FAP866: Earning beer money, student credit cards

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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
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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!
+ 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.