Private Student Loans Videos

FAP908: Comparing student loans, Selective Service, Free stuff, Bob Gentry Listen now: Weekly Financial Aid Roundup A new article looking at the differences in interest rates for various graduate student loans over at GradLoans.com. Scholarship Update National Geographic s Galapagos Exploration award, plus ScholarshipPoints.com drawings in just 6 days. Scholarship Points Instructions Are you a Scholarship Points member? In today s show, get a Points code for 20 Scholarship Points by subscribing to the podcast and listening to the episode. Subscribing is fast, easy, and free. If you have iTunes: http://www.financialaidpodcast.com/itunes If you have Google Reader: http://www.financialaidpodcast.com/googlereader If you subscribe by email: http://www.financialaidpodcast.com/email Remember, the points code is in the show itself, so you have to tune in and listen to it. I promise it ll be worth your time. News You Can Use Exactly how much should you borrow in student loans? Focus on Financial Aid Selective Service and you. Free Stuff Friday Whole Foods free lunch bags. Schick Quattro razor. Nivea body wash from Walmart. Fairview sunscreen. Sunflower seeds for gardening. Free photo card for Mother s Day from Kodak. Notepad and pen from CSO. Dogswell dry dog food. 9 free short story audiobooks from Barnes and Noble. And finally some tips for vodka besides drinking it. Got a bottle of really terrible vodka? Here are some tips, including putting it in a spray bottle and using it as an insecticide. Free Song of the Week Bob Gentry, Upside Down 5 most recent Financial Aid Podcast posts Subscribe to RSS headline updates from: Powered by FeedBurner Did you enjoy this? 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. + + + The Financial Aid Podcast is sponsored in part by: Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Online degrees programs and directories at Edvisors.com + Free college scholarships contests! + 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 PrivateStudentLoans.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

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

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

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 from your company, but helpful information would really steer me towards the Student Loan Network. + If you don t have time for this, no worries, but any help would be much appreciated. I also thought about meeting with the TERI center in the Boston Public Library. + Thanks for writing in - you ll want to investigate the methodology used + Ask in your appeal for a professional judgement override for future earnings + Consider a less expensive institution + Restrict borrowing to no more than your expected first year salary after graduation 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

FAP849: MEFA Private Student Loan troubles, dwindling scholarships Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + MEFA shuts down lending for the fall semester - see the video from WGBH, MEFA Student Loan Troubles + 40,000 students, parents, and families, over $500M + If you had MEFA student loans in the past, or were planning to take out a MEFA private student loan, the Student Loan Network may be able to help - call us at 877-328-1565 or visit www.StudentLoanNetwork.com + A disturbing trend I don t have metrics for yet - the number of scholarships that are not renewing. When you Google them, it s last year s page and there s a note saying the award has been discontinued or is pending review. + As the economy trends downward, scholarships may become harder to find - so get cracking. Scholarship Update + The Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship Program encourages young volunteers to play active roles in the Department of Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) programs. It recognizes outstanding young volunteers who give of their time by awarding annual scholarships that may be used to continue their education. The Disabled American Veterans has awarded 87 scholarships worth $578,000 since the inception of the Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship Program in 2000. + Scholarships can be awarded to any volunteer who is age 21 or younger and has volunteered for a minimum of 100 hours at a VA medical center during the previous calendar year. All volunteer hours must be credited to the Disabled American Veterans. + Scholarships can be used at any accredited institution of higher learning; to include universities, colleges, community colleges, vocational schools, etc. + Scholarships must be utilized in full prior to the recipient attaining the age of 25, or within 6 years of receiving the scholarship, whichever is later. + Immediate family members of the DAV national organization are eligible to receive a scholarship. + Nominations for this award may be submitted by the Voluntary Service Program Manager at the VA medical center, DAV Department Commander, or the student may complete a self-nomination form which is available on-line. If you are submitting your own nomination, please include an essay discussing What volunteering at a VA medical center means to you. (Essay should be 750 words or less). + All nomination packets should include a nomination form, essay, and any supporting documentation which you would like to have considered by the Selection Committee. + Deadline February 25 + Awards up to $15,000 + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + My name is Nancy and I am from Germany. I just lived in the US for about 10 months as an Exchange Student and now I am back in Germany to finish up High school here but I would love to be back soon and to attend college in IN that would be awesome. I looked through the website and I am not sure if there are any scholarships with 100% tuition for international students? I really want to come back to the states and go to college there but I don t have the money so right now it is not possible for me! + Very, very few - Fulbright scholars programs, etc. where you have to be the very best of the best + Check out InternationalScholarships.com and InternationalStudent.com + Michelle writes in: Hello! What a fantastic podcast! I have been an avid listener for awhile now. As an incoming graduate student this fall 08 I have come across some financial aid stress over the summer. I cannot express how much appreciation I would have if someone could give me advice about this situation. + It is now the end of July 08 and I still have not received my financial aid award. I call the office approx every two weeks asking when it will be awarded. Their answer is sometime between June and August. Apparently my file is up to date, and they say the paperwork just needs to be processed by their financial officer. My student bill needs to be paid by August 18, 2008. + I have already chosen a lender for student loans, so I am just waiting on my award. Do you happen to know the turnaround time for a loan to be processed? Some ppl say a month and I am worried that my bill will not be paid in time. Should I be worried about this? Again, I appreciate any advice. Great job Chris!! + Your school may do batch processing - typically, for federal student loans, the turnaround is whenever the school does certification, followed by disbursement + Make sure your financial aid office is communicating with the bursar s office so that the billing folks know when the loan money is supposed to come in - call both + Mihoko writes in: Hey Chris, I think I have a similar question someone named Mercy asked you awhile ago. I m a US citizen and I ve been accepted to a foreign school outside the US. The school is not on the FAFSA list of approved foreign schools. Nor is it not on the list of the private student loan companies and banks I ve talked to so far. Is there a way to get some kind of student loan with this dilemma? Thanks for all your help and I love your show. + Not really, until the school gets set up with either Title IV certification or set up with a private student loan lender. You could also explore a regular unsecured consumer loan that s not a student loan, but that can be expensive. See if the school plans to pursue Title IV certification. 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Financial Aid discussion forums + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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

FAP848: How to shop around for student loans Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + NY Times: Banks struggling to recover from multibillion-dollar losses on real estate are curtailing loans to American businesses, depriving even healthy companies of money for expansion and hiring. + Two vital forms of credit used by companies — commercial and industrial loans from banks, and short-term commercial paper not backed by collateral — collectively dropped almost 3 percent over the last year, to $3.27 trillion from $3.36 trillion, according to Federal Reserve data. That is the largest annual decline since the credit tightening that began with the last recession, in 2001. + There s a bunch of banks that are distressed, but here s an interesting sidenote - IndyMac, the bank that went bust a few weeks ago, wasn t on the FDIC watch list at all, and even sites like BankRate.com fail to predict unstable banks. + In this kind of environment, keep deposits under the FDIC insurance limit, and if you re trying to get a loan of any kind, make sure your credit is in top shape first, and expect to potentially be declined even with good credit, not because you did anything wrong, but because the bank you spoke to may be financially on the brink of failure + If you re applying for student loans, federal student loans such as the Stafford loan and PLUS loan are your best bets for approval, as Stafford loans have no credit requirement and PLUS loans have relaxed requirements; both are backed by the federal government, which means banks may be able to sell them more easily. + NY Times: Comparison shopping for a private student loan? Doing so may damage your credit score. In few other areas of consumer life are you at risk of being penalized for seeking out the best deal. Indeed, mortgage and auto loan seekers who comparison shop within a relatively short period of time do not see their credit scores suffer. But Fair Isaac, the company that helps credit bureaus calculate credit scores, does not extend the same break to private student loan applicants or their parents, who often co-sign for loans. + While Fair Isaac has mined years of data to determine that people making a bunch of mortgage and auto loan applications over a short period are almost always innocently shopping for a loan, it hasn t declared student loan shoppers similarly safe. + In the meantime, lenders could help a lot by doing the following: First, state on their Web sites which credit bureau or bureaus they are using. Then, state whether that credit bureau is classifying their requests in a way that could damage an applicant s credit score. + For the record, the Student Loan Network primarily uses Experian, and to the best of our knowledge, because we work with major banking partners like Discover Financial Services (ticker: DFS), Lehman Brothers (ticker: LEH), etc., your credit score shouldn t take any additional hits beyond the standard first hit when you begin shopping around. Scholarship Update + Running a survey on our site, Student Scholarship Search. Please take a few moments. + Scholarship Points $1,000 drawing for July happens in just 3 days! Financial Aid 101 + Shopping around for student loans + For federal student loans like the Stafford and PLUS loan, thanks to the credit crunch and the CCRAA, there s no fundamental difference among federal student loans any more. There used to be borrower benefits, but no one really has those any more. The only metrics left are things like customer service. + For private student loans, shop around primarily based on rates and benefits. Look for, obviously, the lowest rates available, but base this not on the best published rate, but the spread. + For example, our spreads are in the range of LIBOR + 3.5% to LIBOR + 7.75% (some variations) - that makes us not as good a deal if you have perfect credit but a pretty good deal if your credit isn t perfectly spotless + Different lenders use different base rates - some use Prime instead of LIBOR, which lets them publish rates like Prime + 0%, which looks fantastically than LIBOR + 3.5%, until you dig in and find that PRIME + 0% is 5%, and LIBOR + 3.5% is 5.5%. + Compare fees, too. What s the origination or guarantee fee? + Compare benefits - is there deferment? Forbearance? + There s been a lot of talk about peer to peer lending, which tends to be a non-beneficial model. Peer to peer lacks the interest tax credit, since they re not qualified education loans, so you lose that tax benefit. Some have very short repayment terms, 3 years, meaning you have to repay while you re in school. Others have astonishingly high fees, especially if you have poor credit; Prosper has an average interest rate of 26.1% and for poor credit, 31.88% - which is worse than virtually every credit card out there. Some of these loans also don t offer deferment or forbearance at all (as of July 28, 2008). 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Financial Aid discussion forums + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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 FAP826: Deceptive student loan marketing, Sallie Mae leak Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + The FTC has issued a guide on deceptive student loan marketing + If you are considering a private student loan, it’s important to know whom you’re doing business with and the terms of the loan. The FTC and ED offer these tips to help you recognize questionable claims and practices related to private student loans. + Some private lenders and their marketers use names, seals, logos, or other representations similar to those of government agencies to create the false or misleading impression that they are part of or affiliated with the federal government and its student loan programs. ED does not send advertisements or mailers, or otherwise solicit consumers to borrow money. If you receive a student loan solicitation, it is not from ED. + Don’t let promotions or incentives like gift cards, credit cards, and sweepstakes prizes divert you from assessing whether the key terms of the loan are reasonable. + Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know with whom you are dealing. Private student lenders typically ask for your student account number — often your Social Security number (SSN) or Personal Identification Number (PIN) — saying they need it to help determine your eligibility. However, because scam artists who purport to be private student lenders can misuse this information, it is critical to provide it or other personal information only if you have confidence in the private student lender with whom you are dealing. + Check out the track record of particular private student lenders with your state Attorney General (www.naag.org), your local consumer protection agency (www.consumeraction.gov), and the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org). + The Student Loan Network does not engage in deceptive marketing tactics of any kind, mainly because we try to avoid screwing over our customers - word of mouth is powerful for positive talk about products and services, but absolutely deadly for negative talk about when you screw up + Inside Higher Ed: U.S. Education Department officials have spent weeks intensely reviewing the federal student loan program as part of their efforts to ensure continued access to loans for college students. Department officials formally unveiled more of the immediate fruits of those efforts Wednesday, laying out the terms under which the government will buy loans made by lenders who are unable to sell them to other investors. The terms described Wednesday are consistent with those the department unveiled in May, in a plan that was generally well-received by lenders. But perhaps the real news out of Wednesday’s announcement was that the agency’s review of the loan program — and the insights it has gained from discussions with Treasury Department officials and finance experts — have inspired its leaders to contemplate anew a broader reassessment of the entire federal student aid system, Under Secretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker said in a telephone news conference Wednesday. Tucker said that the review would be consistent with the recommendations of the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which called for a streamlining of the myriad programs and types of aid through which the government now finances students’ higher educations. There is an “opportunity to look at the entire federal student-aid system,” Tucker said. + Chronicle: Sallie Mae (ticker: SLM), the nation s largest student-loan company, has a contractual arrangement with USA Funds, the nation s largest guarantee agency, that gives the lender extensive financial and operational control over the guarantor that oversees its work, according to a copy of the contract obtained by The Chronicle. + The contract, a copy of which has also been posted on the Internet in recent days, shows a relationship that a former high-ranking Education Department official described as so intertwined and detrimental to the interests of students and taxpayers that the department should revisit its controversial 2004 decision to allow the partnership to continue. + Wikileaks has a copy and Sallie Mae is threatening legal action to take it down, so if you d like to see it, grab it sooner rather than later Scholarship Update + Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Blu-ray are changing the way you watch movies! Be part of the ultimate in high definition by creating your own poster, ad or video for Blu-ray. Sony encourages you to design an original, exciting and passionate expression of why Blu-ray offers the best movie experience with its high definition, better than cable or satellite quality, better picture than DVD and pure hi-def audio! Come up with an incredible idea and incorporate the Blu-ray and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment logos as well as the tagline Why Blu? and you could win amazing Sony prizes including a Sony PlayStation 3 with built-in Blu-ray Disc Player and $250 cash or scholarship! + Grand Prize: One winner, selected by Sony from the top 50 highest-scoring entries, will win a Sony PlayStation 3 with a built in Blu-ray Disc player. Sony will also include a collection of 8 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray movies including Surf s Up, Open Season, Across the Universe, Hitch, Fifth Element, Hellboy, A Knight s Tale, 50 First Dates, and $250 cash or scholarship! (Total ARV: $889) + July 30 deadline + Create an original Blu-ray poster, ad or video expressing how Blu-ray is the best way to watch movies and incorporate the Why Blu? tagline. You may use any of the provided assets from the Blu-ray Art Kit in your creation. Don t forget to include both the Blu-ray and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment logos! + Details at our free college scholarship search site JobCast + Got an inquiry yesterday about why the cover letter is important + am looking for feedback from Boston-area hiring managers and recruiters on cover letters: How important are they in narrowing down a search? Do they help you weed through a stack of resumes to more quickly find the candidates who may be the best match? In your experience, do the cover letters really reflect on the qualifications and skills of the individuals? What do you look for in cover letters that has proven to help you select strong candidates? What else does your experience tell you about cover letters? + A fine time to mention our free eBook, How to Write a Killer Cover Letter 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Financial Aid discussion forums + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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 FAP824: Tea scholarship, Amazon textbooks, international financial aid Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Inside Higher Ed: The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do About It is a promising title for Princeton University Press. The topic couldn’t be more timely and the author is Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist who has managed with works such as Irrational Exuberance to attract big audiences for complicated topics. + The Princeton press is planning something new for the release: Two weeks before print publication the book will be available as a Kindle e-book. Kindle is Amazon.com’s portable reader that allows for downloading of complete books. Launched in November, and already attracting attention (and competition from other companies planning their versions), Kindle has been hailed as potentially opening up a new kind of reading experience. Of course, plenty of people have heard earlier such claims, but Kindle’s Amazon backing has given it a market that is attractive to many publishers — including university presses. + By the beginning of the fall, Princeton plans to have several hundred books available for sale through Kindle. Yale University Press and Oxford University Press already have a similar presence there. The University of California Press recently had about 40 of its volumes placed on Kindle and is ramping up. + Readers would save some on Kindle books, but at least now modestly, and only after recouping the costs of the reader (currently at $359). The Kindle version of an Oxford book called Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You’re Out in California sells for $21.96, compared to $24.40 for the paperback through Amazon. The latter also takes two to four weeks to ship and requires shipping fees. A Yale book, Churchill’s Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft, is available for $25.20 via Kindle and $28 plus shipping in hardcover. + NASFAA: Need a student loan? Then your local credit union wants you, the Central Penn Business Journal reports. The current money crunch and rising college costs aren t stopping area credit unions from promoting student loans. One reason is to attract new members and keep the ones they have. Belco and other area credit unions have picked up borrowers since the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) suspended its major loan programs in February. Belco wants to spread the word to college admission counselors that loans are available. Scholarship Update + TeaUSA Calm-A-Sutra Tea Scholarship + $20,000 scholarship + Create a 2 minute video about the health benefits of drinking tea + Deadline August 6, 2008 + Submit via YouTube + US Citizen or eligible non-citizen + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + Mercy writes in: I need help finding a private student loan Christopher. I have been accepted to a school in Sweden (University of Gothenburg) for graduate school. Unfortunately, the university is not one of the eligible schools listed on the FASA web site. I have also tried getting private loans, but they want the school to be affiliated with a university in the US. Are there any private loans that do not have this particular requirement? How can I find a loan in the US that would help with my college education just for being a student anywhere in the world without too many restrictions? + You ll want to check out InternationalStudentLoan.com + International student loans are typically private student loans + James writes in: Hi Chris. Love your podcasts! I m trying to narrow down my list of lenders. I m interested in Student Loan Network s private student loan product. Which credit agency do they pull from (Exp, Eq, TU)? I m in MA. I m looking for TU pullers. Which lending companies pull TU? + I believe we use Experian; I don t think there s a list anywhere that I know of for which lenders use which bureaus. Some use all three. + Sarah writes in: I am 55 yrs in need of financial aid towards my small school for the ophans in uganda wht can i do.? i need your assistnce and information about that. + Check out Guidestar 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Financial Aid discussion forums + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP822: Jobcast - how to interview well, unintended consequences Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Inside Higher Ed: The White House and Congressional negotiators reached a deal Wednesday night on war spending, including a plan to dramatically expand college assistance for veterans, effectively providing the cost of education at any public institution in veterans’ states, the Associated Press reported. Details will be released today and apparently include some provisions backed by Republicans who feared that a package that was too attractive might discourage re-enlistments. + NASFAA: The nation s community colleges want the authority to deny some of their own students the right to take out a federally subsidized loan. The colleges think that some students won t get jobs with salaries large enough to pay back the debt, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. Officials of the American Association of Community Colleges said this week that they were stepping up efforts to win enactment of legislation that would give their colleges the authority to reduce the amounts that some students could borrow under the federal programs. The change is necessary because colleges now have no way to prevent a student from seeking a student loan that doesn t make economic sense, given the student s long-term job prospects, said David S. Baime, the association s vice president for government relations. + As a reminder, if your federal student aid doesn t meet your needs, you can investigate private student loans - but be careful + This kind of thing could inadvertently create a larger market for private student loans - beware of unintended consequences! Scholarship Update + McKelvey Foundation First in Family Scholarship + You know what it is to make your own success in the world. You dream big and keep your eye on the prize. The McKelvey Foundation celebrates that drive and determination by awarding 150 scholarships to high school seniors who’d be the first in their families to attend college. Dedicated and involved students whose resources may be limited, but whose ambitions are not. + The Foundation will award $12,000 scholarships for qualifying high school seniors to attend ANY four-year college in their home state. + Scholarship Criteria To be considered for this award, applicants must: + You must attend a partnering high school in the states of NY, PA or WV + Be a first generation to attend college (neither mother nor father went to college) + Have financial need + Show involvement in work and/or extra curricular activities + Submit a completed online application + Fill out a FAFSA form to apply for all other financial aid + Attend a four-year college within their home state + Other things you should know: + + Awards will be granted up to $3,000 per year for all four year + Scholars must maintain a 2.5 GPA + The Foundation will sponsor a mandatory one day seminar for all winners during the spring/summer as an orientation to college and the Foundation + $2,500 will be available to each scholar for a study abroad program + Details at our free college scholarship search site Jobcast + How to interview effectively + We had a candidate come in yesterday who did a good job + I don t know is not an immediate fail if you can recover well + Provide details in examples + The basics count for a lot - have copies of your resume with you and dress well + Make use of your ninja skills - look around and ask questions about stuff you find in the office as a way of opening up discussion - look especially for awards, certificates, etc. + When an interviewer asks What questions do you have? have a few ready to go + What do you like most about working here? + What characteristics are likely to make someone a successful employee here? + A good opportunity to integrate your own traits after the interviewer responds 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Financial Aid discussion forums + Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP791: Skyrocketing meal plans, PLUS loans, loan indexes Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Chronicle: Students are likely to see a sharp increase in the cost of on-campus meal plans this fall, as rising food prices have sent some college food-service operations into deficits and have forced many to get creative with their fixed budgets. As the cost of food has soared, many dining halls have focused more on reducing portions and less on eliminating popular dishes. + Rich Neumann, director of dining services at Ohio University, said his institution s costs for flour increased 177 percent from April 2007 to April 2008. The price of eggs went up 78 percent over the same period. + Inside Higher Ed: The Bernard Osher Foundation plans today to announce a $50 million grant to create an endowment to provide scholarships for students attending community colleges in California, The San Jose Mercury News reported. An additional $20 million gift will support students who transfer from community colleges to public universities in the state. While $50 million gifts have become almost common at institutions with billion-dollar fund-raising drives, donations of this size are extremely rare when focused on community colleges and their students. + The U.S. Education Department issued guidance Monday to help student loan guarantee agencies carry out the federal government s lender of last resort program by summertime if the credit crunch continues to limit the availability of loans for some students and other, more desirable methods of ensuring liquidity fall short. In a letter to guarantors, Under Secretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker laid out a path for the nonprofit agencies to make loans to students at institutions that find themselves unable to secure other options. But it is widely agreed — even among the guarantee agencies themselves — that most students, colleges and lenders will be better off if the Education Department finds other ways to bolster lenders, who then make loans available directly to students, as legislation approved last week by Congress aims to ensure. In addition, numerous other institutions appear to be leaving the guaranteed student loan program for the government s competing direct loan program. Scholarship Update + New England Culinary Institute Lifelong Learner Scholarship + The Life Longer Scholarship is available to students who have already completed a Bachelor s Degree or higher and are pursuing either or a career change or exploring a passion in the culinary industry. + Amount: $5000.00 + Application Process: Please send copy of diploma or transcript and a letter describing why you have chosen to attend New England Culinary Institute via fax, email, or mail indicating that you are applying for the Life Long Learner Scholarship. + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + Anna writes in: Although Prime and LIBOR rates change (especially lately), how do schools inform parents to differentiate between a current rate and a locked rate when researching alternative loan options? Is there a general timeframe when lenders lock in prime at 5.25 or is it done automatically when the Federal Reserve updates it? + Typically, indexes are adjusted quarterly, so whatever the rate is at the end of the quarter. It all depends on the lender s capitalization period - for example, our Act Education Loan capitalizes interest quarterly. + Kim writes in: What are the advantages or disadvantages of PLUS loan vs. HELOC vs. private loan. Thanks. + PLUS loans are federally guaranteed, with fixed interest rates. HELOCs typically are variable rate, as are private student loans. All three can be used to pay up to the cost of education, and all three can often be deducted from your taxes - the interest paid. PLUS loans have more lax credit restrictions, especially in light of HR 5175. PLUS and private loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy. + PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com + Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Edvisors Jobs + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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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FAP782: What to do if your financial aid check bounces Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + From the Boston Globe: Checks issued by private student loan guarantee agency are bouncing. + Teri spokeswoman Beth Bresnahan called the glitch regrettable, explaining that the group s Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization had frozen its assets, including money earmarked for checks already in the mail. Teri is still in the process of contacting students; it said it will make good on the bounced checks and cover any fees or interest penalties students incurred as a result. + Lots of Congressional action on the student loan front - Secretary Spellings is negotiating with Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson to let the FHLB buy student loans - sort of like the TSLF, only it s a sale of assets rather than a collateralized loan + Lots of other proposals floating around + My personal take - Congress is not known for creating legislation that s bulletproof to begin with, but when they re in a rush, they very often cannot see any of the unintended consequences of their legislative efforts + Rather than try to add more duct tape and chewing gum, they should instead just repeal the portions of the CCRAA that nailed lender subsidies. Scholarship Update + Atlantic Media is now seeking 5-10 exceptional or aspiring writers, editors and other online media talents to serve as Atlantic Media Fellows for the Fall of 2008 through the Spring of 2009. Candidates should be current students in or recent graduates of college or graduate school programs. + Atlantic Media Fellows join the staff of Atlantic Media — helping launch, research, write and edit new websites. Fellows are paid $30,000-$40,000 (depending on experience) for the nine-month appointment. + Fellows are expected to begin their service at Atlantic Media in September 2008 and continue through May 2009. There is some prospect, but no certainty, that Fellows may be offered employment with Atlantic Media following the fellowship. + Deadline May 8 + Details at our free college scholarship search site News You Can Use + What do you do when a check from a lender bounces? + First, understand the process + For federal student loans, there s a sequence of actions + File your FAFSA + The schools you selected on it are sent your FAFSA results + They create an award package + You apply for the federal student loan products recommended in the letter + Lenders send your loan application to the school for certification + The school certifies that you re enrolled there and eligible for the loan amount + The lender sends the loan application to the guarantee agency + The guarantee agency says the school is in good standing and tells the lender to send the check + The lender sends the check to your school with your name on it + The school cashes the check and deposits the funds in your account + Depending on the school, they may auto-debit any tuition or fees from the loan amount automatically or ask you to do it. + For a private student loan, there s a different sequence of actions + You file an application for a private student loan + A credit check is run on you and your co-signer + If you pass, the lender sends your loan to a private student loan guarantee agency + The lender sends the loan application to the guarantee agency + The guarantee agency says the school is in good standing and tells the lender to send the check + The lender mails a check to you and you cash it, then use the funding as needed + In the Boston Globe story, the behind-the-scenes part is that the guarantee agency has paperwork internally that authorizes the lender to release funds - but if its guarantee paperwork and associated billing is frozen due to bankruptcy, the funding has not actually been released and the check bounces + So what do you do? + First and most important thing - whenever you apply for a loan of any kind, make copies of the completed, signed application + Save your emails from your lender that acknowledge you have completed the loan application + Ideally, contact your lender and see what the status is - and do it in writing or electronically + Print out the documentation of your loan application including the amount applied for, and go to student financial services or the bursar s office - whatever your school calls the office that manages student accounts + This may NOT be the same as your financial aid office - every school does things differently + Ask to speak to whoever manages your account, and ask for an extension on any bills due - demonstrate to them that you have a loan application in process for the amount due, and that the lender is working on getting you a check + From there, it s up to the school, but you ve provided all the information to prove with reasonable confidence that the financial shortfall is not your fault 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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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FAP774: TERI declares bankruptcy, private student loans, cost of college Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + TERI, The Education Resource Institute, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy last night. + Reuters: The largest not-for-profit guarantor of U.S. private education loans, on Monday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying rising defaults and credit market problems have damaged liquidity. + Because of the recent turmoil in the financial markets, demand for bonds backed by student loans has evaporated, the company s chief executive, Willis J. Hulings III, said in court papers. + TERI backs the loans issued by First Marblehead, among others. (ticker: FMD) + What does this mean for you? + Private student loans may become more expensive - higher interest rates. TERI is a guarantor, which means that it guarantees to lenders that work with it that if students default on their loans, TERI will pay them back, essentially take over the loan, and pursue collections + TERI fulfills the same role for private student loans that the US government fulfills for federal student loans + Without that guarantee, lenders would need to be more aggressive in credit standards, thus making it harder to get private student loans if your credit is anything other than excellent + In other news, rice is at an all time high price, leading to food riots around the world. If you d like to help, you can play Free Rice or donate directly to the United Nations World Food Program. Scholarship Update + STOP Hunger Scholarship + The STOP Hunger Scholarships, a program of the Sodexho Foundation, allow us to recognize students in the fight against hunger in America. You are invited to nominate a young person, currently enrolled in an educational institution (kindergarten through college), who has positively contributed to the fight against hunger in his or her community. + Students can apply online between January 1 and February 29, 2008. + Five national scholarship recipients; however, we reserve the right to select fewer than five national recipients. Each student selected as a national STOP Hunger Scholarship recipient will receive a $3,000 scholarship, as well as a $3,000 grant made in their name to the hunger-related charity of their choice in their local community. + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + Kim Lieberman wrote in: Thanks so much for your great resources! Going through this college process for the first (and only) time, it has been great to find someone who is knowledgeable, shares honestly and clearly, and has access to current and breaking information. I really appreciate your translating and disseminating the information in so many formats! + I recently started the attached spreadsheet (From US News) to decipher the award letters my daughter is receiving. However, as you discussed this morning, it is not always clear or straightforward. I decided that other than tuition, the other costs are probably about the same. Dorm/meals are around $8,000 everywhere - give or take; books, etc. will depend on courses, but costs are national, daily expenses will occur anywhere (travel will vary in our case because she wants to go out of state, so I am not counting that in the comparison). + The worksheet didn t give me the correct bottom line, at least not what I really wanted to know: How much will we need to pay or borrow. So I added the top rows to get to what I really need to compare - the difference in the bottom line of each college: Cost of Tuition minus Gifts/Scholarships. I might also consider work-study as an additional bonus. The rest will come out of our pockets, either student or parent. And the EFC did not really mean anything, since the unmet need seems to be filled by parent loans, one school offers a $13,000 PLUS loan, on top of student loans. + Does this make sense to you? Is this a realistic way to look at the bottom line? + Perhaps offering a better form would be something your site could provide (or maybe you have one already?) Some things I did not like about this form was that you cannot copy and paste, tab to the next item, or add columns. Also it does not have the formula s to auto calculate, so those would be nice features if you were to provide one. {Or even better, if there were a way to fill in all of the approximate itemized expenses provided by each university sorry that may be going to far :) + Anyway, I just wanted to share this in case it was useful for others. Thanks again for your very useful and important work!!!!! Promo + Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP763: The Dark Side of No-Loan College Admissions Student Financial Aid News + Great analysis piece on Inside Higher Ed about the darker side of colleges going no-loan + For colleges that go no-loan without being need-blind without changing the total amount of aid awarded, you effectively have more financial aid going to fewer students + Quick primer: need blind means that the ability to pay for school is not a consideration for financial aid or admissions + For the vast majority of private colleges that are not need blind, some percentage of slots are awarded not to the best applicants, but to the best applicants who can pay. + When a non-need-blind college goes no loan, it means that the financial aid budget is used up faster - and that means more slots awarded not to the best students, but to the best students who can pay sticker price, ultimately excluding more low-income students + Those low or middle income students who are the very best of the best will get in and get a free ride + Those low or middle income students who are great but not the cream of the crop will not get in, period, unless the college has a mega-billion-dollar endowment and a willingness to spend it, or are willing to pay sticker price + What does this mean for you? Look for colleges that are need-blind when searching for a college to attend, or reading financial aid award letters + Be aware that at a need-aware school, you will probably need to take out both federal student loans and private student loans if you are strongly intent on attending the school and paying sticker price + Be aware that at a need-aware school, you may actually pay sticker price. Scholarship Update + I Heart Tap Water Student Video Contest + Have you got love for tap water? Food Water Watch is challenging college students from around the U.S. to declare their love for tap water –– and get it on film. Breaking the bottled water habit means not only recognizing the health, environmental and economic costs of bottled water but also building renewed confidence in tap water that is safe and affordable. Show your love for tap water by participating in the I Heart Tap Water Video Contest! + The Challenge: To produce a 30 second to 3 minute video that includes the following three elements: + A declaration of your love for tap water + Some discussion about bottled water consumption + Make the case for why your school or any campus should give up bottled water + Our first place winner will receive a $1,500 award, and his or her video will be featured prominently on the Take Back the Tap website; + the second place runner–up will receive a $500 prize; and + the third place winner will receive a Take Back the Tap gift bag. + The contest begins on February 14th, 2008 and submissions will be accepted until April 14th, 2008. + Details at our free college scholarship search site Mail Bag + Bill writes in: I have student loans from undergraduate and graduate school leading to an MA in art therapy and I am now a licensed mental health professional working in Florida in that industry. I have, years ago, already consolidated my student loans. Is there now available to me a means of either further consolidating my loans or obtaining loan foregiveness due to my working in the mental health care industry? Thank you. + Depends on the kind of loans and the kind of work you re doing, as well as the kind of loan forgiveness program + Typically, once you ve consolidated your student loans, it s a one and done deal + Check out the Loan Forgiveness section of StudentScholarshipSearch.com + Helen writes in: Hi Chris - My daughter is a junior and I m searching for scholarships and grants. If she actually gets any before I file the FAFSA next Jan. and she applies to schools, will it count against us in terms of EFC? How do they count if she gets them after the EFC is determined? Thanks! Helen + Outside scholarships do count against your EFC, which is a minor negative, but that is far outweighed by the fact that it s money you don t have to repay + You can try to time it for the first year, but obviously it catches up with you each subsequent year + Better to start early, apply early, and land as many as possible as a strategy Promo + Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch 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! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP750: Private student loan quandary, credit crunch Student Financial Aid News + Mark Kantrowitz published a large list of lenders who have exited the student loan business, and it s pretty sobering. + I ll do my best to keep you posted about changes in the lending industry, but in a sign of how severe this is getting, the Secretary of the Department of Education is asking schools to report any instances of federal student loans being denied to students because the bank has run out of money. + Inside Higher Ed: Starting this fall, any student can get a free MacBook. All he or she has to do is apply, get accepted and decide to attend Oklahoma Christian University. + The cost is mostly built into the tuition price, of course. The university has provided PC-based laptops to its students since 2001, encouraging professors to integrate technology into the classroom and let students learn through online or hybrid course material on their computers. The laptop program has other advantages, too: the university offers software and hardware support on site, complete with loaners for those with computers in the shop. Now, Oklahoma Christian is following a “natural progression,” said John Hermes, the chief technology officer, by switching entirely to Macs. Scholarship Search Secret + Put deadlines in your searches Mail Bag + David wrote in a very long, informative email about a situation he s in with private student loans + Private student loan consolidation can postpone the inevitable to a degree + Ultimately that loan must be repaid + Contact a bankruptcy attorney to see if there s some way to get your cosigners released from the 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 + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP749: How I Got My Job, Private Student Loan Dangers Student Financial Aid News + Chronicle: In a report released today that outlined some of the dangers of private student loans, the National Consumer Law Center reviewed 28 private loans issued from 2001 to 2006. The group found all the loans to have variable rates, with initial annual percentage rates ranging from 5 percent to 19 percent. The average initial APR was 11.5 percent. + The survey of the more than two dozen private loans found several other problems, the report says. A number of lenders in the study were unwilling to offer reasonable settlements, and some loans stated explicitly that there will be no cancellation if the borrower or co-signer dies or becomes disabled. Some went into default as soon as one payment was missed. + Here s the thing about this study, and about private student loans in general. + First, no one forces students to take these out – responsible lenders are even going so far as to warn students in advance of borrowing a private student loan, as are many financial aid officers. + Second, this entire market exists solely because as a country, as a citizenry, we ve decided other national priorities eclipse a willingness to spend tax dollars on education, right or wrong. For example, the estimated value of the Iraq conflict, using accrual accounting (as opposed to cash accounting, which only the government can legally use), is $3 trillion as of today. Each month spent engaged in operations runs $12 billion; in just 6 months, the same spending would eliminate not only private student loans, but all student loans, period, if we as voters chose to make it a national priority and elected a government in alignment with those priorities. We did not, we have not, and we have earned the system and priorities we currently have based on our choices. No matter what your political beliefs are, these are the choices we have made, and the consequences of them. + The financial aid priorities list + Find and get scholarships + File your FAFSA + Apply for the maximum available federal student loans + Apply for private student loans as Carla Berg of Bentley describes them, the loans of last resort + For a great listen, check out Bloomberg s On the Economy podcast, the interview with Joseph Stiglitz, author of The Trillion Dollar War Scholarship Update + All About Education $5K Scholarship + One (1) $5,000 scholarship will be awarded. Students must complete an application online at http://www.scholarshipexperts.com/apply.htx#5K src=cs and include a short, original, previously unpublished written response to the topic, How will a $5,000 scholarship for education make a difference in your life? The response must be in English, exhibit correct spelling and grammar and be no more than 250 words in length. Additionally, each applicant is required to complete a scholarship search profile online at www.scholarshipexperts.com . Deadline ot apply is April 30, 2008 at 11:59pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time. + Details at our free college scholarship search site JobCast/Mail Bag + Daniel Johnson Jr. called in about the jobcast episode + Thanks, Dan! + HowIGotMyJob.com + How I got this job is a funny, funny story 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 + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP743: Jobcast: Top 6 job hunting tips Student Financial Aid News + NASFAA: Brown University is eliminating tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000, after decisions by fellow Ivy League universities to bolster financial aid as their endowments grow, The New York Times reports. The university, in Providence, R.I., said on Saturday that it also planned to substitute grants for student loans in the financial aid packages of students whose families earned less than $100,000 a year. Brown also announced plans to increase tuition by 3.9 percent for the 2008-9 academic year to $36,928. With room and board, the costs are $47,740 for one year. + Chronicle: Antioch College will close after all, the Antioch University Board of Trustees ruled on Friday. The decision confirms the board s original plan, announced last June, to suspend operations at the 155-year-old campus for the 2008-9 academic year. + CNN: SLM Corp. (ticker: SLM) said Friday it is on track to close on its new and increased credit line in the asset-backed commercial paper market. The student-loan provider also said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires it expects to complete the deal in the next two weeks. The affirmation of the $35 billion of funding - up from the earlier announced $31 billion - comes amid speculation that the new financing agreement would hit a snag as investors shy away from credit markets in the ongoing credit crunch. Sallie Mae, which needs the financing for its student-lending business over the next year, will likely secure the deal at costly terms, said an asset-backed commercial paper investor. + Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Couple of different comparisons of private student loans Scholarship Update + NABJ/CNN Scholarship + Number of Awards Available: Four (4) four-year scholarships + Amount of the Award: $25,000 ($6,250 per year for four years) + Eligibility Criteria + Rigorous competition for the scholarship is open to high school seniors who are currently attending an accredited high-school. Students must be accepted at an accredited college college/university pursuing a career in broadcast journalism. + Be a high school senior, enrolled at an accredited academic high school. + Accepted to an accredited four-year university, with a major in broadcast journalism. + Minimum 3.0 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) + 2 Letters of recommendation + Proven community involvement + 1000 word essay + Details at our free college scholarship search site Jobcast + Again, going with a bit of a re-tread, since the original is more or less unlistenable + Top 6 Tips for Job Hunting + 1. Unique selling proposition. What is your personal brand? What sets you apart from the rest of the crowd, makes you different, unique, and better? Understanding and building your personal brand is the most important thing you can do, because all of the rest of job hunting is communicating that personal brand. If you can t tell someone the essence of who you are and why they should hire you in one or two text messages, you need to sharpen your pencil. For example, mine is - I awaken the superhero in you. + 2. Job hunting is first and foremost a sales activity. The product you are selling is, not surprisingly, you. The only difference is that the product - unlike sweaters, computers, or cars - can talk a customer out of the sale as easily as you can make the sale. Thus, you need to develop good sales skills in order to help prospective employers understand your real value. How do you develop good sales skills? Lots of training. Take a look at Zig Ziglar s book, Secrets of Closing the Sale, to understand how you can position yourself better. You can get it on Amazon. + 3. Job hunting is a numbers game. Assume the rule of 10: for every 1 job you land, you will need 10 interviews. For every 10 interviews you land, you will need 100 valid applications. For every 100 applications you land, you will need 1,000 good leads. If you want to consider two or three offers, you need to send out two or three THOUSAND resumes. How? That s the joy of email. Focus on sending out at least 25 - 30 emails a day with your cover letter and resume. + 4. Job postings are a hidden treasure mine. Keep this in mind when you surf Monster.com and other job boards - a company generally will only post for positions it is most desperate for - enough to pay money for. That tells you two things: One, the company is serious about hiring. Two, the company probably has more than one position open. Consider applying for jobs at companies that meet your geographic and industry needs but don t necessarily have the exact position you re looking for. This is one of the best kept secrets in recruiting! + 5. Followup is the name of the game. Respond politely but clearly to EVERY response you get from your solicitations. A company may not have a job for you now, but might in two weeks, two months, or two years. Keep a record of those companies that respond with something other than an auto-reply, and touch base with your contacts every month or so. Be polite and non-intrusive. + 6. Positive mental attitude. Nothing will fail to sell a product faster than a negative emotion about it. Don t give people a reason to discard you immediately. Project a positive attitude, even if you feel anything but. 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 + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP738: Debt is not wealth, FFELP loan availability Student Financial Aid News + It s Presidents Day, and in honor of this, I ve got a widget on the Financial Aid Podcast web site for people to register to vote - if you haven t registered, do so today so you can vote this fall + Inside Higher Ed: Career Education Inc. on Friday announced plans to shut nine colleges, seven of them part of the Katherine Gibbs chain, following a teach out period to help current students. A statement from Career Education said that the move was part of a previously announced strategy to focus on key areas, and that attempts to sell the colleges didn t succeed. Supporters of New Hampshire s McIntosh College, one of the institutions being shut down, are angry and frustrated, Seacoast Online reported. + Reminder: if a school closes, you do not have to repay Stafford federal student loans if you have not completed the coursework + Twenty-one members of the U.S. House of Representatives have written to the secretaries of treasury and education to request action to deal with the credit crunch that is resulting in a tightening on the availability of student loans (though almost entirely private, or alternative, student loans so far). The letter calls on the Bush administration to work without delay, before the situation decreases access to higher education. + Read statement here + Is there a possibility that federal student loans won t be available? I call it small but non-zero - and it all depends on the credit markets + If the Student Loan Network needs to change its lending policies, you ll find out about it here first. Scholarship Search + Try this Google search query. Whatever your school name, search site:domain and the word scholarship + Here s an example from SUNY Dutchess Community College, which is the school that Susan Mead, last week s Expert Interview guest, was from + Results input into our free college scholarship search site + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! Economics 101 + Debt is not wealth + Blog post on FinancialAidPodcast.com Mail Bag + Mark writes in: Our family income will drop significantly in August, just when my son starts college. What can I do to have that reality refleted in my son s eligibility for aid? + Contact your school s financial aid office today and ask to speak to a financial aid administrator. Ask for their advice, present as much documentation as possible, and specifically ask for a professional judgement on future earnings, which is jargon for asking for an override of the FAFSA results based on documentably incorrect estimates of what you can pay for college + Bear in mind that the school may not be able to help + Whether or not they can help, your son should be cranking out the scholarship applications like mad right now + Every Sunday, submit at least THREE scholarship applications + This is scholarship season! + With the turmoil in the student loan markets, there is an unlikely but non-zero possibility that borrowing the full cost of education may not be possible in the fall - and scholarships are always the best form of financial aid + Free scholarship search secrets eBook 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 + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis

FAP682: An introduction to zero based budgeting Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Inside Higher Ed: As if on cue, the U.S. Education Department on Friday released data that suggest how much higher student loan default rates would be if they were reported over a longer time frame, as legislation pending in the House of Representatives would require. The data released by the department show that the average cohort default rate — the rate at which a group of borrowers default on their loans by a certain point after the loans enter repayment — climbs by at least a percentage point a year for every year that is added to the term. And the statistics also show great variation by sector in the rates of default. Five years after a cohort of borrowers entered repayment in 2002, the average cumulative lifetime default rate for the group of borrowers was 10.6 percent. But the rate was 6.4 percent for borrowers from four-year private colleges, 7.9 percent for borrowers from four-year public colleges, 19.3 percent for students from two-year public colleges, and 22.9 percent for borrowers from for-profit colleges, according to the department. + NASFAA: Student loans are often categorized as good debt, because a college education is considered a sensible long-term investment, according to Gannett News Service. But it s important to understand that not all student loans are alike. Private student loans, which are often offered by the same lenders that provide federal loans, are more expensive. Interest rates are variable, so there s no limit on how high they can go. And repayment terms aren t as flexible as they are for federal loans. Yet despite these drawbacks, private student loan borrowing has soared in the past decade. This year, private loans accounted for 29 percent of all loans taken out by undergraduates, according to a report released last week by the College Board. So why do borrowers take out higher-cost loans? Marketing probably plays a role. Many lenders advertise private loans on television and over the Internet. + Stafford federal student loans + Private student loans + This just in from NASFAA: Real-Time PINs Available Soon + Beginning January 1, 2008, students and parents will be able to apply for and receive a real-time PIN when completing a FAFSA on the Web or when applying for a PIN on the Department s PIN Web site. + FAFSA tips and tutorials Scholarship Update + The undergraduate scholarships are available to students who are enrolled in an Environmental Health Accreditation Council (EHAC) or is a NEHA (National Environmental Health Association) Institutional/Educational or Sustaining Member school (the colleges and universities are listed below). The undergraduate scholarship is to be used toward the tuition and fees of either your junior or senior year of college. The graduate scholarship is available to those students or career professionals who are enrolled in a graduate program of studies in environmental health sciences and/or public health. The graduate Scholarship is to be used toward tuition and fees associated with graduate studies. + Deadline February 1 + Details at our free college scholarship search site Financial Hacks + In tomorrow s interview with Brad Barnett of JMU, he refers to zero based budgeting several times + Here s a quick primer on zero-based budgeting, or active balanced budgeting + Technically, it s called active balanced budgeting - ZBB is a corporate business practice which forces departments to justify every expense; rather than assign increases in the budget based on performance or inflation, each year, a department needs to start from zero and justify all expenses + Active balanced budgeting, or personal zero-based budgeting, assigns every dollar you receive and allocates it so that at the end of the month, your budget is balanced - every dollar earned is going to an expense, and you don t spend anything you don t have + Financial consultant Dave Ramsey calls it spending your money on paper before spending it in real life - sort of a simulation + Active balanced budgeting has a couple of weaknesses + It has trouble dealing with reconciling pay periods and expense periods + Budget based on expense period for the largest consistent expense - usually rent + Also has trouble working with unexpected large expenses + Still a very valuable tool, especially for planned expenses + Plan in silly stuff + Example spreadsheet online - including beer! Did you like 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. + Click here to subscribe for free by email + Click here to subscribe for free in iTunes + Click here to add the Financial Aid Podcast to Google Reader or your Google Homepage Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Discuss this episode at the Financial Aid Forum! + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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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FAP681: How to avoid defaulting on your student loans Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Inside Higher Ed: The Education Department s cohort default rate — the rate at which student loan borrowers default within 12 to 24 months after they leave college — was initiated in the late 1980s largely to draw attention to institutions seen as preying on low-income students who may struggle to repay their loans. But changes Congress made in 1998 to how the rate is calculated have rendered it a far less useful indicator either of students indebtedness or of colleges malfeasance, numerous government and other reports have agreed in recent years. + An amendment attached to House of Representatives legislation to renew the Higher Education Act this month is designed to make the cohort default rate a more realistic assessment of how individual institutions (and lenders) are faring in keeping student borrowers on track to repayment, extending to three years from two the period over which borrowers defaults are measured. The change, if it becomes law, is likely to significantly raise most colleges default rates, which could cause problems for institutions that have historically had higher rates of student loan default — most notably for-profit career colleges, but also some two-year and historically black colleges. + The cohort default rate was largely born of concern in the mid- and late 1980s about the explosion of trade schools, particularly in cities with large populations of minority and low-income residents, that were seen as trying to build their enrollments (and profits) by enticing academically underqualified students to apply for Pell Grants or guaranteed student loans that they were unlikely to be able to repay — especially if they received a substandard education that did not lead to a good job. + The idea was that abnormally high default rates would signify a low-quality institution that was failing to prepare students for work and life, and that holding colleges accountable for the rates at which their students defaulted on loans — threatening loss of access to federal grant and loan funds for institutions whose rates exceeded 25 percent in three successive years or 40 percent in one year — would weed out fraudulent schools and force other institutions and lenders to take the issue of student debt more seriously. + Private student loans are an alternative to Title IV funding, and it s worth investigating a school s graduation and job placement rates before applying Scholarship Update + The Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research works + to foster academic achievement among our nation s young minority scholars and + advance educational equity and multicultural understanding. + We encourage and assist qualified minority students to pursue a career in education through the Brown Foundation Scholarship Program. + Be admitted to a teacher education program. Confirmation of their acceptance is required by the date of the award. + Be enrolled at an institution of higher education with an accredited program in teacher education. + Be enrolled at least half-time as defined by the higher education institution of attendance. + Have a minimum 3.0 grade point average on a 4.0 scale. + Submit two recommendations: one from a teacher, counselor, or other school official and one from a person familiar with the applicant s skills and abilities who is not a family member. + Details at our free college scholarship search site Focus on Financial Aid + Three options to prevent defaulting on your student loans + Deferment + Forbearance + Student Loan Consolidation + Deferment is an entitlement that allows you to postpone your student loan payments for up to 3 years + Deferment forms + Forbearance is similar but discretionary from the lender + Read terms carefully + Student Loan Consolidation stretches out the repayment term + Monthly savings at higher total cost assuming you only make the minimum monthly payment + Student Loan Consolidation strategy - reduce monthly payments for the first few years after college, get on your feet economically, and then make MORE than the original payment OR accept that you will pay more in interest over the life of the loan Did you like 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. + Click here to subscribe for free by email + Click here to subscribe for free in iTunes + Click here to add the Financial Aid Podcast to Google Reader or your Google Homepage Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Discuss this episode at the Financial Aid Forum! + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + 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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