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FAP869: College costs, usury, Stafford loan caps Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + A number of articles from around the web including this one from the Baltimore Sun ask if college is being priced out of affordability, especially in an economic downturn + Yes, it is. Plain and simple, college is getting out of reach, especially with a lack of availability for some private student loans for students and parents with less than perfect credit + What should we do about this? Instead of making expensive colleges more affordable, create more affordable colleges. College pricing is an issue of supply and demand. There are two fundamental ways to move prices downwards. Reduce demand or increase supply. If everyone wants corn, and only a few people sell it, they can charge whatever they want. If a few people want corn and everyone sells it, you d be hard pressed to make a profit. + The long term answer is to create more educational opportunities. More community colleges, more public schools, more for-profit institutions with sustainable revenue models, but more education in general. If you can create more of the most affordable kinds of education, it will bring down prices across the board. + As boring as it might sound, I would encourage every college student - heck, everyone in general - to read Economics for Dummies to get a clearer understanding of market forces, and why the free market works when you let it. Right now, we re trying to game the free market by using taxpayer dollars and Wall Street investments to reduce a price without changing supply or demand, which does not work. Any time you have a third party subsidizing the cost of a good, the cost of the good goes up because the producers have no incentive to set pricing according to what the market will bear. Scholarship Update + Cappex $1,000 Fashion Design Scholarship + To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the Tell Us More box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck! + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + Dallas writes in on episode 854: is the amount $5,500 in Stafford loans for 1 or 3 years? + 1 year - that s the first year student Stafford loan cap + JJ Writes in on some commentary from February: + Where (on the web) can I go to see how the legislators voted? + Without forgiveness of student loan debt, have the legislators created a debtors prison for those who cannot repay? (At least, then, there would be an end in sight.) + How many college graduates have moved out of this country to avoid loan payments? + Who regulates the usury the loan companies charge? + You can always check legislative action on the Library of Congress. + We don t know on the third question + Usury laws are governed on a state by state basis. Each state sets the legal definition of usury. No student loans of any kind currently fit the definition of usury as set in any of the states + Banks are exempted due to legislation from the 1980s. They re indexed to commercial market rates. + If a lender charges above the lawful interest rate, a court will not allow the lender to sue to recover the debt because the interest rate was illegal anyway. In some states (such as New York) such loans are voided ab-initio. Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP868: Ole Miss Student Loans, TED Spread, FAFSA Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + NASFAA/Clarion Ledger: As thousands of college students in Mississippi return for the fall semester, hundreds may be without student loan funds, The Clarion-Ledger reports. In recent weeks, Edamerica has been notifying students and colleges of their intention to delay releasing college loan funds as it awaits money from the federal government. We have about 200 students who have Edamerica listed as their lender, said David Williamson, assistant director of financial aid at the University of Southern Mississippi. If the funding is not here on time, it will affect their housing, financial aid, registration and classes as well. Between 100 and 200 students at the University of Mississippi also may be affected, said Dewey Knight, assistant director of financial aid at the university. + NASFAA/NHUL: Although students entering or returning to college this year face higher costs and fewer loan options, federally guaranteed students loans are still available in New Hampshire, and their limits have increased, the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. NHHELCO is part of the Concord-based New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation (NHHEAF) network. Over the past decade, NHHELCO has issued $1.5 billion in bonds to underwrite student loans in the state through the auction rates securities market which froze in February. A coalition of New Hampshire banks and credit unions stepped forward to provide $94 million in funds for the guaranteed loans, Drouin said. NHHELCO has signed an agreement with the federal Department of Education under the new law, he said. + This is an interesting strategy for getting bridge funding for the Department of Education s lending program + Bloomberg: TED spread widening. In a replay of the last four months of 2007, interest-rate derivatives imply that banks are becoming more hesitant to lend on speculation credit losses will increase as the global economic slowdown deepens. Banks are charging each other a premium of 77 basis points over what traders predict the Federal Reserve s daily effective federal funds rate will average over the next three months to lend cash. The spread is up from about 24 basis points in January, and may widen to 85 basis points, or 0.85 percentage point, by mid-December, prices in the forwards market show. + What does this mean for you? Student loans, which have been affected by the broader market issues, may remain difficult to obtain with poor credit into the fall and winter, which could put a pinch on lending for the spring semester. Make sure you file your FAFSA. Apply for scholarships with the assumption that some student loans will simply remain unavailable. Scholarship Update + ASEE SMART Scholarship + In general, stipends range between $25,000 and $41,000 per year, depending on academic status at the time of the award. Participants funded for less than a full academic year will receive stipends on a pro-rated basis. Further information regarding federal employee salary levels may be found at: www.OPM.gov. + Requirements + a U.S. citizen, + 18 years of age or older as of August 1, 2009, + able to participate in summer internships at DoD laboratories, + willing to accept post-graduate employment with the DoD, + a student in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (as calculated by the SMART application) and, + pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in one of the disciplines listed on the About SMART page. + Deadline December 15, 2008 + Details at our free college scholarship search site Financial Aid 101 + A popular question, oddly enough: Hi im am 22 yrs old and I am currently married. I will be getting divorced soon and want to know if this will revert my status to dependent because i am not yet 24. + FAFSA status is always based on the day you file - if you file while married, you are married. If you file while divorced, you re divorced. + This is true for a lot of things on the FAFSA - questions about assets like cash in checking or savings accounts, investments, insurance, etc. are all based on your status on the day you file + This means that strategically, you want to file your FAFSA at the most opportune time - for example, if you re paying rent, you want to file AFTER you pay rent, so that there s much less cash in your checking account + Get all of your planned spending out of the way - textbooks, etc. - so that you have as little money as possible while still being sustainable Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

With the increasing presure of the credit crunch and debt problems in the UK, more and more people are going homeless

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FAP867: First Marblehead, Bloomberg, Free Stuff, Becca Loebe Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Quick note that next Friday will be the last daily show, then we move to weekly + NASFAA: First Marblehead Corp., (ticker: FMD) which packages student loans for sale to investors, said Thursday the volume of loans it had available for that activity dropped 66 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter, the Associated Press reports. The troubles have sent First Marblehead s shares plunging from around $40 last fall. In April an organization called The Education Resources Institute, or TERI, which provided guarantees to bond investors for billions in private student loans, filed for bankruptcy protection - a move that shifted credit risk back to First Marblehead. + An interview snippet with David Goldman, an investor and former portfolio strategist at Asteri Capital, on the Bloomberg podcast warrants listening to - here s 30 seconds of a great 16 minute interview + Of all my fellow financial podcasts out there, Bloomberg s On the Economy is one of the best and my personal favorite + The lesson from all of this market chaos is clear - cut spending, conserve cash, stay in insured forms of saving, whether you re a company or a college student Scholarship Update + The Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Program awards one $1,500 scholarship each year. This year s winner will be announced on July 1, 2009. To be eligible to enter the Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Program, you must adhere to the following characteristics: + attend classes at an accredited four-year college or university in the U.S. + take a minimum of 12 semester units (you must be a full-time student) + be a legal resident of the U.S. or provide a valid green card + maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.5 + The deadline for Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Contest entries is 12:00 p.m. (noon) PST on June 1, 2009. + No late entries will be accepted! + Regrettably, no scholarship or essay contest questions can be answered by phone. Scholarship Guidelines: You must write a minimum of 1,500 words in reference to this topic: + What s the future of audio CDs? + Details at our free college scholarship search site Free Stuff Friday + Free puppy training kit and DVD + Recycled Post-Its + New free song from Coldplay + Free chicken sandwich at McDonald s + Irony is having a Gold s Gym free 7 day trial next to McDonald s + Subdownloader grabs subtitles for your movies + Autopager eliminates those stupid page things Free Song of the Week + Rebecca Loebe, Homeless + Still lots of opportunity to help 3 years after Katrina Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP866: Earning beer money, student credit cards Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + NASFAA: Congress and the Bush administration have struggled this year to find the right type and amount of federal subsidy that will ensure that students have access to fairly priced government-backed loans, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service suggests they may be attempting a nearly impossible task. The report by the research service, a federal agency that does policy analysis for lawmakers from both parties, asserts that the government s system of distributing money through private lenders is chronically handicapped by wide variations among participating lenders and their cost structures. The Congressional Research Service report could embolden calls expected next year in Congress to overhaul the student-loan system. + NASFAA: The immediate gratification of using plastic to buy an iMac, tickets to a Coldplay concert and nights of bar hopping has a way of coming back to haunt college students after graduation, The Wall Street Journal reports. Despite their lack of a credit history and sizable student loans, most college students can get their hands on credit cards with as much ease as a swipe. And they re often lured into doing so with awards like free T-shirts. Along with the freebies, however, come some not-so-pleasant surprises: high interest rates and a range of fees and penalties. To graduate with honors in credit-card management, here s what students need to know. + Many graduates know this all too well. More than three-quarters of undergraduates hold credit cards, according to student-loan provider Nellie Mae. Their average debt load: $2,169. That amount is nothing compared to the 10% of students who graduate with more than $10,000 in credit-card debt, according to a 2008 survey commissioned by credit bureau TransUnion s credit-management Web site TrueCredit.com and conducted by market-research company Zogby International. + Check out our credit card education materials at StudentPlatinum.com + Disclosure: yeah, it s a credit card site! Scholarship Update + Nassiri Design Your Symbol for Peace Poster + As a visionary, activist, advocate and artist, Nassiri has been recognized locally, regionally, nationally and internationally for his work spreading the message of peace. Now he s calling on you to design your own original symbol for peace and incorporate it into a poster along with Nassiri s Love Sees No Color logo and the World Peace logo. Your poster should reflect Nassiri s passion to create awareness and spread the message of peace and harmony to the world through the power of positive music. Nassiri will select the winning designs. The top winner and one guest will receive an all expense paid trip for three days and two nights to Las Vegas, Nevada, plus $1,000 spending money. The winner will be given a personal tour at Nassiri s Las Vegas studio. The winning poster will be printed and sold on www.nassiri.com with the proceeds going to charity. Be a part of keeping culture alive in today s world and spread the message of peace. Deadline is October 13, 2008. + No purchase necessary. Contest is open to members of Brickfish.com who are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, 13 years or older, at the time of entry and have completed account registration prior to the end of the contest. Account registration is complete once activated via email. If Grand Prize winner is under 18 they must be accompanied by an adult. + Details at our free college scholarship search site Jobcast + More on affiliate programs + I recently started with Shareasale + I put up a Shareasale store for checks online as a test + Disclosure: paid links + So you get signed in, find companies whose stuff you want to market + Key metrics - 7 day EPC and 30 day EPC + It s all in how you market and what you market + Pick products you use anyway - look for brands that you already support + Three forms of payable action - pay per sale, pay per lead, pay per click + PPS pays the most typically but PPC is the easiest + Present the products as sponsors of your web site, education, etc. - make it relevant + Expect to earn very little unless you have a very busy web site or social network profile + This is beer money, not tuition money, at least at first + Sign up for a bunch of programs so that when situations involving a variety of products occur, you have something available Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. 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FAP865: Student Loan Interview on WERS Listen now: Expert Interview + Today I m interviewed by Sonia Saini from WERS (Emerson College Radio, WERS 88.9 FM) about the credit crunch and student loans + Hear the full interview on You Are Here, Sunday morning at 7 AM on WERS Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP864: Beloit College Mindset List, FMD, EFP Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Yesterday we released the Cheap College Textbooks free eBook + Marketwatch: Student lender First Marblehead Corp. (ticker: FMD) said Goldman Sachs (ticker: GS) completed a $132.7 million cash investment in the company as co-founder Daniel Meyers will return to lead the firm. + Meanwhile, Chief Executive Jack L. Kopnisky will resign effective Aug. 31, with Meyers returning to the company to lead it through this challenging operating environment. Meyers, who will also serve as president, co-founded the company in 1991 and served as CEO until 2005. His annual base pay will be $1, although he will get $1 million and stock options if certain targets are met. + Private student loan lender Education Finance Partners has also ceased operations, the 129th student loan company to exit lending + As always, if you need student loans, please hit up StudentLoanNetwork.com + The Beloit College Mindset List is out! The class of 2012 has grown up in an era where computers and rapid communication are the norm, and colleges no longer trumpet the fact that residence halls are “wired” and equipped with the latest hardware. These students will hardly recognize the availability of telephones in their rooms since they have seldom utilized landlines during their adolescence. They will continue to live on their cell phones and communicate via texting. Roommates, few of whom have ever shared a bedroom, have already checked out each other on Facebook where they have shared their most personal thoughts with the whole world. + For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead. + Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle. + Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino. + Films have never been X rated, only NC-17. + IBM has never made typewriters. + McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries. + The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST. + Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S. + Soft drink refills have always been free. + Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court. Scholarship Update + Cappex $2,000 Design Scholarship + Cappex.com is awarding a $2,000 Design scholarship, and we want you to have a shot at it. This scholarship opportunity will be available at any college or university. All you need is a Cappex profile. The Design scholarship will be given to students with well-rounded profiles, so don t hold back on the details. To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the Tell Us More box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck! + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + There is none! But there s a ton of stuff in the Twitter stream. + Remember this tip from former MIT director of financial aid Yvonne Gittens - make photocopies or scans of all your vital financial-aid related paperwork and have a copy securely stored on campus, so that if the financial aid office needs backup documentation, you have everything + Your chances of being selected for FAFSA verification are about 30%. Some schools do 100% verification. + Be careful what you publish online. + ENORMOUS FINANCIAL AID FATTY REFUND CHECK PARADISE!!!!!!!!! + Just got my financial aid money. Hello 46 LCD HDTV! Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. Related articles by Zemanta Sneak Preview: How To Find Cheap College Textbooks ShareThis

FAP863: More options if you run into financial aid trouble Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Bloomberg: Just three days after the Fed approved a loan against Bear Stearns securities, Pennsylvania Democratic Representative Paul Kanjorski and 31 other lawmakers sent Bernanke a letter asking him to open the discount window to nonbank education-loan companies. Bernanke refused. + Scathing commentary in the Wall Street Journal: First, we will set up a single goal to represent educational success, which will take four years to achieve no matter what is being taught. We will attach an economic reward to it that seldom has anything to do with what has been learned. We will urge large numbers of people who do not possess adequate ability to try to achieve the goal, wait until they have spent a lot of time and money, and then deny it to them. We will stigmatize everyone who doesn t meet the goal. We will call the goal a BA. + Outside a handful of majors engineering and some of the sciences a bachelor s degree tells an employer nothing except that the applicant has a certain amount of intellectual ability and perseverance. Even a degree in a vocational major like business administration can mean anything from a solid base of knowledge to four years of barely remembered gut courses. + The solution is not better degrees, but no degrees. Young people entering the job market should have a known, trusted measure of their qualifications they can carry into job interviews. That measure should express what they know, not where they learned it or how long it took them. They need a certification, not a degree. + Here s the reality: Everyone in every occupation starts as an apprentice. Those who are good enough become journeymen. The best become master craftsmen. This is as true of business executives and history professors as of chefs and welders. Getting rid of the BA and replacing it with evidence of competence treating post-secondary education as apprenticeships for everyone is one way to help us to recognize that common bond. Scholarship Update + Blogging for Progress + Deadline October 15, 2008 + Applicable Schools: Any regionally or nationally accredited college, university or vocational school in the United States or abroad + Winners are based on total accumulated points as of December 15, 2008 with points awarded for each blog entry and comment accepted for posting to the website and for each read of a participants blog entries by members and visitors. Participants also have opportunities to earn bonus points towards the scholarship throughout the semester. One first place winner will receive a 1500.00 scholarship towards higher education expenses and up to five runners up will receive gift certificates to help offset the cost of college textbooks. Additional Information: Contest begins September 15, 2008 and runs through December 15, 2008. Users must be registered by October 15, 2008 in order to be eligible for this semester s contest + Details at our free college scholarship search site Financial Aid 101 + Taking a look at the conversation, there are indeed folks not being able to get loans or other financial aid + Here are your options if you face this situation + Ask for a payment plan if you know your aid payments are going to be late + Take out a PLUS loan if you ve been turned down for a private student loan + Take a semester off or reduce your credit load + If your school s financial aid office is swamped - as it may be - you may need to either go up the chain of command, or find an advocate elsewhere in the administration + Most financial aid administrators, such as the director of financial aid, have email addresses and phone numbers - be polite, but be persistent + Enroll at a local community college for a more affordable courseload and knock down some credit hours Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP859: Demystifying federal methodology In today s show, a video from the EASFAA conference on demystifying federal methodology, the decision-making system that the government uses with the FAFSA to determine your eligibility for financial aid. This is a 63 minute video, and fairly in depth, so if the inner working of financial aid are not your thing, you might want to just check out a few minutes. On the other hand, if you love seeing behind the curtain, Clint Hanson s presentation is well worth your time. Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

This week on "Indymedia Presents" we turn to the youth, featuring two videos produced as Reel Grrls projects. In the spirit of "Become the Media," we salute Reel Grrls, whose mission is to "empower young women from diverse communities to realize their power, talent and influence through media production." As they point out, by the time a girl is 16 she will have spent more time watching TV than going to school, but only 3% of Hollywood cinematographers are women, and a woman has NEVER won an Academy Award for Film Directing. The Reel Grrls project puts teenage women in the director's chair and behind the camera, as they learn all aspects of movie making. Several PepperSpray Collective members have been staff or mentors for the Reel Grrls project, so it is with great pride that we devote this entire show to a couple pieces made by the Grrls: first a documentary called "A Generation of Consolidation," by Samantha Muilenburg and Brooke Noel about media consolidation, and then a dramatic piece by Sami Kubo and Camille Kolodz Ejaki, "Thicker Than Water." Reel Grrls http://www.reelgrrls.org Public Access producers, community screeners, and IMCs (Independent Media Centers) are encouraged to screen or air "Indymedia Presents". To obtain the show on a regular basis, please contact us, Pepperspray Productions, at pepperspray@riseup.net. "Indymedia Presents" is a 28 minute weekly cable public access program produced on behalf of the Seattle Independent Media Center (IMC) by PepperSpray Productions. In addition to SCAN Channel 77 in Seattle, "Indymedia Presents" also airs on channels in greater King County (Channel 23), Bainbridge Island (Channel 12), Port Townsend, WA (Channel 97 & 98), Olympia, WA (Channel 22), Vancouver, WA (Channel 11), Portland, OR (Channel 22 and a few others), Tucson, AZ (Channel 73), St Paul, MN (Channel 15), Minneapolis, MN (Channel 17), Fort Wayne, IN (Channel 57), Philadelphia, PA (Channels 54 & 62), Brooklyn, NY (BCAT Channels 34, & 67) and on New York City's Manhattan Neighborhood Network, (Channel 34). Related Free Speech Websites: Independent Media Center http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml Indymedia NewsReal http://www.newsreal.indymedia.org Free Speech TV: http://www.freespeech.org Link TV http://www.linktv.org Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org

FAP858: FAFSA changes for 2009, record FAFSA applications Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + SF Chronicle: Record numbers of college students are lining up for financial aid - and asking for more of it - as the nation s economic woes hit campuses across the country. Nationally, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms during the first half of 2008, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period last year. + What we are seeing is more people filling out requests for financial aid, and for those who do, more people are qualifying and the aggregate need is increasing, said Richard Toomey, associate vice provost at the private Santa Clara University. Students who haven t needed assistance before are coming in. You had to expect that this was going to happen with all the news of companies laying off thousands of people. + While individual campuses are still sorting out the numbers, data from the U.S. Department of Education show that far more students are filling out the federal financial aid forms than in the past. + While four-year schools saw a rise in financial need among students and their families during the dot-com bust of 2000, this time it is worse, financial aid officers say. + Instead of seeing just one parent out of work, more students are coming in with two unemployed parents. And there are many going through foreclosure on their homes. + A brief reminder to complete your FAFSA - it s not too late, though your school may have different regulations, so check with your financial aid officer - and maximize your federal student loans + Chronicle: The Community College of Philadelphia and the city’s mayor have announced a program to help stalled students restart their education by giving them free tuition, fees, and some money toward textbooks, according to The Philadelpia Inquirer. + The city’s mayor, Michael Nutter, wants more residents to finish college. The new program will help those people who have 30 credits or more toward an associate degree but who have been out of college for two years or more to start taking classes again. Scholarship Update + Cappex Computer Career Scholarship + Cappex.com is awarding a $1,000 Computer Career scholarship, and we want you to have a shot at it. This scholarship opportunity will be available at any college or university. All you need is a Cappex profile. The Computer scholarship will be given to students with well-rounded profiles, so don t hold back on the details. + To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the Tell Us More box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck! + Disclosure: paid affiliate link + Details at our free college scholarship search site Financial Aid 101 + 2009-2010 FAFSA change + Excludes the following from specified list of untaxed income: + Welfare payments + Earned Income Credit + Special Fuel Tax Credit + Excluded foreign income + Untaxed Social Security Benefits + Some information on the EITC + A cautionary note about using tax filing services - avoid at all costs the refund anticipation loans such as Rapid Refund, etc. - there s some whammies in there that can eat your entire refund. For example, if you don t qualify for the loan, you get a bank account product instead and still pay high fees. Also, some of these companies also do debt collection enforcement, so if you have an outstanding debt that is registered with one of these companies, they can legally seize your refund. It s buried in the contract you sign when you agree to the refund anticipation loan. Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

This week's episode of The Deal Calendar goes back to school. Mary Kathleen Flynn speaks with Matt Miller about the student loan crisis. The layers of lending has lead to consolidation in the sector. Here are some key dealmaking events this week. On August 12 - The Bronco Drilling-Allis-Chalmers pricing period ends On August 14 - Australian Competition Consumer Commission decision deadline on proposed BHP Billiton's $140 billion-plus indicative offer for Rio Tinto Group On August 14 - HSR expires for proposed $335 million cash deal merger between Convergys-Intervoice deal On August 14 - APP Pharmaceuticals- Fresenius SE HSR expires On August 14 - EU decision deadline on Schlumberger , an oil services company from the Netherlands Antilles, and First Reserve, U.S. private investment funds, purchase of Saxon Energy Services, an oil production equipment company. For more on these stories check out TheDeal.com

The State of Michigan has become a pioneer in how to make IT work better and more economically viable for the State's citizens. The answer focused on consolidating IT into one state agency, and then developing a strategic plan and a enterprise architecture to support the plan. In 2001, the entire IT organization across the State of Michigan merged into the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT), under the direction of Ken Thesis. MDIT's 1,700 employees support 19 other state agencies. These agencies have a combined annual budget of $434 million, 800 business critical applications, 55,000 desktops, and 1,300 telecom locations. The consolidation has helped to reduce the overall IT expenditures in Michigan by 34 percent, almost taking more than $100 million off the state budget. Some of these strategic moves included closing 23 data centers and creating three main data centers, reducing the number of email servers from 700 to 70, and centralizing one petabyte of data storage. Meanwhile, MDIT also addressed errors in programs, such as Food Stamps. In this podcast, Ken Theis, director of MDIT, talks about the agency's overall IT strategy, the components that comprise the enterprise architecture, the initiatives that are bringing smaller and more efficient government to the people of Michigan, and the challenge of managing IT investments.

FAP857: 1,587 free songs, Massachusetts student loans Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + NECN: Treasurer Timothy Cahill said Thursday he would not yield to Gov. Deval Patrick s request to invest $50 million in state pension funds for bonds that would be sold to provide private student loans to cash-strapped college students. + Speaking in his capacity as chairman of the Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, Cahill said making such a direct investment for social reasons and not financial ones would set a bad precedent. + Instead, the treasurer said he would support the Legislature signing a note of credit guaranteeing the state would repay $450 million in bonds so the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority can get the money it needs. The non-profit authority, which serves about 40,000 families annually, hopes to make such a sale within the next two weeks. + Of course, the Student Loan Network has plenty of federal student loans and private student loans in stock + Interesting commentary in the Chronicle - it s the reverse of New York State + Inside Higher Ed: Harvard University’s endowment saw gains of 7 to 9 percent in the last fiscal year to 37 billion, even as many other endowments struggled not to lose money in a tough investment year, The Wall Street Journal reported. Official results haven’t been released, but the newspaper quoted source familiar with the returns who said that a larger than typical use of commodity investments helped the endowment. + Hey, the Olympics start today Scholarship Update + Cappex $1,000 Digital Media Production Scholarship + Cappex.com is awarding a $1,000 Digital Media Production scholarship, and we want you to have a shot at it. This scholarship opportunity will be available at any college or university. All you need is a Cappex profile. The Digital Media scholarship will be given to students with well-rounded profiles, so don t hold back on the details. + To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the Tell Us More box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck! + Details at our free college scholarship search site Free Stuff Friday + Pedia-pop electrolyte mix + Tide TotalCare + Captain D s fish and chips + Remember the Milk has a desktop client + Hulu HD for some shows ad-free + gContactSync + Resnooze will text your sleeping bum + Amazon MP3 - I bought Praan this week and discovered 1,587 free songs Free Song of the Week + Lee Coulter, Yoga Master Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP856: MEFA Rescue in the Works, Volunteering Jobcast Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Boston Globe: MEFA rescue plan? Governor Deval Patrick has asked the state pension fund to invest $50 million and will ask Harvard University and other local colleges to invest millions more to provide student loans to thousands of families struggling to pay college tuition bills that are due in the coming weeks. + Patrick s 11th hour proposal, floated among key officials yesterday, would prop up the troubled 26-year-old , which announced last week that it would be unable to provide student loans for this school year because of turmoil in the nation s credit markets. + The proposal would entail the investment funds buying portions of a $425 million bond sale that MEFA is planning this month. The agency would use the proceeds to finance student loans. + Inside Higher Ed: Another major lender is cutting back on its student loan offerings. Wachovia Education Finance sent an e-mail to its college customers Tuesday saying it would stop making private student loans to undergraduate students beginning today, in light of the current overall financial industry environment. Wachovia, which is among the nation s top providers of alternative loans, said it would continue to offer private loans to graduate students and for law and medical education, as well as federal loans. Scholarship Update + Cappex $1,000 GPA Isn t Everything Scholarship + Cappex.com is awarding a $1,000 GPA Isn t Everything scholarship, and we want you to have a shot at it. This scholarship opportunity will be available at any college or university. All you need is a Cappex profile. The scholarship will be given to students with well-rounded profiles, so don t hold back on the details. To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the Tell Us More box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck! + Details at our free college scholarship search site Jobcast + Volunteering for change AND career-building + Before you go - make sure you have business cards - they re always a worthwhile investment + Pick a volunteering opportunity that you can be passionate about, as opposed to something that will look good - your ability to share your experiences and stories later on in job interviews and conversations will be greatly enhanced if you can tell your stories with energy and passion + Look for opportunities that are just slightly beyond your current abilities - if an organization needs help with its web site, volunteer for that so that you can learn something along the way + Look for opportunities that are smaller rather than larger, so that you can make a bigger contribution and impact - when it comes to career building, being able to say you doubled a small charity s fundraising sounds better than adding 0.01% to a large one + Do a damn good job, obviously + Look to add value to the organization using things you re good at - if you re a high school or college student, you know social media and stuff better than probably anyone at the agency over 30 - gently offer to help when and where it makes sense to do so + Afterwards, collect recommendations using LinkedIn or your personal web site - and always, always copy your LinkedIn page to your computer just so you have backups Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

FAP855: Expert interview with Whitney Hoffman on new FAFSA provisions Listen now: Expert Interview + On today s show, former Madden Patton attorney and podcast producer Whitney Hoffman on the legal definitions of emancipated student, unaccompanied homeless minor, and dislocated worker + What financial aid administrators need to know about legal documentation of new statuses + A potential solution to the issue of legal student, undocumented parent Did you enjoy today s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you. Subscribing for free means you don t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast gmail com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. ShareThis

Image via Wikipedia FAP854: Student loans becoming less available? Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + KCCI: As families continue to deal with rising costs at many colleges, some said that they re finding student loans harder to come by. Iowa Student Loan CEO Steve McCullough said that many middle-class families are paying higher interest rates on those loans or even finding out that they don t qualify for them. + There s actually a scarcity of funds to make loans, and we ve never encountered that before, McCullough said. There s not a scarcity for the government guaranteed student loans and that s the funds used most to fund college these days for people who have to borrow. But those loans only go so far. A freshman entering college can only borrow a maximum of $5,500 at fixed interest rates of 6 percent. + Foster s Daily: Hundreds of New Hampshire college students from Massachusetts are scrambling to line up new loans to pay tuition bills coming due this week. The students had counted on help from the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, but the agency announced last week it didn t have money to loan. About 650 New Hampshire students relied on the agency for loans last year. Financial aid directors at New Hampshire colleges are telling the students not to panic, that those with good credit will probably be able to find alternative financing. + Stafford loans at StaffordLoan.com + PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com Scholarship Update + Make your eyes and ears bleed with the Scholarship Points Scholarship Idol videos! Mail Bag + Sampson writes in: hey this is sampson and i really need some help. i live in va and need to get to ca. im planing to take out a astrive loan to get the extra expenses done. cause i took some online classes and failed on them because i didnt log in when I was supposed to .well i was at work so thats what i thought online classes were designed to do anyway my gpa took a dive, they said I failed even though everything else was fine .gpa went from 3.0 to 1.5 and i cant get any scholarship or grants with that .but i still have to get to school and im broke i got fired from my job. so what do you suggest . + You ll want to accrue some decent grades by racking up credits at a community college, get your satisfactory academic performance stats up and running first + My name s James, and I was just at Podcamp Boston two weeks ago. For the record, it paid for itself many times over with the various tidbits and insights I was able to learn. + Since you re in the financial aid biz, I thought I d try you for a problem I m dealing with. I m 29 and trying to return to college after six years away to finish the last year of my bachelors degree. My FAFSA EFC was approx. $17K, but the school I m dealing with has so far offered me next to nothing ($7K in a stafford loan, and $3K in work-study, which is less than I d make at my part-time job.) + My situation is unique in that I left my job in February, and am now on unemployment. My salary is less than 1/3 of what I used to make. I understand that FAFSA and this school only consider my 07 income as reported on my taxes, but unfortunately, this school doesn t consider me to be independent from my parents, even though the feds do, and I ve been totally financially independent from my parents for at least 4 years. My dad s financial history is complicated. Basically, his own business failed, leaving him deep in debt, and I m one of 6 kids that he s supported for college. Basing his financial health on his income isn t reflective of his financial situation, as it doesn t factor in extensive debt payments, student loans and college tuition costs. Anyway, all of this is going to go into my appeal, so here s the crux of my question. + I already have $42K in student loans in my own name, and don t feel comfortable taking on another $39K just for this last year, for a total of $81K, when the average student loan debt is around $25K. I was hoping to have to pay around $10K, but when the FAFSA came back $17K, I started to gird for that challenge. Now, $39K is just plain crazy talk. + So here s my question - how do I figure out what an acceptable amount of student loan debt is, without basing it on emotions? I understand that your business is to get students to take out loans