FAP828: 10 key factors influencing your financial aid

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Here’s a frightening thought for every college administrator planning for a big disaster: What if the sort of extreme weather that has left the University of Iowa inundated in floodwaters is not a freak event? What if it is a sign of things to come?
+ In June the U.S Climate Change Science Program, which is sponsored by 13 government agencies, released a report saying that extreme weather like heat waves, heavy downpours, and superpowered hurricanes would be more common in the future. The timing of the report — coming just as officials in Iowa were surveying the damage from the swollen Iowa River — could not have been better. The news media jumped all over it, saying that the world could expect “Iowa-like floods,” as Bloomberg put it.
+ Prepare for disaster - put important documents in a zip-top plastic bag
+ Chronicle: Tuition has become a populist cause in Washington. And underneath that big tent is a collection of issues that appeal to various political persuasions. Conservatives delight in going after the tax-exempt status of the ivory tower, while even liberal-leaning professors get steamed about the money universities spend on sports and presidents’ salaries. And almost everyone can find a reason to be upset about Harvard University’s $35-billion endowment.

Scholarship Update
+ Coach Design a Tote Scholarship
+ Coach is searching for one truly inspired and unique design to adorn their classic chic tote. Start from scratch, one of your favorite sketches, or incorporate some of Coach’s iconic design elements. Just download the provided silhouette, create and submit a graphic, and enter to win a $2,500 shopping spree and party in your hometown Coach store — plus have your design created into a special limited edition item and sold in select locations! This is your opportunity to put your artful stamp on the perfect Coach tote!
+ Grand Prize: One winner, selected by Coach experts from all entries, will have his or her Coach tote manufactured as a special limited edition item to be sold in select Coach stores and/or online at Coach.com. Plus, a celebratory event for the winner will be held at a local, full-price Coach store along with a $2,500 shopping spree, and a $500 scholarship or cash! If the winner is not within a 50-mile radius of a full-price, retail store location they will receive a $2,500 online shopping spree and a $500 scholarship or cash plus Coach “swag bags” for the winner and 4 friends to have their own Coach style party!
+ Most Viral: One winner, selected by Coach experts from the top 100 most viral entries, will win a $1,500 Coach online shopping spree and a $250 scholarship or cash. Learn about Most Viral.
+ High Score: One winner, selected by Coach experts from the top 100 highest scoring entries, will win a $1,500 Coach online shopping spree and a $250 scholarship or cash.
+ Deadline August 4
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Financial Aid 101
+ 10 pieces of data that largely influence how much financial aid you’ll receive
+ Based on the EFC
+ These are all part of the FAFSA form
+ Get FAFSA help at FAFSAonline.com
+ When you look at this, you can get an idea of what things you have influence over and what things you don’t
+ Age of older parent
+ How many people live in your household
+ Parents’ marital status
+ Parents’ non-retirement assets
+ Parents’ total income
+ Parents’ U.S. income tax paid
+ Parents’ untaxed income
+ Parents’ value of home equity
+ Student’s assets
+ Student’s total income

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.
+
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+

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
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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

A short while ago, Mignon Fogarty (aka Grammar Girl) sent me a copy of her new book, Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, for review. Here’s my thoughts on her work.

First, every college student and every college-bound student should get a copy. If you’re an admissions director, if you’re an English professor, if you’re a parent - get a copy of this book and give it to your kid(s). It’s terrific, well-written, with clear explanations of why certain forms of usage are appropriate and not appropriate. Call it the 21st century style guide for the busy student.

A couple of things I wish were better (maybe for the next edition?):

First, I wish the index was in the front of the book. While it defies convention, it would make the book instantly more usable. When someone goes to write a blog post, they can pop open the book and decide whether affect or effect is correct.

Second, the book doesn’t really do a good job of explaining WHY grammar is important, why it’s useful, and why good grammar will make you more effective in whatever you do. Here’s my take on it - perhaps it’ll make it into the second edition, too.

Grammar, and its subset syntax, are the rules of language. If you’ve ever studied a computer language like C++ or PHP, you already know that syntax and grammar require exceptional precision - one misplaced semi-colon, and you’re out of business. It’s a tribute to the human mind that even with terrible grammar and syntax, our languages don’t immediately break down.

That said, grammar and syntax matter even with humans because communicating clearly is no longer optional. Our world is evolving from the Industrial Age to the Information Age, and the bedrock of the Information Age is the ability to communicate clearly. If you have terrible grammar, your writing is at best difficult to read. If you have terrible grammar, you can often end up sticking your foot in your mouth over and over again, forcing you to lose productivity and energy. Grammar matters. Usage matters.

Two examples of how grammar matters: if you apply for a job with the Student Loan Network, and your cover letter & resume are littered with spelling and grammar errors, your resume goes straight in the trash. Bad grammar will have cost you a job at an outstanding company, because as an Information Age company, we value outstanding communication skills above most other skills.

Second example. Back in 1997, I was working at Sony Electronics in Park Ridge, New Jersey. One Thursday afternoon around 2 PM, the Vice President of Digital Imaging came out of his office, red-faced. He called the entire office to attention, shouting, “Tokyo has just sent us the advertising copy for the Mavica’s Stamina Battery!” Typically when the VP made such office-wide announcements, it meant everyone would have to scramble to implement the new marketing campaign.

Instead, he climbed on a nearby desk and read out loud the copy for Sony’s new lithium ion batteries.

“When you are at the climax of your shooting, you need STAMINA!”

The entire office burst into tears of laughter. We pretty much ended up canning work for the rest of the afternoon. The Vice President promptly had his administrative assistant email Sony Tokyo and told them to fire whoever wrote that ad slogan.

Usage of language matters - rolling out that campaign with that slogan could have cost Sony millions of dollars in lost revenue, not to mention the ire of conservative parents and media critics. That’s why you need Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

Buy a copy of Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing at Amazon today.

Disclosure: paid affiliate link earns the Financial Aid Podcast 5% of what you spend.

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FAP827: Student credit cards, coffee scholarship, Free stuff Friday

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo of New York hopes to have completed by this fall an investigation into the relationships between credit-card companies and college officials, according to Benjamin Lawsky, deputy counselor to Mr. Cuomo, who previously investigated questionable ties between student loan companies and financial-aid officials.
+ Mr. Lawsky testified at a hearing today of the House consumer-credit subcommittee in which members considered various ways to reduce students’ credit-card debt and misuse. Panelists, including Mr. Lawsky, sketched a scenario in which students are taken advantage of by predatory companies, who offer free gifts and withhold important information about payments and rates to students who apply for credit cards.
+ Check out our student credit card guide at StudentPlatinum.com
+ Inside Higher Ed: It’s that rare story involving a pig, a taser and a happy ending. For weeks now, Colby College officials and Maine authorities have been trying to capture a runaway pot-bellied pig that escaped from its owner, a student, at a picnic. The pig was roaming the campus and managed to elude capture with nets. Local press coverage has been extensive. This week, the pig was enjoying a snack of some French fries offered by an area resident who called the police. The Morning Sentinel reported that the person who shared the fries also called the police, who used a taser to stun the pig, leading to the pig’s capture and ending a month of freedom for the animal. While the pig will not be continuing on at Colby, it will stay in education, and has been adopted by a preschool.

Scholarship Update
+ Maxwell House Minority Scholarship
+ ELIGIBILITY: Applicants must be minority high school students or graduates from New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, or Newark. Applicants must be willing to attend one of the black colleges participating in their local black college fairs.
+ AMOUNT: $3,000
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ CL Desktop - visual Craiglist shopping tool - I’m checking out the free stuff in Boston category by photo - VERY useful!
+ WebKut - application to make a PDF of any web page - also very useful!
+ Fotobooth and iSpy - two other free apps
+ Free Prima J tank top at Wet Seal
+ Free pack of Stride gum
+ Updated info on the free credit reporting from Transunion
+ Google Finance adds NYSE quotes in real-time
+ Evernote has a Mac desktop application now
+ Boxee is a Tivo style interface with social stuff
+ Stupid fun: make a radiation shield from your cell phone out of a Red Bull can

Free Song of the Week
+ Geoff Smith, Bohemian Financial Rhapsody

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
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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.

Update: this job has been filled! Thanks!

A good friend and mentor of mine recently wrote to me to say that his mother’s personal web site and blog aren’t getting the traction she would like. He’s offered $300 FIRM for someone to implement the recommendations from this Web Site Grader report (mostly little tweaks, etc, shouldn’t take more than 10 hours total).

If you’re a Financial Aid Podcast listener, perhaps a high school or college student looking for some short money for the summer, please get in touch with me and I’ll connect you with my friend for an interview.

Disclosure: I receive no compensation for finding a helpful student for this contract job.

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FAP826: Deceptive student loan marketing, Sallie Mae leak

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Student Financial Aid News
+ The FTC has issued a guide on deceptive student loan marketing
+ If you are considering a private student loan, it’s important to know whom you’re doing business with and the terms of the loan. The FTC and ED offer these tips to help you recognize questionable claims and practices related to private student loans.
+ Some private lenders and their marketers use names, seals, logos, or other representations similar to those of government agencies to create the false or misleading impression that they are part of or affiliated with the federal government and its student loan programs. ED does not send advertisements or mailers, or otherwise solicit consumers to borrow money. If you receive a student loan solicitation, it is not from ED.
+ Don’t let promotions or incentives like gift cards, credit cards, and sweepstakes prizes divert you from assessing whether the key terms of the loan are reasonable.
+ Don’t give out personal information on the phone, through the mail, or over the Internet unless you know with whom you are dealing. Private student lenders typically ask for your student account number — often your Social Security number (SSN) or Personal Identification Number (PIN) — saying they need it to help determine your eligibility. However, because scam artists who purport to be private student lenders can misuse this information, it is critical to provide it or other personal information only if you have confidence in the private student lender with whom you are dealing.
+ Check out the track record of particular private student lenders with your state Attorney General (www.naag.org), your local consumer protection agency (www.consumeraction.gov), and the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org).
+ The Student Loan Network does not engage in deceptive marketing tactics of any kind, mainly because we try to avoid screwing over our customers - word of mouth is powerful for positive talk about products and services, but absolutely deadly for negative talk about when you screw up
+ Inside Higher Ed: U.S. Education Department officials have spent weeks intensely reviewing the federal student loan program as part of their efforts to ensure continued access to loans for college students. Department officials formally unveiled more of the immediate fruits of those efforts Wednesday, laying out the terms under which the government will buy loans made by lenders who are unable to sell them to other investors. The terms described Wednesday are consistent with those the department unveiled in May, in a plan that was generally well-received by lenders. But perhaps the real news out of Wednesday’s announcement was that the agency’s review of the loan program — and the insights it has gained from discussions with Treasury Department officials and finance experts — have inspired its leaders to contemplate anew a broader reassessment of the entire federal student aid system, Under Secretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker said in a telephone news conference Wednesday. Tucker said that the review would be consistent with the recommendations of the Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which called for a streamlining of the myriad programs and types of aid through which the government now finances students’ higher educations. There is an “opportunity to look at the entire federal student-aid system,” Tucker said.
+ Chronicle: Sallie Mae (ticker: SLM), the nation’s largest student-loan company, has a contractual arrangement with USA Funds, the nation’s largest guarantee agency, that gives the lender extensive financial and operational control over the guarantor that oversees its work, according to a copy of the contract obtained by The Chronicle.
+ The contract, a copy of which has also been posted on the Internet in recent days, shows a relationship that a former high-ranking Education Department official described as so intertwined and detrimental to the interests of students and taxpayers that the department should revisit its controversial 2004 decision to allow the partnership to continue.
+ Wikileaks has a copy and Sallie Mae is threatening legal action to take it down, so if you’d like to see it, grab it sooner rather than later

Scholarship Update
+ Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Blu-ray are changing the way you watch movies! Be part of the ultimate in high definition by creating your own poster, ad or video for Blu-ray. Sony encourages you to design an original, exciting and passionate expression of why Blu-ray offers the best movie experience with its high definition, better than cable or satellite quality, better picture than DVD and pure hi-def audio! Come up with an incredible idea and incorporate the Blu-ray and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment logos as well as the tagline “Why Blu?” and you could win amazing Sony prizes including a Sony PlayStation 3 with built-in Blu-ray Disc Player and $250 cash or scholarship!
+ Grand Prize: One winner, selected by Sony from the top 50 highest-scoring entries, will win a Sony PlayStation 3 with a built in Blu-ray Disc player. Sony will also include a collection of 8 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray movies including Surf’s Up, Open Season, Across the Universe, Hitch, Fifth Element, Hellboy, A Knight’s Tale, 50 First Dates, and $250 cash or scholarship! (Total ARV: $889)
+ July 30 deadline
+ Create an original Blu-ray poster, ad or video expressing how Blu-ray is the best way to watch movies and incorporate the “Why Blu?” tagline. You may use any of the provided assets from the Blu-ray Art Kit in your creation. Don’t forget to include both the Blu-ray and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment logos!
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

JobCast
+ Got an inquiry yesterday about why the cover letter is important
+ “am looking for feedback from Boston-area hiring managers and recruiters on cover letters: How important are they in narrowing down a search? Do they help you weed through a stack of resumes to more quickly find the candidates who may be the best match? In your experience, do the cover letters really reflect on the qualifications and skills of the individuals? What do you look for in cover letters that has proven to help you select strong candidates? What else does your experience tell you about cover letters?”
+ A fine time to mention our free eBook, How to Write a Killer Cover Letter

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
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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.

FAP825: Expert interview: Ron Burniske, Chartway FCU

Listen now:

In today’s podcast, I talk with Ron Burniske, CEO of Chartway Federal Credit Union, about credit unions, how they’re different than banks, and why they might be in your banking future. Plus, we discuss the philosophical issue of a consumer society, savings rates, and financial aid.

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
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Parent loans for undergraduate students
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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

I’m starting an interview series this week with a bunch of credit union executives, to ask them about credit union stuff. Here’s my current list of questions:

• What’s the difference between a bank and a credit union?
• When is a credit union the right choice for a student, parent, or family?
• When is a credit union the wrong choice?
• What financial aid options do credit unions offer?
• What are some of the benefits of being a credit union member?
• How are you addressing the negative savings rate?
• What one piece of advice would you offer a student regarding financial literacy?
• In this recession, what are some of your top money saving tips?
• What’s the top personal finance mistake you see?

This is just a start, though. What questions would YOU like me to ask? Leave your questions in the comments below:

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FAP824: Tea scholarship, Amazon textbooks, international financial aid

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Inside Higher Ed: The Subprime Solution: How Today’s Global Financial Crisis Happened, and What to Do About It is a promising title for Princeton University Press. The topic couldn’t be more timely and the author is Robert Shiller, a Yale University economist who has managed with works such as Irrational Exuberance to attract big audiences for complicated topics.
+ The Princeton press is planning something new for the release: Two weeks before print publication the book will be available as a Kindle e-book. Kindle is Amazon.com’s portable reader that allows for downloading of complete books. Launched in November, and already attracting attention (and competition from other companies planning their versions), Kindle has been hailed as potentially opening up a new kind of reading experience. Of course, plenty of people have heard earlier such claims, but Kindle’s Amazon backing has given it a market that is attractive to many publishers — including university presses.
+ By the beginning of the fall, Princeton plans to have several hundred books available for sale through Kindle. Yale University Press and Oxford University Press already have a similar presence there. The University of California Press recently had about 40 of its volumes placed on Kindle and is ramping up.
+ Readers would save some on Kindle books, but at least now modestly, and only after recouping the costs of the reader (currently at $359). The Kindle version of an Oxford book called Punishment and Democracy: Three Strikes and You’re Out in California sells for $21.96, compared to $24.40 for the paperback through Amazon. The latter also takes two to four weeks to ship and requires shipping fees. A Yale book, Churchill’s Promised Land: Zionism and Statecraft, is available for $25.20 via Kindle and $28 plus shipping in hardcover.
+ NASFAA: “Need a student loan? Then your local credit union wants you,” the Central Penn Business Journal reports. “The current money crunch and rising college costs aren’t stopping area credit unions from promoting student loans. One reason is to attract new members and keep the ones they have. Belco and other area credit unions have picked up borrowers since the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) suspended its major loan programs in February. Belco wants to spread the word to college admission counselors that loans are available.”

Scholarship Update
+ TeaUSA Calm-A-Sutra Tea Scholarship
+ $20,000 scholarship
+ Create a 2 minute video about the health benefits of drinking tea
+ Deadline August 6, 2008
+ Submit via YouTube
+ US Citizen or eligible non-citizen
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Mail Bag
+ Mercy writes in: I need help finding a private student loan Christopher. I have been accepted to a school in Sweden (University of Gothenburg) for graduate school. Unfortunately, the university is not one of the eligible schools listed on the FASA web site. I have also tried getting private loans, but they want the school to be affiliated with a university in the US. Are there any private loans that do not have this particular requirement? How can I find a loan in the US that would help with my college education just for being a student anywhere in the world without too many restrictions?
+ You’ll want to check out InternationalStudentLoan.com
+ International student loans are typically private student loans
+ James writes in: Hi Chris. Love your podcasts! I’m trying to narrow down my list of lenders. I’m interested in Student Loan Network’s private student loan product. Which credit agency do they pull from (Exp, Eq, TU)? I’m in MA. I’m looking for TU pullers. Which lending companies pull TU?
+ I believe we use Experian; I don’t think there’s a list anywhere that I know of for which lenders use which bureaus. Some use all three.
+ Sarah writes in: I am 55 yrs in need of financial aid towards my small school for the ophans in uganda wht can i do.? i need your assistnce and information about that.
+ Check out Guidestar

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
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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

FAP823: Merit based financial aid, free stuff Monday

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Inside Higher Ed: Despite increased pressure to move more money away from merit-based aid programs and into need-based grants, there is little sign of such a shift happening across the nation as a whole, according to a report released today.
+ The annual report, issued by the National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs, shows that need-based grants made up about the same proportion of total grants awarded in 2006-7 as they did in 2005-6. Need-based grants constituted about 72 percent of the total grants awarded last year, which was actually down slightly from 73 percent in 2005-6.
+ The association’s report comes as a growing chorus of critics call on states (as well as private institutions, for that matter) to place their grant dollars in programs that might help needy students enroll in college who might not otherwise, instead of merely changing the enrollment patterns of those who could still otherwise afford a college education. Grant aid, which is measured in isolation within the report, is particularly coveted for needy students because it does not have to be paid back.
+ IHE: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick plans this week to revive his idea of making community colleges free for state residents, The Boston Globe reported. The proposal is expected to be included in broad plans to reform education at all levels in the states.
+ Trying out a new mic!

Scholarship Update
+ OXY Cash for College Scholarship
+ $25,000 first place
+ Resident of US
+ Fill out the form on their site
+ September 28 deadline
+ Ages 13-19
+ Funds deposited in a 529 plan
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Monday
+ We missed Friday due to Podcasters Across Borders
+ Burt’s Bees seeds
+ Gillette Body Wash
+ Teddy Grahams
+ Lego Digital Designer
+ My Media Player + Hulu
+ How to predict weather based on clouds

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
+ Financial Aid discussion forums
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA 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

Podcasters Across Borders 2008 Review

Podcasters Across Borders 2008 has wrapped up, and I’m back in the office. Another terrific weekend, full of great friends and interesting discussions. A few takeaways from this weekend that I picked up:

Sylvain Grand-Maison showed a great slide of song structure and podcast structure - comparing the two, and suggesting that the same ideas that make a song worth listening to could make your podcast worth listening to.

Jay Moonah did a great demo of how the medium is the message by having a blindfolded volunteer identify the quality of a promotional message by the paper it was printed on.

Tod Maffin from the CBC explained about “IT” or the quality that makes a podcast terrific. One of his suggestions was to speak more intimately, reminding us that a significant portion of people listen to podcasts with headphones or earbuds; speaking to them as if you’re shouting across the room (radio) is a mismatch for how people listen.

There were plenty of other discussions I had this weekend, and I’ll be making some changes from a technical perspective as well as a marketing perspective for the various media adventures we all participate in

Oh, and I won a Blue Snowball mic, which was a nice treat, and soon to be a nice treat for the listeners of the Financial Aid Podcast.

Many thanks to Mark Blevis and Bob Goyetche for putting on another fantastic conference.