Special free college planning seminar at Blue Ridge Community College on Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 7 PM
CERTIFIED COLLEGE SPECIALIST REVEALS:
How To Get Your Student Admitted To College
Successfully And Lower Your Out Of Pocket
Costs Dramatically In The New Economy!!!
Why you may not want to rely on your school counselors, CPAs,
and financial advisors to show you how to pay for college
Discover insider strategies that will lower your out of pocket costs
before your student applies for college
You’ll know whether your student will qualify for
grants, scholarships, and other financial aid regardless of your income
This event is exclusive, and is only open to those receiving this invitation, and the last
event was full. The seminar is free. However, you do need to reserve seats in order to attend.
You can either call our college planning hotline voice mail at 1-888-808-7217 or register
online at www.collegefundingadvisors.net/category/workshops.
We will forward a confirmation to you after you have reserved. Better take care of this now
before someone else grabs your seats.
Special telephone event for parents of college bound students – August 10, 2010
Join us for a free complementary one hour event as Mark Maiewski, Virginia’s leading college planning authority, discusses the 5 most dangerous trends facing parents who plan on sending their students to college in the next three years. He’ll show how you can not only avoid them, but get your student accepted earlier and find tuition discounts at the same time. This call is scheduled for Tuesday, August 10th from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
The content is priceless, but is only open to those receiving our special invitations.
Register by either filling out the form to the left, or call our reservation line at: 1-888-808-7217. Our last event was full. There are limited spots, so make sure you register early to get an open line.
We look forward to seeing you on the call!
June 19th college planning workshop
The next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, June 19th from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, in the Allegheny Room of the Festival Conference Center at James Madison University.
The workshop is free, the content is priceless, but is only open to those receiving our special invitations.
Register by either filling out the form to the left, or call our reservation line at:
1-888-808-7217.
We look forward to meeting you!
Double Check The Education Tax Credits When Paying For College!
One of my favorite college planning clients stopped by with her tax return for us to update the FAFSA for her son and we noticed the tax advisor had not used the new American Opportunity Tax Credit for last year, which only has a limit of $2500, if you had qualified expenses of $4000. Asked her to contact them, double check it (we knew they qualified for it), and see what the credit would now be. She called back excitedly, since they are now getting an additional $1630 refund for this new credit. Moral of the story – don’t assume all tax preparation is correct and be mindful of changes in the news.
Workshop April 10th, 2010
The next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, April 10th from 10:00 am to 11:00 am, in the Allegheny Room of the Festival Conference Center at James Madison University.
The workshop is free, but the content is priceless! Bring a friend, they’ll thank you.
Register by either filling out the form to the left, or call our reservation line at:
1-888-808-7217.
We look forward to meeting you!
January 30th Workshop
The next workshop is scheduled for Saturday, January 30th from 10:00 am to 11:00 am,
in the Allegheny Room at James Madison University in Harrisonburg.
Register by either filling out the form to the left, or call our reservation line at:
1-888-808-7217.
We look forward to meeting you!
DON’T PANIC
You can’t help but hear from the radio, TV, and internet that the Dow is down to 2004 levels and credit is frozen. You check your investments and realize you have lost a small fortune. Some of you have your credit lines decreased or eliminated. You wonder if you will have a job.
The best advice is DON’T PANIC. Take time to list all your assets. Include the small bank accounts, the unused credit lines, the retirement accounts, the 529s, the house, and the car. Then list all your debts. Include both secured and unsecured debt. Now, make yourself a promise to
1. Pay off your debt as quickly as possible (see ideas at the end of the article) and
2. Don’t take on any more debt except for a home or an education.
You want to pay for college, which is probably why you are reading this blog anyway. You tried to save for college and either your expenses outstripped your income or the stock market ate your returns. Here are some less expensive ways to get that college education.
Look at in-state public schools. Your state tax dollar subsidizes these schools so your cost is much smaller. You can get a world class education at State U or State Tech for less than half the cost of an old-name Ivy. So when you make that 6-figure income, you can do something besides pay off student loans.
Consider two years at a community college. Some of these schools offer a guaranteed admissions program for students that keep their grades up. You pay community college prices for the first two years and transfer to State U or State Tech. You pay only two years at the higher price and graduate with “State U” or “State Tech” on the diploma. You prove you are very smart by finding a less expensive way to get a great education.
Government student loans are still available. Earlier this year the government added quite a bit of money to the student loan system. Credit is not frozen for this group of borrowers. HOWEVER, if you are considering a private student loan, you will be entering the frozen credit arena. I cannot predict if you will or will not be able to find the money.
Beware the marketers… Colleges and universities spend thousands on marketing strategies designed to convince the public that a student must attend…
Parents, Your College Students Still Need YOU, not just your money.
Parents, now that your student is at college you probably think you are only incidental to their success. You provide the money, they do their thing. Wrong, you are crucial to their success, only your role has changed from teacher to mentor.
A recent study done by Laura Walker indicates your student is still transitioning to adulthood. They are trying their beliefs and independence based on the things you have taught them and the new ideas they are being exposed to at university or college.
Unconsciously, they still look to you for guidance and direction. You will find they request and value your input (but probably won’t tell you).
One big caution: do not force this communication. Allow your student to call you or email you to start the conversation. Do not comment on how many calls your student makes or how many emails they send. This will stop the communication.
Back to the study: “parents influence their child’s likelihood of involvement with drugs, alcohol and risky sexual activity even after their child leaves for college.” That same involvement you had in high school still is needed during college, just in a different form. In high school you determined the rules. Now you move over and let the student drive. Remember, tell your student “you are on your own but I am here if you need me.”
“Specifically, students who said their fathers were in the loop had a lower likelihood of doing drugs or engaging in risky sexual behaviors. When mothers were in the know, students were less likely to drink alcohol.” Mom and dad you both have a job, please follow through.
“The protective effect of mothers’ awareness was more pronounced when the students also felt close to their mom. Under those circumstances, the researchers found that students were less likely to be involved in any of the three risk behavior categories studied: drugs, alcohol and risky sexual activity.” But mom, don’t be overbearing and controlling. Let the child open up to you. And don’t condemn mistakes, just gently help them learn from their misadventures.
I have found the one of the most effective ways to foster this communication is to send a weekly email detailing what the family and friends have been up to. Your sister… Your brother… The kid at church… The local high school… what a great football game… Tell the student you love them…
Making the Grade
Recently Professor Steven D. Aird lost his job at Norfolk State University in Norfolk Virginia ostensibly for not meeting the university’s requirements for tenure. Though he had met the required research and teaching components, the administration was unhappy with his 90% fail rate in freshmen level classes, especially Chemistry and Biology.
At first glance, one might think that this Professor was just enjoying his position of power and failing students for the fun of it. But as more information comes to light, we find that most of his students don’t meet the attendance requirements set by the university: 80%. Professor Aird is available for after class help recognizing that many students need that additional hand up.
The deeper discussion is that students attending Norfolk State are not prepared for university. Norfolk State is an historically black college with many students that come from disadvantage backgrounds and do need additional help in meeting minimum academic standards. Norfolk State has a mission to help these students rise above their circumstances. But lowering the bar to pass students that don’t have the required competency will not help these students rise, they will stand still while the bar comes down to them.
As you work with doctors, lawyers, dentists, bankers, mechanics, and technicians, would you like to know that these folks met the bar or waited for the bar to come to them? To ensure quality work and a vibrant work force, minimum competencies are required. The most common way to verify these competencies is to test for them or require a certificate that indicates these competencies were met. If the certificate is given based on social necessity, what sort of guarantee does the customer have? We return to the wild west where anyone could hang out a shingle indicating they were a doctor, dentist, or lawyer and the customer took his chances.
What does this have to do with your children attending college? Sit them down and explain they will be required to meet a higher bar. The professors will help, but the student must approach the professor, it won’t be like high school where the teacher approaches the student. And the student won’t get progress reports indicating where their grade stands; students are responsible to track their own grades.
Classes will be harder; your child is learning new things. Attendance may not be mandatory (meaning the teacher may not require attendance as…
More Financial Aid For Students – Is It Really?
The first week of May 2008, bill HR 5715 was signed into law. Politicians on both sides of the aisle hailed it as financial relief for the families of college students. With the increase in gas and food prices and the mortgage meltdown, congress was concerned that its future work force (and future tax base) would be unable to afford to return to college in the fall.
Rather than increasing grant amounts and enlarging the number of students eligible for Pell grants, the government in its wisdom only increased the amount of money a student can borrow. Not only does our congress mortgage our country’s future government, it is now encouraging each of its citizens to start their lifetime earning potential in debt, deep debt.
If a student were to borrow the maximum amount of Stafford loan money available before the increases passed by Congress, they would be in debt to the tune of $220 a month for 10 years, and only IF the $19,000 was all they borrowed for 4 years of college. Currently, the University of Virginia cost of attendance for ONE year is over $19,000.
For a student to complete an undergraduate degree in four years at the state’s premiere university (and most students do not finish in four years, the average is five years due to scheduling problems and major changes) at a very conservative 6% per year increase, will cost over $80,000. And that conservative increase is not useful this year: Virginia Tech announced a tuition and fees increase of over 10%. They didn’t announce their housing and meal plan increases, but you can be sure they will be on the bill.
And don’t even try to estimate the cost of a private college education. Bridgewater College is currently charging $32,990 for one year’s tuition, fees, room and board which gives you a whopping $144,319 over four years with the conservative 6% per year increase. Now you can add the transportation, books or “pizza and laundry” budget for each year. And Bridgewater is not one of the most expensive private colleges either.
Families are facing financial strain from many directions: gasoline, food, credit, and now college. The much vaunted relief offered by congress last week only serves to place our students in more debt, creating a future mortgaged from all directions.