FAP794: Massive free stuff Friday, scholarship secret

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ NASFAA: “‘Financial aid’ most commonly refers to scholarships: direct grants that students need not pay back… policymakers are starting to admit that the system designed to make college more affordable is making it less so,” according to The Indianapolis Star. “Here’s why. ‘When someone else is paying the bills, people want to buy more of the good or service in question at prevailing prices than when the customer pays the bills,’ Vedder explains. ‘This means a higher demand for higher education, and other things being equal, higher tuition costs.’ The problem isn’t just that financial aid distorts the market; it doesn’t work as intended. Financial aid is probably here to stay. The challenge is to eliminate the inflationary effects caused by the third-party payer system.”
+ Lots of commentary about how the private student loan market, which comprises about 20% of lending, is still broken
+ It will for some time - credit markets are still a mess
+ Our private student loans are still open for business
+ Call for stories about paying for school via non-traditional means

Scholarship Search Secret
+ Tips on using Google Reader plus news and blog searches combined to be a massive, real-time monitor of scholarships
+ Here’s how: do searches for individual scholarship terms, then find the RSS link on the left hand side of the page. Copy and paste that link into Google Reader, organize it as a folder, and from then on, you won’t have to keep re-searching for those terms
+ Be sure to pick up our free college scholarship search secrets eBook today!
+ Also make sure you’re registered for our $10,000 scholarship

Free Stuff Friday
+ This week is college graduation at a lot of schools
+ You know what that means - be hitting up Craigslist in your city NOW for steals on stuff that fellow students simply don’t want to take home
+ If you live near a music school, video school, or any college that has programs which involve large, heavy equipment, there are some SERIOUS bargains to be had
+ Baskin Robbins Bump Day - May 21 - free dish or cone
+ Organic free yogurt sample for moms
+ Seattle’s Best Coffee sample
+ Free energy drink sample
+ Quaker Oats
+ Start Sampling - interesting!
+ Successful living magazine
+ Pile of cleaning supplies
+ Klok time tracker
+ AP newswire for iPhone
+ Mozy online backup - 2 GB for free, $5/month for unlimited
+ Collaborative mind maps with MindMeister
+ Nine Inch Nails releases its entire new album free under Creative Commons

Free Song of the Week
+ Not from NIN
+ Black Lab, Ghost In Your Mind

PSA
+ Myanmar and UNICEF - 1800-4-UNICEF

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+
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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!
+ Online education directory at Edvisors.com
+ 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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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

FAP793: Writing effective cover letters that sell

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Yesterday we did a special on HR 5715 - make sure you grab the PDF!
+ Inside Higher Ed: All the turmoil in the student loan industry has plenty of lenders and others worried, but you don’t need to lose sleep over Sallie Mae (ticker: SLM). An analysis released Tuesday by Lehman Brothers (ticker: LEH) predicts gains for the student loan giant. With other players leaving the field and the government now worried about keeping entities in lending, Sallie Mae should see its market share and profitability both grow, Lehman Brothers says. A survey released Monday by the Federal Reserve, meanwhile, finds that a majority of the nation’s leading banks said they expected to decrease their commitments to making federal student loans in 2008 compared to 2007, and most said they expected a decline in the number of colleges to whose students they make loans.
+ Chronicle: Not long ago, forecasts for state appropriations to higher education were gloomy, as the credit crisis, a slumping housing market, rising energy costs and unemployment, and sagging consumer confidence took their toll on state finances.
+ But the budget news emerging from many statehouses for colleges and universities has been better than expected. In many states, higher education has been spared the deep cuts being required of other state agencies. In some states, lawmakers are even providing increases.

Scholarship Update
+ National Financial Literacy Challenge
+ On January 22, 2008, President Bush signed an Executive Order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Literacy. The Council members held their first meeting in February. One of their initial recommendations was to focus on increasing financial education for young people. The National Financial Literacy Challenge is a recognition program that uses a voluntary, online test to determine and reward high levels of financial literacy among America’s high school students.
+ Each of the top regional performers in the 2008 National Financial Literacy Challenge will win a $2,500 scholarship for use at the post-secondary institution of their choice. A $1,000 contribution in their name will additionally be given to the school or program* that provided their money management education.
+ Deadline May 16, 2008
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Jobcast
+ Writing a sales-oriented cover letter
+ All cover letters are sales letters
+ The product you are selling is the skillset of you
+ What can you do that others can’t, that has value?
+ Some template ideas:
+ AIDA/PAGSSS/ABCDE
+ The reality is that most people are not great writers
+ You don’t have to be - follow one of the many formulas and formats
+ Make sure your cover letter gets delivered - many formats

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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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

FAP792: Special Bulletin: President Bush signs HR 5715 into law

Student Financial Aid News
+ Rather than do an audio episode trying to read what’s essentially a bunch of charts, I made a bunch of charts, just for you.

Download HR5715 Simply Put as a PDF!

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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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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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 just got my new laptop battery in the mail. It’s 17 pounds. Believe it or not, this is a good thing. Here it is:

Digg this!

Why is this important? As part of the Student Loan Network’s efforts to continually improve our energy usage - our green-ness, such as it is - I bought this nifty device (with my own money, I should add). What’s neat about this battery is that it has both DC and solar inputs.

DC is, of course, what your car generates. A friend on Twitter, Daniel Ho, informed me that the alternator in a car more or less generates electricity whether or not you use it, as a byproduct of the engine running. This means that for every gallon of gas, if I’m not in some way using that electricity, it’s kind of wasted. So this battery jacks into the DC outlet of my car and can recharge from it, helping me to use more of the energy in a gallon of gas.

Even better, I can deploy the solar panel on this battery and let it charge from that as well from the dashboard of my car, claiming some incremental energy from it, too.

The battery pack will give my MacBook Pro an additional 3 hours of runtime, which isn’t a huge amount for a 17 pound battery (though the MacBook itself is power hungry), but if it also means being able to maximize the “free” energy around me, that’s power I don’t have to draw off the grid, and that’s as green as you can get.

This particular model is the Xantrex PowerPack Solar. I got mine from Amazon; here’s the link. (disclosure, affiliate link)

Did you enjoy this blog post? 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!
+ 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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog!
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

FAP791: Skyrocketing meal plans, PLUS loans, loan indexes

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Students are likely to see a sharp increase in the cost of on-campus meal plans this fall, as rising food prices have sent some college food-service operations into deficits and have forced many to get creative with their fixed budgets. As the cost of food has soared, many dining halls have focused more on reducing portions and less on eliminating popular dishes.
+ Rich Neumann, director of dining services at Ohio University, said his institution’s costs for flour increased 177 percent from April 2007 to April 2008. The price of eggs went up 78 percent over the same period.
+ Inside Higher Ed: The Bernard Osher Foundation plans today to announce a $50 million grant to create an endowment to provide scholarships for students attending community colleges in California, The San Jose Mercury News reported. An additional $20 million gift will support students who transfer from community colleges to public universities in the state. While $50 million gifts have become almost common at institutions with billion-dollar fund-raising drives, donations of this size are extremely rare when focused on community colleges and their students.
+ The U.S. Education Department issued guidance Monday to help student loan guarantee agencies carry out the federal government’s “lender of last resort” program by summertime if the credit crunch continues to limit the availability of loans for some students and other, more desirable methods of ensuring liquidity fall short. In a letter to guarantors, Under Secretary of Education Sara Martinez Tucker laid out a path for the nonprofit agencies to make loans to students at institutions that find themselves unable to secure other options. But it is widely agreed — even among the guarantee agencies themselves — that most students, colleges and lenders will be better off if the Education Department finds other ways to bolster lenders, who then make loans available directly to students, as legislation approved last week by Congress aims to ensure. In addition, numerous other institutions appear to be leaving the guaranteed student loan program for the government’s competing direct loan program.

Scholarship Update
+ New England Culinary Institute Lifelong Learner Scholarship
+ The Life Longer Scholarship is available to students who have already completed a Bachelor’s Degree or higher and are pursuing either or a career change or exploring a passion in the culinary industry.
+ Amount: $5000.00
+ Application Process: Please send copy of diploma or transcript and a letter describing why you have chosen to attend New England Culinary Institute via fax, email, or mail indicating that you are applying for the Life Long Learner Scholarship.
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Mail Bag
+ Anna writes in: Although Prime and LIBOR rates change (especially lately), how do schools inform parents to differentiate between a current rate and a ‘locked rate’ when researching alternative loan options? Is there a general timeframe when lenders lock in prime at 5.25 or is it done automatically when the Federal Reserve updates it?
+ Typically, indexes are adjusted quarterly, so whatever the rate is at the end of the quarter. It all depends on the lender’s capitalization period - for example, our Act Education Loan capitalizes interest quarterly.
+ Kim writes in: What are the advantages or disadvantages of PLUS loan vs. HELOC vs. private loan. Thanks.
+ PLUS loans are federally guaranteed, with fixed interest rates. HELOCs typically are variable rate, as are private student loans. All three can be used to pay up to the cost of education, and all three can often be deducted from your taxes - the interest paid. PLUS loans have more lax credit restrictions, especially in light of HR 5175. PLUS and private loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.
+ PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com
+ Private student loans at AlternativeStudentLoan.com

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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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

FAP790: The Fed, TAF, APA, and College Costs

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ Did the Financial Aid Podcast alter Fed policy?
+ The Higher Education Act expired on Friday. How does this affect you? It doesn’t, really. Everything is still working.
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com

Scholarship Update
+ APA 20th Anniversary Psychology Scholarship
+ In celebration of APAGS’s 20th anniversary in 2008, APAGS will acknowledge four outstanding graduate psychology students who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in psychology and are on track to becoming future pioneers in the field. APAGS members who have demonstrated excellence in their work as leaders in research, practice, professional service, community service and/or legislative advocacy are eligible for this prestigious award. Four $5,000 scholarships will be awarded to graduate students who best represent future pioneering leaders of psychology. Candidates from diverse science and clinical training programs, as well as from diverse backgrounds, are encouraged to apply. In addition to the monetary award, winners will also receive travel funds (airfare through the APA Travel Office, plus reimbursement for 3 hotel nights) to attend the 2008 APA Convention in Boston to participate in a brief presentation of their work with the other award recipients.
+ All candidates must be APAGS members, currently enrolled (and in good academic standing) in a doctoral program in psychology. Winners must agree to attend the 2008 APA Convention in Boston to provide a brief presentation of their work and vision for the future of psychology in a program that features all of the winners. APAGS officers and/or subcommittee chairs are ineligible for this award.
+ Applications are due in APAGS Central Office no later than May 9, 2008.
+ Details in our free college scholarship search site

Opinion
+ In the past, there’s been some debate about whether financial aid drives college costs or vice versa. There’s a correlation between availability of financial aid, including student loans, and college costs, but it’s so far been unclear if there’s any causal relationship.
+ Here’s the twist on this story. As we’ve gone through the student lending crisis in the past few months, nearly every proposal on the table has talked about helping lenders gain access to more capital, to more cash. There have been all kinds of harebrained schemes dreamed up to fix student lending.
+ The one thing that no one has proposed is this - reducing college costs.
+ If college costs drove up financial aid, then logically you’d see costs change first, and aid follow
+ If financial aid drove up college costs, then logically you’d see aid change first, and then colleges change costs - and that’s exactly what I think we’re seeing
+ The housing market is a contrast - with no similar federal program for housing loans, the housing market is collapsing at an incredibly fast rate - costs coming down

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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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

Probably not, but it’s kind of funny to think so. On March 9, I blogged about how the Fed could use the Term Auction Facility (TAF) to add liquidity to student lending. This made it into the Higher Education Washington paper, HEWI, which is the journal of record for politicians, lobbyists, and education folks in DC on March 10. (hat tip to Maria Koklanaris for including it!)

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke initially rejected proposals that the Fed add investment grade student loan securities to the TAF pool of eligible collateral on Friday.

This weekend, the story changed, according to BusinessWeek. The Fed will now accept investment grade student loan securities as collateral for lenders to borrow against.

Whether the Financial Aid Podcast altered Fed policy or not, this is good news for student lending - and at no additional taxpayer risk, since federal student loans are already guaranteed by the Department of Education anyway. Remember - this is not a bailout, NOT free money. The TAF is a loan program for lenders. Lenders borrow from the Fed and put up loans as collateral. At the end of 28 days, the lenders have to buy back their loans from the Fed. Of course, they can borrow again and pledge additional loans if need be.

If it turns out that the Financial Aid Podcast did alter Fed policy - well, cool.

FAP789: PLUS Loan Moral Hazards, Free Stuff Friday

Listen now:

Student Financial Aid News
+ NASFAA: HR 5715 approved - going through final phases now
+ Increase Annual and Aggregate Stafford Loan Limits
+ The bill would increase the following loan amounts for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2008:
+ Increases the additional unsubsidized Stafford annual limits by $2,000 for independent undergraduate students, and for dependent undergraduate students whose parents cannot borrow PLUS, but appears to reduce the additional unsubsidized limit for teacher certification to $6,000 for “undergraduate” students
+ Increases unsubsidized Stafford limits for dependent students by introducing additional unsubsidized amounts of $2,000
+ Increases aggregate unsubsidized loan amounts for undergraduate dependent students from $23,000 to $31,000 (minus subsidized borrowing) but does not appear to extend additional unsubsidized funds for preparatory coursework or teacher certification for these students.
+ Increases aggregate unsubsidized loan amounts for undergraduate independent students from $46,000 to $57,500 (minus subsidized borrowing)
+ Beginning July 1, 2008, the bill would allow parents to choose to defer payments on a PLUS loan until six months after the date the student ceases to be enrolled at least half time. Accruing interest could either be paid by the parent borrower monthly or quarterly, or be capitalized quarterly.
+ Special Provision for Parents Delinquent on Mortgage Payments
+ The bill would allow lenders to consider parents eligible for PLUS loans even if, during the period January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2009, the parents are or were:
+ No more than 180 days delinquent on a mortgage payment on their primary residence
+ No more than 180 days delinquent on any medical bill payments
+ No more than 89 days delinquency on the repayment of “any other debt”
+ The bill temporarily authorizes the Department to purchase FFEL loans originated on or after October 1, 2003, provided those purchases do not result in any cost to the federal government. The Department’s authority to purchase loans under this provision expires on July 1, 2009.
+ The bill would stipulate that if the Department acts as a secondary market lender, it must ensure that any proceeds paid to a lender are used in a “manner consistent with ensuring continued participation of such lender in the Federal student loan programs.” In other words, it would prohibit lenders from using those proceeds in any other way than ensuring they continue participating in FFELP.
+ Some massive changes, and I guarantee, some massive opportunities for loopholes as well, as these provisions contain opportunities for less than ethical behavior, like dumping delinquent borrowers on the Department and leaving them there
+ I still take issue with the whole rewarding bad behavior by allowing delinquent borrowers of mortgages to take out more debt in the form of PLUS loans - this is moral hazard, or encouraging people to behave irresponsibly
+ Here’s an abuse scenario just waiting to happen: Parents whose credit would otherwise deny them a PLUS loan take one out under the expanded, more lax lending standards
+ As part of due diligence, they fail the standard PLUS loan credit test
+ A lender marks them essentially as a high risk borrower
+ The lender holds the loan until the last quarter before the Department’s authority to purchase loans at present value ends - Spring of 2009 - then sells off the loans to the Department at present value, which is the loan plus accrued interest for those nine months
+ If you use a standard amortization table at 8.5%, 9 months of interest accrued on $30,000 is $1,890. If a lender can afford to hold onto high risk borrowers for 9 months, they can earn nearly $2K per high risk borrower at absolutely no risk because the loan will be flipped to the Department before the clock runs out
+ Does anyone besides me think this could be a problem for the taxpayer down the road?
+ I suppose www.ParentPLUSLoan.com is about to become one of our most popular web sites…

Scholarship Update
+ The Collegiate Inventors Competition is a national competition that recognizes and rewards innovations, discoveries, and research by college and university students and their faculty advisors. The Competition encourages students who actively pursue invention. Students frequently come from science, engineering, mathematics, and technology studies but creative invention can emerge from any course of study. The Competition also recognizes the working relationship between a student and his or her advisor. The program was introduced in May, 1990 and is operated by the National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation.
+ Up to 15 finalists will win an all-expenses paid trip in Fall 2008 to present their work to a panel of expert judges. Each finalist or finalist team will also receive $2000. One Undergraduate and one Graduate winner or team will each receive $15,000. One Grand Prize winner or team will receive $25,000. Academic advisors of each winning team also receive a cash award.
+ Deadline May 16, 2008
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Realtime traffic data in Google Earth for major roads
+ Insanely cool! Google Maps has street view turns!
+ Juicy Juice sippee cups for parents of young children
+ Your local Starbucks has free music cards
+ If you’re a fellow podcaster, IODA Promonet is a great source of music for your show
+ Lifehacker has a hack for free Wi-Fi - warning, there might be consequences
+ Men’s Health has four free video workouts for your iPod or computer
+ Great presentation by Clay Shirky at Web 2.0
+ If you ever find yourself making presentations for school or work, watch this video by Garr Reynolds

Free Song of the Week
+ Ronn McFarlane
“Indigo Road” (mp3)
from “Indigo Road - Original Lute Music”
(Dorian Recordings)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album

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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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

Economic stimulus checks are rolling out beginning today across America. Over $150 billion will be distributed to American citizens. Every advertiser and company in America is rolling out a campaign to get you to spend your stimulus check with them, so I figured I’d throw my hat in the ring.

Each stimulus check more or less works out to $600 per working adult plus $300 per dependent child under 17. There are some variations, but that’s more or less the standard formula.

How should you spend your check?

1. Pay down some debt if you have it. There’s no other form of guaranteed return than to pay off debt. It’s money in the bank for the future in interest you don’t have to pay.
2. Stick it in a savings account or invest it in an FDIC-insured bond.
3. Make a charitable donation.

The last point is probably the one I’d ask you to consider - even if it’s only a small amount of your check, please consider making some kind of donation.

Worth considering: $600 goes a long way in other parts of the world. A single economic stimulus check could feed 10 children in poverty from today until February 1, 2009. Check out the United Nations World Food Program.

Worth considering: $600 goes a long way in America, too. A single economic stimulus check could feed 10 American children living in poverty from today until January 1, 2009. Check out America’s Second Harvest.

FAP788: Reputation protection online

Jobcast
+ On the road this AM, talking about Google, personal brand, and keeping things clean

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
+ Edvisors Jobs
+ Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com 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