It’s obvious to any educator that school demands a lot of the 21st century student. On top of the eight or so hours a day of class time, students are pushed to engage in extracurricular activities, encouraged to volunteer on the weekends and required to complete anywhere from three to five hours of homework each night. And did we mention that ...

For nearly 17 years, Fastweb has worked to become the leading online resource for paying and preparing for college, and recently, our site soared to new heights with the EIFLE Award! Fastweb was named 2012 Organization of the Year by the Institute for Financial Literacy on Wednesday, April 18, 2012. The Institute for Financial Literacy announced the winners of the 2012 ...

Rep. Hansen Clarke (D-MI-13) introduced the Student Loan Forgiveness Act of 2012 (H.R. 4170) on March 8, 2012. If enacted, this legislation will provide student loan forgiveness for federal education loans, allow private student loans to be refinanced into federal direct consolidation loans and cap all federal student loan interest rates at 3.4%. This legislation would address some of the calls ...

By now, you know that winning scholarships is hard, like really hard. You feel like you’ve applied for countless scholarships with zero results, and you’ve nearly given up on winning anything along with your dream of going to or finishing college. So what can you do? If you haven’t heard this already, you’re hearing it now: winning scholarships is a numbers ...

You don’t have to be a rock star student or the MVP of your basketball team to win a scholarship. There are scholarships for every type of student, and that includes scholarships for students that shine in their own unique way. Sure, you may not be going to Harvard, playing Division 1 football or dancing down the halls of Julliard, but ...

Your Facebook profile may cause you to lose a scholarship. It can also help you win a scholarship. According to a recent survey of scholarship-granting organizations, about a quarter of scholarship providers evaluate the online presence of finalists before selecting which students will win scholarships. These scholarship sponsors use web search sites like Google and social media web sites like Facebook, ...

A few months ago, we reported on Cardiff University's Ultimate Scholarship, which was an opportunity for incoming and current students to compete for free tuition for life from the University. We predicted that it wouldn't be long until American institutions began doing the same, and we were right. The University of New Haven in Connecticut announced on Facebook this winter that ...

As of July, Facebook reported having over 800 million users, according to the LA Times, which means chances are, educators and students will find themselves in the same networks. So what happens when you receive friend requests from students on Facebook? Some educators accept friend requests from students while others ignore them. But regardless of whether or not you would accept ...

In our base year, my spouse will have a one-time job that will significantly raise our income for one year only. We have significant credit card debt and no savings for our child's college education. We plan to use the extra income to pay down our debt and to have money available to help with college costs. But will this one ...

Each year, UCLA’s Graduate School of Education and Information Studies releases a survey to the country’s college freshmen class to identify who they are as a whole. The survey covers a range of topics, from political views to how they’re paying for college, in order to provide a complete picture of the Class of 2015. In summary, here are eight things ...

In the state of the union address on Tuesday, January 24, 2012, President Obama proposed several increases in student aid spending. The first two proposals call for Congress to extend existing student aid programs that are scheduled to expire this year. Stop the pending increase in student loan interest rates. The College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 enacted a ...

The American dream: a high-paying job, a beautiful home and a hefty retirement fund. All made possible by the Bachelor’s degree students complete in four years. There’s a reason it’s called a dream, and unfortunately, it’s not the reality. In fact, the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics suggests that even obtaining a college degree in four ...

Keeping in touch with your students over the summer is tricky. While the first question you may ask is how to keep in touch, the big question is: should you even try? The answer is yes. It’s widely known that summer vacation oftentimes leads to mathematics and reading learning losses, commonly known as “summer learning loss” amongst educators. That’s why it’s ...

There is a common misconception amongst college students that scholarships are only for high school students. Fortunately, that's just a rumor and college students can apply for scholarships up through their second semester of senior year. We've rounded up some of our favorite college scholarships to either motivate your current college students or show your high school students that there is ...

Mark Kantrowitz is known throughout the Fastweb community and the country as the expert on all things relating to financial aid. Everyone looks to him for advice – from Fastweb members to Congressmen on Capitol Hill. On February 8th, Kantrowitz provided his latest insights in his new book, Secrets to Winning a Scholarship. Since then, the book has not only made ...

Your students may have already begun to approach you in a panic. They’ve looked all over the Internet and in local newspapers for summer internship and job opportunities, but the economy has left little to no choices for high school students. How will this look on their college applications? While they may not have work for the summer, there are plenty ...

It’s no secret that President Obama wants the U.S. to become the first in the world in college degree holders by 2020. Since 2009, it has been a staple in his higher education platform, citing it as recently as January in his State of the Union Address. Currently, the U.S. is in a four-way tie for ninth place, with South Korea ...

For a few years now, the saying that admissions officers were looking at prospective students’ Facebook profiles was merely an urban legend. But now, a new study claims that this so-called rumor is actually a reality. And it’s more common than you would think. The study, distributed by Kaplan, revealed that 82% of admissions officers have at one point looked for ...

President Obama is proposing to cut some student aid programs to maintain the maximum Pell Grant at $5,550 in 2011-12 as part of the FY2012 federal budget request. This comes after the House Republican leadership proposed cutting the maximum Pell Grant by $845 on Friday. The Pell Grant program has a $20 billion funding shortfall due to large increases in the ...

January, February and some of March aren’t just dull months in terms of weather but also in the admissions process. After months of standardized testing, campus visits and arduous applications it probably feels a bit odd for your students to sit and do nothing. They may be asking you, “What do I do now?” Fortunately, there are a few to-dos for ...