Daily Aid 28: FAFSA Secrets and Hidden Traps
A special blog post while I’m on the road to Arizona for a couple of days off – and yes, vacation for me is doing public speaking! I’ve been working on the 2009-2010 FAFSA guide for the coming year over the past week or so, learning the ins and outs of IRS tax code, the new draft FAFSA (which won’t be finalized until November), and a bunch of stuff that goes with it all. Some interesting lessons I’ve picked up so far:
The FAFSA …

Daily Aid 27: Give a little help to your friends
Student Financial Aid News
From MSNBC:
It’s prime college-visiting season for the high school class of 2009, which next fall will send the greatest number of graduates on to college in American history. But the souring economy and crisis on Wall Street are shrinking families’ college savings, and some parents wonder whether they will be able to afford tuition at the schools their youngsters are looking at. Around the country, students deciding where to apply may have to scale back their dreams. Some …

Daily Aid 26: How to understand how the economy is really doing
Eye on the Economy
I want to do a special today to give you some tools for understanding the market a little better, some things to keep an eye on, and some explanations so that when you see financial news in the headlines, you know whether it’s serious or hype.

When news outlets talk about the market, they’re most often talking about 3 different stock market measures – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, and the NASDAQ. …

Daily Aid 25: Surveying the economic landscape
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
The Wal-Mart Foundation, the chain store’s philanthropic arm, announced today a $4.2-million grant to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, which will use the money to support programs that help students who are the first in their families to go to college succeed at minority-serving institutions.
The grant continues the philanthropy’s recent emphasis on helping first-generation students, including millions of dollars in grants, announced in February, to the Council of Independent Colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges, and 20 …

Daily Aid 29: The credit crisis hits college campuses
Student Financial Aid News
From NASFAA and the AP:
“The credit crunch has officially arrived on campus,” the Associated Press reports. “In a new survey, private colleges report their students are finding it significantly harder to secure the private loans they need to pay tuition bills. More alarmingly, nearly half of colleges say some students have been forced to take time off or go part-time as a result. The survey, released Tuesday by the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, confirms anecdotal evidence …

Daily Aid 28: FAFSA Secrets and Hidden Traps
A special blog post while I’m on the road to Arizona for a couple of days off – and yes, vacation for me is doing public speaking! I’ve been working on the 2009-2010 FAFSA guide for the coming year over the past week or so, learning the ins and outs of IRS tax code, the new draft FAFSA (which won’t be finalized until November), and a bunch of stuff that goes with it all. Some interesting lessons I’ve picked up so far:
The FAFSA …

Daily Aid 27: Give a little help to your friends
Student Financial Aid News
From MSNBC:
It’s prime college-visiting season for the high school class of 2009, which next fall will send the greatest number of graduates on to college in American history. But the souring economy and crisis on Wall Street are shrinking families’ college savings, and some parents wonder whether they will be able to afford tuition at the schools their youngsters are looking at. Around the country, students deciding where to apply may have to scale back their dreams. Some …

FAP880: Economy, scholarships, shortfalls, free stuff
Listen now:[audio:http://media.libsyn.com/media/financialaidpodcast/20081017.mp3″>MP3 file
Student Financial Aid News
From NASFAA:
“It’s ‘the mother of all shortfalls,’ according to one Washington insider. Others worry that it may get lost amid the nation’s larger financial crises involving banks and mortgage lenders,” Diverse: Issues In Higher Education reports. “But one thing is increasingly clear: Fueled by a declining economy that has many low-income Americans returning to school, the Pell Grant program is facing a growing shortfall that soon may reach $6 billion. ‘It’s such a large figure that Congress and the administration …

Daily Aid 26: How to understand how the economy is really doing
Eye on the Economy
I want to do a special today to give you some tools for understanding the market a little better, some things to keep an eye on, and some explanations so that when you see financial news in the headlines, you know whether it’s serious or hype.

When news outlets talk about the market, they’re most often talking about 3 different stock market measures – the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, and the NASDAQ. …

Daily Aid 25: Surveying the economic landscape
Student Financial Aid News
From the Chronicle:
The Wal-Mart Foundation, the chain store’s philanthropic arm, announced today a $4.2-million grant to the Institute for Higher Education Policy, which will use the money to support programs that help students who are the first in their families to go to college succeed at minority-serving institutions.
The grant continues the philanthropy’s recent emphasis on helping first-generation students, including millions of dollars in grants, announced in February, to the Council of Independent Colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges, and 20 …