NEW YORK ( MainStreet)  $1 trillion plusthat's the current
value of outstanding post-secondary student loans and the
benchmark that routinely draws attention whenever it appears.
The College Board today released another look into the cost of
higher education that yielded some new metrics: despite the
relentless increase in student loans, the rate of tuition
increases at universities and colleges has fallen for the second
year in a row.  But so has government aid which can impact the
need to borrowalso for the second year in a row. Students could
be forgiven for thinking that they're just spinning their wheels
when it comes to their finance issues, even if they buy into the
notion that things have improved just because, by some
standards, they haven't gotten worse.  The report, part of the
College Board's 30th annual Trends in Student Aid, along with a
companion report, Trends in College Pricing, concludes that in
an economy that continues to struggle, students and families are
still forced to pay more for