Latest show notes

Show notes, May 17, 2006

5/17: Girls in science, for profits, Montana grants, psychic scholarship, loan consolidation process, Black Lab, #254

Student Financial Aid News
+ The New York State Education Department is considering imposing the equivalent of a tax on for-profit colleges in the state — and using the proceeds of the fee to cover the cost of investigation fraud and abuse at commercial institutions.
+ ED asking why girls lose interest in math and science
+ Well, isn’t that kind of obvious? It’s largely cultural
+ In Montana, a state student-loan program this year is increasing to $500,000 its direct grants to Montana college students, to help those having difficulty paying education bills.
+ The amount for the 2006 school year is more than twice the $200,000 in grants financed last year by the Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program, which administers a variety of student-aid programs.
+ Lots of stories about student loan consolidation now that graduation season is here
+ Do it now – 877-328-1565 or www.StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Do not wait until the last minute or it could be curtains
+ Video of flooding in today’s feed. There were – no lie – ducks in my driveway.
+ Check out that shiny, glossy new MacBook. Mmmm. Apple goodness.

Scholarship Update
+ What am I thinking? The psychic and parapsychology scholarship
+ Parapsychology Foundation Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship
+ It’s actually not a joke
+ $3,000 scholarship for two students studying parapsychology
+ Essays and samples required
+ Deadline July 15, 2006
+ Detailed information at our free Scholarship web site!

Focus on Financial Aid
+ The process of student loan consolidation – how it works, what happens
+ An inside look behind the curtain!
+ What happens in the life of a consolidation loan application
+ From StaffordLoanConsolidator.com

Podsafe Music
+ I’ve so been waiting to play this song here in New England
+ Black Lab, See the Sun
+ It’s good to see the sun!
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Need financial aid help? Call us at 877-328-1565!
+ Toll-free comment line! 877-328-1565 extension 529!
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ Subscribe now at www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529.

Direct file download: MP3 file

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From HP

“But homeowners are not the only ones who will pay. The overall economy will likely shrink as well. That $200 billion that flowed into the “real” economy in 2004 is already spent, with no future capital gains in the works to fuel more such easy money. Rising debt-service payments will further divert income from new consumer spending. Taken together, these factors will further shrink the “real” economy, drive down those already declining real wages, and push our debt-ridden economy into Japan-style stagnation or worse. Then only the debt itself will remain, a bitter monument to our love of easy freedom.”

New York Times on gold

“Gold is a barometer of the common stock of a country, and right now gold is sniffing out weakness in the management of the United States as a business,” said Mr. Sinclair, 65, a lifelong Republican who twice voted for President Bush. “Iran is becoming a nuclear power. The chairman of the Federal Reserve is on a puppet string controlled by the White House, and there is no such thing as a strong-dollar policy when the dollar is heading south.”

For more than two decades, the apocalyptic lament of Mr. Sinclair and other gold bugs has been largely dismissed as the United States has experienced — aside from a few hiccups — a 25-year bull market in a range of assets, from stocks and bonds to real estate and art.

Sustained by a continuing flood of liquidity, these assets have continued their mighty climb, even as crucial gauges of economic health in the United States — the budget and current account deficits — have continued to worsen. But now, with gold making a run for $700, dedicated gold investors are getting a wider hearing.

THEIR passion notwithstanding, gold bugs tend to be small-time investors. Gold’s recent surge has instead been underpinned by a rush of mainstream investors, including hedge funds, commodity-based mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.

For these investors, gold is less a way of life than it is hedge against inflation and a prudent measure of diversification during an increasingly worrisome time. The extent to which this new wave of capital remains invested in gold will determine if the recent spike is just another anomaly or the onset of the second coming of the great gold bull market that the true believers have been calling for since the price of gold crashed a quarter-century ago.

Of course, many investors say that given gold’s sharp recent climb, a correction would not be surprising. It’s another asset bubble, they say, the latest investment fad. But for Mr. Sinclair and a small clutch of other self-exiled Wall Streeters, the metal’s recent climb is just deserts for their unwavering, if not mystical, devotion to gold as an investment, an adornment, a means of exchange and, more than anything else, a moral bulwark in a corrupting sea of paper money, credit and what they see as insidious financial instruments.

Both findings underscore their benchmark precept: that a currency not tied to gold becomes debased when central banks print money and governments spend freely. Perhaps Alan Greenspan, who before his run as chairman of the Federal Reserve was highly regarded in gold-bug circles, captured this point best. “In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation,” he wrote in 1966, when he was an economic consultant. “Gold stands in the way of this insidious process.”

The great liquidity explosion that occurred under Mr. Greenspan has made him a turncoat in the eyes of the gold-bug crowd. But his successor, Ben S. Bernanke, or “Helicopter Ben” as they call him, inflames its passions all the more. To this group, Mr. Bernanke’s passing allusion — before he became Fed chairman — to a helicopter dropping money over a recession-bound economy confirmed its deepest fears that a monetary system not anchored by gold was essentially inflationary if not downright immoral.

All the same, most mainstream economists accept that a return to the gold standard and its restrictive covenants would be not only unfeasible but also deflationary. Gold bugs may cry, and be correct, about the creeping impact of inflation, but it is also true that the same climb in prices, aided by the great liquidity boom, has made some of them millionaires, as houses they bought for less than $100,000 in the 1960’s are now worth millions.

China and India are buying more gold. Iran is becoming more bellicose in its stand toward the West. And, most important, liquidity is making a broad shift to commodities and out of stocks.

“Do I think that gold is God? No,” said Monty Guild, who runs Guild Investment Management, a hedge fund in Malibu, Calif. “I’m a gold opportunist. When it’s good, we like it; when it’s not, we stay away. Gold does well during wars, and we believe there will be more wars.”

Florida votes to require high school majors

CNN:

The Florida Legislature gave final approval to a bill Thursday that requires high school students to declare a major, similar to college students.

The measure now goes to Governor Jeb Bush, who pushed the requirement as part of a sweeping education overhaul approved by the House 90-24. The Senate passed it earlier in the day 39-1.

“It’s important because it’ll make the high school experience more relevant for a broader range of students,” Bush said. “This will give them a chance to pursue education where their interests lie. … There still will be core curricula credits that they’ll need to pass.”

The bill also requires that high school students take a fourth year of math and that middle school students receive career planning instruction.

The measure originally referred to major and minor subjects, but was changed to “major areas of interest” before final passage.

“We’re saying we’re trying to get students to think more in terms of, ‘What do I really like to do? What is my talent?”‘ said Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Evelyn Lynn, a Republican.

A major area of interest could include a traditional academic subject such as English, a foreign language or math, or a vocational field such as carpentry or auto repair.

The goal is to encourage students to strive for better grades and prevent them from dropping out. The majors plan was suggested by a task force of educators that examined the state’s high schools.

The measure also would set up a ready-to-work program for high school students who don’t plan to go to college, professional development programs for principals and special classes for struggling students.

Former Dean Pleads Guilty In Financial Aid Scheme

KDKA:

The former dean of a career school pleaded guilty in federal court in Pittsburgh yesterday to a charge of making false statements for claiming four academic programs were accredited to get financial aid for students.

Thomas Wollett, who is from Carnegie and had been dean of the Western School of Health and Business Careers, forged signatures stating four programs were accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology.

The documents were sent to the U-S Department of Education.

The programs are the veterinary technology, massage therapy and criminal justice programs at its Pittsburgh campus and the massage therapy program at its Monroeville campus.

Wollett did not immediately return a message left yesterday.

May 1 deadline

It’s decision time around the country: which college will you go to?

And it’s never too late for scholarships.

Yeah, we know…

A single political shock could be enough to send oil markets into panic, said Adam Sieminski, senior energy economist at Deutsche Bank in New York. ‘If we have one more big problem we are going to have triple-digit oil prices.’ Sieminski points to confrontation with Iran, a worsening of the situation in Iraq or a recurrence of devastating hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico as potential catalysts for a major rise.

Nigeria keeps the oil high

More unrest there. From Marketwatch:

Crude futures climbed almost $2 per barrel Monday to close at their highest level in more than a week with traders concerned about renewed violence in Nigeria and by the latest maneuverings in Iran’s nuclear standoff with western nations.
Most of the price climb is due to “Iran jitters with the U.S. still pushing toward U.N. sanctions,” said James Williams, an economist at WTRG Economics.
“When you add that on top of the loss of a fifth of Nigerian production, Bolivia’s move toward the Venezuelan model of total control over oil produced by foreign companies and the summer driving season staring us in the face, it is easier for prices to go up than down,” he said.

Debt clock

Kind of like the national debt clock.

www.studentdebtalert.org

Face it. We’re a nation in debt, at every level. Heck, even my cat has a credit card.

Reverse dowry is an interesting way to put it

From CNN:

Approximately two-thirds of all students use loans to pay for their higher education, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The average debt is $15,500 for public schools and $24,600 for private – many students rack up even more on their credit cards.

Call it a reverse dowry: college debt diverts careers and delays or impedes graduates’ plans to get married, buy a home or even to start a family. The effects can last years.

A 22-year old student graduating this year who consolidates their $40,000 loan at 6.125 percent will need to pay $243 a month…until they’re 52. By that time, they will have paid $47,494 in interest alone.