FAP560: Jobcast tips, Happy Birthday Katie Dexter, legislation, Illinois scholarship, new iscintilla

Student Financial Aid News
+ Shoutout to Katie Dexter – happy birthday!
+ Inside Higher Ed: Looking around the crowded Senate hearing room Wednesday, it was relatively easy, at first glance, to sort out the winners and losers as the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions approved a package of legislation to renew the Higher Education Act.
+ The college students (organized by national student groups) in the brightly colored sweatshirts, bearing the names Maryland, UConn, North Carolina A&T and other institutions, celebrated the legislation that would provide $17.3 billion in new financial assistance for needy students; the dark-suited lobbyists for student loan companies, from whom the measures would squeeze $18.3 billion out of profits to pay for the new aid and to reduce the federal deficit, watched the proceedings with frowns on their faces.
+ The Democratic (and some Republican) lawmakers and staff members who drafted and supported the proudly bipartisan bill shook hands with gusto after the lopsided votes, pleased with their work and talking hopefully, even confidently, about getting the measures onto the Senate floor and enacted as soon as next month. The few budget hawks who voted against the budget reconciliation bill because they said it would inappropriately increase federal entitlement spending by billions of dollars grumbled that more of the funds should have gone toward reducing the deficit.
+ Inside Higher Ed: Emerson College, in Massachusetts, has fired Daniel Pinch as dean of enrollment, a week after a Congressional report revealed that he earned consulting funds from a company that the college was recommending to students for student loans, The Boston Globe reported. Last week, Pinch told the newspaper that he did not believe he had done anything wrong
+ NASFAA via CNN: “New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo identified three companies Tuesday that he says are setting interest rates for student loans based in part on the school a student attends,” reports CNN Money. “On a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Cuomo said CIT Group Inc.’s (CIT) Student Loan Xpress unit, Nelnet Inc. (NNI) and Northstar Education Finance Inc. have all used underwriting practices that take the school into account in making lending decisions and that he has equated to ‘redlining’ in the home mortgage industry. The attorney general said the three lenders he mentioned on the call are ‘by no means the extent of it’ and the practice is ‘very, very widespread’ in the industry.”
+ We use your credit score for private student loans – which has its advantages and disadvantages

Scholarship Update
+ Illinois Future Teacher Scholarship Program
+ The annual scholarship awarded to a qualified applicant may be $5,000 or $10,000 (and in some cases, may be increased an additional $5,000) depending on the teaching commitment made. This scholarship may be received for a maximum of four semesters or six quarters.
+ Be a U.S. citizen or an eligible non-citizen
+ Be a resident of Illinois
+ Be a high school graduate or person who has received a General Educational Development (GED) certificate
+ Be enrolled, or accepted for enrollment as a junior or above, on at least a half-time basis in a Teacher Education Program at an eligible Illinois public or private college, seeking initial teacher certification; or be pursuing additional coursework needed to gain Illinois State Board of Education approval to teach, including alternative teacher certification
+ Maintain a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.5 on a 4.0 scale
+ Maintain satisfactory academic progress as determined by your college
+ Comply with federal Selective Service registration requirements
+ File your FAFSA at FAFSAonline.com
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

JobCast
+ Build your network while times are good
+ Start by creating a personal brand
+ Again, Mitch Joel’s presentation from PodCamp Toronto will be essential for this
+ Your resume is backup data – make a damn fine cover letter if you go that route
+ Make a social media cover letter – give resources for someone to find your portfolio
+ Challenge of translating media to a flat sheet of paper
+ What to include? Links to your tag farms, media, a short introduction and invitation
+ Make social business cards that have short links to media
+ Make business cards with a nice design on one side and a scannable text pool on the other
+ See our jobs at Edvisors.com/jobs

Podsafe Music
+ i:scintilla, The Bells
+ 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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