FAP504: Creating commerce in a community, Scholarship Points winners, Top 10, Natalie Gelman

Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: Portland State University momentarily displaces Carnegie Mellon in Top 10 list for electrical engineering
+ Oops! Bad data from US News
+ From the Chronicle: An influential Republican senator has asked the Congressional Budget Office to investigate how tax-exempt bonds are used by universities and to review the tax-exempt status of college sports. The studies were requested by Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, in two letters sent on Tuesday.
+ Department of Education reveals the FAFSA4Caster
+ Caveats: it’s down for maintenance on Sundays and it may not necessarily take into account non-standard situations
+ Fitch ratings issues warnings on residential mortgage market along with the rest of the media

Scholarship Update
+ Winners of quarterly drawing!
+ Christopher Wendorf, University Of Wisconsin Milwaukee, $1,000
+ Jonald Allan Gonzalez, Brigham Young University – Hawaii, $500
+ Helen Hawkey, University Of Pittsburgh, $250
+ Congratulations!
+ To be eligible, sign up for free at ScholarshipPoints.com
+ Full disclosure: we do not sell, rent, or share your profile information outside the Student Loan Network. We will send you our free financial aid newsletter.
+ Probably only a couple more weeks until BRTC data comes in from IODA Promonet
+ StudentScholarshipSearch.com is one of the only directories that doesn’t require registration

News You Can Use
+ Creating commerce in a community ethically and transparently
+ Become the hub of a community
+ Become the expert in a community
+ Pick a community that needs credible experts and has money
+ Student credit cards comes to mind
+ Gather the community together
+ Become a spokesperson for the community
+ Become transparent in your dealings
+ As you gain audience and voice, businesses will ask to work deals
+ As long as those deals are transparent to your community, you should be good to go
+ Example – student loan consolidation affiliate program Student ATM
+ What other creative ways can we come up with to pay for college besides federal student loans and private student loans?

Podsafe Music
+ Natalie Gelman, Rest of the Way
+ Natalie will be live at the Student Loan Network booth at PodCamp NYC
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network

Reminders
+ Private student loans
+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

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