FAP872: Hurricanes, Education Finance Partners, Free Stuff

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ NASFAA/SF Chronicle: “Education Finance Partners, one of the companies at the center of New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation into student-lending practices last year, has abruptly ceased making student loans and is clearing out of its San Francisco headquarters,” The San Francisco Chronicle reports. “The timing was especially bad in this case. ‘It’s right when students are paying bills and all the money they were counting on evaporated. I’ve been getting calls from students in many states about this,’ says Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Finaid.com. Robert Shireman, director of the Project on Student Debt, estimates that 2 percent of college students ‘are experiencing some hassle and difficulty’ obtaining student loans because of the credit crisis. Most students whose loans fall through will be able to get other, in some cases better, loans.”
+ IHE: Many Louisiana colleges are closing early today and some are planning to stay closed until next Wednesday or Thursday to encourage students and employees to evacuate in anticipation of Gustav landing in the state. Delgado Community College is ending all classes at noon today and hasn’t yet decided on a schedule for next week. Loyola University New Orleans is requiring students to evacuate the campus tomorrow. Xavier University of Louisiana will close at noon today and classes will not resume until Thursday. Southern University at New Orleans is shutting down at noon today, but hoping to resume classes on Tuesday. McNeese State University is advising professors to take important materials with them when they leave work today. Tulane University is planning to close at noon today, to re-open business operations Wednesday and to resume classes on Thursday.
+ Check out the NHC and Weather Underground for the latest
+ Third anniversary of Katrina

Scholarship Update
+ Study in Scandinavia
+ Applicants must have a well-defined research or study project that makes a stay in Scandinavia essential. Applicants must be United States citizens or permanent residents. Applicants must have completed their undergraduate education by the start of their project in Scandinavia. Team projects are eligible, but each member must apply as an individual, submitting a separate, fully-document- ed application. First priority will be given to applicants who have not previously received an ASF award. Only in exceptional cases will a third award be considered. Projects should be planned to fall within the summer 2009 - summer 2010 period. Grantsare considered especially suitable for post-graduate scholars, professionals, and candidates in the arts to carry out research or study visits of one to three months duration. Fellowshipsare intended to support a year-long stay. Priority is given to candidates at the graduate level for dissertation-related study or research. The awards support project-related costs, including maintenance, trans- Atlantic round-trip travel, in-country travel, tuition and fees (where applica- ble) and materials expenditures (e.g., books, photocopying, art supplies).
+ Awards range from Grants (normally $5,000) to Fellowships (up to $23,000). The number of awards varies each year according to total funds available. Over $300,000 is available for the 2009-10 competition.
+ November 1, 2008 deadline
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site
+ Woo! $9,600,170,116!

Free Stuff Friday
+ On Labor Day, Chick-fil-A is giving three free chicken strips to anyone who comes in wearing something with their favorite team’s logo on it.
+ CalorieLab tells you exactly why you don’t eat out much any more
+ Windows SmartPhone self destruct
+ Palm Centro phones have this feature as well
+ Mail2Web stands in for MobileMe
+ Lifehacker has 8 great back to school apps
+ Songbird alternative music player now in beta
+ Speedread for Windows
+ Free cat litter
+ Arm & Hammer Cleaning Kit
+ Christina Aguilera’s perfume
+ Sephora makeup kit

Free Song of the Week
+ I Will Wait For You, Matthew Ebel

Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3

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Reminders
+
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Free college scholarships contests!
+ Open an FDIC-insured savings account today!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

I want to hear from you! Send me your comments, questions, and feedback using this handy contact form!

FAP871: State FAFSA deadlines, broadband scholarship, job references

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Forbes: “Corinthian Colleges is boosting its profits by increasing student enrollment, but the downside for the for-profit operator of North American colleges and trade schools is that it now expects an increased number of defaults,” Forbes reports. “‘During the fourth quarter, we implemented several changes to offset the loss of Sallie Mae privates tudent loans for students with subprime credit profiles. We established a new company-sponsored student lending program, ACCESS, and thus far, have arranged financing for the vast majority of students through Title IV, cash payments, ACCESS and other resources,’ said Corinthian Colleges Chief Executive Officer Jack Massimino. Corinthian said student loan defaults increased to 9.1% of revenue in the fourth quarter vs. 6.2% in the prior year. Revenue for the quarter rose 18.3% to $274 million, from $231.6 million a year earlier, below analysts’ expectations of $276.6 million.”
+ Boston Globe: For most students, college is a four-year rite of passage - a time to dabble in multiple subjects before settling on a major or a chance to spend a semester abroad - with frat parties sprinkled in between, That’s a luxury some students say they can no longer afford. Soaring tuition costs are prompting a small but growing number of students to compress their college careers into three years and, in the process, save their parents and themselves tens of thousands of dollars. The crop of early graduates often comes from middle-class families who might not qualify for need-based financial aid, college officials say.
+ Some policies adopted by local colleges can make it easier to graduate early. Suffolk University introduced online courses this summer to help working students squeeze in extra credits at their own pace. Berklee College of Music allows students who test out of classes to receive credits for those classes, at no charge. Like some other schools, Wellesley College offers classes during semester breaks.

Scholarship Update
+ Broadband Changed My Life Scholarship
+ The goal of the Alliance for Public Technology’s national Broadband Changed My Life! campaign is to raise awareness of the benefits of advanced broadband and encourage its universal deployment and adoption.
+ Now you can enter the new Tell the Next President Contest! Stories should be 50-300 words ideally, although they can be longer. The focus is to share the story of how high-speed internet access has changed your life and your family members’ lives, or how you would like to see broadband used to change the lives of others.
+ The deadline for entries is October 1, 2008. Three winners will be announced in late October and the prizes will be $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place. A panel of APT Board members and staff will judge the entries. Early next year, a memorandum with the best contest entries will be sent to the new President and the first place winner will receive a trip to Washington and a ticket to an Inaugural ball.
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Mail Bag
+ Hi. My name is Cecilia and I began college last year without financial aid, which was a mistake. Now I am interested in filling a fafsa form out but my state’s(california) deadline was januray 1 to march 2,2008. Does that mean I am too late? And if my mother claimed me for her taxes in 2007 and she is a nurse but now I am living with my father and he can only pay some of the tution. Also he has been claiming me most of my life. Does that also mean I have to wait till 2009? Thank you for your time. Please try to help with my questions because I’m very confused.
+ File your FAFSA anyway - it’s free!
+ State deadlines are different than federal deadlines - at the least, you’ll be able to get some Stafford loans
+ State deadlines only affect state financial aid like the CalGrant
+ Whoever you lived with more than 50% of tax year 2007 is the claimant on the FAFSA for this year’s FAFSA
+ On January 1, the 2009 FAFSA opens up for the 2009-2010 school year and whoever you lived with more than 50% of 2008 is the claimant

Jobcast
+ Recommendations are critical to the success of a resume portfolio
+ Think of these as short references - testimonials
+ Gather them in places like LinkedIn
+ Gather them the old-fashioned way, too
+ Ask for recommendations diplomatically but earnestly
+ Ask for recommendations with details if possible and appropriate
+ Bad: John did a fine job as our summer intern. I’d recommend him for the future.
+ Good: John did a fine job as our summer intern, handling customer service issues and helping to keep our loan applications on track, especially when it came to calling back customers.
+ Great: John did a fine job as our summer intern, handling customer service issues and helping to keep our loan applications on track, especially when it came to calling back customers. He managed to call back a record 267 customers in just 10 days and closed 44 loans entirely by himself.

Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3

Subscribe to RSS headline updates from:
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Reminders
+
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook
+ Free college scholarships contests!
+ Open an FDIC-insured savings account today!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

I want to hear from you! Send me your comments, questions, and feedback using this handy contact form!

FAP870: The History of the Financial Aid Podcast

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Expert Interview
+ A brief history of the Financial Aid Podcast and why we started this grand adventure
+ April 2005 was the first show
+ Started with FAFSA training internally
+ Everything changed in June 2005 with iTunes
+ Since then… 751,229 downloads, 5 eBooks, and tons of folks helped
+ I love the stories of making a difference most - Nolan racking up thousands of dollars in scholarships, Scott and Jim as parents getting their kids into college and on partial scholarship, locating missing kids using MySpace, College Goal Sunday, and so much more
+ As the podcast changes to a weekly show, we’re going to do some format changes and lots more blogging on ways to save money, pay for college, and so much more
+ Really important though to say this - thank you to everyone who tunes in, whether you’ve been listening since show #1 or just tuned in today
+ Leave comments in this blog post about things you’d like to see more of, things that work well for you, and things that need improvement!

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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

FAP869: College costs, usury, Stafford loan caps

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Student Financial Aid News
+ A number of articles from around the web including this one from the Baltimore Sun ask if college is being priced out of affordability, especially in an economic downturn
+ Yes, it is. Plain and simple, college is getting out of reach, especially with a lack of availability for some private student loans for students and parents with less than perfect credit
+ What should we do about this? Instead of making expensive colleges more affordable, create more affordable colleges. College pricing is an issue of supply and demand. There are two fundamental ways to move prices downwards. Reduce demand or increase supply. If everyone wants corn, and only a few people sell it, they can charge whatever they want. If a few people want corn and everyone sells it, you’d be hard pressed to make a profit.
+ The long term answer is to create more educational opportunities. More community colleges, more public schools, more for-profit institutions with sustainable revenue models, but more education in general. If you can create more of the most affordable kinds of education, it will bring down prices across the board.
+ As boring as it might sound, I would encourage every college student - heck, everyone in general - to read Economics for Dummies to get a clearer understanding of market forces, and why the free market works when you let it. Right now, we’re trying to game the free market by using taxpayer dollars and Wall Street investments to reduce a price without changing supply or demand, which does not work. Any time you have a third party subsidizing the cost of a good, the cost of the good goes up because the producers have no incentive to set pricing according to what the market will bear.

Scholarship Update
+ Cappex $1,000 Fashion Design Scholarship
+ To be eligible for this scholarship, you must have a high school diploma or GED and be currently enrolled in college or plan to enroll within the next 12 months. You also must explain to Cappex why you deserve this scholarship in the “Tell Us More” box at the bottom of the application. Application deadline is November 30, 2008. One award will be granted. Good luck!
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Mail Bag
+ Dallas writes in on episode 854: is the amount $5,500 in Stafford loans for 1 or 3 years?
+ 1 year - that’s the first year student Stafford loan cap
+ JJ Writes in on some commentary from February:
+ Where (on the web) can I go to see how the legislators voted?
+ Without forgiveness of student loan debt, have the legislators created a debtors prison for those who cannot repay? (At least, then, there would be an end in sight.)
+ How many college graduates have moved out of this country to avoid loan payments?
+ Who regulates the usury the loan companies charge?
+ You can always check legislative action on the Library of Congress.
+ We don’t know on the third question
+ Usury laws are governed on a state by state basis. Each state sets the legal definition of usury. No student loans of any kind currently fit the definition of usury as set in any of the states
+ Banks are exempted due to legislation from the 1980s. They’re indexed to commercial market rates.
+ If a lender charges above the lawful interest rate, a court will not allow the lender to sue to recover the debt because the interest rate was illegal anyway. In some states (such as New York) such loans are voided ab-initio.

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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

Retail tricks to get you to spend more

One of the arcane sciences of marketing is point of sale, the science of getting someone to buy as much stuff as possible in a store visit. This really matters to you as a consumer because once you know how the tricks work, just like any magic trick, they don’t fool you, and you’ll save money. This is especially important during the first few weeks of college when you make decisions that are typically rushed.

From the moment you walk into a store, you’re being encouraged to buy. Stores place carts and baskets immediately at the front of the store, sometimes even in the flow of foot traffic, to encourage you to take one. Why? You’re less likely to run into the store and buy just one item with a cart or basket in hand, the same way you’re more likely to take additional food in a cafeteria that has trays.

You’ll notice in stores that almost every store, gas station, and supermarket uses irrational pricing. What’s irrational pricing? It’s pricing something at $4.99 instead of $5. Does this matter? Yes - in cognitive psychology and behavioral economics, there’s more mental processing time to round up 4.99 than to simply see 5. As we rush through life and stores, our brains irrationally believe that 4.99 is a significantly better deal than 5, even though it’s just a penny’s difference. The net effect? An item that might not get you to buy at 5 might get you to buy at 4.99.

Products on shelves are often sorted by margin - profit to the store. Products that deliver the highest profit to a store are placed at roughly eye level. Products that deliver lower profits get put high up, in less visited aisles, and labeled less conspicuously. For those who have young children, products featuring kid-friendly art and design are at eye level, too - for the kids.

Ever been to a department store and wondered why the escalators up and down are nowhere near each other? You have to walk around half the store - and a bunch of things for sale - to reverse direction, unlike regular concourses where up and down are next to each other. Likewise, restrooms are typically as far away from the front door as possible, again to get you to walk by as many products as possible. Supermarkets also place essentials like milk, bread, and eggs at the back of stores for the same reason.

You’ll pay almost triple at the register for things like gum, candy, soda, and water on a per-unit basis. Check the price of a pack of gum at the register and what the same pack in a unit of 3 sells for in the candy aisle - you massively overpay when you buy on impulse.

One trick being tried by grocery stores is having sale-less signs on shelves. A consumer behavior study showed that signs on shelves saying things like “Everyday Low Price” and “Save More Every Day” that are substantially similar to true sales generate the same interest from consumers - and same purchasing, without costing the store any more money in reduced profits.

Ever been in the supermarket when it’s busy and wonder why the aisles barely fit two carts wide and there’s ALWAYS a free-standing display in the middle of the aisle? This isn’t an accident or even poor planning. It’s designed to create traffic bottlenecks in aisles, right near the middle of the aisle. The more you have to stop, the more likely you are to pick something up off a shelf nearby while you wait for the traffic jam to clear.

Stores are worse than Boston’s roads in the sense that every time you go in, someone’s rearranging something, and what was in one part of the store last week is in a different part this week. Again, neither an accident or poor planning. By changing the layout of the store frequently, the store requires you to look around more, wander around more - and see more stuff to buy.

These are just a few of the many tricks used in retail marketing to get you to spend more than you had intended to spend on a quick trip to the store. For a college student on a limited budget, spending thoughtfully is more important than ever. Now that you know these tricks, they won’t work nearly as well, particularly if you turn it into a game of sorts and see which tricks the store is trying to use on you.

Question for you, the reader - what other tricks have you noticed in stores? What other things have gotten you to spend more money than you wanted to? Please leave your thoughts in the comments!

Did you enjoy this? 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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

FAP868: Ole Miss Student Loans, TED Spread, FAFSA

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ NASFAA/Clarion Ledger: “As thousands of college students in Mississippi return for the fall semester, hundreds may be without student loan funds,” The Clarion-Ledger reports. “In recent weeks, Edamerica has been notifying students and colleges of their intention to delay releasing college loan funds as it awaits money from the federal government. ‘We have about 200 students who have Edamerica listed as their lender,’ said David Williamson, assistant director of financial aid at the University of Southern Mississippi. ‘If the funding is not here on time, it will affect their housing, financial aid, registration and classes as well.’ Between 100 and 200 students at the University of Mississippi also may be affected, said Dewey Knight, assistant director of financial aid at the university.”
+ NASFAA/NHUL: “Although students entering or returning to college this year face higher costs and fewer loan options, federally guaranteed students loans are still available in New Hampshire, and their limits have increased,” the New Hampshire Union Leader reports. “NHHELCO is part of the Concord-based New Hampshire Higher Education Assistance Foundation (NHHEAF) network. Over the past decade, NHHELCO has issued $1.5 billion in bonds to underwrite student loans in the state through the auction rates securities market which froze in February. A coalition of New Hampshire banks and credit unions stepped forward to provide $94 million in funds for the guaranteed loans, Drouin said. NHHELCO has signed an agreement with the federal Department of Education under the new law, he said.”
+ This is an interesting strategy for getting bridge funding for the Department of Education’s lending program
+ Bloomberg: TED spread widening. In a replay of the last four months of 2007, interest-rate derivatives imply that banks are becoming more hesitant to lend on speculation credit losses will increase as the global economic slowdown deepens. Banks are charging each other a premium of 77 basis points over what traders predict the Federal Reserve’s daily effective federal funds rate will average over the next three months to lend cash. The spread is up from about 24 basis points in January, and may widen to 85 basis points, or 0.85 percentage point, by mid-December, prices in the forwards market show.
+ What does this mean for you? Student loans, which have been affected by the broader market issues, may remain difficult to obtain with poor credit into the fall and winter, which could put a pinch on lending for the spring semester. Make sure you file your FAFSA. Apply for scholarships with the assumption that some student loans will simply remain unavailable.

Scholarship Update
+ ASEE SMART Scholarship
+ In general, stipends range between $25,000 and $41,000 per year, depending on academic status at the time of the award. Participants funded for less than a full academic year will receive stipends on a pro-rated basis. Further information regarding federal employee salary levels may be found at: www.OPM.gov.
+ Requirements
+ a U.S. citizen,
+ 18 years of age or older as of August 1, 2009,
+ able to participate in summer internships at DoD laboratories,
+ willing to accept post-graduate employment with the DoD,
+ a student in good standing with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (as calculated by the SMART application) and,
+ pursuing an undergraduate or graduate degree in one of the disciplines listed on the About SMART page.
+ Deadline December 15, 2008
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Financial Aid 101
+ A popular question, oddly enough: Hi im am 22 yrs old and I am currently married. I will be getting divorced soon and want to know if this will revert my status to dependent because i am not yet 24.
+ FAFSA status is always based on the day you file - if you file while married, you are married. If you file while divorced, you’re divorced.
+ This is true for a lot of things on the FAFSA - questions about assets like cash in checking or savings accounts, investments, insurance, etc. are all based on your status on the day you file
+ This means that strategically, you want to file your FAFSA at the most opportune time - for example, if you’re paying rent, you want to file AFTER you pay rent, so that there’s much less cash in your checking account
+ Get all of your planned spending out of the way - textbooks, etc. - so that you have as little money as possible while still being sustainable

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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

We’re looking to hire a web designer.

Full details here.

FAP867: First Marblehead, Bloomberg, Free Stuff, Becca Loebe

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Quick note that next Friday will be the last daily show, then we move to weekly
+ NASFAA: “First Marblehead Corp., (ticker: FMD) which packages student loans for sale to investors, said Thursday the volume of loans it had available for that activity dropped 66 percent in the fiscal fourth quarter,” the Associated Press reports. “The troubles have sent First Marblehead’s shares plunging from around $40 last fall. In April an organization called The Education Resources Institute, or TERI, which provided guarantees to bond investors for billions in private student loans, filed for bankruptcy protection - a move that shifted credit risk back to First Marblehead.”
+ An interview snippet with David Goldman, an investor and former portfolio strategist at Asteri Capital, on the Bloomberg podcast warrants listening to - here’s 30 seconds of a great 16 minute interview
+ Of all my fellow financial podcasts out there, Bloomberg’s On the Economy is one of the best and my personal favorite
+ The lesson from all of this market chaos is clear - cut spending, conserve cash, stay in insured forms of saving, whether you’re a company or a college student

Scholarship Update
+ The Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Program awards one $1,500 scholarship each year. This year’s winner will be announced on July 1, 2009. To be eligible to enter the Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Program, you must adhere to the following characteristics:
+ attend classes at an accredited four-year college or university in the U.S.
+ take a minimum of 12 semester units (you must be a full-time student)
+ be a legal resident of the U.S. or provide a valid green card
+ maintain a cumulative Grade Point Average (GPA) of at least 3.5
+ The deadline for Proof-Reading.com Scholarship Contest entries is 12:00 p.m. (noon) PST on June 1, 2009.
+ No late entries will be accepted!
+ Regrettably, no scholarship or essay contest questions can be answered by phone. Scholarship Guidelines: You must write a minimum of 1,500 words in reference to this topic:
+ What’s the future of audio CDs?
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Free puppy training kit and DVD
+ Recycled Post-Its
+ New free song from Coldplay
+ Free chicken sandwich at McDonald’s
+ Irony is having a Gold’s Gym free 7 day trial next to McDonald’s
+ Subdownloader grabs subtitles for your movies
+ Autopager eliminates those stupid page things

Free Song of the Week
+ Rebecca Loebe, Homeless

+ Still lots of opportunity to help 3 years after Katrina

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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

So here’s the deal. I’m making a change in how I handle speaking engagements.

Beginning immediately, if you’d like me to speak at your conference on the topics of new media, Internet marketing, financial aid, etc., and you’re not a PodCamp, I’m happy to do so in exchange for you sponsoring at least one month of Scholarship Points.

What’s in it for you? In addition to my speaking at your event, you’ll get promotion with Scholarship Points members - over 70,000 strong and growing rapidly every day. You’ll get to work with our Scholarship Points team to craft promotions around your company or conference event, such as blog posts, bulletins, and other activities that thousands of students can do and receive bonus codes for scholarship drawings.

Of course, you’ll also receive the goodwill benefits of putting money towards helping kids make college more affordable. You win in every way - a great speaking experience for your audience, promotion by an army of 70,000, goodwill, making the world a better place. What’s not to love?

The more money you can put up for a scholarship, obviously, the more promotion you’ll get for your conference event, both from Scholarship Points members and from me personally.

To get started, complete this basic Scholarship Sponsor form and we’ll get in touch with you right away.

Did you enjoy this? 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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.

FAP866: Earning beer money, student credit cards

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ NASFAA: “Congress and the Bush administration have struggled this year to find the right type and amount of federal subsidy that will ensure that students have access to fairly priced government-backed loans,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service suggests they may be attempting a nearly impossible task. The report by the research service, a federal agency that does policy analysis for lawmakers from both parties, asserts that the government’s system of distributing money through private lenders is chronically handicapped by wide variations among participating lenders and their cost structures. The Congressional Research Service report could embolden calls expected next year in Congress to overhaul the student-loan system.”
+ NASFAA: “The immediate gratification of using plastic to buy an iMac, tickets to a Coldplay concert and nights of bar hopping has a way of coming back to haunt college students after graduation,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Despite their lack of a credit history and sizable student loans, most college students can get their hands on credit cards with as much ease as a swipe. And they’re often lured into doing so with awards like free T-shirts. Along with the freebies, however, come some not-so-pleasant surprises: high interest rates and a range of fees and penalties. To graduate with honors in credit-card management, here’s what students need to know.”
+ Many graduates know this all too well. More than three-quarters of undergraduates hold credit cards, according to student-loan provider Nellie Mae. Their average debt load: $2,169. That amount is nothing compared to the 10% of students who graduate with more than $10,000 in credit-card debt, according to a 2008 survey commissioned by credit bureau TransUnion’s credit-management Web site TrueCredit.com and conducted by market-research company Zogby International.
+ Check out our credit card education materials at StudentPlatinum.com
+ Disclosure: yeah, it’s a credit card site!

Scholarship Update
+ Nassiri Design Your Symbol for Peace Poster
+ As a visionary, activist, advocate and artist, Nassiri has been recognized locally, regionally, nationally and internationally for his work spreading the message of peace. Now he’s calling on you to design your own original symbol for peace and incorporate it into a poster along with Nassiri’s Love Sees No Color logo and the World Peace logo. Your poster should reflect Nassiri’s passion to create awareness and spread the message of peace and harmony to the world through the power of positive music. Nassiri will select the winning designs. The top winner and one guest will receive an all expense paid trip for three days and two nights to Las Vegas, Nevada, plus $1,000 spending money. The winner will be given a personal tour at Nassiri’s Las Vegas studio. The winning poster will be printed and sold on www.nassiri.com with the proceeds going to charity. Be a part of keeping culture alive in today’s world and spread the message of peace. Deadline is October 13, 2008.
+ No purchase necessary. Contest is open to members of Brickfish.com who are legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia, 13 years or older, at the time of entry and have completed account registration prior to the end of the contest. Account registration is complete once activated via email. If Grand Prize winner is under 18 they must be accompanied by an adult.
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Jobcast
+ More on affiliate programs
+ I recently started with Shareasale
+ I put up a Shareasale store for checks online as a test
+ Disclosure: paid links
+ So you get signed in, find companies whose stuff you want to market
+ Key metrics - 7 day EPC and 30 day EPC
+ It’s all in how you market and what you market
+ Pick products you use anyway - look for brands that you already support
+ Three forms of payable action - pay per sale, pay per lead, pay per click
+ PPS pays the most typically but PPC is the easiest
+ Present the products as sponsors of your web site, education, etc. - make it relevant
+ Expect to earn very little unless you have a very busy web site or social network profile
+ This is beer money, not tuition money, at least at first
+ Sign up for a bunch of programs so that when situations involving a variety of products occur, you have something available

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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!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Graduate student loans at GradLoans.com
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Private student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com
+ Get FAFSA news at the FAFSA blog

+ 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.