FAP843: How to pick a student credit card, $25,000 scholarship

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Bloomberg: 9% of companies plan to hire. Wages fall 2.4%. 28% of companies increasing prices. Tough economic times - if you’re on the employment trail, there’s a difficult road ahead in the short term. Read Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside, both by Seth Godin, for ideas on how you can personally weather the slump and help your respective companies turn things around.
+ BusinessWeek: Universities and their alumni associations have discovered an unlikely and disturbing source of revenue: Increasingly, they are selling students’ personal information to big credit-card companies eager for young customers.
+ Using state public disclosure laws, BusinessWeek has obtained more than two dozen confidential contracts between major schools and card-issuing banks keen to sign up undergraduates with mounting expenses for tuition, books, and travel. In some instances, universities and alumni groups receive larger payments from the banks if students use their school-branded cards more frequently.
+ Some of the country’s best-known and largest schools have multimillion-dollar credit-card deals, including the Universities of Michigan, Minnesota, and South Florida.
+ Inside Higher Ed: New York’s governor, David A. Patterson, plans today to back the creation of a major new student loan program for the state, potentially providing hundreds of thousands of students with loans at significantly lower interest rates than they now obtain through private borrowing, The New York Times reported. The loan proposal is part of the final report of a special commission on higher education, appointed by Eliot Spitzer during his brief term as governor. The final report — also due out today — reiterates many of the themes and ideas of the commission’s first report, and calls for a major infusion of funds into higher education. It is unclear, however, how much money and political will are available for these ideas.

Scholarship Update
+ National Geographic Geography Bee
+ For students in grades 4-8
+ The National Geographic Bee occurs in three stages, beginning at the school level. Schools that register for the Bee receive materials to hold their competitions. Each school winner takes a written test, and the top hundred scorers in each state and territory compete at the state level. State-level Bees are held in the spring, and the winner of each state Bee proceeds to the national competition. The 55 state and territory winners meet at National Geographic Society headquarters in Washington, D.C., for the national competition. The number of contestants is narrowed to ten finalists, who compete for a $25,000 college scholarship. The second- and third-place winners receive $15,000 and $10,000 scholarships, respectively.
+ Deadline October 15
+ Your school must enroll - contact your principal!
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Financial Aid 101
+ How to pick a student credit card
+ You probably don’t need one
+ A debit card is good enough 99% of the time
+ A stored value card is also a great idea
+ If you do get one, look for rates and fees
+ No annual fees!
+ Grace period - as long as possible
+ Look at how rates are calculated - many are Prime Rate, which is not bad now. Some may be LIBOR, which at the moment is higher than Prime.
+ Look how the default rate is calculated and when it is triggered - default in normal lending typically applies to someone past 90 days due, but with credit cards, it can be as little as exceeding your credit limit by a dollar.
+ Look at late fees - some can be as high as 29%!
+ Avoid two cycle average daily balance billing, which is a jack
+ Who the heck cares if your college’s logo or mascot is on the card?
+ Rewards programs are often not helpful - run the numbers!
+ FULL DISCLOSURE: StudentPlatinum.com is a Student Loan Network site that offers student credit cards. Not all of them are a good deal. I expect you to do your research.

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Reminders
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+ 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.