Financial Aid Podcast #346: Student Loan Consolidation Controversy!

FAP346: The Consolidation Controversy, something from the mail bag, KU scholarships, Frappr Map Update, Laura Clapp

Student Financial Aid News
+ “Tens of thousands of undergraduate and graduate students rushed to consolidate their federal student loans this spring and summer, trying to lock in lower interest payments before higher rates took effect on July 1,” The New York Times reports. “But frustrated students and executives at some of the companies that process the applications accuse big lenders like Wells Fargo, Wachovia and even Sallie Mae of violating federal regulations and slowing the process, charging the higher rates in the meantime.”
+ Student lenders backed up with consolidation requests from student borrowers trying to lock in a 5.3% interest rate before it rose to 7.14% on July 1 could face Education Department fines.
+ While working to process student loan consolidation applications, some lenders have been charging borrowers the new 7.14% interest rate.
+ Students and executives at companies that process the applications are accusing lenders of slowing the process so they can charge the higher rate longer.
+ Reminder: if you applied for student loan consolidation before July 1, come on back to us!
+ Financial aid for students attending public flagship universities increased from 2002 to 2005 — but not as much as tuition and fees did, suggests USA TODAY’s annual 50-state survey.
+ The survey collected financial aid data from 65 of the 75 flagship schools contacted. It took into account state, federal and institutional need- and merit-based scholarships and grants, but not loans.
+ Students who received aid got an average of about $1,000 more last year, the latest year for which data are available, than they did in 2002, the first year for which data were collected. The median aid increase nationally during those years was 17%. That is compared with about $1,465 more in tuition and fees, a median increase of 34%, in the same period.
+ “Long term, that trend is very troubling because that means the ability to pay is eroding, and it’s eroding most quickly for the lower-income population,” says Jamie Merisotis, president of the Institute for Higher Education Policy, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
+ A hot topic is hitting college campuses. A new bill would allow illegal immigrants to apply for financial aid to go to college in California. Under the bill passed by the state Assembly on Tuesday, high school graduates would be eligible for financial aid.
+ “In its final draft report, the Commission on the Future of Higher Education calls for restructuring student aid, simplifying the application form for federal aid, and curbing the growth of college costs and prices. But the panel provides few details of how to achieve those aims,” The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. “Lobbyists for colleges and students – and even some commission members – say the lack of specificity will make it difficult for policy makers to carry out the report’s recommendations.”
+ File your FAFSA at FAFSAonline.com
+ Exotic mortgages seen losing their appeal – good!

Scholarship Update
+ University of Kansas Summerfield and Watkins-Berger Scholarships
+ $4,500/year for 4 years
+ Top 100 students graduating at Kansas High Schools
+ 3.5 GPA
+ SAT 1360 or ACT 31
+ Community service
+ First deadline November 1, main deadline December 1.
+ Details at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: $44,000 scholarship deadline

Mail Bag
+ Faturoti Ayomide wrote: Please i will like to know how to apply for the podcast scholarship.
+ john blue wrote: Great show, love the topics, format and delivery. For a tin foil hat momment: Can you help spread the word on labeling PDF files enclosed media in an RSS stream? You were the first show to send me PDFs but now others are too (MakeZine’s Bre Pettis does is one). File names like Scholarship.pdf work but wp_pov.pdf are a little cryptic (wp_pov.pdf is from MakeZine). I figure you have a wide network and your tin foil hat moments are the perfect format. Spread the word! Thanks, John
+ VM from Laura Clapp

Frappr Update
+ Daniel Finley from Memphis, TN
+ Jeni from Louisa, KY
+ Ira Krakow from Middleton, MA
+ Miranda from Rochester, NY

Podsafe Music
+ Laura Clapp, The Other Half of Me
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #345: How do you calculate your credit card payment?

FAP345: How do you calculate your credit card payment, college tuition data, textbook ads, Katrina, black journalists, Lee Coulter

Student Financial Aid News
+ Textbook pricing/ad survey results so far
+ 63% of students who responded said they would accept ads in textbooks in exchange for price reductions
+ For 10% off cover, 1 or 2 ads per book
+ For 25% off cover, 1 or 2 ads per section (every 100 pages)
+ For 50% off cover, 1 or 2 ads per chapter (every 25 pages)
+ For 75% off cover, tied between 1 or 2 ads per chapter or per page
+ For a free textbook, an ad on every side of every page
+ There’s clearly a marketing opportunity here!
+ You can still take the survey
+ Survey is non-scientific.
+ Hurricane Katrina, one year later
+ Help is still needed – check out America’s Second Harvest
+ Also on a charity note, my wife and I are walking in the Light the Night Leukemia and Lymphoma Walk in Boston. To sponsor, visit www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/light
+ Mean scores on the SAT fell this year by more than they have in decades. A five-point drop in critical reading, to 503, was the largest decline since 1975 and the two-point drop in mathematics, to 518, was the largest dip since 1978.
+ The Alliance for Excellent Education, a high-school focused think tank, released a report on Tuesday estimating the cost of remediation for community colleges in all 50 states. In sum, the report indicates that two-year institutions spend $1.4 billion annually to help students receive the skills they need in order to graduate or join the work force — skills they ideally should have earned in high school.
+ Which factors predict whether students will borrow a lot — potentially too much? Attending a public college in a high tuition state? Attending a private college? Living in an expensive part of the country?
+ Attending public colleges doesn’t assure a student of a lower debt burden than he or she would face at private colleges. In seven states, the study found, average debt levels were higher at public than at private institutions. Those states are: Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, Delaware, Arkansas, Iowa and North Dakota.
+ The states where graduates leave college with the most debt aren’t those with the highest cost of living. The top five are: New Hampshire ($22,793), Iowa ($22,727), North Dakota ($22,682), Rhode Island ($20,798) and Pennsylvania ($20,775).
+ A number of institutions with low tuition rates, but high fees, end up graduating students with higher debt loads than students at much more expensive institutions (in terms of tuition).
+ The report, which features data on all states, also notes that there are more than 30 colleges — among them the California Institute of Technology; Centre, Eckerd, Gordon and Pomona Colleges; and Colgate, John Carroll, Princeton, Tufts and Yale Universities — that charge more than $20,000 a year for tuition, but whose graduates leave with average debt of $15,000 or less.
+ Got high tuition? Got loans coming due soon? Student loan consolidation with StudentLoanConsolidator.com is the answer to your questions.

Scholarship Update
+ National Association of Black Journalists
+ 10 awards up to $5,000 each
+ Scholarships are open to any foreign or American born students, currently attending an accredited four-year college/university in the U.S. or those who are candidates for graduate school.
+ 2007 application available soon
+ Details at our free scholarship search site
+ Search term: $20,000 scholarship deadline

News You Can Use
+ It’s credit card time!
+ Question: how do you compute the monthly payment on your credit card?
+ If you don’t know the answer, you probably shouldn’t have a credit card – seriously.
+ 4% of balance due is the minimum payment – including interest
+ Average daily balance + interest = total balance for period * 4% = minimum payment
+ $1,000 + (1000 * (.18/12)) = $1,015 total balance for period * 4% = $40.60
+ Things to be aware of as a student
+ Your income is already stretched
+ Your interest rates are high
+ Look for no annual fees, long grace periods, electronic payment options (stay on time), low interest rates, fixed interest rates
+ Stay away from cash advances! (5% higher rates!)
+ Make MORE than the minimum payment every time if you can’t pay the full balance
+ Make more frequent payments in a period – ADB
+ Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com

Podsafe Music
+ Lee Coulter, Photograph
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #344: Student loan consolidation can help you decide how much to borrow

FAP344: Student loan consolidation can help you decide how much to borrow, national debt, Watson fellowships, podcasting in education, Lacuna Coil

Student Financial Aid News
+ Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and the state’s legislative leaders have agreed on a university construction plan to be financed through the sale of $350 million of student loans.
+ The plan calls for $314 million from the sale to be divided among 22 construction projects at Missouri’s colleges and universities, with another $18 million going to community colleges, $15 million to a research endowment, and $3.4 million to replace equipment at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Dentistry.
+ Blunt’s previous plan, which called for proceeds of the sale to be sent directly to the universities, was shot down by the General Assembly. Under the new plan, the money will first go through the Missouri Development Finance Board, which will approve any proposed spending.
+ “Something is happening this semester that has never happened to me before,” writes Kristin Luker, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, on a forum for professors. ”[M]ore than half of my lecture class is just not showing up.” Judging by the responses to Ms. Luker’s observation, she’s not alone.
+ A number of professors at Berkeley say their lecture halls are looking a bit more spacious lately, and most agree that online forums, course-management sites, podcasts, and even e-mail are largely to blame.
+ What is the real value of a higher education? After all, you can pick up most of the factual data from textbooks whether you’re enrolled in college or not
+ In a presentation about the national debt, federal comptroller general David Walker recently presented these facts
+ About 60% of our federal spending is now mandatory, primarily because of Medicare and Social Security obligations and interest on the national debt.
+ While the 2005 budget deficit was widely reported at $318 billion, if it is calculated on an operating basis like one that most companies use, the year’s deficit was easily double that amount.
+ We finance our deficits by borrowing — and 50% of our public debt is currently owned by foreigners.
+ Interest on the national debt is expected to be about $200 billion this year — around the same amount that we spend on Medicare.
+ We currently have a $46 trillion liability for Medicare and Social Security obligations — and the new drug bill will easily add another $8 trillion in promises.
+ Over the next 25 years, Medicare spending will grow at nearly five times the rate of GDP growth.
+ Every newborn arrives with an immediate debt of $156,000 — which constitutes fiscal child abuse!
+ If only student loan consolidation were available for federal governments…

Scholarship Update
+ The Watson Fellowship
+ $25,000 for graduating college seniors to pursue a year of study abroad
+ Must be part of a participating institution
+ Usual paperwork
+ Deadline in mid September
+ Details at our free student scholarship search web site
+ Search term: $22,000 scholarship deadline

News You Can Use
+ How much in student loans should you decide to take out?
+ It largely depends on what you’ll be doing after college
+ Use a calculator like the one on StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ This will tell you a rough estimated monthly payment based on loan terms
+ Assume that roughly 1/3 of your pay will go to Uncle Sam
+ If you make $30K/year starting, you really have about $20K to work with
+ Ideally, no more than 5% – 10% of your net monthly income should go to debt
+ $30K = $1,700 or thereabouts a month
+ That’s up to $170/month
+ WITH student loan consolidation, that’s $22,000 in student loans at 6.8% you can safely take out
+ Without student loan consolidation, that’s $14,750.
+ Check your field’s salary range with a site like Salary.com
+ You may want to study in a different field if you can’t avoid exceeding your projected student loan balance
+ Hit up those scholarships
+ Plan on consolidating your student loans immediately upon graduation

Podsafe Music
+ Lacuna Coil, Swamped
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #343: So what should you spend your money on

FAP343: So what should you spend your money on, Census data, UA, stagnant wages, Susan Govali

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, in remarks at a press conference Thursday, said that rising college costs may encourage families to have fewer children, The Chicago Tribune reported. He said one solution might be to add a fifth year of high school, while cutting one year of undergraduate college programs.
+ The portion of University of Arizona students receiving financial aid outpaces the national average, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the UA financial aid office. At the UA, about 78 percent of students receive some money from an outside source, said John Nametz, director of student financial aid.
+ About 11.2 million college students, or 65%, received some form of financial aid from outside their families to help pay for their education, according to tabulations released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data is from 2001-2002.
+ More than one-third of the students enrolled in higher-education programs are older than 24, and that proportion could rise as the population ages and more Americans return to school either to hone job skills or to pursue areas of personal enrichment.
+ Scholarship money is less available for graduates than undergraduates. In addition, returning adult students often have mortgages, child-care expenses and other costs that freshman usually don’t face. Also, the possible need to go on a budget after years of relatively carefree spending can be a problem for returning students.
+ Check out AlternativeStudentLoan.com – continuing education loans for students
+ With the economy beginning to slow, the current expansion has a chance to become the first sustained period of economic growth since World War II that fails to offer a prolonged increase in real wages for most workers.
+ The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity — the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation’s living standards — has risen steadily over the same period.
+ As a result, wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation’s gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960’s. UBS, the investment bank, recently described the current period as “the golden era of profitability.”
+ Until the last year, stagnating wages were somewhat offset by the rising value of benefits, especially health insurance, which caused overall compensation for most Americans to continue increasing. Since last summer, however, the value of workers’ benefits has also failed to keep pace with inflation, according to government data.

Scholarship Update
+ So what’s going on in Arizona, anyway?
+ The University of Arizona Excellence Award!
+ US citizen or permanent resident
+ Non-resident of the state of Arizona
+ Full time at UA
+ 3.0 GPA
+ For renewal, you must remain enrolled full time
+ $2,000 – $10,000 awards renewable up to four years
+ Details at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: University of Arizona scholarships

News You Can Use
+ Things you SHOULD spend money on
+ I talk a lot about saving money, trimming expenses, etc.
+ Ultimately, it’s a question of quality vs. quantity
+ It’s about quality and usage

Podsafe Music
+ Susan Govali, Throw it All Away
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

PodCamp Boston first look!

Get more at:

http://www.PodCamp.org

See you there!

Financial Aid Podcast #341 : Free Stuff Friday

FAP341: Free stuff Friday, Northwest Airlines, Academic Competitiveness Grants, Foreign Aid, Laura Clapp

Student Financial Aid News
+ New government grants have limited resulting in aid being given and revoked – particularly for students who have heavy courseloads exceeding the total number of allotted credit hours. Because after all, Academic Competitiveness Grants shouldn’t go to smart, hard working people, right?
+ “More and more parents and students are being forced to pocket the plastic each semester as fewer universities accept credit cards for tuition payments,” Bankrate.com reports. “Postsecondary institutions, ranging from two-year community colleges to four-year private universities, are staging a fee backlash. …Utah State changed its policy in 2004 after more than a decade of swallowing a merchant fee of approximately 2 percent per tuition payment.”
+ Foreign countries are providing $30 million in aid for the reconstruction of colleges in New Orleans and other areas that were hit by Hurricane Katrina, Education Secretary Margaret M. Spellings announced Thursday.
+ Northwest Airlines created a ruckus by distributing a “save money” booklet to laid-off employees that included such tips as: “Don’t be shy about pulling something you like out of the trash.” The booklet was included in a layoff packet given to dozens of axed workers in North Dakota, Montana and Texas. Other tips included:
+ Get hand-me-down clothes and toys for your kids from family and friends.
+ Take a date for a walk along the beach or in the woods.
+ Take a shorter shower.
+ Rent out a room or garage.
+ Borrow a dress for a big night out.
+ Use old newspapers for cat litter.
+ Ask your doctor for samples of prescriptions.
+ Buy pre-owned toys and children’s books at garage sales.
+ Buy spare parts for your car at the junkyard.
+ Share housing with a friend.
+ Buy, sell and trade clothes at consignment shops.
+ Use low-flush toilets.
+ Grow your own vegetables.
+ Shop at auctions or pawnshops for jewelry and antiques.
+ Cut the kids’ hair yourself.

Scholarship Update
+ Tulane University Dean’s Scholarship
+ Full tuition, renewable for 4 years
+ GPA of 3.0
+ For incoming freshmen
+ $34,896
+ SAT of 1450 or ACT 33, plus application, transcripts, and recommendations
+ Deadline December 15, 2006
+ 100 awards
+ Details on our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: tulane university scholarship

Free Stuff Friday
+ Have you seen what’s on Craigslist? Everything.
+ Boston Craigslist free stuff
+ The usual tips apply – RSS, saved queries, etc.
+ Also use tagging sites
+ Del.icio.us freestuff tag
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Get a federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #340 : Top 50 Interview Questions in the Jobcast

FAP340: Top 50 Interview Questions in the Jobcast, undisclosed scholarship, privacy, PHEAA, credit cards, Lacuna Coil

Student Financial Aid News
+ Federal student aid — with its various needs tests — generally goes to low income students. But federal tax breaks for college costs, largely adopted during the Clinton administration, are having a significant impact on the amount of federal assistance going to wealthier students.
+ The average tax benefit received by families with incomes of $92,000 or more was greater in fact than the average benefit for those with incomes less than $32,000. This analysis comes from “Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 2003-4,” released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics.
+ Local newspapers reported last week that PHEAA had paid its top seven officials bonuses (which the company prefers to call “incentive payments”) of nearly $900,000, which pushed the total compensation for its president and CEO, Richard Willey, to $469,934 — well above, the reporters and editorial writers noted drily, Gov. Ed Rendell’s $161,173.
+ Anyone writing college tuition checks this fall knows higher education isn’t cheap. What they might not grasp is the size of the affordability problem. According to research done for the Mass. Board of Higher Education:
+ 88,210 Massachusetts college students had a total of $562 million in unmet financial need after grants and need-based loans in fiscal 2005.
+ Two-thirds of families who are at the median family income level for the state ($68,701 in 2004) have unmet financial need.
+ Act Education Loans from the Student Loan Network can meet some of that need
+ The Education Department said Wednesday it would arrange for free credit monitoring for as many as 32,000 student loan borrowers after their personal data appeared on its Web site. Education Department officials blamed the breach on a routine software upgrade, conducted by Dallas-based contractor Affiliated Computers Services Inc., that mixed up data for different borrowers when users accessed the Web site. Since Sunday, 26 borrowers have complained.
+ A PSU study titled “Financially At-Risk College Students: An Investigation of Credit Card Usage, Student Loan Debt and Prioritization of Debt Repayment” reveals that when faced with multiple debts at graduation, students pay credit cards first.

Scholarship Update
+ The Lagrant Foundation Scholarship
+ $100,000 total in scholarships
+ Individual awards not specified
+ Looks like about 10 people, so figure around $5K-$10K each?
+ 3.2 GPA as graduate or undergraduate
+ Major in advertising, PR, or marketing
+ Essay
+ African American, Asian Pacific American, Hispanic or Native American
+ Detailed page at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: wordpress scholarship

JobCast: The Top 50 Interview Questions
+ Ready? Here goes!

Podsafe Music
+ It’s going to get loud in here
+ Lacuna Coil! Heaven’s a Lie
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Get a federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #339: Listener questions answered

FAP339: Listener questions answered, Schwarzenegger, Bloomberg, discount rates, Cisco scholarship, Matthew Ebel

Student Financial Aid News
+ Portions of an Education Department student loan database revealed confidential information — enough to have enabled someone to commit identity theft — from Sunday through Tuesday, The Boston Globe reported. Department officials told the newspaper that a bug had created the problem and that they did not believe many people’s privacy had been violated.
+ Colleges increased their average discount rate slightly in 2005, following a slight decrease the previous year, resulting in the same average rate for 2005 as 2003-38.8 percent — according to an annual survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Tuition discounting is popular with many admissions officials, who see it as a recruiting tool, but with the rise of discounting in recent years, many finance experts have warned that the practice is getting out of hand.
+ New York City and the College Board announced an agreement Monday under which the city will pay for all students in 10th and 11th grades of its public high schools to take the PSAT. The city has allocated up to $1.2 million for 150,000 students to take the test, the College Board’s prelude to the SAT. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said that the program would encourage low-income students to prepare for college and to seek scholarships. The normal fee for the PSAT is $12 and while the College Board offers waivers for those unable to pay, many students who would be elible for the waiver don’t apply for it or take the test.
+ California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state lawmakers reached a deal late Monday to hike the minimum wage to the highest level in the nation, aides said on Tuesday. The agreement between the Republican governor and the Democrat-led legislature’s leaders would increase California’s minimum wage by $1.25 over the next year and a half to $8 an hour. The deal calls for an increase of 75 cents an hour next January and a rise of 50 cents an hour the following January.
+ The Wells Fargo housing opportunity index inched down to a record low 40.6 in the second quarter from 41.3 in the first quarter. Just 40.6% of the homes sold were affordable for a family earning $59,600.
+ Dallas Morning News quote: “Think of it this way,” says Steve Loven, director of the College Planning Center in West Des Moines, Iowa. “You want to live like a college student today so you don’t have to live like one when you graduate.”

Scholarship Update
+ Cisco DeVry Scholarship
+ Amount: $1,200 per semester – Valued at up to $10,800
+ IT Essentials I or II, or CCNA Semester I
+ Pursuing certain tracks in technology
+ Details at our free scholarship web site
+ Search term: cisco scholarship deadline

Mail Bag
+ To the Nigerian guy who sent me postal mail about getting into UIC – congratulations. For financial aid, go to InternationalStudentLoan.com – that goes for the twenty or so other emails from International students. Also check InternationalScholarships.com.
+ Matthew Ebel writes in about compression and overdoing it. Backing off now, Captain!
+ Adama writes, “moi je voudrais savoir si possible vous pouvez m’aidez pour mon toefl? je
me prepare pour suivre des cours pour ça mais je n’ai pas assez d’argent pour
l’examen du toefl!” – non, mais, je ne peux pas vous aider. Svp visite InternationalStudent.com
+ RT writes from MySpace: “Know of any easy scholarships or Grants to get for college?? Thanks!” – yes! Fill out your FAFSA and then go use our free scholarship search site. Be sure to download our free scholarship e-Book as well by subscribing to the show.

Podsafe Music
+ Matthew Ebel, I Know You’re There
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Get a federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #337: What is inflation and why is it bad?

FAP337: What is inflation and why is it bad? Ads in textbooks, rent going up, scholarships in economics, Rebecca Loebe

Student Financial Aid News
+ Ads in textbooks? It could happen. What would you pay? Take the survey!
+ The U.S. higher education system needs a severe makeover, and central to that makeover is the abolishment of student loans, or the institution of more grants and debt-relief programs, writes Jeffrey Williams in Dissent Magazine.
+ Williams backs his claims by citing the impossibility of a student’s ability today to pay for his or her own education given the drastic increase in tuition in the past 20 years. Additionally, Williams contends that banks and giant, once-nonprofit lenders like Sallie Mae and Nellie Mae, have no business turning the huge profits they are on interest from federally backed loans for which they bear no risk.
+ Rent is going up nationwide at a brisk clip – 5% in many markets
+ Miami University announced Friday that it will pay tuition and fees for all Ohio residents enrolled in its undergraduate programs if their families earn less than $35,000 a year.
+ Employees can expect raises next year that are only slightly better than years past, and much of the gains will be eaten up by inflation. Employers plan to grant average pay raises of 3.7% in 2006, just up from the 3.6% average in 2005, according to a study by benefits consultants Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Increases also are projected to be 3.7% in 2007.
+ Remember that topline inflation was 4.8% for this year
+ The University of West Florida plans to add grammar and math tutorials to its Web site starting this semester. The assistance was originally intended simply to help students brush up on those skills, but university officials realized that just about everyone could use some improvement.
+ The Web lessons will be presented in more than 100 video clips, lasting three to 30 minutes each. The creators hope to make the tutorials easy to understand, and even fun. One of the sections, however, is titled, “Math Is Not a Four-Letter Word,” leaving users wondering how they can learn mathematics from a source that doesn’t get its count right.

Scholarship Update
+ The Economic Club Of Washington, DC Doctoral Research Fellowships 2006-2007
+ 2 doctoral scholarships of $10,000
+ Must be enrolled at a participating school at the Ph.D. level entering dissertation level
+ Transcripts, research, etc.
+ March 31 deadline
+ Detailed page at our free student scholarship web site
+ Search term: economics scholarship deadline

News You Can Use
+ Understanding inflation
+ The role of money as a store of value, medium of exchange, and unit of account
+ Prior to money, you bartered everything
+ One cow is worth how many chickens?
+ If you needed goods for which no one wanted a cow, you were in trouble
+ Enter money – people agree upon money as a medium of exchange. A cow is worth $20. A chicken is worth $2. A wool cloth is worth $1.
+ Money has no worth in and of itself – it’s only worth what it can buy
+ Money is arbitrary – the Federal Reserve creates it and puts it into the system
+ If there were a total of 20 bills printed, and 20 bills used, the system would have no inflation
+ If one day someone created 5 more bills, there would be more money than goods used
+ This is bad, because it means that the system will absorb that money – banks will lend it, etc.
+ Net effect: prices go up – it takes more bills to buy something
+ Just like if ten cows suddenly appeared – you’d have more cows to trade, and someone who wanted to trade with you could say, well, you have 10 cows now instead of one, so you can afford to spend more, so I want two cows for 10 chickens.
+ This is inflation.
+ There’s a disconnect between when more money is created and when it arrives in your pocket to be spent
+ Wages very often don’t keep up with inflation because banks (who receive the money from the government) lend it – and you are paid but don’t receive loans as pay
+ That’s why inflation is very bad – because a seller of goods says, there’s more money available now, so I want $3 for a chicken instead of $2. But you as a wage earner don’t get paid more, so you get poorer.
+ Put another way, $1 will buy you 1/3 of a chicken today instead of 1/2 of a chicken.
+ Controlling inflation is the Fed’s job – but they’re losing control because more of the money is out of their control – a combination of the national debt and things like oil
+ Forex in another show

Podsafe Music
+ Becca Loebe, Homeless
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Get a federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast

Financial Aid Podcast #336: Student Loan Radio #20 Interview with Sophia Ramos

FAP336: Student Loan Radio #20 Interview with Sophia Ramos

The very talented Sophia Ramos joins us tonight for a very unique interview.

Podsafe Music
+ Sophia Ramos, Deep in my Bones
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Student loans available at any time – visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Get a federal student loan at StaffordLoan.com
+ Consolidate your student loans at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ 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. Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

Direct file download: MP3 file

Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast