Student Loan Blog : Students

The Three-Year College Option

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 20:17:00 GMT

For some students, four years of a college education is simply too much to afford. But by accelerating their college career to reduce the amount of time they spend in the classroom, these student are able to reduce their overall cost of college.

How do they do it?

For many students, the three-year college plan starts in high school. High school students can accumulate college credits by taking and scoring well on Advanced Placement examinations. Generally, the cost of an AP exam is much less than the cost of a college course, and for public school students whose high schools offer AP courses, the cost of instruction is generally free.

Both high school and college students may be able to accumulate college credits by taking classes online. Many colleges and universities are now offering online courses that may be used to fulfill both general education and college major requirements. The added advantage of online courses is that students can take the courses year-round, logging on at their convenience to complete their work or take exams, without having to be on campus.

Summer breaks present students an opportunity to grab a few extra classes at typically lower tuition rates. Summer classes usually take two to three months (half a semester) to complete and can offer the same number of credits toward graduation as a semester-long class.

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$1M Awarded to Unnamed Whistleblowers in Federal Student Aid Suit

Student Loan Girl — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:22:00 GMT

Alta Colleges, operating 17 campuses in six states, recently settled a lawsuit involving student-aid fraud allegations and has agreed to pay the federal government $7 million, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports (“Proprietary College to Pay $7-Million to Settle Federal Student-Aid Charges,” April 20, 2009).

Unnamed whistleblowers filed the suit, which alleges Alta Colleges made false claims to be eligible for federal student aid, under the False Claims Act. The act allows individuals to sue on behalf of the federal government and get a portion of a suit’s monetary settlement, in this case, about $1.19 million.

The suit accuses Denver-based Alta Colleges Inc. of improperly obtaining a state license to operate in Texas under the name Westwood Colleges by lying that its campuses complied with state requirements on job-placement reporting.

To obtain the licensing, Alta claimed that more than 90 percent of its students received jobs after graduation when the actual figure was 54 percent and only about 33 percent of Alta graduates were actually placed in positions by the school, reports The Associated Press.

Alta was also accused of misrepresenting its interior design program, The Chronicle reports, saying that its program complied with professional interior design industry licensing requirements when it did not.

George Burnett, Alta CEO, assured school faculty and staff by letter that the company believes it had acted lawfully, but chose to settle with the government due to the projected cost and time involved in litigation.

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$100 Million Given to Oklahoma State University by Alumnus T. Boone Pickens

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 28 May 2008 01:11:00 GMT

Chairman of BP Capital Management and philanthropist, T. Boone Pickens, is giving $100 million to Oklahoma State University — the single largest academic donation ever made to a college or university in the state of Oklahoma, according to a university press release (“Largest Academic Donation in Oklahoma History,” May 21, 2008).

“Without question, Boone’s gift will enable us to retain and attract extraordinary faculty members better ensuring OSU students will be inspired by exceptional and accomplished professors and researchers, said OSU President, Burns Hargis. “It launches us on our way to achieve big dreams.”

Pickens, a 1951 graduate of Oklahoma State, has donated a total of $400 million to the school. His most recent gift is eligible for a dollar-for-dollar match through the State of Oklahoma’s endowed chair program, which doubles the gift’s value to $200 million, and will more than double the current number of faculty chairs.

OSU currently has 101 fully funded and matched chairs and professorships set at $500,000 and $250,000 each respectively. The endowment gift will establish more than 150 chair and professorship positions, which will be determined by the university.

“This gift is due in large part to the vision and leadership of Burns Hargis,” Pickens said in his address to the school. “He is absolutely the right person at the right time to be OSU president and I believe he will guide OSU to levels of success we have never seen before.”

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Student Correspondents to Get National Exposure as ABC News Launches College Campus News Bureaus

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:08:00 GMT

In an effort to reach younger viewers, ABC News plans to open five multimedia news bureaus on select college campuses this fall.

Students at Arizona State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Texas at Austin will have their work featured on various ABC News outlets, including “Good Morning America,” “World News With Charles Gibson,” and “Nightline,” as well as on ABC News Radio and ABCNews.com.

Students selected as bureau chiefs will receive on-site training at ABC News headquarters in New York.

The network hopes its college initiative will provide greater insight into the lives of the prized demographic of 33 million 18-to-25-year-olds living in the United States.

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Can’t Find Your Friends? Check the Library

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 08:26:00 GMT

Libraries aren’t what they used to be.

No more stuffy, hair-bun-bearing librarians, no more thumbing through cumbersome card catalogs, and no more getting lost in aisles of endless Encyclopedia Britannicas.

Libraries are now high-tech, high-speed information portals that offer a wealth of resources: free, online and easy to access.

Sure, libraries still have books too … tons and tons of books. But it’s not the stacks that are drawing the visitors. It’s the Internet.

And who are these visitors?

Generation Y. The 18-to-29-year-old crowd has become, almost counterintuitively, the age group that most commonly frequents public libraries, according to a survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Libraries Change Face to Save Face

Whether they’re updating their Facebook accounts, Stumbling their favorite websites, doing research for a term paper, or just socializing online with their friends, the young adults of Gen Y are increasingly making a trip to the library to tune in to the Internet, particularly when their own Internet connections are slow or limited.

Libraries across the country have received virtual facelifts over the past few years in an effort to appeal to a younger crowd and to offer services the public craves. Local municipalities and non-profit organizations like the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have devoted resources and millions of dollars to technological renovations at libraries.

The result? 62 percent of Gen Y respondents in the Pew survey reported having visited public libraries within the past year. And out of 53 percent of total respondents who spent time in libraries last year, 65 percent of them said they used the Internet while they were there.

Bookworms Make Way for Surfers

Considering that over ten years ago, a survey by the Benton Foundation showed that this same age group felt libraries would eventually become less relevant, Julie Vorman of Reuters reports that the Pew survey results are surprising and exciting (“Generation Y Biggest User of U.S. Libraries, Survey Finds,” Dec. 30, 2007).

“Internet use seems to create an information hunger, and it is information-savvy young people who are most likely to visit libraries,” says Leigh Estabrook, co-author of the Pew report, in Vorman’s article.

That hunger for information is being quenched — 99 percent of libraries now have Internet access for their Web-surfing patrons, according to a USA Today piece by Anick Jesdanun (“Young Use Library Most Despite the Net,” Jan. 1, 2008).

But high-tech advancements at libraries are not the only draw for frequenting teens and young adults. As rows of shelves give way to computer desks, libraries now act as social gathering sites, offering virtual homework help, gaming software programs, and even access to virtual librarians, the online avatars of real-world librarians in the virtual-reality game Second Life, Vorman reports.

“We’re seeing a lot of conversion of what may have been stack areas, warehouse areas,” says Loriene Roy, president of the American Library Association, in Jesdanun’s USA Today article. “Libraries are creating social spaces.”

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Library Book Past Due: Loan Denied

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 23:00:00 GMT

Chances are you have overdue library books laying around in your dorm room or apartment. Maybe the book you checked out six months ago has become a part of your décor—a handy paperweight on your desk or an unconventional coaster on your coffee table.

You’ve thought to yourself, no biggie, right? Not quite. You might want to dust off the CD’s, DVD’s and other library materials you have and drop them off. Return them before the fines you’ve racked up get turned over to a collection agency.

Turns out, more and more libraries think their missing property and your laid-back attitude about it are quite a big deal. And they’re hitting you where it hurts the most, your wallet.

If you’re not careful that overdue book could prevent you from getting a loan for a car or a house.

Libraries Collecting on Overdue Fines with Big Help

Many libraries have teamed up with Unique Management Services, Inc., a collection agency that specializes in recovering library books and late fees.

The company based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, tracks down late accounts for more than 850 clients (libraries of all sizes) in the United States, England, Canada and Australia. Its goal is to shock library abusers—most of whom are average, well-meaning people—into action, Kenes Bowling, the company’s manager for customer development, tells The New York Times.

The debt collector’s website states it send letters that gently nudge people into returning items that rightfully belong to the library and the people it serves.

New York Times reporters Anne Barnard and Jo Craven McGinty write that included in one of the company’s standard letters is language like: “Once reported, this adverse information can stay on your record for seven years!” The letter goes on to warn that car dealers, department stores and banks may learn of the library users’ misdeeds. “Why allow this to happen?”

The company typically sends out two letters and follows up with a phone call to your home. It claims phone calls improve results as much as 30 percent over letters alone.

The Moral: Be a Good Patron

With such verbiage, it’s hard not to see that your local library means business.

It’s not that libraries want to be seen as bullies. But when you consider that in a little over a decade, Unique Management Services has managed to retrieve $5.8 million for the New York Public Library System alone, you can see why libraries are turning to debt collection agencies like UMS for help.

Libraries want to penalize people who believe items can be checked out to infinity and beyond and those who simply want to sell them or keep items for their personal collections.

If you’re reported for owing a library fine, you could see your credit rating drop by 100 points or more, Craig Watts a spokesperson for Fair Isaac, the company that scores your credit history, tells CNN.com.

So don’t wait to be tattled on. Just take your library items back and pay up before you pay too much.

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