FAP545: iTunesU is a glimpse at the future of higher education, Black Lab

I was going to do a regular episode today until I saw an article on the Chronicle of Higher Education about something amazing.

+ The big news, the amazing news - iTunesU.
+ Go there in iTunes now
+ I’m pretty much going to rave about this for days.
+ Academic implications - what is the value of a college degree if the academic components are rapidly approaching free?
+ Colleges as communities
+ Colleges as certification bodies
+ MIT degrees certify a standard of academic quality - even if your knowledge didn’t come from MIT
+ Imagine if you showed up at Trenton State College in New Jersey for a physics course, having taken the same course at MIT through iTunesU
+ Best of the best are available
+ Professors as media rockstars - create a best of the best university on your iPod
+ Anyone with broadband can get access to world class educational content now
+ Financial aid implications
+ Would you pay for a 4 year college degree if you could walk in and test out of 3/4 of the course load?
+ Would the college be justified in charging the same price if all they do is certify that you know your stuff?
+ Would you as a student be tempted to take these courses rather than a regular degree if you could test out of most of the courseload?

Promo
+ Private Student Loans from Act Education Loans

Podsafe Music
+ Black Lab, Gone
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Buy Virtual Hot Wings, the Matthew Ebel live bootleg album!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

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The Financial Aid Podcast has made it as a podcast. How do I know? The show has a shirt.

I don’t know if these will be available publicly - if they are, they’ll be made available to the Loyalists first, so make sure you’re a member of the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists group on Facebook!

FAP544: New student loan rates set, Latinos and financial aid, military student loans, Sophia Ramos

Student Financial Aid News
+ From BankNet360: Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corp. will not charge military personnel interest on loans while they are deployed, the West Des Moines, Iowa-based nonprofit announced. Troops can receive the break for up to two years. Iowa Student Loan Liquidity has 347 employees, and holds $2.45 billion of loans made to 214,000 borrowers.
+ From Inside HIgher Ed: Latinos, on average, receive less federal aid for college than any other ethnic or racial group. But pinning down why that is — especially when more Latinos than average apply for financial aid — is like deciding which came first, the chicken or the egg.
+ That’s what some of the analysts at a policy session on Tuesday likened the problem to. The briefing, a forum for House of Representatives legislative staff and experts, focused on the particular realities that face Latino students seeking to attend — and pay for — college.
+ Are Latinos more likely to attend two-year community colleges and four-year public universities than average because they get less financial aid? Or do they get less financial aid because the tuition at such institutions is lower?
+ The answer would have a significant policy impact, and the panelists seemed to lean toward the latter — that Latinos gravitate toward institutions that require less financial aid.
+ One thing not mentioned strongly: in talking with folks at MCGS and online like last year’s interview with Sophia Ramos, there’s a strong cultural bias against lending in Hispanic and Latino communities

Scholarship Update
+ The Hispanic Scholarship Fund Network
+ $195 million in scholarships - two year, four year, transfer, you name it
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Interest Rate Update
+ Interest rates set! 4.919%, an increase of 7.6 basis points over last year.
+ Last week: 4.914%
+ Rates will be set beginning July 1, 2007 for Stafford and PLUS loans prior to July 1, 2006:
+ Stafford federal student loans in grace: 6.619%
+ Stafford federal student loans in repayment: 7.219%
+ PLUS parent student loans: 8.019%
+ Today’s current rates:
+ Stafford federal student loans in grace: 6.543%
+ Stafford federal student loans in repayment: 7.143%
+ PLUS parent student loans: 7.943%
+ Stafford federal student loans after July 1, 2006: 6.8%
+ PLUS parent student loans after July 1, 2006: 8.5%
+ Year over year difference of 7.6 basis points
+ To consolidate your federal student loans, visit www.StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Full disclosure: consolidating now or later may not change your consolidated interest rate because it’s rounded up to the next nearest 1/8th of a percentage
+ Beware of consolidation marketing from less scrupulous lenders screaming warnings at you that rates are going up - yes they are, but not by much, and consolidating may not save you all that much - do your research before jumping into a student loan consolidation
+ Run the numbers yourself - use our calculator at StudentLoanConsolidator.com

Podsafe Music
+ Sophia Ramos, Esperanza
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Buy Virtual Hot Wings, the Matthew Ebel live bootleg album!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

So I’ve been playing around with the Facebook Development Platform, and managed to put together a Podcast Player for Facebook that will play a few episodes of a podcast, plus offer subscription links and all that great stuff. It’s a work in progress, and there are definitely things I want to tune up, but it will debut at PodCamp Europe. See you there!

Be sure to bookmark/tag this page as well. When the player becomes available, you’ll be able to download the source code here.

UPDATE: The player is now in beta (out of alpha) and in testing for the Financial Aid Podcast. If everything works well, I’ll publish the code here, but I really want to make it more spreadable.

FAP543: Facebook lending, Free Stuff Tuesday, bill of rights, Rayko KRB

Student Financial Aid News
+ From BankNet360 and the “Why didn’t I think of that sooner” column: The sixth-most-trafficked web site in the U.S. now has a personal lending element.
+ Facebook, the online social network, yesterday launched the person-to-person lending service managed by Lending Club. The service will allow users to borrow and lend money directly among each other. Borrowers can apply for loans of as much as $25,000, but they must have a credit score of at least 640 — essentially a prime borrower — to obtain credit.
+ Lending Club’s proprietary LendingMatch system helps lenders identify loans based on pre-set criteria, such as being Facebook friends or being in the same network, group or geography. Lending Club handles user authentication, bank account verification, credit checking, credit reporting, funds transfers, and collections.
+ The company generates revenue by collecting a one-time processing fee of 0.75% to 2% of the loan amount from borrowers and a processing fee of 1% of the installment amounts from lenders.
+ From NASFAA: According to a press release from the attorney general’s office release yesterday, the Student Bill of Rights includes the following rights:
+ To unbiased advice about loans and lenders from schools’ financial aid offices.
+ To choose the lender, even if the lender is not included on the school’s preferred lender lists.
+ To know what criteria a school uses to select preferred lenders.
+ To know whether preferred lenders are paying the school or financial aid officers.
+ To know what benefits or rate discounts lenders offer, and whether those benefits or discounts will be made immediately available, or only after a certain number of consecutive timely payments.
+ To know if a lender has agreed to sell its loans to another lender.
+ To know whether borrower benefits and discounts will continue if the loan is sold.
+ To know the interest rate for the loan before borrowing.
+ To exhaust federal borrowing options before turning to higher cost private student loans.
+ From NASFAA: “Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas on Wednesday signed into law a bill providing $12 million for college scholarships and work force training,” reports the Associated Press. “Douglas proposed the program in his State of the State address last year, but it was derailed as the result of a disagreement over how to fund it. Under the program: Close to $8 million will be divided among the University of Vermont, state colleges and the Vermont Student Assistance Corp., which will award it to students. The rest will be allotted to a half-dozen work force training programs administrated by the state Labor Department.”
+ File under also obvious: Students who binge drink are less likely than other students to have good decision-making skills, even when the students aren’t drunk, according to new research that will be published in Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.

Scholarship Update
+ Mississippi State Promise Program
+ Requires 3.0 GPA, FAFSA, admittance to Mississippi State school
+ Non-loan aid for low income families to attend Mississippi State Schools
+ Details at our free scholarship search site

Free Stuff Tuesday
+ Dealighted
+ 10 ways to be productive with Backpack
+ MP3myMP3
+ Streamtuner for Linux
+ Desktop Two
+ OSalt.com
+ Tribler video recommendation site
+ Best WiFi Hotels

Podsafe Music
+ Rayko KRB, Charp
+ Pre-order Rayko’s new album now - $9.99
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Buy Virtual Hot Wings, the Matthew Ebel live bootleg album!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP542: Student Loan Radio, Memorial Day 2007

A music special for Memorial Day. Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed this year on 2007-05-28). It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country. It began first to honor Union soldiers who died during the American Civil War. After World War I, it expanded to include those who died in any war or military action.

Podsafe Music
- Madly Jadly, America the Beautiful
- Rebecca Loebe, Jason
- Matthew Ebel, Amazing Grace
- Rob Costlow, Goodbyes
- Bree Noble, the Star Spangled Banner
- Geoff Smith, No More Summertime Blues
- Matthew Ebel, Latte Days and Porter Nights

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Buy Virtual Hot Wings, the Matthew Ebel live bootleg album!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Out of the office today headed for Dayton, Ohio, for a Stephen K. Hayes seminar.

A few weeks back, I met up with the New England Podcasters at the Paradise Lounge in Boston for a night of independent music. Two podsafe artists, David McMillin and Todd Martin, played, along with a couple others. Here’s some admittedly shaky footage from the concert, shot on a little Nikon point and shoot camera. As an aside, I’ve found that Nikon’s point and shoot cameras take lousy pictures, but terrific video. Go figure!

iPod MP4 version: MP4 file
High Quality MP4 version: MP4 file 640×480

Podsafe Music
+ David McMillin
+ Todd Martin

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Buy Virtual Hot Wings, the Matthew Ebel live bootleg album!
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

I’ve been a part of a project called Virtual Hot Wings, which is a fan-generated virtual CD for indie musician Matthew Ebel, who you’ve heard on the podcast a whole lot. I respect Matthew greatly for being a fantastic musician AND for breaking out on his own to do what he loves most, and helped with the creation of this CD. Here’s what is on it:

• 300 DPI cover art for printing your own jewel case insert
• 300 DPI label for printing your own CD label
• 4 complete free concerts of Matthew’s at various venues in Second Life
• 13 pre-ripped MP3s for use in iTunes or the MP3 player of your choice
• Matthew Ebel’s press kit - if you know of anyone looking to book a gig with the new hardest working man in music (with respect to the late James Brown), or is looking for corporate music production, please feel free to distribute Matthew’s press kit
• Two 30 second ringtones for your phone or Skype - Drive Away, and Coffeehouse Interlude

It’s available at http://www.VirtualHotWings.com right now.

Please buy a copy of Virtual Hot Wings. It supports an independent musician and absolutely every penny/Linden goes to him, no middlemen. This distribution model has the potential to help indie musicians everywhere earn a living doing what they do best, and what we love them most for - playing music.

Check out the press release here.

FAP540: Google your next job on LinkedIn, half tuition scholarship, Virtual Hot Wings, Matthew Ebel

Student Financial Aid News
+ From BankNet360: Florida Atlantic University canceled a two-year-old agreement with University Financial Services, by which the school received $50 for every alumnus to consolidate student loans with UFS.
+ In exchange, the Clearwater, Fla.-based lender was permitted to use FAU’s name in conjunction with its web site and phone number. However, unlike many such agreements being criticized lately, FAU did not provide alumni lists and did not list UFS as a preferred lender.
+ UFS is also a $1,000 corporate sponsor of the university’s athletic department.
+ The move is more fallout from a nationwide student loan industry investigation, led by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
+ FAU earlier this month ended a deal with JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s education finance unit.
+ J. Christopher Flowers, the investment banker who is leading the takeover of SLM Corp. [ticker: SLM], forced Chief Executive Thomas Fitzpatrick to resign because of his poor relations with Capitol Hill, according to the Washington Post.
+ From BankNet360: Sallie Mae was recently bought for $25 billion by a group of four investors, including J.C. Flowers & Co., whose chief financial officer, Edward Grebow, will oversee the transaction. Grebow is known for his good relationships with Democrats, while in past years Sallie Mae has leaned heavily toward Republican ideals.
+ The Reston-Va.-based company, which is highly dependent on government subsidies to administer federal student loans, will be led on an interim basis by C.E. Andrews, Sallie Mae’s chief financial officer.
+ From NASFAA: “[W]hen you attend a seminar or workshop on college funding or financial aid, research the company or individual conducting it and determine if they are truly an authority on the subject,” advises The Orange County Register. “You may find their primary business to be annuity and life insurance sales, not college funding. When your consultation shifts to a discussion of moving money, beware of terms like loophole, liquid annuity, guaranteed return-of-premium, or penalty-free. Due to the treatment of parent and student assets in the financial aid formulas, the concept of moving money in order to qualify for more financial aid has been around for some time. There are mixed views concerning this practice among financial aid administrators and college funding professionals.”

Scholarship Update
+ The Department of Physics is pleased to announce the Randall Ledford Scholarship for students entering Fall 2007. This is a four-year half-tuition scholarship awarded to a promising incoming physics major attending Wake Forest University. The award is worth a minimum of $64,280.
+ Arrange for the letters of recommendation called for by the above applications. At least one recommendation should come from someone who can comment on your potential in science.
+ Include a brief letter asking to be considered for the Ledford Scholarship, describing how you became interested in science, and describing your career aspirations.
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Jobcast
+ Covered the social media resume
+ Covered how to ask questions on LinkedIn
+ Reading the Dip by Seth Godin
+ If you really know what you want to do and even a company you want to work for, LinkedIn may be an opportunity to a back door
+ Expanding your network with LIONs
+ Make sure you brand all the messages you pass
+ Use Google to find company names in people’s profiles
+ “coca cola” marketing site:linkedin.com
+ Then make honest, direct requests to forward
+ Brand those, too
+ We’re hiring again - more to come later today

Podsafe Music
+ Matthew Ebel, I Know You’re There
+ The album is called Virtual Hot Wings

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP539: EASFAA Field Correspondent Jennifer Roberts, student loan interest rate update, Geoff Smith

Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: As a bipartisan and bicameral group of members of Congress introduced yet another expensive plan Tuesday to expand existing tax credits for college tuition costs, it is becoming increasingly apparent that lawmakers intend, one way or another, to again turn to the tax code to give students and their families some relief from soaring tuition rates. What is far less clear, though, is whether Congressional tax writers will ask higher education itself — through increased taxation of colleges — to pick up some or all of the tab.
+ Among the possibilities that have been discussed: taxing the tuition benefits that some colleges now provide tax-free to employees and their children; making nonprofit organizations’ hedge fund investments subject to unrelated business income tax; and applying to some college or university endowments the sort of requirement foundations face to spend a minimum proportion of their assets each year, with the ultimate goal of prodding the wealthiest institutions to spend their own funds rather than raising tuition ever higher.
+ IHE: Weeks after Sallie Mae announced the proposed sale of the company to a consortium of private equity firms and banks, the student loan giant continued a governance overhaul, announcing that its chief executive officer, Tim Fitzpatrick, would resign. The news of Fitzpatrick’s departure, which several industry analysts had predicted, is seen as potentially easing Congressional opposition to the sale of Sallie Mae, because Fitzpatrick was a combative figure who bluntly criticized Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the education kingmaker in the Senate, for his scrutiny of the student loan programs during a January investor call. Sallie Mae’s new owners, led by the J.C. Flowers private equity firm, had announced Monday a series of “responsible lending” practices to guide Sallie Mae going forward, including the appointment of an entirely new Board of Directors, an independent monitoring committee, and increased transparency in its operations.
+ Interest rate update: one week left until the Treasury Bill rate is set for variable rate student loans
+ Last week: 4.867%
+ This week: 4.914%
+ IF rates were set today for Stafford and PLUS loans prior to July 1, 2006:
+ Stafford federal student loans in grace: 6.614%
+ Stafford federal student loans in repayment: 7.214%
+ PLUS parent student loans: 8.014%
+ Today’s current rates:
+ Stafford federal student loans in grace: 6.543%
+ Stafford federal student loans in repayment: 7.143%
+ PLUS parent student loans: 7.943%
+ Stafford federal student loans after July 1, 2006: 6.8%
+ PLUS parent student loans after July 1, 2006: 8.5%
+ Year over year difference of 71 basis points
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com or 877-328-1565

Scholarship Update
+ The AAA Travel High School Challenge
+ The AAA Travel High School Challenge aims to increase travel and geographic literacy and encourages interest in travel, tourism and hospitality careers among high school students.
+ $100,000 in prizes
+ $20,000 grand prize
+ $5,000 awards
+ $1,000
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Field Correspondent Report
+ Jennifer Roberts, Edvisors Business Development Director
+ Reporting live from EASFAA

Podsafe Music
+ Geoff Smith, Set the Music Free
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network

Reminders
+ Join the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalists on Facebook
+ Make me your Facebook friend
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.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 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/itunes/

Direct MP3 file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast