3/31: HR 609 passes, Harvard one-ups UPenn, Marbles, April Fools Day Hoaxes, Brother Love, #218

Student Financial Aid News
+ Brother Love promo
+ Are you subscribed to our newsletter?
+ Coming very soon - a podcast-based exit interview (like, in about an hour)
+ No word yet from anyone on Euro securitization
+ House passes HR 609
+ Nothing major changes, which is good and bad
+ Harvard University announced Thursday that it was raising the income level for its program to pay full costs for the lowest income students from $40,000 to $60,000. The announcement followed a move by the University of Pennsylvania, announced last week, to provide full aid packages for families with incomes up to $50,000.
+ Look for April Fool’s fun in student newspapers
+ Be careful tomorrow! Plus, keep eyes on Google and MIT
+ Swarthmore moves to increase the number of hot people in the student body
+ Hamas wins student elections in a surprise at George Washington University

Scholarship Update
+ Have we lost our marbles? No… but there’s a scholarship if you have them
+ National Marbles Tournament Scholarship
+ Tournament held on June 19-23, 2006 in Wildwood, NJ
+ Winner earns a scholarship of $5,000
+ Detailed information at our student scholarship search site!

Just For Fun
+ Top 10 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time

Podsafe Music
+ Brother Love, There She Goes
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ The student loan consolidation craze is finally over, but eligible students can still consolidate - call us at 877-328-1565 or visit StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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3/30: Politics, detective work, loans in other countries, Apple Scholarship, jobcast on career fairs, Audiopharm, #217

Student Financial Aid News
+ So far, just partisan debate in the House on the Higher Ed Act
+ Nothing of substance accomplished, which is actually good
+ House also working on 2007 budget - hoping for the $7B funds restoration the Senate included last month
+ Financial aid administrators trying to research more student loan companies
+ It’s fun to play corporate bloodhound
+ Thailand prosecutes for its student loans (at 12% rates!)
+ China blacklists you by publishing your name in various state-run publications
+ Nelnet does a $2B securitization of loans… but in Euros? How weird is that?
+ Are European investors looking to buy US student loan securities?
+ Feels like tinfoil hat territory to me

Scholarship Update
+ Apple Scholars!
+ $2,000 award
+ iPod Nano
+ MacBook Pro
+ 10 awards total
+ Deadline May 30, 2006
+ Open to undergraduates
+ Boy, I wish I could apply, more for the MacBook Pro than anything else
+ Detailed notes at StudentScholarshipSearch.com

Jobcast
+ Walking the career fair beat
+ Tips for career fair success
+ Things that make you stand out in a positive way
+ Plus intriguing questions to ask

Podsafe Music
+ Audiopharm, The Groove
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Today is the last day for 2 step student loan consolidation!
+ Call 877-328-1565 or visit StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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3/29: Consolidation countdown, UK student debt, HEA 609, BC scholarship, Affiliate programs jobcast, David McMillin, #216

Student Financial Aid News
+ Get subscribed to C.C. Chapman’s U-Turn Cafe today!
+ Tomorrow is the very last day to file an application for consolidation if you have a two step scenario
+ Call us at 877-328-1565 or visit StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Student debt is one of several reasons that 20% of bankruptcies in the UK are filed by people under age 30, according to the U.K.’s Insolvency Service.
+ In the 18-to-29 age group, the figure has jumped to 18.7% last year from 7.9% in 2001.
+ Though debt to the Student Loans Co., a U.K. government student lending agency, is not counted in bankruptcy filings, borrowers are able to file once they refinance with private lenders.
+ Changes in proposed HEA (HR 609) include price controls
+ Push to drive loans to private lenders rather than direct lending
+ Amanda Hoover in BGNews on ACLU’s push to eliminate drug clause
+ Brief rant about MySpace and parenting.

Scholarship Update
+ Today’s scholarship comes to us from Dennis Sardella at Boston College
+ Boston College Presidential Scholars Program
+ 15 incoming freshmen get a full ride
+ Deadline of November 1 for application
+ Part of application to BC
+ Total estimated worth of $2.7M
+ Detailed page on StudentScholarshipSearch.com

Jobcast
+ DIY? Sure!
+ Harness the power of the Internet
+ Top affiliate programs can generate rent money
+ Top affiliates can generate much more than rent money
+ Some good programs run through Commission Junction
+ Yes, adult programs pay well too
+ Check out StudentLoanConsolidator.com’s program - $50 per completed application
+ If you got 10 people, say, out of your 33,000 MySpace friends, to complete and return an application, you get $500
+ You could conceivably make a full time career out of it
+ You’d be a 1099 independent contractor, essentially
+ Downsides of contracting - no benefits, no withholding
+ Upsides of contracting - do what you want, when you want, earn as much as you want

Podsafe Music
+ David McMillin, Goodbye Southern Skies
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Direct file download: MP3 file

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3/28: Veterans, protests, tax day, Marine corps, federal and private loan consolidation, i:scintilla, #215

Student Financial Aid News
+ Illinois veterans grant falls short, preventing funding of veterans’ education
+ American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admission Officers and several faculty unions and student groups takes out ad protesting HEA
+ Reminder that April 15 is tax day and 80% of the FAFSA is just IRS data
+ File your taxes, file your FAFSA
+ A group of college students protesting proposed cuts to state spending on higher education crashed the ceremonial swearing-in Monday of Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen in NJ
+ Gov. Corzine’s proposed budget calls for $169 million in cuts to higher education, which some have said will cause a 31 percent tuition hike at Rutgers (SUNJ)
+ T bill slips 5 basis points to 4.61%
+ Oil remains high at $64/barrel, $2.50 at the pump due to Nigeria and Iran
+ GMU hoping for students, donors in wake of Cinderella ball

Scholarship Update
+ Marine Corps Scholarship Fund
+ For current college students
+ Focus on children of parents KIA
+ Maximum AGI of $63,000
+ 2.0 GPA
+ FAFSA
+ 300 word essay
+ Nearly $2M in awards
+ April 15, 2006 deadline
+ Detailed information at our free scholarship search web site

Focus on Financial Aid
+ One of the most common questions we get:
+ Why can’t I consolidate federal and private student loans together?
+ They are most emphatically not the same
+ Federal student loans are insured and guaranteed by the federal government
+ They have interest rate caps
+ They have predictable returns
+ They have strong default protections for banks
+ Private student loans are not insured or guaranteed by the federal government
+ There are private guarantee agencies
+ No interest rate caps
+ Variable rates adjust more quickly
+ Tied to variable indexes with no caps
+ Riskier for banks
+ Combining a low risk investment for the bank with a high risk one is a bad idea from a bank’s perspective
+ Learn more at StudentLoanConsolidator.com/private

Podsafe Music
+ i:scintilla, Capsella
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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3/27: Federal funds rate, prime rate, HEA reauthorization, taekwondo scholarship, jobcast, Greta Gaines, #214

Student Financial Aid News
+ What’s that sound? Why, it’s the FOMC raising rates again
+ Reminder - anything tied to Federal funds rate is going up to 4.75%
+ Prime rate
+ 91 day T-bill
+ Anything tied to these rates also going up
+ Credit cards
+ Mortgages
+ Home equity loans
+ Student loans
+ Anything variable rate is currently your enemy
+ HEA 2.0 hits the House floor this week
+ Many lobbying groups are not sure what to protest, since no one has actually seen the legislation yet, and won’t until about 24 hours before the vote
+ Mistakes in SAT scores could cost scholarships
+ Don’t try to bluff on aid offers - colleges will ask to see proof of other offers
+ On a lighter note: who will be the first politician in the 2006 cycle with a MySpace profile? Talk about politics 2.0!
+ Also a lighter note: bang goes my bracket, and bravo for the team being named The Patriots

Scholarship Update
+ American Taekwondo Association Eternal Grandmaster H. U. Lee Scholarship
+ 3.0 GPA
+ Usual paperwork
+ $3,000 scholarship
+ Detailed page at StudentScholarshipSearch.com

Jobcast
+ “I have no experience”
+ There’s only one way to get experience - go out and do it
+ Public service
+ Non-profits
+ Short term gigs and contract work
+ While in school is a great time to build experience
+ Internships
+ Yes, there’s even such a thing in the porn industry, just go check Craigslist

Podsafe Music
+ Greta Gaines, Honeycomb
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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3/25: Saturday night frivolity on the Financial Aid Podcast, #213

There’s an awful lot of profanity in the songs in tonight’s show. This show has been tagged as explicit, so please be aware that it’s not work safe or family friendly, unless everyone in your family can go see R-rated movies without parental accompaniment.

Podsafe Music
+ Madsumo, There’s So Many Ways I Can Kill You
+ Sudden Death, Spam
+ Lascivious Biddies, Famous
+ Sudden Death, Pop Star
+ George Hrab, Thank You For Calling
+ Geoff Smith, Not On The Radio
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Here’s the text of the poem read on yesterday’s show.

–

Suppose you screeve? or go cheap-jack?
Or fake the broads? or fig a nag?
Or thimble-rig? or knap a yack?
Or pitch a snide? or smash a rag?
Suppose you duff? or nose and lag?
Or get the straight, and land your pot?
How do you melt the multy swag?
Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

Fiddle, or fence, or mace, or mack;
Or moskeneer, or flash the drag;
Dead-lurk a crib, or do a crack;
Pad with a slang, or chuck a fag;
Bonnet, or tout, or mump and gag;
Rattle the tats, or mark the spot;
You can not bank a single stag;
Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

Suppose you try a different tack,
And on the square you flash your flag?
At penny-a-lining make your whack,
Or with the mummers mug and gag?
For nix, for nix the dibbs you bag!
At any graft, no matter what,
Your merry goblins soon stravag:
Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

It’s up the spout and Charley Wag
With wipes and tickers and what not.
Until the squeezer nips your scrag,
Booze and the blowens cop the lot.

3/24: Bidding wars for low income students, Russia, report cards for Congress, St. John U, jobcast, poetry, Hungry Lucy, #212

Student Financial Aid News
+ Props and a shout out to the Mommycast
+ UPenn announced it would pay for tuition, room and board for all students from families with incomes of up to $50,000
+ Enormously wealthy schools competing energetically for high ability, low-income students
+ Exceeding the levels of Harvard and Stanford, UPenn may be challenging those institutions in the kind of bidding war low-income students would love
+ MIT announces the iLab
+ Remote labs especially for colleges that can’t afford top end labs
+ Perhaps institutions can collaborate on their shopping lists, so rather than every campus buying the same piece of equipment, institutions can buy different things and share
+ April 1 the offer letters start rolling out
+ Russia announces that federal spending on education has quintupled in 5 years
+ Wouldn’t that be nice? It’d mean today a DOE budget alone of $250 billion and Pell grants for $20K
+ All this talk about politics and education - want to let your leaders know?
+ Check out the StudentLoanConsolidator.com Report Card. See who voted for July 1 rate increases.
+ Then call and fax them your thanks or your… well, you know.

Scholarship Update
+ St. John’s University Full Tuition Presidential Scholarship
+ Full tuition plus $7,500 housing grant
+ For freshmen
+ April 1, 2006
+ Other SJU scholarships available at that link
+ Detailed scholarship information at StudentScholarshipSearch.com

Jobcast
+ Determining company’s culture
+ Pay attention to details on the interview
+ Requires good presence of mind
+ Look at what’s up in offices and cubicles
+ Use the rest rooms! (I’m not kidding)
+ Listen to interviewers and tone of voice
+ A great interview question - “What do you like most and least about working here?”
+ Another one - “What’s the most exciting thing you’ve been able to accomplish here?”
+ Listen not only to responses but to enthusiasm - if you ask a question that should generate excitement and it fails to - beware!
+ Compare my responses at my two jobs
+ Remember Blink - trust your gut!

A Bit of Poetry
+ Francois Villon / William Ernest Henley
+ Straight tip to all cross coves
+ Swindler’s language of their day, published as a manual so that the average person would know what a hustler was saying while playing three card monte
+ The signature line is the moral of the story - wine and women are the downfall of hustlers

Podsafe Music
+ Hungry Lucy, You Are
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Direct file download: MP3 file

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I haven’t been a subscriber, but in reviewing my web stats for this month, I noticed that the Mommycast featured our promo in Episode 68.

So…

Check out the Mommycast!

And props to Gretchen and Paige. Thanks for the promo!

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3/23: Textbook rental, two step consolidation, make your own scholarship, award letters and student loans, Matthew Ebel, #211

Student Financial Aid News
+ Bellevue Community College in suburban Seattle will join the small but growing number of colleges that allow students to rent rather than buy textbooks
+ In Florida, the House Colleges and Universities Committee unanimously passed a bill this week that would allow students to buy books without paying sales tax
+ Southeast Missouri State University has one of the longest-running programs. When students there register for classes at the start of each semester, they pay a $17.75 flat fee per course to check out a book at the beginning of class and return it once finals are through
+ Textbook rental is like a scholarship for every student
+ Here’s the deal as we understand it right now on two step consolidation
+ Previous consolidation with DoE? March 31 deadline
+ Direct or Perkins plus FFELP? March 31
+ Direct only? Whenever
+ 2+ FFELP? Whenever
+ Single lender? March 31 super 2 step
+ Get it done now - apply online and opt for eSignature or call us 877-328-1565
+ Oh yeah, get ready for massive amounts of spam from every consolidation company on earth

Scholarship Update
+ Make your own scholarship of sorts
+ Develop a network of personal and professional contacts
+ Don’t be afraid to ask for help
+ Consider setting up a personal scholarship web site
+ Hey, if it becomes popular enough, sell advertising
+ Set up a PayPal account and solicit donations
+ Ask for local corporate sponsorships
+ Do a podcast! Do a video podcast!
+ BE CREATIVE!

Focus on Financial Aid
+ The award letter - or what to do when enough isn’t enough
+ Options for you
+ Talk, talk, talk!
+ Ask for help from the pros - financial aid officers
+ Scholarship search in overdrive including previous tips
+ Loans as late-game option
+ Stafford loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Parents, don’t touch that retirement!

Podsafe Music
+ Matthew Ebel, Drive Away
+ for SALE on the PMN! Support indie artists and blow the 99 cents.
+ Via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com or visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com

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Direct file download: MP3 file

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