I’ve gotten a lot of questions as PodCamp co-founder about whether I’ll be at the PME or not. No, I won’t be. The reason has nothing to do with a PodCamp vs. PME thing - it’s that I have a different event scheduled for this weekend. I’ll be at New England Warrior Camp, the headline event in my martial arts practice. Would that I could be in two places at once, I’d gladly go to both, but I can’t, so I have to choose. PME would undoubtedly be good for me professionally, but Warrior Camp is necessary for me mentally and spiritually right now - a lot of this year’s theme is going to be about being brutally honest with yourself, and that’s something I very much need at this point in time. Maybe next year for the PME. In the meantime, PodCamp co-founder Chris Brogan is at PME. Go ping him!

A video of the Light the Night Boston 2006 Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma. Many thanks to everyone who donated to us!

YouTube Version
ipod Version
High Quality Version

Reminders
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.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, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: M4V file

One term I’ve heard a lot recently is whuffie - a sort of non-tangible form of social currency, where your actions, words, and thoughts accrue the goodwill of others, and which you can then turn around and “spend” on others. Instead of financial value, whuffie is reputation value. PodCamp recently gave me a major infusion of whuffie, a fact I readily acknowledge. I’ve tried to be very cautious about spending it, and spending it selectively, because while whuffie is transient in nature, it can still make a major impact, and you have to manage it as you would any form of currency.

Today was my first major whuffie transaction after PodCamp. I know a lot of folks have been waiting to see what would happen, and what happened was this: my wife and I are walking in the Light the Night Leukemia and Lymphoma Walk tonight on the Boston Common. It’s a very good cause. I took my contacts, which are the foundation of whuffie (the more people you know, the more you participate in the whuffie economy - whuffieconomy?) and asked them for help, and they came through.

Here’s a list of the people who have come through so far:

• Bridges, Steven
• Cronin, Joe
• Davis, Mark
• Keller, Sandra
• Leonard, Monique
• Mills, Linda
• North-Martino, David
• Pulver, Jeff
• Unger, David
• Willison, Geoffrey

Many thanks to everyone who believes in what I do and what I try to stand for! Want to add your name? Click here to participate!

FAP368: Focus on Financial Aid: Private Student Loans, Commission on Higher Ed, scholarship directory, Jerzy Jung

Student Financial Aid News
+ One day after Margaret Spellings offered her prescription for the future of higher education, the Cato Institute sponsored the first of what will be many more forums in the coming months about the work of the education secretary’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The panel featured commentators from across the political spectrum: The author and blogger Anya Kamenetz bemoaned the absence of student voices and student-centered concerns from the commission’s work. Neal McCluskey, an analyst at the libertarian Cato think tank, criticized the secretary and the commission for opening the door to a significantly expanded federal role in higher education. Christopher B. Nelson, president of St. John’s College, in Maryland, said colleges were already assessing their performance and measuring student learning much more than the commission gave them credit for, and urged Spellings to respect the variety in institutions’ missions. And Charles Miller, chairman of the Spellings panel, warned colleges that they need to take the commission’s calls for change seriously or risk having government impose solutions, which he agreed was not desirable.
+ Every three months for the past year, Congress has approved a bill to temporarily extend the Higher Education Act. Tonight, lawmakers did something a little different: On a voice vote, the House of Representatives approved a nine-month extension.
+ The law, which governs most federal student-aid programs, had been set to expire on Saturday. The Senate is expected to approve the extension bill (HR 6138) this week and send it to President Bush.
+ The House passed HR 609—its bill to renew, or reauthorize, the law—in March (The Chronicle, March 31), but the Senate is still debating its reauthorization measure (S 1614).
+ The latest extension—until June 30, 2007—suggests that lawmakers do not expect to complete their work to revise and reauthorize the law this year. Congress will recess at the end of this week, then reconvene in a lame-duck session after the November election.
+ A boom in private student loans have seen their share of the market grow to 18 percent of all student loans and about 10 percent of all student aid awarded — a total of $13.8 billion in 2004-5.
+ iTunes updated overnight

Scholarship Update
+ Looking around for 2007 scholarships and saw a massive directory presented by HACC - Harrisburg Area Community College
+ Literally 118 scholarships there
+ Close to $150,000
+ Varying deadlines
+ FAFSA required for most
+ Detailed information at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: 2007 scholarships

Focus on Financial Aid: Private Student Loans
+ What are private student loans?
+ What is the role of private student loans?
+ Private student loans
+ Private education loans

Podsafe Music
+ Jerzy Jung, How It Ends
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at 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, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Talking with some of the folks affiliated with Podcast Ready and the whole Apple/myPodder kerfuffle. Others have covered it in depth. My suggestion - I’m tied in nicely with my Powerbook, iTunes, and iPod. I love the combination, and it’s near bulletproof. BUT… it would be neat to have wireless access on my iPod so I didn’t have to carry around my Powerbook. If Podcast Ready had:

• myPodder software that was one click install - because now it’s not
• myPodder embedded in a dockable 802.11 antenna
• myPodder synchronization with host iTunes

I’d probably rarely, if ever, dock with my Powerbook again. The iPod’s internal battery drains fast enough as is - I’d rather the antenna take a AA or AAA battery, but if the myPodder software were embedded in it and could keep everything in sync and updated for me… that would be wicked cool. I’d be loving that.

FAP367: Expert Interview with Keith Clausen, Commission On the Future of Higher Education, PSU scholarship, More Natalie Gelman

+ The Secretary’s proposal:
+ Simplify the process by partnering with states to use existing income and tax data to help students complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in half the time.
+ Notify students of their estimated aid eligibility before spring of their senior year in high school.
+ Work with Congress to provide new funds for need-based aid through the federal financial aid system.
+ Commission an independent management consultant review of the federal financial aid system.
+ Revitalize the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE) to promote innovation and productivity.
+ Encourage organizations that report annual college data to develop consistent affordability measures.
+ “A former U.S. deputy secretary of education recommended on Monday that all personal income-tax deductions and credits for higher-education costs be repealed, and that the resulting $8-billion in savings be redirected to Pell Grants,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “William D. Hansen, who is now a partner in Chartwell Education Group, a consulting firm, also recommended that the federal government auction its direct-student-loan portfolio to the private sector, privatize the Perkins Loan program, and encourage charitable organizations to guarantee educational loans for students from low- and middle-income families so they would be eligible for lower interest rates. Mr. Hansen’s recommendations are contained in one of a number of reports that were presented on Monday at a conference, sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute, on student loans.”
+ Entertainment-industry officials, often using pointed language, argued at a Congressional hearing on Tuesday that most colleges have not taken sufficient steps to discourage students from downloading pirated music and movie files.
+ At the hearing, held by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee, the officials intensified their attempts to press colleges to offer campuswide subscriptions to legal downloading services, and to install software that can block students from trading copyrighted material on peer-to-peer networks.
+ Or, maybe you could stop jacking consumers and publish content from artists that fairly compensates them and allows them to express themselves
+ Like Podsafe Music - yesterday morning I played Natalie Gelman’s music, and she IM’ed me, which was very cool. Can you IM Metallica? I doubt it.

Scholarship Update
+ Portland State University Scholarships for Entering International Students
+ $3,000 - $4,500 per scholarship
+ Deadline April 1, 2007
+ 3.5 GPA on a 4.0 scale
+ TOEFL/TEFL test requirements
+ Must be admitted to PSU
+ Detailed information at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: unrestricted international scholarship deadline

Interview Series: Keith Clausen
+ Director and CEO of Envisage International
+ Resources include International Scholarships, International Student Loans, and International Financial Aid

Podsafe Music
+ Natalie Gelman, Always Was
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at 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, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Technorati Tags: financial aid, financialaidpodcast

Original show notes and MP3 can be found here!

This is a long interview with Raza Khan of MRU Holdings, talking to a degree about the provocative ads MRU placed in the New York Times and other newspapers.

(more…)

Original show notes and MP3 can be found here!

This is a transcript of one of our expert interview series with Jim Eddy of Scholarships America.

(more…)

FAP366: Focus on Financial Aid: The Stafford Loan, plus derivatives and credit risk, public investor scholarship, Natalie Gelman

Student Financial Aid News
+ Commission on the Future of Higher Education report and speech due today
+ Exactly where the market in private (non-federal) student loans may be heading, and what the implications might be for students and families, colleges and governments, were at the core of “Footing the Tuition Bill: New Developments in the Student-Loan Industry and How They Are Changing the Way We Pay for Higher Education,” a daylong seminar sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. A series of financial aid experts, policy makers, scholars and lenders offered their insights, predictions and warnings, and the resulting discussion, like many a Washington policy discussion with a broad topic, was all over the map. Participants generally agreed that the use of such loans was expanding rapidly, but differed on whether the use of such loans expanded access to (or at least choice in) higher education or threatened to push many more students into overindebtedness.
+ Gray zone loans - not poor enough for free money, not rich enough to pay out of pocket
+ Private college loans at ActEducationLoans.com
+ Derivatives market hits nearly half a quadrillion dollars
+ Should you be concerned? Yes, especially if you have any kind of retirement plan that uses derivatives and hedge funds
+ The technical definition of a derivative is a contract that is based on the value of underlying financial instruments - a contract based on predictions
+ A way to offload risk
+ A lot of people buy contracts for heating oil at the beginning of a winter and try to predict the coldness of that winter to base their purchase price - this is a futures contract
+ Now layer on a derivative
+ “I’ll make you a bet…”
+ $50 for oil price lock in, $40 at the end of the season - I make a bet to cover the difference, $10. If oil is $50, I lose the bet but I don’t lose money on the contract. If oil is $40, I win the bet but lose the money. If oil is $60, I win the bet AND save some money.
+ Sometimes you win big. Sometimes you lose big.
+ What makes this dangerous financially is that there’s no product or goods changing hands - no value to the contract - you’re not betting on the oil, you’re betting on the price of the oil - it’s gambling
+ Imagine doing this on a massive scale, and layering it many times over
+ If you’re right, you get paid - if you’re wrong, you end up having to pay the broker for the overpriced stock
+ This is why it’s so dangerous - there’s no regulation

Scholarship Update
+ George A. Nielsen Public Investor Scholarship
+ The Public Investor Scholarship of $5,000 (may be two awards of $2,500 each) is available for award to an employee of a local government or other public entity who is enrolled or plans to enroll in an undergraduate or graduate program in public administration, finance, business administration, or related field. The purpose of the Public Investor Scholarship is to support the studies of full- or part-time undergraduate or graduate students with career interests in the efficient and productive investment of public funds.
+ Employed at least one year by a state, local, government or other public entity.
+ Enrollment in an undergraduate or graduate program in public administration, finance, business administration, or related field before funds are awarded.
+ Citizen or permanent resident of the United States or Canada.
+ Recommendation by your employer.
+ Student has not been a past winner of a scholarship administered by the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada are not eligible to apply.
+ Detailed page at our free student scholarship search site
+ Search term: young investor scholarship
+ Less than a week away from scholarship points drawing!

Focus on Financial Aid: The Stafford Loan
+ The process
+ FAFSA (file your FAFSA at FAFSAonline.com)
+ SAR
+ Application
+ Get your Stafford federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ School certification
+ Disbursement
+ Why a Stafford loan? Rates, deferment.
+ Consolidation after graduation
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com or 877-328-1565

Podsafe Music
+ Natalie Gelman, Never Had You
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at 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, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

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