Archive for December, 2009
How to Get Free College Scholarships to Finance Your Education
Posted by admin in College Scholarships on December 18, 2009
Getting Scholarship money to finance one education may not be too difficult as most people think. Be it for high school or college education. There is no doubt that burden of financing a college education can be very enormous on students and parents. It is very important that before spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in college tuition, all students and parents of college students should endeavor to explore the options available to them by sourcing the various free college scholarships funding agencies.
Interestingly, college tuition costs are increasing on a daily basis .On average, the cost of a four year college tuition fees is around $110,000 apart from other miscellaneous incur by the students such as cost books, transportation, meal, and accommodation. The rising costs of college education can be a serious burden, especially if the student is responsible for financing his or her education personally.
Parents and student may not need to bear the high cost of education alone as there are Free College Scholarships available which could help subsidize tuition expenses. Even if you are not in honor list, you still have several options to several college scholarships that you may be qualified for.
Prospective college student can also benefits from various free scholarships program that are available in the USA if only they search the right place. For instances, one may seek scholarship that are based on their physical skill (athletic), While some may seek scholarships that are more scholastic in nature, you can also receive scholarships base on your ethnic background racial, religion or even community service.
The interesting thing about free college scholarship you do not need to worry about paying back and you also have opportunity to apply to several free college scholarships agencies.
Another easy sources of free college scholarship money is sometimes provided by the college you intend to attend. For example, most Academic and athletic college scholarships are usually provided by state universities as well as some smaller city colleges in the USA. Some even offer scholarships to the children of their alumni.
It is however important that Parents who have attended college should investigate to see if their alumni scholarships through the colleges they once attended are helping to finance education of alumni member’s children. Some College also provides scholarship programs for students with serious financial need.
Don’t forget to look out minority’s scholarship if you qualify. Some colleges do offer minority scholarships as well.
From experience, Colleges and Universities are not the only places to look for free college scholarships. Big companies, research organization as well as professional body and non-profit organizations also do support college education. Some of these organizations do provide college scholarships to students who are currently or wishing to pursue a particular area of study that relates to their company or organization.
You can also check-out some Corporation that help fund College Scholarships by searching Online.
College Scholarships for College Students – Can Anyone Apply for $10,000 Scholarship Drawing?
Posted by admin in Scholarships for College on December 16, 2009
There is a vast number of college scholarships for college students that you can apply for to help pay off your educational costs. We’ve found some college scholarships for college students you can look into to finance your college education. Remember to do your own research online for even more scholarship opportunities.
*** Click Here to Register Free for the $10,000 Scholarship ***
Scholarship Zone has a $10K scholarship drawing just about every month. You need to live within the United States and be at least 18 years old or older in order to be eligible to register for the drawing. A quick and easy registration form on their site is all it takes for you to enter the scholarship drawing. Registering early is a good idea so you won’t miss the drawing deadline.
The Albert L. Pranatis Scholarship Fund provides renewable scholarships to high school seniors of the City of Duquesne, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania. In order to be eligible for the scholarship, students need to be graduating seniors from the East Allegheny or West Mifflin High School. Students need to be of good character as portrayed through their letters of reference and through their essays. Applicants need to have a minimum of a 2.0 GPA and have to demonstrate financial need. Student need to plan to attend either a two or a four-year U.S. accredited institution including techncial schools that reside in the United States. To apply, students need to submit the proper application along with a one-page essay exemplifying the student’s morals and their contribution to the community. Two letters of recommendation from school officials are required along with school transcript and a copy of the student aid report that you get from the FAFSA.
Being your scholarship application process early. This is key for two main reasons. First, you will not miss the deadline for the scholarship programs you apply to. Second, this will give you more time to apply for even more scholarships. And as an added benefit, you will not have as much stress while applying for the scholarships.
Students Scramble to Find Student Loans as Fall Semester Draws Near
Posted by admin in Student Loans on December 13, 2009
It’s crunch time for college students trying to secure the money they need for the fall semester. But with lenders continuing to suspend their student loan programs — the count now stands at 131 federal loan lenders and 30 private loan lenders — students may find themselves challenged to locate lenders that are still offering federal or private student loans.
In an attempt to help lenders be able to continue making new federal student loans, the government included a provision in the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, signed into law in May, aimed at providing capital for cash-strapped lenders.
Under this legislation, the Department of Education can buy federal college loans from lenders, thereby providing these lenders with the liquidity they need to continue funding new parent and student loans. The law specifically targets lenders who, in the current credit crunch, are unable to find investors in the secondary market willing to purchase their student loan portfolios.
Even with this legislation in place, however, lenders continue to find themselves forced to suspend their student loan programs. As recently as July 28, the Brazos Higher Education Service Corp., the 26th-largest originator of federal student loans in 2007, and the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, the largest student loan issuer to Massachusetts residents, both announced that they would no longer be able to provide either new or current borrowers with student loans.
As the suspensions of both federal and private student loan programs keep spreading through all types of lenders — large and small; for-profit and nonprofit; banks, non-banks, and credit unions; state loan agencies and schools-as-lenders — students and their families are finding themselves with fewer borrowing options to get the parent and student loans they need to pay the fall tuition bills that are coming due over these next few weeks.
Two Major Lenders the Latest Casualties of Student Loan Crisis
The Brazos Group, a primarily nonprofit group of higher education lending, servicing, and other financial aid companies, first announced that it would stop offering federal college loans back n March. In May, however, after the government passed the Ensuring Continued Access to Student Loans Act, Brazos once again began offering federal parent and student loans, saying that the government’s short-term liquidity plan had renewed the organization’s confidence in its ability to continue offering student loans.
But Brazos once again suspended its education lending program late last month, citing continued turmoil in the student loan industry.
Brazos Executive Vice President Ellis Tredway said his organization simply “ran out of time to get everything in place” to issue new student loans for the fall.
The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority, which issued more than $500 million in college loans to 40,000 Massachusetts college students and their families last year, had already suspended its federal student loan program in April. Now, MEFA has also pulled the plug on its non-federal private loan program, which provided Massachusetts students with fixed-rate private student loans.
“While we continue to pursue every possible option, raising the necessary funds to offer fixed–interest rate private education loans is taking longer than originally projected and has become even more challenging,” said Tom Graf, MEFA’s executive director.
Students Face the Uncertainty of Switching Lenders
With over 8 million students and parents having turned to federal college loans in 2006–07, according to the College Board, the number or families that stand to be affected by the ongoing wave of lender departures this year is not unsubstantial.
Last week, financial aid officers at Texas A&M University — a school with over 54,000 students — heard from seven different lenders warning that they would no longer be able to offer federal student loans, a situation that has made more than a few borrowers uneasy.
Dyneche Duffield, an incoming college student headed to Houston Baptist University, is uncomfortable with the prospect of having to establish a relationship with a new lender other than her local bank, which used to offer student loans.
“I would have much rather taken out a loan there than somewhere where I didn’t know anyone,” Duffield said.
While students like Duffield may still be able to go directly to the Department of Education for their federal college loans or find those remaining lenders who are still offering private student loans (albeit with more stringent credit criteria that are making it harder for students to qualify), the magnitude of the problem within the student loan credit markets and how deeply it has permeated the college loan industry is alarming to many administrators and officials in higher education.
Kathryn Osmond, executive director of student financial services at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, finds the situation with MEFA to be particularly indicative of a long-lasting and serious problem.
“An economy that is in such a tailspin that it affects a critical agency like MEFA,” said Osmond, “is an economy that scares me.”