Student Loan Blog : advice

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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NextStudent Web Marketing Team Shifts Direction of Student Loan Blog

Student Loan Girl — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:02:00 GMT

To better serve you and carry out our mission of being your one-stop destination for all your education financing needs, the NextStudent Web Marketing team is moving our Student Loan Blog in a whole new direction.

In the days ahead, you’ll see the Student Loan Blog shifting from a focus on general-interest news and trends to what’s happening in the world of financial aid, student loans, and the congressional legislation that affects you and how you’ll be able to pay for school.

You’ll still be able to find the college advice, smart shopping tips, and lowdown on student life we’ve been bringing you — we’re just moving things around a little bit.

Keeping You Up-to-Date on Financial Aid and Your College Financing Options

Our news-savvy writers on the NextStudent Web Marketing team will be scanning the latest headlines to keep you informed about the legislation changes that could affect your education and the financial aid options that help you pay for school.

We’ll let you know about schools that are trying to make a higher education more affordable, from offering free tuition to low- and middle-income students to eliminating student loans from their financial aid packages.

We know you’re busy and have a million things battling for your time. That’s why we’re making our blogs shorter and more direct, so you can get the news you need faster.

The NextStudent Web Marketing team is committed to helping you make informed decisions about your education through our revamped college-related blogs.

Student Life and Your Pop Culture Fix

But if you think you’ll miss our old stuff, don’t worry. You’ll still be able to find our stories about things like death by popcorn and the short life spans of rock stars.

These blogs will be going on our sister site, The Students Blog, which focuses on college life and technology. Read about how to pimp out your Firefox browser, five free online tools to help you cite your research papers, or the six college dropouts who made millions.

You can also check out our NextPath online newsletter for tips on everything from traveling the world rent-free to buying a digital camera.

So sit back and enjoy the work of our Web Marketing writers who spend hours trolling the Internet to bring you the trends and stories that are fresh and new.

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7 Offbeat, Memorable and Affordable Valentine Gift Ideas

Student Loan Girl — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:14:00 GMT

Let’s face it: A box of chocolates, a fistful of flowers, and a dinner out aren’t going to get you into the Valentine’s Day Hall of Fame & Everlasting Memories.

If you and your love cookie are tired of the whole Russell-Stover-and-roses routine and your Valentine’s Days have all started to blur together, chuck the clichés this year with one of these seven off-the-grid gifts, and make it a Valentine’s Day you’ll both always be able to remember.

1) The Cute, Sexy and Hotness Chronic Ailment Package

Billing itself as the “ONLY research facility that effectively diagnoses the chronic ailments of Cute, Sexy, and Hotness^©,” the C&S Research Institute — that’s Cute & Sexy, in case you missed it — features over 30 different gift packs designed to “treat” the cute, sexy, or hot afflicted babe in your life.

Each gift pack includes:

A personalized letter diagnosing the recipient with multiple ailments that CSRI specializes in treating
“Medication” like M&Ms and Hershey’s Kisses
Optional add-ons such as chocolate roses, an aromatherapy kit, or a variety of gift cards, from Victoria’s Secret to Lowe’s to Starbucks

The best-selling standard gift pack will only run you $8.99, plus shipping and handling.

You can check out a video rundown of the CSRI gift packs on YouTube.

2) Message in a Bottle

Named the “Most Romantic Gift” on Oprah, this one should win over even the most cynical pink-picketing anti-romanticists.

Choose the classic “Chestnut” bottle for $29.95, or go all-out with the “Key to my Heart” bottle for $86.95 (special Valentine’s Day pricing, regular price $129.95).

You can select a prewritten message, or pour your heart out and write the scrolled note yourself.

For inspiration, check out these true stories of bottle senders and receivers.

Valentine’s Day shipping is available, and you can have your Message in a Bottle delivered right to your valentine’s door.

3) Godiva Chocolate Decadence Suite

Heroes star Ali Larter calls Godiva chocolate pearls the “perfect bit of sin.”

And now sin has gone loft-sized with Godiva’s Chocolate Decadence Suite, currently on display in Manhattan’s East Village.

The suite, made almost entirely of chocolate, is the centerpiece of this year’s annual Godiva Valentine’s Day promotion.

Specially marked Godiva Valentine’s Day gift boxes valued at $23 or more offer a chance to win a pampered weekend getaway for two in this Godiva room, which will be re-created in a suite in Manhattan’s Bryant Park Hotel.

Every wall in the room is made of chocolate, and the living room includes a chocolate-decorated day bed, chocolate fireplace, chocolate “Pucci” armchairs, and chocolate bookcases holding several chocolate books that open up to caches of chocolates instead of fiction.

A chocolate-and-amber-crystal chandelier illuminates the dining room with its dark-chocolate candelabras and chocolate mosaic table and chairs. Even the high art on the walls is chocolate: Multicolored chocolate pieces make up an edible version of Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss,” and a brown-and-white abstract above the dining table offers a chocolate interpretation of Jackson Pollock.

Besides a stay in the Godiva suite, the Grand Prize Chocolate Fantasy Weekend includes airfare to New York, two days of spa treatment, a private chocolate tasting with a Godiva chef, and a private, chef-catered dinner for two.

If you win, though, you’ll have to wait until May to enjoy your prize.

4) Personalized Valentine’s Day Magazine Cover

If you have a high cheese threshold and you’re big on seeing you and your sweetie in full-color print, YourCover can help you plaster your love all over a ready-to-frame glossy magazine cover.

Here’s your chance to show off your creativity and how great you are at expressing yourself: Customize your cover, front and back, with meaningful photos, quotes, and your own affectionate, funny, or Cosmo-worthy headlines.

The $49.95 price tag includes printing, a deluxe frame, and shipping and handling.

5) Heart-Shaped USB Flash Drive Necklace

Less than $15 gets you this heart-shaped 1GB USB flash drive necklace, where your valentine can hold your digital photos, music, and video memories close to his or her heart.

Perfect for that special, low-maintenance geeky someone in your life.

6) Sonic Boom Love Clock

You’re ready for love. Whether it’s a dinner date, a night out on the town, or just coffee and breakfast, you’re there.

And waiting … on your frequent companion who can’t seem to be on time, ever.

For $40 (plus shipping and handling), treat your perpetually unpunctual pookie to this take-no-prisoners timepiece from ThinkGeek.

Deceptively unassuming in its heart-shaped cotton-candy–pink casing, the Sonic Boom alarm clock packs an industrial-strength wallop. At 113 decibels, the alarm is actually louder than a jackhammer (100 decibels).

If that’s not enough to get your sweetheart out of bed and out the door to meet you, slip the shaker attachment under the mattress. Unless your significant other makes a habit of sleeping through earthquakes, the bed-shaker should be able to do what the prospect of a date with you hasn’t — get your BF or GF moving.

7) Man/Woman Remote Relationship Control

Have a hard time speaking your mind? These talking remotes could do wonders for the state of communication in your relationship.

Just push a button, and you can launch any one of a number of instant retorts, iron-handed commands, or inappropriate sound effects.

“What about my needs?”
“What were you thinking?”
“Zip it!”
“Feed me!”
“I’m outta here!”

For $17.95, you’ll get hours of entertainment and push-button verbal combat.

Make sure to specify whether you want the “Control Your Woman” or “Control Your Man” unit, or get both for $29.95, plus shipping and handling.

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Online Ordering Causing Mailroom Mayhem on College Campuses

Student Loan Girl — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 23:46:00 GMT

The internet has completely changed the way college campuses operate, from class offerings and registration to college admissions and financial aid services. Now the technology is changing the way campuses deliver and receive mail. As more college students gravitate to online shopping, college and university mailrooms are overhauling their mail processing operations to accommodate the influx of packages.

Some pretty bizarre ones at that.

Car tires, barbecues, dishwashers, ant farms and air conditioners are just some of the orders college students are having mailed to their dorm rooms, according to a New York Times article by Jonathan D. Glater (“Majoring in Mailroom Management,” Nov. 21, 2007).

When students make their online purchases they often give little thought to the cost let alone the effect their shipping volume or types of packages they’re ordering will have on the mail processing centers at their schools. But for some schools, the adjustment has not been simple or cheap.

Revolutionizing the Mailroom At a Cost

The University of Southern California, for example, has experienced double the amount of their typical package volume in the last four years, expecting to process more than 67,000 packages by the end of this year. It has spent thousands of dollars adjusting their mail processing systems by building a new highly-complex mailroom almost as large as half a volleyball court for just one of their residence halls, Glater reports.

“Some folks don’t realize the logistical implications,” said Jeff Urdahl, the recently retired director of housing at USC, told the Times. “It’s a different world.”

Although online shopping statistics don’t exist for the college age demographic, according to shop.org, a division of the National Retail Foundation, internet buying increased nearly $220 billion last year and this year it is expected to top $259 billion.

And how are students paying for these purchases? Most interviewed for the Times article said their online shopping splurges are financed by college jobs, savings and parental allowances, but many students are also resorting to their good friends Visa, Master Card and American Express.

But students’ online ordering habits are not only affecting theirs and their parents’ bank accounts, they are also proving costly for the schools themselves. SUNY Binghamton spent $25,000 to implement a new bar code scanning system to track the increase of incoming packages, which rose from 33,000 in 2002 to 57,000 this year. Purchase College, also in New York, spent $37,000 on a similar system.

For Arizona State University, the second largest university in the country, the process became so cumbersome, the school chose to wash its hands clean of the mail distribution process and turned over all mail responsibilities to UPS.

Mindless Internet Shopping Hurts Students and Schools

The effect of students’ online spending is not isolated to schools; students’ bank accounts are taking huge hits as well. Credit and debit card use, necessary for online shopping, makes it much more difficult for students to keep track of their spending and their account balances.

Some students told the Times that they may buy something off the internet three times a week. This has led college students, according to Young Money, a student financial magazine, to have credit balances averaging $2,700, and as the popularity of internet shopping continues to rise, these numbers may only go up.

Students like Sarah Staton, a first year student at USC, don’t mask their online shopping activities; however they don’t quite seem to understand the effects it has on their finances.

“I do buy a lot of things, but it’s O.K. because I buy things that are cheap,” she told the Times. She admits to shopping on the internet more than two hours a day, especially for shoes. “How can I make a fashion statement if I don’t have the right shoes that match what I’m wearing?”

With this type of attitude, it looks like college mail centers and students will have to keep expanding their wallets.

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