FAP768: Determining which college is cheapest, YouTube Scholarship

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: According to a new nationwide survey conducted through The Chronicle/Gallup Panel, 42 percent of Americans think that controlling college costs is “extremely important” for the next president to address, ahead of higher-education issues such as quality, college access for low-income students, and the extreme concentration of wealth among elite institutions.
+ While Americans are clearly worried about college costs, one finding in the survey captures how conflicted they are about the issue. When asked if the federal government should have a role in controlling tuition at public and private colleges, the results were almost evenly split: 51 percent said yes, 49 percent no.
+ Boston Globe: Earlier this month, New Hampshire’s largest provider of student loans said it will no longer offer certain loans for its neediest applicants because rising interest rates have made them too expensive. A Massachusetts student loan agency expects it will have to charge borrowers higher rates on loans later this year, in order to be able to resell them to investors.
+ The problems emerged because the bond insurers were investing in instruments tied to subprime mortgages. Those holdings have spooked investors, who are worried that the questionable investments would lead to the insurers’ credit ratings being downgraded. That, in turn, would increase the risk of the nonprofit bonds they backed.
+ As a result, many investors stopped buying variable bonds or those sold at auction. Without buyers, interest rates on the nonprofits’ loans spiked - from around 3 percent last year to as high as 20 percent recently.

Scholarship Update
+ Vancouver Film School and YouTube are currently offering a one-of-a-kind scholarship competition. Visit youtube.com/vancouverfilmschool for all the details. Artists, filmmakers and designers from 19 countries are invited to submit videos on the theme “What Matters To You”. The YouTube community will vote for the 3 winners, who will receive a full-tuition scholarship to the VFS program of their choice.
+ Up to $150,000
+ Deadline May 9
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

News You Can Use
+ Determining which college is cheapest
+ Three measurements
+ Total price tag
+ Out of pocket expense
+ Dollar amount of loans in the financial aid package
+ The school with the lowest out of pocket expense may not be cheapest
+ Loans are money that is deferred out of pocket plus interest
+ Reading the financial aid award letter
+ Scholarship Search Secrets eBook
+ Stafford federal student loans
+ Parent PLUS loans
+ Private student loans

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+ 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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP767: Going green on Free Stuff Friday, Earth Day 2008

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Inside Higher Ed: “Banks are marketing aggressively through a variety of channels. They’re calling students on the phone, they’re mailing to students, and they’re using a combination of on-campus and off-campus tables where they give away products, ranging from offers for sandwiches, offers of food and pizza, all the way up to iPod shuffles,” said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG. The organization manages the “Truth About Credit” campaign.
+ The survey, of more than 1,500 students at 40 campuses in 14 states, found broad support among students for limiting credit card marketing on campuses. Eighty percent said they supported at least some limits. There was strong support for restricting access only to promotions for cards with fair terms and conditions, and opposition to colleges’ sharing or selling lists containing student contact information. “Many credit card companies encounter no difficulty in securing information of current students at colleges for marketing purposes,” the report notes. “It is also true that some state public records laws compel public universities and colleges to sell their lists of student information as public records, to anyone.”
+ I’d have to say that paying tuition with a credit card is a terrible idea, far worse than private student loans
+ Our student credit card education site
+ Chronicle: Guarantee agencies such as USA Funds, despite their concerns, are cooperating with the department to prepare for a possible emergency, James Manning said. Only three weeks after department officials said they were troubled by the state of preparations for a lender-of-last-resort declaration, “we’re much more comfortable with where we are now,” he said.
+ Mr. Manning also made it clear that the administration is not ready to be offering assistance directly to lenders. Even if large numbers of lenders withdraw from the bank-based system, the 20 largest lenders handle 85 percent of student loans, he said. The size of the lenders, along with the continued migration of some colleges to the direct-lending program, should prevent any large-scale disruptions, he said.
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com

Scholarship Update
+ The Woodlands High School GREEN Scholarship
+ $1,000 scholarships - 3 of them
+ For students at Woodlands High School in Texas
+ Be sure to Google for your city, town, county, and state with the words Earth Day scholarship to see what local environmental scholarships are available
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Let’s see what we can come up with for green and free
+ Last week we mentioned PhoneRaiser to recycle phones and earn cash
+ FreeCycle.org is a site for trading stuff
+ Check out your local Craigslist free stuff column
+ Also check out the barter/trade column as well
+ Free Photoshop Express
+ When buying software, opt for digital download, and delivery is usually free
+ Mint has 30 free eBooks on personal finance
+ If you like horror, Scott Sigler’s eBook Infected is free until March 31
+ Scholarship Search Secrets is free and paperless, too
+ Money savers - compact fluorescent lightbulbs - I’ve just started having to change bulbs I put in my house in 2001 - rechargeable batteries with a 1 hour charger
+ A really important point: green living can be money saving, too - sometimes.
+ Earth Day is April 22 - be on the lookout for free giveaways - last year, Lowes, Ikea, and Home Depot all had free CFL lightbulbs

Free Song of the Week
+ Dirty Work, by Munk

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+ 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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP766: Admissions Wait Lists and Using LinkedIn

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Got some awesome mail to start my day from Nolan in Oregon: Thank you very much for publishing your Ebook on scholarships and making it free for students like me to access. Although I am a senior this year, I have enjoyed the fruits of my labor thus far with over $5,000 (and counting) of scholarship money. I definitely plan to keep using your guide on throughout college and I plan to pass it on to other students also.
+ NASFAA: “Zions Bank is joining other big banks in getting out of the federal program to make government-guaranteed student loans, the consequence of subsidy cuts that have made lending to students unprofitable,” The Salt Lake Tribune reports. “The largest Utah-based bank will stop accepting new federal student loan applications through the Federal Family Education Loans program on Monday and, instead, will substitute new programs Zions is developing that will be in place later this spring. ‘Given the changes in legislation that have taken place, it really has made it not viable from a financial standpoint to continue accepting applications for government-guaranteed student loans,’ said Zions’ Rob Brough.”
+ Inside Higher Ed: Colleges are upping the number of applicants they place on waiting lists this year, given that major changes in the economy and institutional aid policies have more admissions officials feeling uncertain about what their yields — the percentage of accepted applicants who enroll — will be, The Boston Globe ported. Waiting list totals are up 50 percent at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 22 percent at the University of Vermont, 17 percent at Northeastern University, and 15 percent at Dartmouth College, the Globe reported.
+ Graduate admissions consultant Anna Ivey has a GREAT post on her blog about what being on a wait list means

Scholarship Update
+ Sum Up Sports Scholarship
+ Put on your thinking helmet! We want you to create a mathematical equation using people, places or things that can be summed up to create a radically new sport. For example: chess + pro wrestling + a steel cage = Ultimate Checkmate! Or how about baseball + keeping your bat + ninjas - umpires = BaseBrawl. See, it’s fun! Here’s one more example: bowling + leotards x glitter = Figure Frames! Now it’s your turn to “figure” it out. Do the math, find your pics and get your game on! Make sure you include a description too. No purchase necessary. Open to anyone who is a resident of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia or Canada (excluding Quebec), has access to the Internet, and is 13 or older at the time of entry.
+ $500 award
+ Deadline May 26
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Jobcast
+ How to use LinkedIn properly
+ LinkedIn offers two things that make it stand out - public resumes and recommendations
+ Mitch Joel has a great quote: it’s not about who you know. it’s about who knows you.
+ Start by building your database
+ Set up a special LinkedIn only email address
+ Build the heck out of your profile - jobs, activities, clubs, etc. - and be sure to treat them all as jobs so that you can gather recommendations
+ Get recommendations from everyone
+ Join LIONs clubs (and expect a lot of spam)
+ Attend conferences
+ Create your own custom invitation request
+ “I’d like to add you to my professional network” is synonymous with “I have no creative abilities whatsoever and I’m bloody lazy, too”
+ Extract email addresses from commenters on your blog - you do have a blog, right? - and import them into LinkedIn to see who’s on there that you know
+ Add in schoolmates, professors, anyone who has a verifiable connection to you, because that’s both the power and mystery of professional networking - not only is it about who knows you, but who knows them
+ Stay in touch - export your connections frequently and send them an email newsletter once a month or so with what’s going on in your professional life

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+ 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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP765: Student Loan TV Coverage of Scholarship eBook

As promised earlier in the week, here’s the recent coverage of the Scholarship Search Secrets eBook in video - it’s about 52 MB and should be viewable on iPods and in iTunes. If you’d prefer to watch on the web, there’s a YouTube version and a high quality version.

+ Direct link to MP4 video file
+ High quality web version

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+ 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.
+
+
+

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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP764: Marketing Yourself for Scholarship Dollars

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Inside Higher Ed: Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., the fourth largest holder of guaranteed student loans, announced that it would no longer issue new student loans, Bloomberg reported. Brazos officials said that they hoped to re-enter the loan field if the credit crunch eases.
+ Chronicle: Financial experts everywhere agree that the economy appears headed toward a recession. The question is how long it will last and how deep it will be. “Economic downturns trigger a debilitating circumstance of increased enrollments and decreased funding,” says Eduardo J. Padrón, an economist and president of Miami Dade College. “Low-income students at community colleges bear the brunt of this paradox.”
+ When state finances tighten up, support for higher education often dwindles. In the past, many colleges have helped overcome those shortfalls by raising tuition. But the public’s increasing frustration over rising tuition costs — and families’ inability to pay more during sharp downturns in the housing and stock markets — will make that increasingly difficult.
+ Scholarship Search Secrets made an appearance last night on WCVB Boston 5

Scholarship Update
+ RotoHog.com is the next generation of fantasy sports. Share your funniest sports moment by submitting a photo, video or blog that captures the hilarious time that the Little Leaguer ran the bases the wrong way or the weekend warrior ripped a hole in his shorts shooting hoops. Whether it’s a hard hit from a softball or an all out collision on the banked track we want to know about what had you laughing all the way home. No purchase necessary. Open to anyone who is a resident of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, has access to the Internet, and is 13 or older at the time of entry.
+ $500 scholarship
+ May 5 deadline
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Scholarship Search
+ Yesterday, I was pleased to see a piece that WCVB had recorded on Scholarship Search Secrets, the Student Loan Network’s free eBook, on the 6 o’clock news
+ Just a few things, sort of behind the scenes/background information
+ The statistic for $20 billion in scholarships comes from an aggregate sum of data - our own, on StudentScholarshipSearch.com, plus other scholarship databases
+ The median award in our database is $17,750.
+ This includes the sum total of awards like the Pell Grant, SMART Grant, FSEOG, ACG, etc.
+ Government grants obtained by filing the FAFSA
+ For those new to the show, Scholarship Search Secrets is more than just how to use Google to find scholarships, though that’s a big part of it - it’s also a comprehensive guide to setting up your scholarships campaign
+ In many ways, it’s like a marketing campaign - setting up your portfolio, finding contacts, doing outreach, and closing deals
+ In turn, that means that many of the practices and assumptions from marketing also apply to scholarships - numbers game, good sales pitches, consistent follow up, and metrics to measure your success
+ In that light, scholarship essays really are sales pitches, follow up is follow up, and the metrics of your success are a sales funnel - scholarship opportunities you’re eligible for, applications you’ve filed, and dollars awarded
+ What does that mean for you? Go start reading up on effective sales letter writing, effective pitching, etc. Go read Made to Stick, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell, and others. Learn sales and marketing - all of these skills will help you to win scholarships.

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+ 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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

WCVB Boston 5 featured our free eBook, Scholarship Search Secrets, on the Six O’Clock News.

The Student Loan Network has a series of resources that can help you in your search for college funding:

• Scholarship Search Secrets eBook
• FAFSA Form Tutorial eBook
• Personal Finance First Aid Kit ebook

Special thanks to Bianca de la Garza of TheBostonChannel.com, as well as Jacob and Elisabeth Lewin of PodcastingNews.com!

FAP763: The Dark Side of No-Loan College Admissions

Listen now:

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

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+ 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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

FAP762: Free iced coffee at Dunkin Donuts, federal student loans

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Several financial companies that have formed partnerships with colleges in the “school as lender” program are cutting or terminating the scholarship payments they make to colleges, dealing another severe blow to a program already facing the possibility of elimination by Congress.
+ A number of lenders, including Sallie Mae, Nelnet, Citibank, and Student Loan Xpress, have notified their partner colleges in recent weeks about the reductions or terminations. Others, such as Edsouth, are considering similar moves, according to college and banking officials.
+ Inside Higher Ed: The new head of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators urged Education Secretary Margaret Spellings in a letter Wednesday to consider using federal funds to ensure that lenders continue to have enough money to make student loans and provide benefits to borrowers this fall. In the letter, Philip R. Day Jr., who became NASFAA’s president and CEO this winter, endorses calls by lawmakers and others for the department to push to ensure the viability of alternatives to the guaranteed loan program, including expanding access to the competing direct loan program and the government’s “lender of last resort” initiative involving guarantee agencies. But because “these options are largely untested,” Day also asked Spellings to consider bolstering the lender-based guaranteed loan program by “allowing non-bank student loan providers to use the loans that they have been unable to sell as collateral to borrow funds from the federal government so they can make loans this fall and to pursue other financial strategies in order to provide a backstop for this element of the marketplace.” Some lenders and federal lawmakers have urged such actions as well, as a growing number of loan providers announce plans to stop originating student loans.
+ We petitioned on March 9 for this exact thing
+ Chronicle/WSJ: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that HSBC Bank USA, the M&T Bank Corporation, and the TCF Financial Corporation have all decided to stop offering federally guaranteed student loans following last year’s decision by Congress to cut lender subsidies by more than $20-billion over five years.
+ All three are among the program’s 50 largest lenders, together providing more than $560-million of the $119-billion in federally backed loans issued in the 2006 federal fiscal year, the Journal reported.
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com

Scholarship Update
+ The UVM/GIV Engineering Institute offers you the adventure of a lifetime! Discover cool careers in engineering and learn how technology will impact the future of our planet. The University of Vermont College of Engineering and Mathematical Sciences and The Governor’s Institutes of Vermont announce their 2008 UVM/GIV Engineering Institute June 28 - July 5, 2008. Challenge yourself to think outside the box with a hands-on project, laboratory experiences, faculty presentations and enlightening tours. You’ll learn how technology impacts the human experience. Experience the thrill of creating sand arches at the beach and become part of an innovative team to work on one of the following diversified projects that will stretch your brain! * Renewable Energy Systems * Robotics Technology * Aeronautical Engineering * Engineering Sustainability
+ The cost to participate in GC is nothing. Students who are interested in science, math or engineering should check out the camp and the program (www.globalchallengeaward.org). Students who have not started this year’s competition are still eligible for the summer program scholarship if they express and interest and commitment to trying the program next year. For those who incur travel costs and those costs would be prohibitive we do have some travel funds available to students with demonstrated need. Our goal is to encourage any student to explore STEM topics in a global, collaborative online curriculum. These scholarships are open to anyone regardless of sex, race, financial status, etc. The nomination criteria is an interest in the subject. Please feel free to nominate students or pass this information directly to them.
+ Open to high school students ages 14- 17
+ 40 full tuition scholarships
+ $60,000
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Update: Dunkin Donuts PR emailed me to let me know that actually, no, there isn’t a 3/21 giveaway. That was apparently last year, and they’re not doing a re-run. However, you can get free Dunkin coffee instead here: Dunkin At Home
+ PocketMod minibooks of your stuff
+ Google Gadgets for Spreadsheets
+ Free recycling of old gadgets at the Post Office
+ Similar to PhoneRaiser - except they get the money instead of you. Use PhoneRaiser if you have gadgety friends at your school to raise some tuition funds
+ Google Grants for Non-Profits
+ SmartSleep for the Mac laptop
+ Your legal rights as a photographer
+ Two free music albums
+ It’s About Time from Kevin Reeves
+ Collective by Duwende
+ Breakaway for Mac iTunes

Free Song of the Week
+ From Duwende’s Collective, here’s Come Back

Promo
+ NCAA 2008 Men’s Basketball March Madness Charity Pool

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 {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208.

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Jeff Hinz started this idea and I love it, so we’re going to run with it. We’re going to have an NCAA Men’s Basketball 2008 March Madness Charity Pool.

The suggested bet is US$25 into the pool. Bets close before the 3rd round.

How to enter: post a comment on this blog post with:

• Your name
• Your bet
• Who will win it all
• What the winner’s final score will be (tie breaker)

Example:

• Christopher Penn
• $25
• North Carolina
• 101 points

Alternately, you can copy and paste a link to a photo of your brackets, as I’ve done with Flickr, into the comments. Just be sure to include the tiebreaker score.

The person who “wins” - i.e. their team goes the furthest - gets to pick a charity and everyone in the pool donates to that charity. For example, if North Carolina - my pick - wins, then I get to decide the charity and we all pay. Jeff picked Washington State, so if they go the farthest, he picks the charity and we all pay. If we have multiple bets for the same team, the score is the tiebreaker.

In the event of a total tie, we either split the pool or the winners can decide which charity gets it.

Who’s in so far:

• Me, $25, North Carolina, 101 points
• Jeff Hinz, $25, Washington State
• JHirsch, $25
• Kristen Forbriger, $25, Louisville
• GloriaKT, $25, North Carolina
• John Wall, $25, Memphis

I liked the Bayesian analysis that USA Today’s Jeff Sagarin did of the teams. A few minor upsets predicted, but North Carolina expected for the win. If you’re curious, here’s my 2008 NCAA Men’s Basketball Brackets. Click on the picture for a larger version.

Which analysis did you use for your NCAA brackets?