Daily Aid 93: Jobs, financial aid, and crime

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Daily Aid 93: Jobs, financial aid, and crime

10 March 2009 1 views No Comment

Daily Aid 93: Jobs, financial aid, and crime

Student Financial Aid News

Officials in at least two states are looking into the abrupt closing last week of the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, an occupational school with 26 campuses that cited the dwindling availability of private student loans as a major factor in its financial plight. In announcing the shutdown on Wednesday, the school gave students and faculty members an hour’s notice to vacate the premises. In a news release the following day, the school blamed the closure on the seizure of its bank accounts by its major lender.

Commentary

I’ve heard of schools being in dire straits, but never a case where it was shut down in an hour. Something else is afoot here that has nothing to do with the economy or student loans.

From NASFAA:

“There are few places where the recession is more visible than at community colleges, and few know that better than financial aid officers on those campuses,” the Contra Costa Times reports. “Booming enrollment at the two-year schools has long been a hallmark of tough economic times, but financial aid administrators say they have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of poverty-stricken students. Beset by lost jobs and foreclosures, more students than ever are coming back to counselors for additional grants and loans from public and private sources. For already understaffed financial aid offices, the magnitude of the crisis has been hard to handle.”

Commentary

Remember that unemployment typically peaks a couple of quarters AFTER the economy itself bottoms out. That means that colleges should expect continued high rates of applications for financial aid at least through this year, if not until 2011.

Based on the continued numbers we’ve been seeing, I think it’ll be time to publish an eBook or guide of some kind on how to handle job loss or other financial crisis and your financial aid. Look for that possibly as early as next month from the Student Loan Network.

Scholarship Update

You have applied for our $10,000 scholarship, yes?

News You Can Use

This has nothing to do with financial aid per se, though it has a lot to do with future happiness and prosperity. As the economy ratchets downwards, one of the consequences tends to be an increase in crime across the board. Especially prevalent are property thefts like iPods and other crimes of convenience, but violent crime also ticks upwards.

There’s quite a bit of debate in the criminal justice community about whether the economy is a causative factor or not, but there’s no question about the correlation – when the economy goes down, crime goes up. Whether one causes the other is irrelevant for the purposes of keeping yourself, your friends and family, and your property safe.

Do the common sense things like keep valuables out of sight, but also just be more cognizant, more aware of the fact that desperate times make people do desperate things. As much as possible, offer support to friends and family and seek it out for yourself if you’re under the gun. The single greatest asset you have to help you get through tough times are good friends and family – make use of them, and offer your help where you can.

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