Student Loan Blog : Scholarships

College Scholarships Dry Up Along With Endowment Funding

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:17:00 GMT

For the six-month period ending in December, college endowments nationwide lost an average of 24 percent, according to the nonprofit Commonfund Institute of Connecticut, forcing a handful of small regional universities to make significant cutbacks to their scholarship funds for the upcoming fall semester (“More Bad News on Campus: Scholarships Drying Up,” Associated Press, March 12, 2009).

This year, Eastern Washington University in Cheney, Washington, provided half a million dollars for 500 scholarships, said Mike Westfall, vice president for university advancement. After experiencing a 20-percent drop in its endowment, the school will only be able to provide $100,000 in scholarships for the coming academic year, which, Westfall said, will significantly impact its student population.

“Over 50 percent of our students are first-generation students. First-generation students tend to be more dependent on financial aid. To take that away is troubling,” he said. To make up the difference, Eastern has increased its fundraising efforts and created a new scholarship website.

Rhode Island College, which saw a 22-percent drop in its endowment this year, has decided to suspend all scholarships for the upcoming school year, largely because the college’s endowment scholarship fund is “underwater” after dipping below the amount the fund started with.

The University of Wisconsin-Superior will have to offer approximately $100,000 less in endowed scholarships next year based on the decline in value of its endowment.

And with only $200,000 available for scholarships next year — after distributing about $900,000 this current year — Western Washington University in Bellingham plans to increase scholarship fundraising for the fall to cover its 30-percent drop in endowment funds.

The school would also like to increase funding for its $800,000 annual scholarship campaign to make up for endowment losses, said Stephanie Bowers, vice president for university advancement and executive director of the university foundation.

Bowers characterizes next year’s scholarship prospects as bleak, but said that she remains hopeful about the future, “When you work for a foundation, you take the 100-year view.”

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Ohio State Commits to Helping Students in Financial Turmoil

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 00:30:00 GMT

The largest university in the nation, Ohio State University, has taken steps to ensure that its students who rely on financial aid will still be able to complete their degree program in spite of the economic recession, the school announced in a press release this week (“Ohio State Assisting Students Facing Economic Difficulties,” Dec. 22, 2008).

The initiative, called “Students First,” is aimed at ensuring that currently enrolled students, as well as those admitted for the upcoming 2009 academic year, will have access to additional financial aid, as well as short-term emergency loans, if they or their families experience economic hardship.

The university will also be personally contacting all first-year students who didn’t re-enroll for classes this winter quarter to check whether financial hardship was the reason.

“Now more than ever, we must assure that young people are able to pursue their dreams, earn a degree, and use their talents to enhance our economy, our state, and our world,” said university president E. Gordon Gee.

The Students First plan proposes an array of measures designed to protect student’s access to financial aid funds during any budget cuts and to insulate the school’s financial aid system from changes in the economy:

Doubling the existing short-term emergency loan fund by $1 million
Providing short-term loans of up to $500 for students with temporary cash-flow problems
Guaranteeing to increase financial aid proportionally to correspond with any tuition increases
Offering students assistance in securing financial at any point throughout the academic year if their financial situation worsens
Encouraging donors to give toward financial aid, student loans, and scholarships

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Note to College Donors: Make the Check Out to Students

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:28:00 GMT

As the economic downturn continues to impact families’ ability to pay for college, schools are redirecting their fundraising efforts to focus on financial aid, reports The Wall Street Journal (“Colleges Shift Donor Appeals Toward Student Aid,” Nov. 19, 2008).

In order to help meet the increased demand for financial aid, some schools are urging donors to contribute money directly to a school’s general fund, which universities reserve for their most pressing needs, or to a school’s scholarship program, rather than to new building construction.

Bobbi Mark, vice president of institutional advancement at Barnard College in New York, said it makes more sense for colleges to delay the construction of a new building than to “say to the entire sophomore class: Why don’t you take a year off?

“Certain things have to be priorities,” Mark added, “and financial aid is one of them.”

What Some Schools Are Doing To Boost Financial Aid

To help students get the financial aid they need, some schools are giving their priorities a makeover:

Barnard College is asking donors to participate in its endowed scholarship giving program to make up for a reduction in family contributions and to meet an anticipated $1.2 million increase in demand for aid. The program’s donors agree to pledge $100,000 to help a particular student meet his or her tuition costs.

With its families taking a big hit from the mortgage crisis and unemployment, Stanford University has seen an “increase in demand for aid above and beyond our expanded aid commitment,” said Karen Cooper, director of financial aid. The school plans to delay certain building projects and cut its $800 million general funds budget — which pays for faculty and staff salaries, administrative costs, and non-research-related expenses — by 10 to 12 percent over the next few years.

The University of Texas at Austin, which has seen its state funding decrease, recently announced a new $3 billion fundraising campaign with a “primary focus” on making school affordable, said Carolyn Connerat, the school’s campaign director. Giving toward scholarships is up by $4 million this year compared to last year.

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Government Warns: Pell Grant Program in Trouble

Student Loan Girl — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:47:00 GMT

Without additional taxpayer funds next year, the government’s “most important” federal financial aid program may be unable to provide Pell Grants to millions of eligible low-income students, likely pricing these students out of a higher education, according to an article in The New York Times (“Pell Grants Said to Face a Shortfall,” Sept. 17, 2008).

In a memorandum issued last week, the Department of Education warned that it predicts a $6 billion shortage for the federal Pell Grant program next year, stemming from continuous budget shortfalls and compounded by the record-high number of students qualifying for the federal Pell Grant program.

Rising tuition costs, shrinking state aid to colleges and universities, and a growing number of adults who are reenrolling in college are all putting a strain on federal financial aid resources, particularly on Pell Grants, which don’t have to be repaid. This school year alone, six million students out of the nine million who applied for federal financial aid received Pell Grants, some of the highest numbers the program has seen since its inception in 1972.

“It’s the mother of all shortfalls,” said Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. “There’s more unmet need than anyone predicted.”

Last year Congress appropriated nearly $14 billion for the Pell Grant program, but as the troubled economy continues to force adults out of the workforce and back into the classroom, the Department of Education said it will either need to allocate more taxpayer money to the Pell Grant program or decrease the grant award amounts students can receive next year.

Should the Education Department decide to reduce Pell Grant awards, it would make an announcement detailing its decision sometime in February 2009, according to the memorandum.

“If [the Pell Grant program] is threatened, you’ll hear about it,” said Edward M. Elmendorf, senior vice president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. “The decibel level will be deafening.”

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NextStudent to Be Spotlighted at Largest Virtual College Fair

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 16:06:00 GMT

Don Fenstermaker, the founder and CEO of NextStudent, will join noted names Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, and Kim Clark, senior writer for U.S. World & News Report, as one of only a few financial aid experts to give a live streaming video keynote presentation on college financing at today’s CollegeWeekLive event.

CollegeWeekLive, the largest virtual college fair on the Web, is hosting its “Paying for College” event today as a free online resource for students and parents looking for information on college financing and the financial aid process.

Fenstermaker’s presentation, “Paying for College A–Z,” will be streamed live from his NextStudent office in Phoenix, Ariz., and NextStudent’s professional Education Finance Advisors will be on-hand to interact directly with students and parents, discussing their college financing options, answering questions about parent and student loans, and offering guidance on where to find the financial resources that can help families cover all their college costs.

CollegeWeekLive participants are also invited to visit NextStudent’s virtual booths and watch spotlight video presentations on the company’s free online scholarship database, its flagship private student loan program, and its popular NextPath blogs for students, graduates, and parents.

From any NextStudent booth, attendees can connect directly to the NextStudent website, chat live with a NextStudent Education Finance Advisor, search over $16 billion in available scholarships, and apply free for a private student loan.

The fair kicks off at 10 a.m. Eastern today and runs until 8 p.m. Admission is free, and students and parents can still register online through the CollegeWeekLive website.

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Admissions and Financial Aid Experts to Offer Live College Financing Advice at Free Online College Fair

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 15:12:00 GMT

CollegeWeekLive, the largest virtual college fair on the Web, will offer students and parents the opportunity this week to interact live and online with a wide range of college planning and financial aid professionals, including admissions counselors, financial aid experts, and advisors from some of the top college financing companies in the industry.

CollegeWeekLive will hold its free online “Paying for College” event on July 10, 2008, and NextStudent will be on-hand to help students with their questions about financial aid, scholarships, and private student loans.

Just like with a brick-and-mortar college fair, students who attend CollegeWeekLive will be able to ask questions, attend live presentations and discussions, and receive financial aid and admissions assistance from college professionals and industry experts. But instead of having to travel across the country or trek through aisles of booths, students will be able to access all participating schools and organizations at the click of a mouse.

CollegeWeekLive’s online format allows students and their parents to browse the virtual booths at their own pace and network with participating schools and financial aid companies in a low-pressure environment with one-on-one interaction.

Students can compare colleges and get an in-depth look at the college application and financial aid process through streaming video keynote presentations from admissions and financial aid experts, interactive Q&A sessions with admissions officials, and real-time video chats with current college students.

Admission to CollegeWeekLive is completely free. To attend, students, parents, or anyone else interested in participating only need to register online at the CollegeWeekLive website, providing some basic profile and contact information.

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NextStudent Unveils Website with New Look, Improved Features

Student Loan Girl — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:37:00 GMT

NextStudent has a sleek new website with upgraded features designed to offer you the most comprehensive and easy-to-use financial aid resource on the Web.

We’ve simplified our online application to make applying for student loans even easier, whether you’re a parent, undergraduate, or graduate.

Learn more about private student loans, Stafford loans, PLUS loans, Grad PLUS loans, and student loan consolidation.
Find free money for college with our award-winning NextStudent Scholarship Search Engine, which lists more than 5.9 million scholarships worth over $16 billion.
Sign up for our monthly NextPath newsletter for tips on everything from snagging a summer job to how to survive the economy with 10 easy ways to save money right now. Grads, get the scoop on the top 10 cities for jobs or how you can travel the world rent-free.
Check our education news bulletins to keep up to date on what’s happening in the world of financial aid, student loans, and higher education — all the changes and developments that affect you and how you’ll be able to pay for school.

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$50 Million Given to California Community Colleges to Aid Needy Students

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:30:00 GMT

In what may be the largest gift ever donated to the nation’s community colleges, the San Francisco–based Bernard Osher Foundation recently announced that it has pledged up to $50 million to help needy students attending California’s two-year institutions, writes Matt Krupnick of The Mercury News (“Endowment to Aid Needy Students,” May 5, 2008).

The gift funds will be placed in an endowment that will be managed by the Foundation for California Community Colleges, with $25 million to be paid immediately and the remainder to be paid over the course of the next three years. In order to receive the second $25 million, the FCCC must raise $50 million on its own during that three-year time period.

California’s community colleges serve nearly 25 percent of the nation’s community college students, with 2.6 million students enrolled each year, and comprise the world’s largest public college system.

To Bernard Osher Foundation President, Mary Bitterman, it had become clear that the state’s community colleges needed more financial assistance than the four-year universities to which the Foundation has already given millions.

“The more we have focused on the needs of California, we have really begun to look at the critical role community colleges play,” Bitterman said. “Our trustees decided that we would really like to help community college students.”

The Bernard Osher Foundation followed its initial donation with the announcement of an additional pledge of $20 million to multiple campuses within the University of California and California State University systems, to establish endowed scholarships for students transferring from California community colleges.

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Wilkes University Puts Freshman Recruits Front and Center and Billboard-Size

Student Loan Girl — Sun, 04 May 2008 22:56:00 GMT

Wilkes University, a small, private school in northeastern Pennsylvania, is using a quirky new in-your-face $120,000 ad campaign to get the attention of today’s media- and marketing-savvy students.

The university is plastering personalized messages on billboards, pizza boxes, gas pumps, and even on MTV, VH1, and Comedy Central to students it wants to make a part of its freshman class, reports Michael Rubinkam in a story by The Associated Press (“Pennsylvania College Woos Students by Putting Them in Ads,” April 30, 2008).

The “trendsetting and forward-thinking” marketing campaign appeals to the “look-at-me generation,” teens comfortable sharing all-things-personal on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, says Nancy Costopulos, chief marketing officer of the American Marketing Association.

The Message: Personalized and Not for the Shy

Wilkes features applicants in its ads who have a “mix of talents and determination” and who live in markets where the university wants to promote itself, says Jack Chielli, the school’s director of marketing. Students must also consent to having their names used.

The ads, writes Rubinkam, are meant “to convey the message that the school gets to know its students personally and pays close attention to their needs.”

To get messages with the right personal touch, 160over90, the Philadelphia marketing firm contracted by Wilkes, interviews participating students and their friends and families, uncovering likes, dislikes, hobbies, nicknames.

The agency uses the information it gleans from these in-depth interviews to design the highly personalized ads that have turned some college-bound seniors into quasi-celebrities in their high schools and communities:

“Lake Lehman senior Greg Heindel: You give your time at the soup kitchen, the firehouse, and your church summer camp. Wilkes University would like to give you something — a top-quality education.”
“Hey Kristen Pecka. Only your closest friends at Central Catholic call you Pecka-lecka-lecka. Choose Wilkes University and add 2,362 more people to that list.”
“Scranton High senior Nicole Pollock: Our goal at Wilkes University is to be as much a mentor as your mother has been. (Now, if we could only make her ravioli.)”

Each ad includes an invitation to “call a Colonel” (the school’s mascot) and provides a phone number that plays a recorded message from a current Wilkes student.

It’s the Thought That Counts

Even if targeted recruits end up choosing another school, says Chielli, he considers the ads successful as long as they continue to grab attention and get other students to think about Wilkes.

But besides drawing more students to apply, the school wants to help make it possible for them to actually attend: Nearly all students receive some form of financial aid apart from student loans to help cover the $25,000 price tag. Wilkes awards $22 million in financial aid each year.

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Harvard’s Aid to Middle-Class Families a Signal for Change

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:03:00 GMT

In December Harvard University announced it would begin offering increased financial aid to students of middle and upper-middle class families. Those families earning between $120,000 and $180,000 will only have to pay about 10 percent of their income, or no more than $18,000 of the $45,600 traditionally charged for tuition, Jonathan D. Glater of the New York Times reports (“Harvard’s Aid to Middle Class Pressures Rivals,” Dec. 29, 2007).

For a school like Harvard, with a $35 million endowment, the gesture is reasonable, and other schools have followed suit: the University of Pennsylvania, Pomona College, Swarthmore College and Haverford College. But smaller liberal arts schools are beginning to find similar cost-cutting discounts to be less than feasible.

Schools Fail to Financially Compete

Harvard’s competitors are finding that the Ivy League school’s change in financial aid policy is affecting their students as much as its own. Small, but competitive liberal arts schools have been receiving comments from concerned parents and students asking for equivalent financial aid offers.

“Harvard has started to redefine the financial aid landscape, and it’s redefined it in a way that is quite beneficial to the wealthiest institutions,” Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Bryn Mawr, Jenny Rickard, told the Times. “It’s just a handful of schools that can really respond this way, but it leaves others kind of pulling their hair.”

William D. Durden, president of Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, says his school is one of the many finding it difficult to compete.

“A lot of us are going to be under huge pressure to do these things that we just can’t do,” he tells the Times.

Durden, along with other college president’s like himself, say Harvard’s move could also end up taking away financial aid opportunities from low-income students, making tuition pricing seem even more arbitrary, and causing schools to raise already increasing tuition costs to account for the additional financial assistance.

College Costs at the Heart of the Issue

Harvard officials made their decision in part because they noticed students from middle-class families were simply not applying. Although Harvard allows almost any student from a household making less than $60,000 to attend the school almost for free, Harvard’s Dean of Admissions William R. Fitzsimmons noticed that his school was missing out on some “exciting” middle and upper-middle-class students, most likely because of the school’s high price tuition.

“People were voting with their feet,” Fitzsimmons said in the Times article.

But others see Harvard’s efforts as capable of reversing admissions trends. Donald E. Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University, says an increase in middle-class students to Harvard could bump out lower-class students from the school’s acceptance pool.

Some of the arguments surrounding Harvard’s recent tuition discounts are turning into the chicken and the egg type discussions. While some officials have used Harvard’s move as an example of why schools need additional federal funding, others fear that parents and students will point their fingers back at the institutions arguing that they’re clearly charging too much for an education.

“It will educate those parents into thinking, ‘Eighteen thousand dollars a year is what we ought to be paying; why should we have to pay any more than that?’” the president of Ursinus College, John Strassburger, asked in the Times article.

And perhaps that’s where the real problem lies: college affordability. There’s no saying when and if college costs will ever be overhauled, but in the meantime it looks like the only people winning in this situation are those Harvard students whose families make just the right amount of money.

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Student-Ranked Top Colleges and Other Tools to Help You Find the Right Fit

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:38:00 GMT

If you’re in high school and looking ahead to college, you probably already know all about U.S. News & World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges,” which ranks colleges and universities around the country. These rankings can give you a great place to start, but if your college search revolves entirely around this list, you’re throwing yourself at the mercy of only one corporation’s definition of “best.”

The “best” school for a potential geneticist may have a stellar biosciences faculty but no intramural sports—if you’re an aspiring genetic engineer who unwinds with regular competitive basketball games, you might want to ask yourself if you would be happy there for four or more years.

If rankings are important to you in making your college decision, consider expanding your search to include other “best” lists that go beyond just academics, that might be able to give you a sense of the campus, the town, the personality of the students, and of whether or not you’ll fit in and enjoy your life there.

The Princeton Review Best Colleges: Students Rate Their Own Campuses

Find out what current students think about their own schools and get various bests (and worsts) for every personality type with The Princeton Review’s Best 366 Colleges. The 2008 edition of The Princeton Review’s annual rankings surveys more than 120,000 students on 366 campuses.

You won’t find any “top schools” overall here. As The Princeton Review explains in one of their answers to an FAQ, “We don’t believe that any one school is the best overall. … Some colleges in our book may be ideal for some students but wrong for others, depending on their interests and needs.”

Instead, the survey results serve up the top 20 schools in each of 62 categories like:

Best Campus Food: Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, VA)
Is It Food?: U.S. Merchant Marine Academy (Kings Point, NY)
Dorms Like Palaces: Smith College (Northampton, MA)
Dorms Like Dungeons: U.S. Coast Guard Academy (New London, CT)
Best Classroom Experience: Reed College (Portland, OR)
Most Long Lines and Red Tape: Tuskegee University (Tuskegee, AL)
Biggest Frat & Sorority Scene: DePauw University (Greencastle, IN)
Students Most Nostalgic for Ronald Reagan: Warren Wilson College (Asheville, NC)
Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton: Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)
Most Diverse Student Body: Temple University (Philadelphia)
Most Birkenstock-Wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians: Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
Best College Radio Station: St. Bonaventure University (St. Bonaventure, NY)
Where Intercollegiate Sports Are Unpopular or Nonexistent: New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)
Where Students Pack the Stadiums: University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

You can find the complete Princeton Review student rankings free online, or buy a copy of the book (list price $21.95). In addition to the rankings and two-page profiles on each of the 366 schools, the book version has a new section with lists of “Great Colleges for 15 of the Most Popular College Majors.”

Other Online Resources and Rankings

For more student rankings and other “best” categories, check out these sites:

Campus Dirt’s Top Ten Lists: Toughest Classes, Easiest Freshman Parking, Most “Wired” Campus, Most Options for Late-Night Food, Where Lectures Are Related to the “Real World,” …
Students Review: University & College Rankings: Top Engineering Schools, Top Schools for Smart People, Top Creative Schools, Top Ivies, Biggest Reputation, …
College Rankings by College Prowler: Grades schools A through F on things like parking, nightlife, weather, guys, girls, campus strictness, and local atmosphere
The Templeton Guide to Colleges That Encourage Character Development: 405 exemplary programs in 10 categories like Volunteer Service, Academic Honesty, Spiritual Growth, and Civic Education

First-Hand Accounts and Campus Tours

Besides doing your reading and online research, ask around. Your friends may know former students who can give you a first-hand opinion of the school you’re interested in.

One of the best ways to get a feel for a campus and the student life is to visit. If you can’t afford the travel costs to check out the campus for yourself, try a virtual campus visit at CampusTours.com or College-Visits.com to get a better feel for what your college life might actually be like once you’re on campus.

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Student Loan Debt Is on the Rise, and College Grads Face Growing Financial Obstacles

Student Loan Girl — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:10:00 GMT

Money. Some of us have it. Some of us need more of it. Particularly recent college grads transitioning from their campus to the workspace, from having student loans available that help pay their living expenses to having to make it on their own—all while paying back those student loans that paved their way to graduation.

With the surge in student loan debt outpacing the growth in starting salaries, and with tuition increases far exceeding increases in federal financial aid, a growing number of college graduates are facing barely manageable levels of student loan debt.

Tuition Hikes Outstrip Increases in Federal Financial Aid Awards

“Student aid continues to grow, but not as fast as tuition, and not enough to make up for the difference between family incomes and the price of college,” says Larry Abramson in a story for National Public Radio (“Tuition Hikes Outpace Student-Aid Increases,” Oct. 26, 2007).

According to the College Board’s “Trends in College Pricing” 2007 report, average published tuition and fees for in-state college students at four-year schools climbed by 6.6% for the 2007–08 academic year, a hike that “outpaced increases in the financial aid that lowers what most students actually pay” writes Erica Perez in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (“College Costs Outpace Inflation,” Oct. 23, 2007).

Starting Salaries Increasing More Slowly Than Student Debt

With more tuition to have to pay, students are graduating with more student loan debt than ever. In 2004, two-thirds of college graduates left school with student loans, and between 1993 and 2004, the average debt for college graduates with student loans soared a staggering 107%, according to a report by Luke Swarthout, a Higher Education Associate for the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Student loan debt, Swarthout notes, is rising faster than both the cost of living and the cost of health care (“Student Debt and Consumer Costs in the Minneapolis–St. Paul Area,” July 2006).

Student debt levels are also eclipsing income gains. The “rapid rise in student debt comes while the real median income of younger Americans has only modestly increased” by 4.4% between 1995 and 2004 for household earners under 35, writes Swarthout.

Starting salaries for recent graduates can’t keep pace either. A report on “Student Debt and the Class of 2006” released by the Project on Student Debt found that for graduating seniors, average student loan debt rose 8 percent between 2005 and 2006, while starting salary offers rose only about 4 percent.

“Too many young people leave college saddled with heavy debt burdens and struggle to cover their loan payments on top of basic living expenses,” says Robert Shireman, Executive Director of the Project on Student Debt, in a press release for their recent study. “Students need better options and counseling when they’re deciding how to pay for college.”

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Grant Process Closed on Strengthening Institutions Program

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 21:55:00 GMT

Grants are an important source of funding for any institution and organization in need of money. Not only do grants help students defray the cost of attendance, they also help colleges keep their tuition costs in check because awarded funds can help strengthen developing academic programs.

According to a Jan. 30, 2007 article written by Elyse Ashburn titled “Education Dept. Won’t Open Grant Process This Year for Program Serving High-Need Institutions” that appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, “The U.S. Department of Education announced on Monday that it would not take new applications this year for the Strengthening Institutions Program, which provides grants to institutions that predominantly serve students from low-income families.”

With all the talk on Capitol Hill about slashing student loan interest rates and raising Pell Grants in a bid to help more low-income students achieve the dream of a higher education, this move by the Department of Education seems somewhat counterintuitive.

Grants Still Being Awarded

It is to be noted, however, the Department of Education will still award grants this year. It is just the “process” of accepting new applications that is being nixed. Ashburn reported, “The department instead will award grants to 2006 applicants that were of high quality but did not make the cut last year.”

Basically the thinking is that by not opening the review “process,” all monies available will be awarded as grants, with none going to pay for the manpower to review the applications. However, Ashburn goes on to report, “advocates for community colleges, which are the primary beneficiaries of the program, questioned the fairness of that approach and said that a new application process should be held.”

Ashburn quoted David S. Baime, vice president for government relations at the American Association of Community Colleges, as saying, “Community colleges across the country will be disappointed to learn that the department is not holding a new competition for this program.” Baime explained, “Simply dusting off last year’s applications and going down the list seems quite unsatisfactory from a good-government point of view.”

Where the Funds Go

So, in the long-run there, institutions that did not receive grants from the Strengthening Institutions Program last year, will be receiving funds this year, which although might not seem fair to all, is at least helping the community the grants were intended to help. Ashburn wrote, “Grants from the program can be used for a variety of projects, including improving faculty development, establishing endowments, and strengthening academic programs. The program received about $80-million in the 2006 fiscal year. Congress has not finalized its 2007 allocation.”

To find out more about free money, check out NextStudent’s Scholarship Search Engine: http://www.nextstudent.com/scholarship_search/scholarship_search.asp. And remember, the key to finding free money to help fund your college education is to search early and search often.

It is important to keep up to date on the effects of legislation and news on student loans and education. What goes on in government and in your state can have a great impact on your student loans and your college education.

For all the information you need about student loans, go to www.nextstudent.com.

Be sure to tune in next Wednesday for my next blog on student loan legislation in the news.

Student Loan Girl

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Credit Cards Not the Best Way to Spread Holiday Joy

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:38:00 GMT

College students across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief as they pack their bags to head home or shift gears from the pressures of finals to the excitement of winter break.

This is the time of year when many students examine their finances and suddenly realize they need precious cash to go out with old friends at home, or buy gifts for others to celebrate the holidays. One cash crunch solution that most are privy to is selling their used books back to the college campus bookstore, or one of the many off-campus alternatives.

Another is to rely on that familiar student credit card. Remember the one that had no yearly fees — 0% APR (for the first six months only) — and if you were lucky rewarded you with points for airline ticket and CD purchases, and discounts at the online MTV store?

‘Fashionable’ Does Not Mean Maxed Credit Cards

If you were wise and did not splurge when you first arrived on campus, intent on impressing new friends with your newfound style and fashion panache, you still have an available balance. Perhaps you really did NEED that 56-in. HDTV to watch movies based on the books that were required reading for your Modern Lit class. Maybe now the card is maxed and instead you are cash poor, with little left in your checking account. That is OK, too.

But the question remains: What is a college student to do for money during winter break? The answer is simple: Spend only what you have or can afford. If you budgeted, you may have the cash you need. That always is your best bet, and using your debit card is an easy and painless way to control your spending.

Tips for Using Credit During the Holidays

· If you have it, and absolutely must use it, do so sparingly. Remember, credit cards do not mean FREE money, and they do have to be repaid. But if you must, spend only what you reasonably can pay off by the end of January.

· Gifts are great, but be reasonable. Getting that wonderfully expensive present that you just know really would impress your boyfriend or girlfriend and take your relationship to new heights probably is not the best idea.

· Decide ahead of time what you will spend. Set up budget parameters for going out with friends, buying gifts for others and any other expense you anticipate, and then stick to them.

· If you are down to zero, get help. Some students may have maxed credit cards and a negative checking balance. Let your parents know, if applicable. Get with them or a trusted advisor to set up a spending plan. Then, go after a better-paying part-time job and/or check with your financial aid office for grants and scholarships.

Chances are you always will have a handful of wonderful memories from your college years. From your spring bash in Cancun to winter break with the family, campus escapes are wonderful times to unwind. Whatever your situation, you probably could not get through without a student loan.

The Education Finance Advisors at NextStudent can help you figure in all your college expenses so that you get the student loan that best suits your needs. Don’t get caught short. Go to www.nextstudent.com for all your student loan needs.

Check back here next Friday for my next blog on Campus Life.

Student Loan Girl

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