid all the emotions, students and families will also need to start sorting out how they’ll pay for tuition. The average bill now comes in at more than $17,000 to attend an in-state public college.
The problem is that navigating the universe of financial aid can be confusing. That’s because there’s a vast patchwork of grants, scholarships and loans available. But a failure to compare the options and explore the alternatives could mean the difference in thousands of dollars in debt upon graduation.
Adding to that confusion is a spate of headlines in recent weeks regarding changes in financial aid. To help navigate this process, here’s a look at what’s behind the recent changes.
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Comparing costs » As part of his broad plans to make higher education more affordable, President Barack Obama recently said he wants to make it easier for families to estimate the cost of college.
As it stands, there isn’t a uniform template for financial aid award letters, and officials say the forms can be difficult to decipher, even misleading. For example, schools usually provide a total “out of pocket” cost after subtracting aid such as grants and scholarships. But some schools also subtract loans from that figure, even though loans have to be repaid and actually push up costs because of interest charges.
In other cases, interest rates and other loan terms are not spelled out. Officials say this could lead to students taking on more debt than they realize.
To address the issue, the Department of Education and the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced in October that they are developing a model financial aid form. There aren’t any plans yet to make the form mandatory. But once a template is finalized, Congress could vote to require colleges to use it to maintain access to federal aid. The adoption of such a form has also been widely supported by student advocates.
Separately, Obama is pushing for a “college scorecard” that would require schools to disclose their graduation rates, rate of employment and debt repayment among graduates.
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Interest rates » Taking out a student loan to attend college has become the norm, with two-thirds of graduates leaving campus in debt. But not all loans are alike. So it might have caught your attention last month when Obama said in his State of the Union address that the fixed interest rates on student loans are set to double in July if Congress fails to act.
Before you panic, keep in mind that there are primarily two types of federal student loans: subsidized and unsubsidized. The difference is that the government doesn’t start charging interest on subsidized loans until the student graduates. With unsubsidized loans, interest starts accruing right away.
The loans also come with different interest rates. Unsubsidized loans currently charge a fixed rate of 6.8 percent. The interest rate on subsidized loans was gradually lowered to its current fixed rate of 3.4 percent over the past few years. But the law that temporarily reduced the rate sunsets in July.
So unless Congress extends the reduction, the rate on subsidized loans will snap back to 6.8 percent.
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Halt Medical, Inc. Closes on First $20 Million of a $50 Million Financing

LIVERMORE, Calif., Feb. 11, 2012 /PRNewswire/ – Halt Medical, Inc. announced today that it has closed on the first $20 million of a planned $50 million debt and equity financing.
“Leading the financing with the first $20 million is our long term investment partner American Capital Strategies (ACAS).  American Capital’s financial resources, global perspective and life science expertise has made them the perfect financing partner for Halt Medical.  Following the lead of American Capital, other investors are climbing on board.  We will be closing on another $10 million this quarter with the option for an additional $20 million,” said Jeff Cohen, Halt Medical CEO.
Cohen added, “With fibroid approvals in Canada and Europe and expected soon in the U.S., it’s time to focus our attention on building out our commercial organization.  $50 million in fresh capital will enable us to launch the Halt Global Fibroid Ablation (GFA) System in major markets around the world.”
Russ DeLonzor, President & COO added, “While many competitive products targeting uterine fibroids have been rejected by the medical community and regulators, we are seeing an overwhelming interest in Halt Medical’s GFA product. This round of fundraising will be put to immediate use in building up the infrastructure required for us to meet one of the biggest unmet needs in women’s health worldwide.”
About Halt Medical, Inc.
Founded in 2004, Halt Medical is a medical device company focused on women’s health. The company has developed a procedure and related equipment for treating uterine fibroids that is less expensive, more effective and less invasive than other alternatives – the Halt GFA System.  In June 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the Halt 2000GI™ Electrosurgical System for soft tissue ablation using radiofrequency energy.  The results of Halt Medical’s international studies have led to recent approvals for treating uterine fibroids in Canada and the European Union. The Halt System may be used for general surgical use in the U.S. The company recently completed a 137 patient IDE clinical trial at 11 sites in 3 countries to demonstrate clinical safety and efficacy in the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids.  FDA clearance is expected this year.  The Company is located in Livermore, CA.
Information about the Halt Fibroid Study and a list of clinical sites in the U.S. may be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov, study number NCT00874029.
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