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 they are also supposed to get at least eight hours of sleep each night?

Yeah right.

The junior and senior years of high school drop yet another serving on the plate: college admissions. Between classes, activities and everything else in between, students have to start making college visits, completing applications and collecting A+ essays and five-star recommendations from teachers and guidance counselors.

It’s easy to see why students put the scholarship search last, oftentimes waiting until the second semester of their senior year in high school to start. Well, as they say, “the early bird gets the worm.” And early birds should not wait until the last minute to apply for scholarships.

So how does a 21st century student balance it all?

Starting the Search

On Fastweb, the search is simple. Students fill out a profile and keep updating it as they join more activities or develop other interests. This ensures that their scholarship matches are always tailored to what they do, what they love and the person they'll become in college.

To better balance their school time with their scholarship search, tell students to spend a half hour one weekday evening at the beginning of every month reading through all of the scholarship matches on their list. They should keep their eye out for scholarships that they really want to apply for, but ideally, they should apply for all of them because the more scholarships they apply for, the better their chances.

Whatever scholarships they decide to apply for, they can add it to their list of “Favorites” on Fastweb.

Depending on Organizational Skills

By now, students should at least grasp that success stems from organization, and in the scholarship search, it’s no different. Once they have their list of “Favorites" on Fastweb, they need to visit each scholarship’s website and mark all of the deadlines in their school planner or calendar. From there, students should back track through the month and mark the significant dates for that particular scholarship application.

For instance, if the scholarship is due on September 30, they need to make a note in their school planner or calendar to have a first draft of the scholarship application essay completed and reviewed by a parent, teacher or counselor on September 9. They need to make edits by September 16 and complete the form for the application by September 23. That way, the scholarship application isn’t rushed through at the last minute and it’s turned in ahead of the deadline.

Also, it's advisable that students buy a bunch of file folders and write the name of each scholarship they apply to on a file folder. Students should keep all of the contents regarding that application (a copy of the required materials, the application form and their essay edits) in its own folder. This prevents it from getting mixed up with another.

Finally, they need to mark each folder somehow with a check mark or a star that indicates they have applied for that scholarship.

Keeping Their Commitment

There is no better time for students to renew their commitment to the scholarship search than at the start of the school year. Educators can help students renew this commitment through a Back to School newsletter, announcement at the start of the school year or a counseling session that covers admissions and the scholarship search.

Depending on the type of student they are, their commitment times will vary. If they're the type of person that wants to spread the work out a little, they can devote a half hour to an hour every single week to their scholarship search and applications. Ideally, they will want to pick the day of the week that they have less going on after school and avoid the night before a big exam or an essay or project is due.

If devoting an hour a week isn’t enough or just impossible given everything else they have on their plate, instruct them to pick a Saturday or Sunday afternoon each month to devote entirely to their scholarship applications. They should set up shop somewhere different from where they typically study -- like the local library. Something as simple as a different environment can help them stay focused for the three or four hours they need to finish applications.

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 Excellence in
Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) Awards during a ceremony at the
Annual Conference on Financial Education.

The EIFLE Awards recognize the innovation, dedication and commitment
of individuals and organizations that support financial literacy
education worldwide. Fastweb won the award for creating the first free
online scholarship matching service, for helping more than 50 million
students and parents understand how to pay for college and for
developing novel insights, rules of thumb and tools that are used by
many financial literacy organizations and educators.

"This year's EIFLE Award winners have distinguished themselves from
their peers with the depth and breadth of their accomplishments in
promoting effective financial literacy education in the communities
they serve," said Leslie E. Linfield, Executive Director and Founder
of the Institute for Financial Literacy. "They are a shining example
for those whose quest it is to make financial literacy education
available to all segments of society."

In addition to Fastweb, other winners of 2012 EIFLE Awards include
AARP Social Security Benefits Calculator,
Applicant Background Investigation Drill (ABID),
Cash Flow Navigator,
Cha-Ching: Money Smart Kids,
Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, Inc.,
Don't Be Jack,
Financial Fitness for Life,
Fostering Hope: Preparing Today's Youth for Tomorrow's Future
Money Habitudes: How to be Rich in Life and Love,
MoneyIsland and
Real Money Talk for Women.
Mike McHugh of the Real Sense
Prosperity Campaign (United Way of Northeast Florida) was named
educator of the year.

Six authors won book awards:

• Alisa T. Weinstein for Earn It, Learn It: Teach Your Child the Value of Money, Work, and Time Well Spent
  
• Jim Randel for Street Smarts: Beyond the Diploma
  
• Robin Y. Yang for Enchanted Collar, Series 1-5
  
• Jennifer S. Matthews for 12 Ways to Put Money in Your Pocket Every Month Without a Part-Time Job: The Skinny Book That Makes Your Wallet Fat
  
• Tony Steuer for The Questions and Answers on Life Insurance Workbook
  
• Julie Jason for Managing Retirement Wealth: An Expert Guide to Personal Portfolio Management in Good Times and Bad
  

The Institute for Financial
Literacy is a nonprofit tax exempt organization whose mission is
to promote effective financial education and counseling.

We're so proud of our accomplishment, but we couldn't have done this
without you! Thanks for supporting Fastweb and helping us make this a
better site that helps you!

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 for student loan
forgiveness raised by
forgivestudentloandebt.com
and
the Occupy Wall Street protesters.

It is unclear how the legislation will be funded, given current PayGo
rules in the US House of Representatives.

A video of Congressman Clarke introducing the legislation
can be seen on YouTube.

10/10 Loan Repayment Plan

The 10/10 Loan Repayment Plan is similar to income-based
repayment. The monthly loan payments are capped at 10% of
discretionary income, which is the amount by which adjusted gross
income exceeds 150% of the poverty line. But the remaining debt would
be forgiven after 10 years in repayment, instead of 20 or 25 years.
Borrowers would be required to repay their student loans through
auto-debit to qualify. Interest would not be capitalized, preventing
the charging of interest on interest when a borrower's monthly loan
payment is less than the new interest that accrues.

If a borrower files federal income tax returns as married filing
separately, the monthly loan payment under the 10/10 Loan Repayment
Plan will be based on only the borrower's debt and AGI. For borrowers
who file federal income tax returns as married filing jointly, the
monthly loan payments will be based on the couple's combined AGI and
allocated among each spouse's debt in proportion to income.

10/10 Loan Forgiveness

The proposed 10-year loan forgiveness will be available to all
borrowers, not just new borrowers. Existing borrowers will have the
full loan balance forgiven. However, the forgiveness of principal and
fees for new borrowers will be capped at $45,520 to prevent "moral
hazard", where students borrow excessively knowing that the excess
debt will be forgiven. (All accrued but unpaid interest will be
forgiven.) The forgiveness will also be partially retroactive, with
the clock on the 120 payments starting 10 years prior to the date the
legislation is enacted. The amount forgiven will be tax-free.

To prevent abuse, the 120 payments will have to be made either under
the 10/10 Loan Repayment Plan or under any other repayment plan that
involves a payment that is not less than the 10/10 repayment amount
for the year in which the payment was made. Monthly payments of zero
under the economic hardship deferment (which is limited to three
years) would also be counted. However, if a borrower's calculated
monthly payment under the 10/10 Loan Repayment Plan is zero and the
borrower doesn't qualify for the economic hardship deferment, that
payment might not count toward the 120 payment forgiveness
requirement.

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Public Service Loan Forgiveness After 5 Years

Public service loan forgiveness, which currently forgives all
remaining debt after 10 years, will be amended to forgive the
remaining debt after 5 years of full-time employment in a public
service job. The definition of a public service job will also be
expanded to include employment as a primary care physician in an area
or population designated as a Medically Underserved Area or Population
by the Health Resource and Services Administration.

3.4% Cap on Federal Student Loan Interest Rates

The legislation will cap interest rates at 3.4% on all new federal
direct loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2012. This includes
new federal direct consolidation loans.

Refinancing of Private Student Loans

Rep. Clarke's proposal will also allow certain private student loans
to be refinanced into federal consolidation loans. To be eligible, the
borrower must have been eligible to borrow from the unsubsidized
Stafford or PLUS loan programs during the period of enrollment in
which the private student loans were disbursed. The borrower's total
federal and private education debt must also equal or exceed the
average of the borrower's AGI during the previous three
years. (Borrowers whose total education debt exceeds their annual
income are considered to have excessive student loan debt.) The
interest rate will be based on the weighted average of the interest
rates on the loans that were consolidated, rounded up to the nearest
1/8th of a point, but will also be subject to the 3.4% rate cap on new
consolidation loans. The legislation will provide a one-time
opportunity during a one-year period following enactment to refinance
private student loans that were originated before enactment of the
legislation.

[Update 3/14/2012:
Robert Applebaum of forgivestudentloandebt.com
has created a petition in support of the legislation.
It has already been signed by more than 100,000 people.]

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 game, and the more you apply, the better your chance of actually winning. Essentially, if you want to win a scholarship giving up is not an option; no matter how tired, frustrated or rejected you feel because of the process.

So get up off of the floor, quit wringing your hair in despair and follow this advice for persistence in your scholarship search.
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Be honest with yourself: how many scholarships have you really applied to – a couple, five, 10? Those numbers aren’t going to cut it. If paying for school with scholarships and financial aid is really so important to you, then devote more time to your applications. If you’ve been applying to one scholarship a month, that’s not enough. Spend a half hour every day on applications or a few hours a week; whatever works best for your schedule.

Are you exhausting all of your scholarship search options? If you log onto Fastweb and merely look at your scholarship matches, that’s doing nothing to help you win a scholarship. Look at all of your scholarships and mark those that interest you as “Might Apply” or “Will Apply” and actually apply for them. Visit the site frequently too -- don't wait months to log back on.

Get started now. Apply for scholarships.

Also, reach out to your high school guidance counselor once a month and ask him or her about community scholarships. Scour your local newspaper for scholarship opportunities, and don’t shy away from entering contests, sweepstakes or promotions with a dollar prize. You can use that money for school too!




When you see a scholarship for $500, do you skip over it and look at the scholarship for $10,000 instead? Here’s a little secret: scholarships with a smaller award amount don’t get the same volume of applications as a $10,000 scholarship, meaning your odds are better. So don’t skim over the small amounts – that’s $500 less you have to pay for college, right? And if you win several $500 scholarships, that can really add up.

The scholarship search isn’t over once you set foot on your college campus. There are thousands of scholarship opportunities for college students, whether you’re a college freshman, a junior studying abroad or starting your final year. While in college, devote just as much time to your scholarship search as you did when you were a high school senior, i.e. a few hours a week.

It’s understandable to be frustrated with the process – it’s tedious, never-ending and more often than not, disappointing. But that’s when you have to shake it off and try, try again. Good luck, Fastwebbers!

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 you’re just as talented and that deserves some recognition! So check out 10 scholarships for the everyday student – there’s something for you here!

Big Dig Scholarship

You don’t have to dig deep intellectually for the Big Dig Scholarship; you just have to dig deep creatively. Open to high school seniors, college freshmen and sophomores, the Big Dig Scholarship requires applicants to answer the following:

“In 200 years, one of your relatives is going to be digging in what is now your backyard. They are going to find something that you buried in 2012, and it is going to put any financial worries they have to rest. Your job today is to decide what to bury. Your goal is to find something that will have immense value in the future."

Deadline: June 1, 2012

Apply now
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Battle for the Bands Scholarship

DoSomething’s mission is not only to encourage students to reach out and lend a hand to their community but to reward them with the means to pay for school. In their latest campaign, they’re urging students to help save music education in schools through a Battle of the Bands competition.

To apply, students must submit an original music video, parody music video or spoken word video about why music education is vital to a student’s overall education. Each band member has the chance to win a $1,000 scholarship, provided that the band is not over 10 members.

Deadline: April 26, 2012

Apply now
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Stuck at Prom® Scholarship

At Prom, you typically want to keep the night drama-free and refrain from entering into any sticky situations. But when $10,000 is at stake for you and your date, who cares about the stick factor?!

The Stuck at Prom® Scholarship requires couples to create a prom ensemble entirely out of duct tape from Duck® brand. Applicants must submit their prom photo in their full duct tape gear in order to be eligible.

Deadline: June 13, 2012

Apply now
[page]
AFSA High School Senior Scholarship Contest

You don’t have to know the logistics of fire sprinklers in order to enter the American Fire Sprinkler Association High School Senior Scholarship Contest, thank goodness. All you have to do is read an essay and take a 10-minute multiple choice quiz.

For every question that you answer correctly, you’ll receive an entry into the contest to win $2,000.

Deadline: April 5, 2012

Apply now
[page]
AmeriCorps Educational Award

Who says giving back doesn’t pay? While helping others, you can earn $5,500 with the AmeriCorps Educational Award to pay for school or repay student loans.

Applicants must be at least 18 years old, have a high school diploma or working toward equivailent (GED) and must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or lawful permanent resident.

Deadline: Varies

Apply now
[page]
Collegiate Inventors Competition

Are you the inventor of the next big thing? It could be your ticket to a $5,000 scholarship and a trip to Washington D.C. for the Collegiate Inventors Competition.

The competition is open to college students who have been enrolled in any U.S. or Canadian college or university in the past 12 months. Applicants must submit an original idea, process or technology that will be judged on originality and inventiveness, as well as on its potential value to society (socially, environmentally, and economically), and on its range or scope of use.

Deadline: June 15, 2012

Apply now
[page]
Copyright Awareness Scholarship

There is a lot of hard work that goes into the albums that you listen to over and over again in your car, on your iPod and during your study sessions. And standing up against music piracy is a tune that could win you a $2,000 scholarship.

Students between the ages of 13 and 25 are welcome to apply and must submit a 30-second to three minute video that creatively represents your opinions on the importance of intellectual property and copyright law.

Deadline: May 1, 2012

Apply now
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Castle Ink Paperless Scholarship

Going green can win you some green in the Castle Ink Paperless Scholarship. All you have to do is submit a short essay, YouTube video, tweet, or Facebook status that explains how you "reduce, reuse, and recycle."

The Castle Ink Paperless Scholarship is open to students who are currently enrolled in college or are planning to attend in 2012 – 2013.

Deadline: March 31, 2012

Apply now
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ALA Viral Video Scholarship Contest

Are you a former crossing guard, fire warden or hall monitor from your school? Passionate about public safety? Or more passionate about winning a $1,500 scholarship for school? Whatever your answer, the ALA Viral Video Scholarship Contest is open to all high school and college students.

To enter, you must create and submit a viral video / public service announcement, of up to 240 seconds, on any topic covering public safety.

Deadline: March 31, 2012

Apply now
[page]
Letterman Telecommunications Scholarship

You don’t have to be a brainiac to make it big, and David Letterman has proved that. He openly admits that he wasn’t the smartest student, but what he lacked in school smarts, he made up for in creativity. That’s why he gives juniors and seniors at Ball State University the chance to pay for their education without having to prove their genius mind.

While grades are not considered, applicants are required to have visions of a career in telecommunications. To apply, students must submit a written project, a research effort, an audio tape, a video tape, a film or similar presentation on their creativity in the realm of telecommunications.

Deadline: April 2, 2012

Apply now

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, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter to
look for online information about the finalists.

Three-quarters of scholarship providers are searching for red flags,
such as whether the applicant demonstrates good judgment and will
reflect well on the scholarship sponsor. The presence of provocative
or inappropriate photographs or remarks, insensitive or discriminatory
remarks, signs of illegal activities such as underage drinking and the
use of narcotics, or evidence of a negative attitude can cause a
student to lose a scholarship. All else being equal, scholarship
providers will pick a finalist with the more professional online
presence.

About a quarter of the scholarship providers use online information to
identify or resolve conflicting information about the applicant, such
as lies about qualifications listed on the application or other
information that is inconsistent with the student's application.

But scholarship providers also review a student's online presence for
positive reasons. More than half of scholarship providers did so to
get to know the applicant better, to look for creativity and other
positive personality traits or to evaluate real-life communication
skills.

According to the survey, a third of scholarship providers who reviewed
an applicant's online presence have denied an applicant a scholarship
and a quarter have granted an applicant a scholarship because of
information they found out about them online.

So students need to be careful about the information they post online,
since this information may be visible to others. Even private Facebook
information may become public if the scholarship provider requires
finalists to add the scholarship provider as a friend. It is best to
act as though everything you do online is in public, where anybody can
see it.

In addition to scholarship providers, college admissions staff and
employers are starting to review the online presence of candidates, so
an inappropriate post may affect whether the student is admitted by a
college or gets a job offer from a prospective employer.

Tips for Developing a Professional Online Presence

Just as you'd want to maintain a professional appearance in an
in-person interview, it's a good idea to maintain a professional
online appearance.

The following are several tips for improving your online profile so
that it gives a good impression.

• Google your name. Look for inappropriate material in the first
  ten pages of search results. Correct any problems, if possible, by
  editing the content of the pages that show up in the search
  results. Do not delete the web pages, as the inappropriate information may
  persist in the web search site's cached copy of the web page. Changing
  the content of the page will cause the search site's results to change
  the next time the site's web spider reindexes your web page.
  

• Use an appropriate email address, such as
  firstname.lastname@gmail.com. Do not use offensive or sexually
  suggestive email addresses.
  

• Review your Facebook account, removing inappropriate and
  immature material and anything that may be misinterpreted. Remove
  pictures or videos that show illegal or questionable behavior. Avoid
  using profanity. Delete questionable posts by others on your wall.
  

• Think twice before posting anything offensive, illegal or
  otherwise inappropriate.
  

• Ask an adult, such as a parent, to review your Facebook page to help
  you identify problematic material.
  

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 they were offering four incoming freshman or transferring students four years' worth of tuition at the University's College of Business in the Dean's Scholarship Challenge, according to Yahoo Finance. Interested students simply have to prove that they not only have great business ideas but entrepreneurial smarts to make it a success.
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Applicants have been asked to create a Facebook page for a business they want to create and include the business's mission, overview and why they have what it takes to run that business. Facebook pages sent for submission to the Dean's Scholarship Challenge will be judged on creativity, viability and whether or not their business makes financial sense, among other criteria.

Larry Flanagan, UNH's dean of the College of Business and former chief global marketing officer for MasterCard who is famous for coining the campaign "Priceless," hopes the Dean's Scholarship Challenge will bring future top-notch business leaders to UNH rather than letting them go to competitors.

In a UNH press release, Flanagan states, "We're looking to discover students who have the potential to become future leaders in the business world, as many UNH College of Business alumni already have...This is a really exciting time for the College of Business which is adding new programs and expanding its portfolio."

Those who win the Dean's Scholarship Challenge must keep a minimum 3.0 GPA while attending the University of New Haven. In addition to the four full tuition scholarships, 20 other students will win iPads and 50 will receive a $250 gift credit to the University's bookstore, reports Yahoo Finance.

Applications are due on March 1 and are only open to students who have already submitted an application for admission to the University. Eligible applicants can apply here, and winners will be announced on March 16.

While this particular scholarship is only available to high school seniors or transferring students who have already applied to University of New Haven, we, at Fastweb, will be keeping our eyes peeled for more opportunities just like this!

What do you think of universities asking applicants to compete in challenges in order to receive scholarships?

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 students' requests, it’s best to practice the following etiquette.

Don't Friend Students at All

If you're going to have this rule, you need to stick to it. Don't make exceptions for your favorite students because it's a slippery slope to accepting friend requests from certain students to accepting them all. There are plenty of posts, status updates and photos that it would be best not to see from your students. And vice versa, there are a few on your end that you wouldn't want students seeing either.

As an educator, it's important to set boundaries, but it's up to you on where these boundaries lie. If you do want to friend students, consider the below options.

Wait Until the End of the School Year

Do you really want your students to see all of your status updates, photos and wall posts? Even if you censor yourself, can you control what your friends and family post on your wall?

Waiting until the end of the school year or even until that student is no longer at your school will enable you to maintain a professional virtual relationship with past students. Many educators opt to go this route. It not only provides privacy for the students but more importantly, for the educator as well.

Create a Limited Profile

If you do want to be able to friend students on Facebook, create a limited profile. Fortunately, Facebook enables you to create lists of people from whom you would like to censor certain aspects of your profile. That way, your students will only see the parts of your profile that are meant for them.

To create a list for students, simply follow Facebook's instructions here.

Create a Separate Account

Some educators are already doing this. You can create a separate profile that is just for students. Simply use your school email address to create this account instead of your personal email. This enables you to post updates, articles and photos that are specifically for your students. It will enable you to have a social media presence with a solid boundary between you and the students.

Practicing these tips not only protects you but your students as well. Oftentimes, pushing the boundary
between the classroom and private life can get students as well as teachers into trouble.

Are you friends with your students on Facebook? Why or why not?

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 time boost in
our income, which will happen to fall during our base year, limit our
access to financial aid? Also, unfortunately, I will be getting income from
the sale of my parents' home, which would also have gone directly to
debt reduction/college expenses. The timing of this is unusually bad
for us.
— B.J.

Having extra money to pay bills and reduce debt is never
unfortunate. Even if the money reduces eligibility for need-based
financial aid, the family will still come out ahead financially.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) considers both
income and assets when calculating ability to pay. Extra income during
the base year can show up on the FAFSA as both income and an
asset. However, if the family uses the money to pay down credit card
debt or other forms of consumer debt (e.g., auto loans or mortgages),
it can reduce or eliminate the treatment of the money as an asset on
the FAFSA. Still, the money will be counted as income on the FAFSA,
which can have a significant impact on eligibility for need-based
financial aid.

The best solution is to ask the college for a professional judgment
review, sometimes called a special circumstances review or financial
aid appeal. The goal of need analysis is to use the prior tax year
income as a proxy for income during the academic year. So college
financial aid administrators are often persuaded by arguments that
claim that the extra income was due to a one-time event that is not
reflective of the ability to pay during the award year. College
financial aid administrators also dislike the double-counting of a
windfall as both income and an asset.

The family will need to present documentation demonstrating that the
extra income was due to a one-time event that is unlikely to be
repeated. The college financial aid administrator may want to see
copies of the past 3-5 years worth of federal income tax returns to
verify that the extra income was an unusual event.

It also helps to demonstrate that the money was used to pay down debt
and is no longer available to pay for college costs (except for any
money contributed to a 529 college savings plan).

Is there any way around the fact that we withdrew money from
retirement accounts to purchase a house. We are a low-income family
but wanted to take advantage of the housing market and reduce our monthly
housing costs. Our FAFSA/EFC will be very skewed because of this "taxed
income". We have two children in college and I (mom) will be
returning to school on a full-time basis. Any advice?
— Jackie A.

Distributions from retirement plans count as taxable income even if
the money is used to buy a home, pay for tuition or other
hardship expenses.
This can artificially increase the family's income, affecting
eligbility for need-based financial aid.

Since this is a one-time event that is not reflective of ability to
pay during the award year, the family should ask the college financial
aid administrator for a professional judgment review. The family
should provide the financial aid administrator with documentation
concerning the hardship withdrawal from the retirement plan accounts,
such as the amount withdrawn and the purpose for which it was used. It
helps to refer to it as a hardship distribution. Note that this
situation is similar to the rollover from a traditional IRA to a Roth
IRA, where Dear Colleague Letter GEN-99-10 gave guidance to encourage
financial aid administrators to eliminate from income the amount
attributable to the Roth IRA conversion. As with the Roth IRA
conversion, neither the retirement plan nor the family home is a
reportable asset on the FAFSA and the family does not have additional
available income or assets to spend as a result of the hardship
distribution.

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 you probably didn’t know about the country’s college freshmen but will now:
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1. The survey indicates that college freshmen are more liberal-minded than ever. While the majority of respondents classified themselves as “middle of the road,” their views on certain subjects indicated a more left leaning freshmen class. For instance, 71.3% of survey respondents felt that same-sex couples should have the right to legal marital status.

2. As high school students, college freshmen took academics more seriously than their predecessors. According to the survey, 71% of students took at least one AP course, and those taking at least five AP courses rose from 15.5% in 2009 to 18.9% in 2011.

Additionally, the number of students frequently or occasionally late for class was down about three percentage points from the 2010 study, which implies better college graduation rates. The survey reveals that “students who were more likely to report coming late to class in high school were less likely to graduate from college in either four, five or six years.”

3. College freshmen also reported drinking less in high school. Those who reported drinking beer frequently or occasionally dropped to 35.4%, wine and liquor consumption decreased to 41.1% and students who claimed they “partied” at some point in a week moved down to 65.3%.

4. The number one reason that college freshmen gave for attending college was to get a better job upon graduation, which has been the trend since 2009.

5. Students received fewer grants and scholarships, and the amount that students received decreased as well. In 2011, 69.5% of college freshmen were paying for school with grants and scholarships as compared to 73.4% in 2010. Also, students receiving more than $10,000 in grants and scholarships dropped from 29.2% in 2010 to 26.8% in 2011.

6. Despite the fact that college freshmen are receiving less grants and scholarships, and 52.5% of those freshmen report having to take out student loans to finance their education, the number of students who plan to take on a job to offset the costs of college has dropped to 61.7%, from 64.3% in 2010.

7. When it comes to attending the first choice college, the percentage of students who actually attend has declined from 60.5% in 2010 to 57.9% in 2011, the lowest ever since the survey began asking this question in 1974. This also correlates to the percentage of students accepted to their first choice college. In 2011, 76% students were accepted into their first choice college, down 2.9% from 2010.

8. Not surprisingly, social media usage is up. Approximately 53.1% of college freshmen reported using social media sites for over three hours each week as high school seniors. Women tended to use social media sites more than men, with 56.9% devoting three hours or more each week while only 48.4% of men did so. Finally, those who did not use any social media drastically dropped from 13.7% in 2007 to 5.2% in 2011.

What do you think of the survey results? Are they in line with your perception of college freshmen and college students as a whole?

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 phased-in
interest rate reduction on subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduate
students. This legislation cut the fixed interest rate on these loans
from 6.8% in 2007-08 to 6.0% in 2008-09, 5.6% in 2009-10, 4.5% in
2010-11 and 3.4% in 2011-12. But unless Congress acts, new loans in
2012-13 will revert to a 6.8% interest rate, double the current 3.4%
interest rate.

Extend the American Opportunity Tax Credit's improvements to the
Hope Scholarship Tax Credit. The American Opportunity Tax Credit,
one of President Obama's original campaign promises, increased the
maximum Hope Scholarship tax credit from $1,800 to $2,500, made it
available for four years of postsecondary education instead of two,
added textbooks to the list of qualified higher education expenses,
increased the income phaseouts and made the tax credit partially
refundable. These improvements will expire at the end of 2012 unless
extended by Congress.

Double the number of Federal Work-Study jobs. Federal
Work-Study jobs help more than 700,000 students earn money to pay for
college. President Obama's proposal would double the number of Federal
Work-Study jobs to 1.4 million.

In addition, President Obama called upon state legislatures to put a
higher priority on funding for higher education, colleges to control
tuition inflation and Congress to pass the Dream Act.

Public college tuition inflation goes through feast/famine
cycles. During a recession and for a few years afterward, state income
tax revenue decreases because of high unemployment rates. The states
must balance their budgets and one of the first budget items they cut
is support of postsecondary education. This, in turn, forces public
colleges to cut classes and increase tuition. They also increase
enrollment of out-of-state students who pay higher tuition. Cuts in
state appropriations to public colleges over the past four decades
have been the primary driver of public college tuition inflation. The
state legislatures have also cut state grant programs on a per-student
constant dollar basis. The cuts in state appropriations and state
grant programs this year are particularly severe. But it is also
ironic for the federal government to be calling on state legislatures
to increase their investment in postsecondary education, when Congress
has been cutting federal student aid programs.

President Obama's proposals for increasing student aid funding are
targeted at middle-income families, not just low-income students. A
quarter of students receiving subsidized Stafford loans are from
middle-income families. A third of the recipients of education tax
benefits and Federal Work-Study jobs are from middle-income families.

The total cost of the three student aid proposals is at least $10
billion a year. Assuming a 10-year repayment term, extending the 3.4%
interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans to undergraduate students
will cost about $5.6 billion for each additional year ($4.5 billion on
a net present value basis, assuming a 5% discount rate). Assuming a
20-year repayment term, the cost is $12.6 billion for each additional
year of new 3.4% fixed rate loans ($8.2 billion on a net present value
basis). Doubling the number of Federal Work-Study jobs will cost $1.2
billion a year. Extending the American Opportunity Tax Credit will
cost several billion dollars a year.

These proposals are not well-targeted at students with the greatest
financial need. The 3.4% interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans,
for example, mostly helps students after they graduate. Individual
borrowers will save about $6 per month per year of subsidized Stafford
loans at the higher rate, on average. Cutting the interest rates on
student loans does not improve access to a postsecondary education,
retention rates or graduation rates.

This is in contrast with the student aid cuts enacted by the
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012. For example, this legislation
reduced the income threshold at which a low-income student receives a
full Pell Grant from $32,000 to $23,000. This cuts the Pell Grant for
13.5% of Pell Grant recipients by $1,100 to $1,600. Such a big cut in
federal grants makes it much more difficult for more than a million
low-income students to pay for college, hurting college enrollment and
completion rates. The savings from this cut in Pell Grant
funding is less than a quarter of the cost of extending the 3.4%
interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans. If Congress has $10
billion a year available to spend on student financial aid, some of
that money should be used to reverse the cut to the auto-zero EFC
income threshold.

Editor's Note: A follow-up article,
Summary of President Obama's Budget Blueprint for Federal Student Aid,
provides additional details.

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 years is hard to come by.

Approximately, 36.4% of college students receive their Bachelor’s degree in four years. A majority of students, however, require five or six years to successfully finish college.
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But now, a handful of colleges and universities are guaranteeing their students will graduate in four years. And if they don’t, the school will foot the tuition bill for the next year, according to The New York Times.

Most of the colleges are private universities like Randolph-Macon College in Virginia and Baldwin-Wallace College in Ohio, but public universities, like University of Nebraska and Western Michigan University, are also jumping on board with the program.

Four-year graduation guarantees are not taken lightly at these schools. To participate, students must sign an agreement with the school saying they understand all of the stipulations. These agreements ask students to commit to maintaining good academic standing and frequent scheduling sessions with advisers. However, they differ by school.

If it’s the college’s fault that a student doesn’t graduate; for instance, if required classes aren’t available, the graduation agreement goes into effect and the student attends another year on the university’s dime. The graduation agreement doesn’t cover students who perform poorly in classes or decide to take a brief break from school.

As Baldwin-Wallace College points out, the graduation guarantee not only helps students save money during their college experience but also enables them to make more upon entering the workforce.

Their website states, “In addition to paying for additional years of tuition, room/board and incidental costs, students facing postponed graduation can have lost earnings potential related to delayed career entry. These losses can amount to $28,000 -- 60,000 a year due to an inability to enter the workplace in a timely manner.”

Currently, there are 15 colleges in the country with a graduation agreement. Learn more about their individual graduation guarantee agreements:

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 important to keep students engaged in learning activities. And it’s not as hard as you think – here’s how.

Blog

You can either start a blog or direct students to several education-themed blogs during the summer months. Starting your own blog is easy – just sign up with a blog server like Blogspot or WordPress. Or try EduBlogs – exclusively for educators. Then, plan out your summer “lesson plan.” This can include a reading list, printable worksheets for math as well as an online journaling center where students can submit their own summer essays.

Or you can direct students to other blogs like…

• The Book Whisperer: On this site, specifically focus on the Book A Day Challenge, which encourages students to read every day of summer vacation.

• BrainPOP: This educational gaming site tests general knowledge as well as Spanish language skills. Try the free trial – after, subscriptions after are only $10 a month.

• FreeRice: This website wraps up educational programming and helping others into one. By answering questions correctly, students can donate rice to the World Hunger Programme.

Family Reading Lists

Advocating family reading lists for the summer gets the parents involved in summer education as well. Design a family reading program that enables individual members of the family to choose their own books but read within the same guidelines.

For instance, Mom might read The Help by Kathryn Stockett while your student would read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Each would have to read a minimum of 20 pages each day to meet their quota. The goal would be to get each family member to read 140 pages a week or roughly 1,200 pages over the course of summer break, depending on the length of your school’s summer vacation.

Encourage friendly competition between family members with this project. Provide examples of incentives. For example, whoever reads the most pages in a week gets to choose the family night movie or outing.

Online Test Prep

Engaging in some sort of test prep during the summer is crucial for high school students. There is so much more free time in the summer than during the grueling school year schedule. Encourage your students to check out these free options:

• ACT Practice Questions

• Online Test Prep

• Spark Notes Test Prep

Or students can also pay for services from Kaplan, which ranges from test prep books to one-on-one tutoring for those students that want to pay for test prep help.

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 still a chance to win big after senior year.






Ayn Rand Institute Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest

While Atlas Shrugged may not be on the mandatory reading list for school, it’s one of those books that high school and college students should read anyway for its philosophical meaning as well as a chance to win $10,000.
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The Atlas Shrugged Essay contest requires students to read the novel and answer three questions in an essay no less than 800 and no more than 1,600 words. Applicants can choose from one of the following topics:

1. What do you think is meant, in Part III of Atlas Shrugged, by the phrase “utopia of greed”?

2. Why does Francisco D’Anconia, heir to the greatest fortune in the world and a productive genius with boundless ambition,change his course and pose as, of all things, a playboy?

3. What does the story of Atlas Shrugged have to say about the relative powers of good and evil and the conditions under which one is victorious over the other?

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First place award in the essay contest is $10,000. Three second prize winners will receive $2,000 and $1,000 will go to five third prize winners. Also, 25 finalists will win $100 and 50 semi-finalists will receive $50.

Deadline: September 17, 2011

Website: Ayn Rand Institute Atlas Shrugged Essay Contest

Tylenol Scholarship

Paying for school can cause quite the headache but Tylenol hopes to alleviate some of those expenses for 40 scholarship applicants.

Students must be enrolled in an accredited two or four-year college or university or a vocational/technical school. Applicants must also be working toward a degree that will lead to a career in the health care industry.

Of the recipients, ten will receive $10,000 and 30 will receive $5,000.

Deadline: May 27, 2011

Website: Tylenol Scholarship
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Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship

If your students prefer iambic pentameter to the periodic table, they may want to consider using poetry as a way to pay for school.

The Poetry Foundation hosts the Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship, which awards five $15,000 scholarships to aspiring young poets.

See the website for more information: Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship

College Prowler No Essay Competition

Sometimes in college, it’s hard to find the time to study for exams, write papers and get to all your meetings, let alone apply for scholarships. That’s why a scholarship with little to no work is crazy to pass up.

To apply for the College Prowler No Essay Competition, students just have to fill out a brief form. Each month, one applicant is selected for a $2,000 scholarship.

Deadline: April 30, 2011

Website: College Prowler No Essay Competition

Ronald Reagan College Leaders Scholarship

The Ronald Reagan College Leaders Scholarship seeks to recognize students who emulate the late President’s American values and constitutional principles.

In the 2010 – 2011, the program funded $163,500 worth of scholarships in amounts of $7,500, $5,000, $2,500 and $1,000.

To apply, college students must submit a 500 – 750 word essay that describes their background, future pursuits and examples of leadership on campus promoting freedom, American values and constitutional principles. Students can apply during sophomore year for a scholarship for their junior year. Scholarships are renewable for senior year as well.

Deadline: Information for the 2011 – 2012 scholarship program will be available online in August.

Website: Ronald Reagan College Leaders Scholarship
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The Proof-Reading.com Scholarship

Fortunately, the real test for this scholarship has nothing to do with proofreading. Rather, applicants are asked to write an essay on a prompt from the sponsor. This year’s question is:

Recently , Elena Kagan was sworn in as the latest justice on the U. S. Supreme Court. Kagan's background includes positions as dean of the Harvard Law School and professor of constitutional and administrative law at Harvard and the University of Chicago, associate White House counsel and policy advisor during the Clinton administration, and a brief stint as Solicitor General in the Obama administration prior to her nomination to the Supreme Court.

Got a burning financial aid question? Ask the expert -- Ask Kantro.

Based on the information given above and information gleaned from outside sources, respond to one of the following essay prompts:

1. Kagan wrote that "a judge should try to the greatest extent possible to separate constitutional interpretation from his or her values and beliefs. In order to accomplish this result, the judge should look to constitutional text, history, structure and precedent." In your opinion, can legal decisions be made outside of the need to achieve social ends? Is the best constitutional interpretation one that is completely divorced from personal values and beliefs?

2. Kagan opponents like to point to the fact that although she has a long career related to law, she has published very little academic scholarship and has had no previous experience as a judge. What credentials matter for a U.S. Supreme court justice?

3. Kagan is the fourth female U. S. Supreme Court justice. What has been the impact of including women on the Supreme Court?

Applicants must be enrolled full-time at an accredited four-year college or university and have at least a 3.5 GPA. Essays must be a minimum of 1,500 with no maximum.

Deadline: June 1, 2011

Website: The Proof-Reading.com Scholarship

Beans for Brains Scholarship Program

It may be hard to find someone that will pay $3,000 for a knitting project but it’s much easier to get a $3,000 scholarship.

The Beans for Brains Scholarship Program is open to college students and requires that applicants send in a recent photo of a project. There are six $3,000 scholarships available and even one for international students.

Deadline: The deadline for the 2010 – 2011 year has passed; however, applications will be available for the 2011 – 2012 year in February 2012.

Website: Beans for Brains Scholarship Program
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Frame My Future Scholarship Contest

Now, college comes with a dose of arts and crafts. The Frame My Future Scholarship Contest requires students to get out their colored pencils and glue sticks for a chance to win $1,000.

Applicants can literally frame their future through a photo, collage, poem, drawing, painting, graphic design and scrapbook. Five winners will be chosen for $1,000 scholarships.

Deadline: The deadline for the 2010 – 2011 year has passed; however, applications will be available for the 2011 – 2012 year in October 2011.

Website: Frame My Future Scholarship Contest

The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest

Elie Wiesel is best known for his novel, Night, which detailed his experience as a prisoner of Auschwitz, Buna and Buchenwald concentration camps during World War II. His foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, focuses on ethics as a major component of education.

Each year, the foundation provides scholarship opportunities for college juniors and seniors through the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest. First prize is worth $5,000, second place $2,500 and third $1,500. Also, two honorable mentions will receive $500.

Essays must be between 3,000 and 4,000 words and cover one of the topics provided by the program’s prompts. This year, the prompts were:

1. Articulate with clarity an ethical issue that you have encountered and analyze what it has taught you about ethics and yourself.

2. Reflect on the relationship between religion and ethics in today's world, making sure to draw on your own life as a guide.

3. What does your own experience tell you about the relationship between politics and ethics and, in particular, what could be done to make politics more ethical?

Follow us on Twitter -- everyone is doing it.

Deadline: The deadline for the 2010 – 2011 year has passed; however, applications for the 2011 – 2012 academic year will be available later in the year. Submissions are typically required by December.

Website: The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics Essay Contest

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 the Amazon bestseller financial aid eBook list, but it has claimed the #1 spot for five straight weeks. The paperback has also reached #105 among all books and within the top #100 in both non-fiction and reference categories – a huge accomplishment.

Outside of this obvious success, Kantrowitz has received highly acclaimed praise from various sources, including Michelle Singletary from The Washington Post. She has named Secrets to Winning a Scholarship as this month’s selection for the Color of Money Book Club, a book club that stems from Singletary’s own personal finance column which runs in 120 newspapers across the country.

Get Kantro's 12 tips on winning a scholarship.

Singletary touts Kantrowitz’s book as not only a book with winning scholarship strategies but as a “reality check” for parents and students who have deluded themselves into thinking that a scholarship is an easy thing to come by. As part of being an official selection for the Color of Money Book Club, Kantrowitz will be participating in a live online discussion with Singletary and her followers on March 24th at noon, Eastern Standard Time.

Kantrowitz says, "I wrote Secrets to Winning a Scholarship to help families find and win scholarships. The book has insights and advice available nowhere else, such as tips on how to double the number of scholarship matches and win more scholarships." And other sources agree – it’s a crucial tool for any student or family going through the scholarship search process.

Reuters reports that Secrets to Winning a Scholarship is “required reading for anyone interested in reducing their expected debt load.” Lynn O’Shaughnessy of U.S. News & World Report calls Kantrowitz’s book a “handy resource…[for] winning private scholarships.” Suze Orman says, “in this book he delivers clear advice on exactly what you need to do (and not do!) to increase your odds of landing a scholarship...what are you waiting for?”

So what are you waiting for? The book is available exclusively on Amazon for $9.95 and in eBook format for $5.95. Get the book now.

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 of other ways that students can make this summer count for college.

Test Prep

Students may balk as soon as you mention “test prep;” however, you should quickly follow up that it’s not what they think. Students can create a summer reading list from the College Board’s list of 101 Great Books. These novels can help formulate critical reading skills as well as shape writing techniques.

There are also plenty of online games that are considered test prep. Direct students to sites like My College Option’s Zero Hour Threat, Grockit and Vocabulary.com.

Summer School & Early College Programs

Students who want to begin working towards college credit or want to take classes not offered in the typical high school curriculum should consider summer school or early college programs. Registration for these programs is open now and students can expect to find deadlines coming up in May and June.

Tell your students about our contests and promotions!

A summer project like this requires some research on the part of the student. Many colleges list summer program opportunities on their website. Students can typically apply directly on the site.

Study Abroad

Most students equate study abroad with the college experience, but it doesn’t have to wait until then. There is a plethora of learning abroad programs for high school students; and while it’s not an option for many students, it can be especially beneficial to those students that are passionate and curious about cultural and language learning experiences.

Most deadlines occur in May and June, but students need to be researching these study abroad opportunities right now. Direct them to sites like StudyAbroad.com and GoAbroad.com.

Campus Visits

Summer is prime time for college campus visits. The three-month break gives high school students ample time to explore their options, especially if they’re considering schools far from home. And if students are concerned that campus will seem bare without students, explain that isn’t the case.

There will always be a student presence on campus during the summer. Many students will be there conducting research, interning in school offices or working in the community.

We’ve mapped out several college visit trips by region – Chicago, New York City, Virginia, Pacific Northwest and Texas.

It’s important to stress that students have to do something productive this summer. More and more, admission officers need reasons to separate students from the thousands of applications they receive with the same GPAs, test scores and extracurricular activities.

Summer is the perfect opportunity for students to separate themselves from other applicants through unique channels. They just need a little nudge from you.

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 leading the rankings, according to politico.com.

But how can Obama succeed when every headline reads that a majority of states are slashing their higher education budgets this year?

Today, the White House is releasing their response. While most would expect further funding to trickle down from the Obama administration, that’s not the case. Instead, Vice President Joe Biden is presenting, on behalf of the administration, the College Completion Tool Kit, states politico.com.

Looking for a way to pay for school? Apply for one of our featured scholarships today.

The College Completion Tool Kit is a 23-page document exclusively for state governors, which details best strategies for improving college graduation rates, making it easier for students to transfer, steadying tuition increases and encouraging adults to return to school who may have some college credit but no degree, according to The New York Times.

If governors are able to effectively match the Obama administration’s targets, which are determined on a state-by-state basis, they will be able to participate in several grant programs aimed at providing further funding to state higher education, which was detailed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in a news briefing on Monday, March 21st, reported by The New York Times.

The New York Times states that these incentives include a $20 million Comprehensive Grant Program that awards states who implement the “tool kit” strategies; a $123 million “First in the World” incentive that recognizes stable tuition increases, faster graduation tracks and more college graduates; and finally, $50 million in College Completion Incentive Grants to states and schools that implement reforms that result in more college graduates.

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 a prospective student on Facebook, according to TIME.

Whether admission officers are using Facebook predominantly to engage students in the admissions process or as a platform of judgment in the final decision remains unknown. However, one admission officer from Harvard went so far as to admit on a Quora thread that an applicant’s Facebook profile or website makes her “absolutely” prejudice during the admissions process, which was reported by The Huffington Post.

The moral of this story? Students need to be warned that if they’re using Facebook for inside jokes and ridiculous photos, they need to consider placing it under a strict privacy setting. Or encourage them to make their Facebook account an advocate for their admission. It can become a platform where they brag about volunteer experiences and extracurricular activities as well as express their enthusiasm for their dream school with a profile picture from their most recent visit.

The same survey depicted that admission officers seeking prospective students on Facebook wasn’t one-sided. It also found that “80% of college admissions officers or a colleague in their admissions office had received a Facebook friend request from at least one applicant – an increase from 71% in our 2009 survey,” according to msnbc.com.

This data shows that some students aren’t going to great lengths to keep their everyday life private from admissions offices. Rather, it suggests that students are perfectly willing to open up their online presence and possibly allow it to determine a final admission decision on their behalf. Whether this is beneficial to that final decision can only be known on a case-by-case basis.

As an educator, you must now view Facebook profiles as another component of the admissions process. Just like you would provide advice and insight into essays, interviews and college visits, the same consideration must be given to Facebook as well.

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 number of recipients and the average grant amount. The
number of Pell Grant recipients increased 45% from 6.1 million in FY2008 to 8.9
million in FY2010. At the same time, the average Pell Grant increased
39% from $2,970 to $4,115. Combined, the total expenditures for the
Pell Grant program doubled in just three years.

The program's recent growth is partly because of the economy and
partly because the maximum grant was increased to compensate for four
years of flat funding during the Bush administration. The number of
students filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
is up by about a third in the last three years. More of the
applicants are qualifying for the Pell Grant. The Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was supposed to provide stable
funding for the Pell Grant program, but $20 billion in savings from
the switch to 100% Direct Lending was diverted to deficit reduction.

If the funding shortfall is not addressed, the maximum Pell Grant will
drop from $5,550 to $3,240 in 2011-12, a decrease of $2,310. To avoid
this, the President is proposing to cut other student aid
funding, such as year-round Pell Grants and the subsidized interest on
student loans to graduate and professional students.

Eliminating year-round Pell Grants. The year-round Pell Grant
program allows students in accelerated programs to receive two Pell
Grants in a single year. It was enacted by the Higher Education
Opportunity Act of 2008 and became available in the 2009-10 academic
year. The US Department of Education says that the extra grants "cost
10 times more than anticipated and failed to demonstrate a meaningful
impact on students’ academic progress." The year-round Pell Grants
were also disproportionately used by for-profit colleges, which are
more likely to have students studying year-round without a summer
break. Eliminating the year-round Pell Grants saves about $8 billion.

Eliminating the subsidized interest benefit on subsidized Stafford
loans for graduate and professional students. During the in-school
and grace periods the federal government pays the interest on
subsidized Stafford loans. The budget proposal will eliminate this
benefit on subsidized Stafford loans to graduate and professional
students, but retain it for undergraduate students. (The budget
proposal also appears to allow undergraduate subsidized Stafford loans
to continue to qualify for the subsidized interest benefit during
in-school deferments for graduate and professional school.) In effect
the subsidized Stafford loans will become unsubsidized Stafford
loans. The US Department of Education says that the subsidized
interest benefit for graduate students is "poorly targeted" at
financial need. Eliminating the subsidized interest benefit will
increase the graduate student debt burden, but the income-based
repayment plan and public service loan forgiveness program provide a
safety net for students who struggle to repay their debt. This change
will save about $2 billion.

The elimination of subsidized interest on loans to graduate and
professional students will increase the debt at repayment by about a
fifth, adding thousands of dollars to their debt burden. Currently,
graduate and professional students can borrow up to $8,500 a year in
subsidized Stafford loans. (The average subsidized Stafford loan for
graduate and professional students was $7,083 in 2007-08. About a
third (35.5%) of graduate and professional students received
subsidized Stafford loans, a total of 1,227,400 students. Almost half
(47.0% or 519,600 students) of graduating graduate and professional students
graduate with subsidized Stafford loans, $16,899 on average.) The
interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans for graduate and
professional students is 6.8%. The average life of a subsidized
Stafford loan dollar in an in-school or grace period is 2.9 years for
graduate and professional student borrowers. This means that losing
the subsidized interest benefit will add $1,676 to each $8,500 loan
balance by the time the student enters repayment, a 19.7%
increase. This adds more than $3,333 to the debt burden of graduate
and professional students who graduate with a typical amount of
subsidized Stafford loans. This assumes that the borrower defers
repaying the interest by capitalizing it and that the interest is
capitalized once, at repayment.

Adding an incentive for "split borrowers" to move their loans to the
Direct Loan program. More than 6 million borrowers currently have
loans in both the federally-guaranteed student loan program and the
direct loan program. The US Department of Education will offer these
borrowers an incentive of up to 2% of their loan balance to move their
loans into the Direct Loan program. This program will save about $2
billion.

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Uncertain Impact on College Degree Attainment

The US Department of Education characterizes these cuts as "making
tough choices to put the Pell Grant program on a sustainable fiscal
path." Nevertheless, it is difficult to see how President Obama will
achieve his goal of America having the "highest proportion of college
graduates in the world" without an increase in per-student need-based
grants. The President's budget might succeed in preventing the maximum
Pell Grant from decreasing, but college tuition will continue to
increase. College becomes less affordable when need-based grants fail
to keep pace with increases in college costs. Achieving the
President's college degree attainment goals will require a substantial
increase in student aid funding, not merely maintaining the status
quo.

The Obama administration is proposing several programs to increase
college graduation rates. These include the College Completion
Incentive Grants program ($250 million a year for five years) and the
First in the World initiative ($125 million for the first year). The
First in the World initiative will help help scale up successful
college completion programs. These proposals are a step in the right
direction, but they are insufficient to achieve the college degree
attainment goals on their own.

Other Budget Proposals

The US Department of Education is proposing to expand the Perkins loan
program from $1 billion a year to $8.5 billion a year starting in
2012-13. This is similar to a proposal that passed the US House of
Representatives in 2009 but which was later dropped from the Health
Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The new Perkins loans
will be unsubsidized with a 6.8% interest rate. In effect, the new
Perkins loans will become unsubsidized Stafford loans, but with loan
amounts subject to the discretionary control of the college's
financial aid administrator. Each college will be allocated a pool of
loan money based on the college's success in satisfying access,
retention and completion goals. The intention is to provide students
with a less expensive alternative to private student loans and credit
cards. The proposed increase in Perkins loan funding is almost as much
as the total private student loan volume as reported by the College
Board's Trends in Student Aid 2010 annual report. As a result, this change
may force many private education lenders out of business.

The President is also proposing to simplify the FAFSA by eliminating
questions about data elements that are not available from the IRS. A
similar proposal was dropped from the Health Care and Education
Reconciliation Act of 2010.

The TEACH Grant, which is really a forgivable loan program, will be
replaced with the Presidential Teaching Fellows program, a targeted
teacher recruitment and retention program. The Presidential Teaching
Fellows program will award $10,000 grants to students who commit to
teach for three years after graduation.

The budget maintains funding for the SEOG, Federal Work-Study, TRIO
and GEAR UP programs, but cuts funding for the Byrd Honors Scholarship
and the LEAP program.

Pessimistic Outlook for Student Aid

Given the record budget deficits, it is unlikely that Congress will
increase student aid funding by much over the next decade. Instead,
there will be greater emphasis on using current funding more
effectively. This may include replacing the education tax benefits,
such as the Hope Scholarship tax credit, Lifetime Learning tax credit
and the Tuition and Fees Deduction with increases in need-based grant
funding. The interest benefits on undergraduate subsidized Stafford
loans may also be a target for efficiency improvements.

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 students to accomplish during this lull, and you can help them by simply making them aware of what should and shouldn’t be on their plate.

Tell them to fill out the FAFSA. This first “to-do” can’t be stressed enough. In order to qualify for financial aid at all, this document must be submitted. While the national deadline is June 30th, many states and schools have earlier deadlines. Your students need to know to turn in the FAFSA before all of their potential college choices’ deadlines. Also relay to students that they should check school websites or call each office to verify these dates, which typically occur in February or March.

Instruct students to follow up with the admissions office on their application. Now, be very careful with this piece of advice. Tell them it is NOT ok to call an admission officer and ask, “Have you made your decision yet?” Rather, they need to call to ensure the admissions office has all the pieces they need to make the best assessment of the student’s qualification for admission.

Suggest that they schedule a visit to the college sometime in late March or April. Remind them that final college choice decisions are due May 1st, and before that date, they may be agonizing over which school they’re going to choose. A college visit is the perfect way to solidify their choice.

It’s also a great time to visit financial aid offices. If their family is experiencing unusual financial circumstances that aren’t reflected on the FAFSA, this is the time and place to discuss this with a financial aid administrator.

Finally, breathe easy. While the most time consuming part of the process is over, it only gets more stressful, and students need to be prepared for that. Once the decisions come in, they will have some difficult decisions to make. What if they didn’t get into their top choice – what is their plan now? Or what if they were waitlisted – should they stay on the list or consider their second or third choice?

Students must be prepared for what is ahead in the admissions process, and you are their best source of information and reassurance. Follow up their applications as well as prepare them for the next few months with these helpful reminders.