As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, please consider this super-easy leftovers tip: whatever you don’t need, whatever’s extra, please donate to a local food pantry, soup kitchen, or homeless shelter. Even just an extra can of cranberry sauce or can of coffee makes a difference, and it’s so easy to do.
Don’t know where the nearest one is? Use this Google Maps query. Go to maps.google.com and type:
You might want to call ahead and ask if they accept actual leftovers; some pantries require food to be unopened for safety.
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I had a chance recently to speak with the director of financial aid at Cleveland State University, Rachel Schmidt, about all kinds of financial aid advice, from finding scholarships to College Goal Sunday to appealing your financial aid award for more aid. A terrific 27 minute interview!
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One of the quieter discussion topics at the recent MASFAA conference was on the topic of preparedness for college. It was pointed out by many that if you’re academically unprepared for college, you’re better off doing some preparatory work in a community college or other transitional program rather than pay full tuition and expenses for an extra year of catching up to other peers. If you’re not sure you’re ready for college, take an online course or even a free course in iTunesU to judge for yourself. If you feel lost after even just a couple of sessions, it may be an indicator that you need to do some transition work - and you won’t have to pay full price.
“The national and regional recession is putting many college students in a stagnant position: They may not be able to afford college because their family households are losing income, but then they may struggle to find jobs once they do graduate,” The Citizen-Times reports. “According to Marjorie Ellis, director of career planning at Appalachian State University, the job market is down, and it’s showing on campus. The Career Development Center has had a couple of companies cancel interviews citing the current state of the economy and the effect it is having on their business.”
I am an US citizen but I would like to go to grad school abroad, can I still qualify for financial aid?
It depends on the graduate school. A select few schools are Title IV certified, which means they’re recognized by the US government and US financial aid can be applied there. Some other foreign schools also have tuition agreements with US universities, where you pay your bills at a US school but attend overseas. Check with the school you’re thinking about attending for more information.
What paper work is required to show to prove that I am supporting myself?
Typically, for a professional judgement override, a financial aid administrator will ask to see rent, utilities bills, and other forms of identification which establish you living on your own at a separate place from your parents.
I am a 22 year old student. I have been living on my own for 3 years and yes I have had the FAFSA problem. I say if I am old enough to gamble money in Vegas, I should be old enough to be considered an Independent person. Who made this law? Why 24? My parents don’t pay anything for me nor do they have the money to pay for school. I tried the override thing but schools are tougher than ever and I didn’t get any help. I have a friend who had parents pass away and I am helping her. She lives with me and I am supporting more than 50%. Will this be considered in my FAFSA? Have any advice?
The law was made by Congress in the Higher Education Act and regulatory interpretation set up by the US Department of Education. If your financial aid advisor was unable to help, you may want to approach your school’s director of financial aid with the appropriate documentation and make your case there. Be prepared with tons of paperwork!
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As I write in our eBooks, explicit permission is granted to anyone employed at an institution of higher education, non-profit agency, or advocacy group to share with your audience any of the resources we’ve made public and link to any of our web sites. You don’t need to ask in advance to link to us or download & share our eBooks and other materials.
Yes, you can.
5 most recent Financial Aid Podcast postsDid 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.
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5 most recent Financial Aid Podcast postsDid 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.
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Still on the road today, attending the last day of the MASFAA financial aid conference. Some insights from yesterday…
The state of Massachusetts so far has not cut budgets for financial aid for FY09, which is good news for Massachusetts students. That said, with the current economic pressures, that status is not guaranteed in the coming year. At the same time, Massachusetts colleges, especially public and community colleges, are reporting record enrollments. One community college leader reported that they were bursting at the seams, saying that enrollments were challenging their resources.
At a regional update, many financial aid administrators reported they are starting to receive more appeals for financial aid than normal in the last two weeks. Students are asking for more aid because of economic pressures on their families.
There were a ton of debt numbers with regard to college students in the financial literacy session. A few select ones:
- Over 60% of first year college students max out their first credit card within a year.
- Indebted adults between 18-24 pay on average 30 cents of every dollar earned on debt.
- Over 1/3 of college students graduate with $10K or more in credit card debt. Not student loans - credit card debt.
- Over 25% of college students regularly pay late fees on credit cards.
During a conversation about scholarships, one of my colleagues pointed out that 2008 scholarships and endowments were already funded at the end of 2007, which means that 2008 scholarships are largely unaffected by the economy. Not so for 2009 - so expect scholarship hunting to be a lot more competitive, with many more students chasing potentially fewer dollars. Be prepared for this by hunting now - add December 31 to your scholarship search queries to see if you can round up some last end-of-year scholarships now.
Finally, this coming year is going to be one in which you’ll need a good relationship with your financial aid officer. Between new latitude for professional judgements and new economic pressures, that relationship could mean quite a bit.
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Daily Aid 40: The MASFAA Financial Aid Conference, Day 1
It’s been a fascinating and somewhat troubling time here at MASFAA, the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators. Fascinating because I’ve picked up a ton of useful information about changes in financial aid, gotten great feedback on the Scholarship Search Secrets eBook and the FAFSA Guide eBook that we publish, changes in financial aid procedures, and other great tips from colleagues about how to handle certain situations.
A few changes I thought especially noteworthy:
- The FAFSA changes for this year that are significant, such as dislocated worker and homeless youth, have no official documentation for verification, which means that financial aid administrators and government officials are having to create forms for documentation.
- Professional judgement overrides for financial aid administrators have been made more flexible, including an unusual override that lets a student borrow up to the full amount of an unsubsidized Stafford loan without the FAFSA.
- Convicted sex offenders no longer qualify for the Pell Grant. However, there’s no process in place to document or verify who is or is not.
- There are a lot of ambiguities around the labor language for dislocated workers. For example, who is underemployed vs. unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has some measures, but do BLS/Department of Labor definitions apply to the Department of Education?
- For colleges that use institutional methodology for determining financial aid need, there will now be discrepancies between that method and federal methodology, which is what the Department of Education uses. Some of the items that the federal methodology eliminated, such as foreign income, are still used by institutional methodology, which means that some students will have different need levels depending on what college they apply to.
Because of the many regulatory and procedural changes in the upcoming year, the most important piece of advice I can give is that it’s vital, absolutely essential, that you have a good relationship with your school’s financial aid office. Do your level best to be on great terms, first-name basis, with your financial aid counselors and staff, because with all of the ambiguities and interpretations for the new changes, that relationship may determine how much help you get.
There are some other, smaller bits of information which will find their way into the FAFSA guide and other publications, blogs, and newsletters in the days and weeks to come, but these were some of the highlights from the event so far. Today is day 2, and lots more to study and learn.
As for troubling, in many private conversations with my colleagues, there’s been a great deal of concern about the economy and where things are headed. The general consensus is that financial aid in the year ahead will be asked to do more than ever with fewer resources than ever, and that’s a tall order in any environment, much less in the current economy. We’ll see what’s ahead, and as always, you’ll get the news first from the Student Loan Network and the Financial Aid Podcast.
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I’m had the opportunity to share some materials at the Massachusetts Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators 2008 annual conference, and materials from my presentations are here for you to enjoy. If you attended one of my sessions, thank you so much for being a part of the sessions, and please give me feedback about how the session materials can be more useful to you, as well as how the Student Loan Network can better help you!
One question that came up after the sessions was whether or not you could share any of this or link to it - yes, absolutely. You don’t need permission to do that - please DO link to the eBook and share it with as many students as you want, put the link into presentations for financial aid nights, however you want to share it, please do.
I also want to say a special thanks to the Conference Committee and MASFAA leadership for the opportunity to share some of the stuff I’m doing with the Student Loan Network, and I hope to see you at an upcoming PD&T or financial aid event soon, like Massachusetts College Goal Sunday!
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I had a chance recently to speak with the director of undergraduate admissions at Cleveland State University, Mark Nazario, about getting into college, what’s important, what’s not, and what students should be doing to improve their chances of getting into the school of their choice. A terrific 18 minute interview!
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Over dinner with Professor Mark Frydenberg of Bentley University, the topic came up about how new media could be used as part of a senior project. Here’s an idea I’d love to throw out to other college seniors and students to see what you think. We know new media is powerful. You have unparalleled access to some of the smartest people in the world, some of the most well connected. At the same time, as a college senior, you’re looking to do something to make your mark on the world right away, because distinction will set you apart from the millions of other degree holders graduating this year. Distinction will help you land a job, perhaps even get you an offer before you start looking.
So what could you do as a senior in marketing, business, or information systems? Try making a real-life case study of new media put to use. Pick a local charity that needs the help, and focus an all-out campaign on raising money for that charity using all of the new media tools and connections that you’ve got. Figure out how to find potential donors on Twitter and LinkedIn, gather allies and collaborate using Facebook and Google Docs, and use the opportunity for a senior project to make the world a better place. The charity will benefit, your community will benefit, and you’ll have something for your LinkedIn profile that you can be super proud of.
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As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, please consider this super-easy leftovers tip: whatever you don’t need, whatever’s extra, please donate to a local food pantry, soup kitchen, or homeless shelter. Even just an extra can of cranberry sauce or can of coffee makes a difference, and it’s so easy to do.
