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Archive for February, 2009

Feb
19

Scholarship Basics, what every student should know

Author: Sally Croft

Rebecca and Christina completed their secondary school education. Being together right from kinder garden they chose to go to the same college. Of course, they were aware of the cost and funding required for completing their graduation. But they had absolutely no idea about scholarships or grants. They decided to talk to someone about knowing the ways and means of funding their college education. That is when they struck upon Mr. Gilbert their English teacher, who always helped students in making career choices and funding their cost of education.

The same evening both left to their school, where Mr. Gilbert was returning from a meeting. Having seen them, Mr. Gilbert inquired their well being and also the reason why they were back to school, when it was time to go in search of colleges. After hearing them, Mr. Gilbert started explaining to them about funding cost of education, needs for scholarships and grants and basics about scholarships and grants.

Funding cost of education

High cost of college education is the reason why many students fail to complete their graduate studies. Cost of education is so high, which requires funding from a number of sources. The sources of funds are scholarships, grants, personal finance and loans. Again, it becomes important to exhaust the most beneficial options and then go for the next best option. This were it becomes important to understand the nature and cost of each source of finance. Among all the alternatives scholarship is a free money option. Hence, the first and the best one that should be exhausted.

Need for Scholarship

Scholarships are funds granted by the Federal Government sponsoring the educational cost of a student, subject to his fulfilling certain conditions. This first of all requires the student to make an application and subject to his qualification the grant is decided. It is like prize money offered to students for their accomplishment on required lines. Hence there is no question of repayment of scholarship amount. It is important for a student to ensure he gets his scholarship amount which is free money.

Basics about Scholarships and Grants

After having understood the need for scholarships and grants, it is time that we understand certain basic aspects of scholarship. They are as follows

  • Scholarships may be offered either by college authorities or by outsiders.
  • Scholarships are known in the name of merit aid, awards, gifts and institutional aids.
  • Scholarships are offered for a variety of reasons. There are innumerable reasons such as being tall, having a particular surname, belonging to a particular community, having a peculiar habit or mannerism and the list goes never ending.
  • Organizations such as corporate houses, high schools, communities, clubs, unions and religious groups offer scholarships to students sponsoring their education.
  • Scholarships such as National Merit Scholarships are granted to students with an annual award of $2,500 based on the PSAT score in your junior high school.
  • You should careful about scholarship scams. Dare not waste your money for nothing at all.
  • Granting of scholarships limits your other financial aid.
  • Your scholarships may or may not recur every year. You should be aware of the requirements such as reapplication or renewal.
  • Be sure about the papers to be enclosed while making an application, even a small mistake might deprive you of your opportunity to in a scholarship.
  • Scholarship amounts used for purposes other than payment of tuition fee is subject to tax.

Both Rebecca and Christina thanked Mr. Gilbert for having rendered a wonderful lecture on funding and scholarships in particular. Being more than sufficiently enriched with information both the friends started their search confidently. Are you ready for a lecture from Mr. Gilbert?

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Feb
17

Crumbling economy driving students to Online Colleges

Author: Sally Croft

Hi one and all! I had been blogging for a while now and have never seen a platform livelier than blog spots. It is the interest that actually keeps us going. Well, talking about blog spots reminds me of an article which I happen to read a Next Student.com post about Down Economy driving students to Online Education and thought, I will work on it as well.

Downtrend in Economy

Economic downturn resulted in a number of untoward happenings like closure of giant companies, consequently leading to joblessness and thereby not enough money to meet even the most basic of necessities. Aspiring students have shifted their focus to Online Education in place of regular colleges according to one of the recent surveys on online education.

While Online Education will surely see a flood of applications, all most all colleges will have more students enrolling for higher learning with an aim to secure their jobs gaining more marketable skills.

A bad economic environment acts as a motivator to students forcing them to go for higher learning programs, which otherwise will result in unemployment.

Why choose Online Colleges for higher studies?

Online education is mainly opted for the advantage it offers over a Regular College. Considering the fact the cost of an online education is not far too less than a regular college, the Online Educational Program is all about accommodating the busy lifestyle of an individual while pursuing his educational program. Flexible online environment enables students to access the classes and session from anywhere in the world wherever the internet facility is available. There is no physical restriction, hence no traveling and no timely attendance.

Again it is not just working from anywhere, you can also log into your classes at any time of the day. If you are busy in the morning, log onto to the session in the evening or night, it actually makes no difference.

The flexibility in timing is one of the most important features that attract professionals and other individuals who are otherwise tied up to their work or home based schedules.

Statistics by Sloan Consortium:

According to the statistics published by Sloan Consortium, an organization funded by Alfred P. Sloan to improve and maintain the quality of distant education, close to twenty percent of the students enrolled for a degree program have enrolled for Online Degree Course.

Of all the colleges, close to 60 percent of them claimed enrollment of students in their online courses was critical for them. With more and more students shifting their focus towards online education, all colleges are gearing up to meet the demand.

What do you think friends…acquiring an Online Degree is going to make a world of difference during current economic crisis? I have shared my feelings, but looking forward to hear your view points too, so don’t forget to share your thoughts with us.

Have a great week ahead!

 
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Feb
13

Unpaid Student Loans can turn friends into enemies – Better watch out!

Author: Sally Croft
Unpaid Students Loan

Well friends, the topic here is about how a student loan liability unpaid for a long duration of time can create havoc in relationships. A liability unpaid should always be treated on a priority basis. Well I would like to share the story of Robert a college graduate and his School Loan Saga.

Now our dear friend Robert was one of those persons, who had an easy go lucky guy attitude and was forced to depend on his education to achieve his goals. Given a very average family background Robert had no financial support from his parents to sponsor his education. For poor Robert loans where the only source of support, after having exhausted every source of his so called scholarship (free money) option.

Robert was never serious about what would happen if he was unable to pay his Student Loan Liability. Had anyone questioned him on this he would talk about starting a dairy farm or a coffee shop where one can work and enjoy life. He was employed immediately after his graduation and the income was just sufficient to pay his party bills and spend for his daily living. The act of repaying his Student Loan commitment was the least in his list prioritized spending.

Later he was not in a position to pay even a single installment, which was seriously affecting his credit score. He had even reached the stage where his bad credit score became a hurdle to his ability to borrow money for repaying a part of his Student Loan.

Friends Turning Foes
Friends who turned away

The lender company which was very friendly until then started issuing notices to him asking him to repay his loan installments and to immediately settle the amount due.

Every source of financial aid which he had turned to close their doors stating his poor credit scores the only reason for rejection. Like anyone else he even believed that all his friends will certainly come forward to help him.

It is not just friends turning into enemies; the size of the liability grows leaps and bounds. A loan of $3,000 grows into a liability of $16,000 which is huge and unimaginable. It becomes really difficult to repay the amount together with all other family commitments.

Repayment Schedule and its Solution:

It was only after all this he realized that his unplanned expenditures and lack of importance for liability repayment schedule as the reason behind all the suffering.
An immediate realization and discussion with the lender to overcome the financial crisis situation helped him from falling into the defaulters list.

It was a dream come true time for Robert; he worked in coffee shops in addition to his employment and enjoyed working there much the same way he had described. Dairy farming was his weekend occupation. He relished every moment of it.

He was thanking his School Loan Liability for the opportunity it has given him together with the enjoyment.

Self Help – Plan ahead:

As rightly said, self help was the best help he could get to repay his loan liability. With improved credit score and no further liabilities, those who had turned a deaf ear to his requests all this while were willing to come forward and help him. Yes they are the so called friends. He did describe them his wonderful time working there, and yes he understood that his best of friends turned enemies for a while, especially when he had troubled times. The list includes his own relatives who avoided him in every occasion fearing his request.

Ask Robert what it means to suffer from unpaid student loan liability? Friends, the motive behind narrating this story is to keep you informed about the importance of carefully prioritizing your loan liabilities so as to avoid both financial crisis and resultant emotional conflicts in relationship.

Well, not just Student Loan Liability any liability for that matter will have a similar situation. Do you wish to differ?

 
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