USA Today ran a brief paragraph on an upsetting story. Eight student lenders, including some of the biggest (Nelnet, GMAC bank, among others), coughed up $1,400,000.00 dollars to settle NY Attorney General Cuomo's probe in their alleged unfair and deceptive marketing practices.
How does this affect you? This might be (more…)
1. "You waited until April? Sorry, we gave your money away."
At first glance, the amount of financial aid available to students seems like a gold mine. According to education testing and information organization The College Board, students received more than $130 billion in aid during the 2006-2007 school year for undergraduate and graduate study; more than $86 billion came from the federal government alone. The problem is, you'll need a treasure map to find your share. (more…)
"PRIVATE STUDENT LOANS TOUGHER TO FIND" by Sandra Block, USA Today
Your child will be a college freshman this year, and you're a little apprehensive.
Will she pass Econ 101? Eat her vegetables? Come home for Thanksgiving with an
anarchist boyfriend and a full body tattoo?
For some parents, though, such worries are eclipsed by a more immediate concern:
paying the bill for the coming semester. (more…)
If you’re a student, or the parent of a student, that is about to head off to college, you’ve got to be very careful, because you are on a lot of shady people’s list.
You are going to get a lot of offers by phone and by mail for scholarship searches, or telling you you’ve won a contest or scholarship…..and most of them are TOTAL scams. (more…)
Ideally, many planners agree that the cost of college is a burden on most families, which is why they suggest starting to save for college the first year your child is born. This would give a typical family 17 to 18 years to save.
However, most families have not done this. As your child becomes older and more years slip by that there has been minimal savings or none at all, more aggressive plans must be considered. (more…)
I have a very sad story: a student graduated 20 years ago with a particular specialized major (this particular major was dropped the year after he graduated). [Mistake number one: research your career/major]
20 years after graduating this former college student still has $100,000+ in (more…)
A little business and a little vacation.
Some families ask when is a good time to start preparing for college.
My answer is as soon as possible. A middle school student is not too early to start. I have a High School Sophomore who will be graduating in 2011. We started the planning and positioning process (more…)
KTAR’s radio host Bob McClay interviewed me Tuesday August 11th regarding the college planning process.
I discussed why it is important to choose a career, then a major, then a college, in that order.
(more…)
This isn’t exactly a pleasant topic to discus but awareness is one step in the right direction.
Campus safety tips
While assault or rape by an attacker is never the victim's fault, there are a few things students can keep in mind
While out on a date
The unfortunate statistic is that 90 percent of (more…)
A family came in for consulting services looking for guidance and direction. The first strike against them was that their student was already a College Junior. College planning begins when your student is a High School Freshman or Sophomore. The second strike was they did not fill out any financial aid forms.
Here’s what happened. (more…)
