Student Financial Aid News
From the NY Times:
Students looking for college scholarships are going to have a harder time this year as providers, hammered by falling investment returns and declining philanthropic support, cut back. The recession has led foundations, corporations, state governments and colleges themselves to reduce their support of providers of scholarships, and in recent months programs have been reduced or canceled outright. The cuts come as economic conditions make it harder for families to pay for college and as more unemployed people look for financing for retraining. Peterson’s, an …

Two pieces from Inside Higher Ed today. First, a study about online course effectiveness:
Online learning has definite advantages over face-to-face instruction when it comes to teaching and learning, according to a new “meta-analysis” released Friday by the U.S. Department of Education.
The study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction. Further, those who took “blended” courses — those that combine elements of online learning and face-to-face instruction — appeared to do best of …

FAP915: FAFSA, GI Bill, Scholarship Points, Mail Bag, Free Stuff
Click here to download the MP3 file
Weekly Financial Aid Roundup
Changes to the FAFSA.
Changes to Veterans benefits.
Scholarship Points Update
We’re getting ready to start revamping Scholarship Points. Add your thoughts about what’s working and what’s not. We’re going Seth Godin Tribes style here.
Also, Scholarship Points referral points awards will be going from 20 points per referral to 30 points.
Scholarship Points Instructions
Are you a Scholarship Points member? In today’s show, get a Points code for 20 Scholarship Points by subscribing to the podcast and …

Given the interest rate drop which takes effect Wednesday, July 1 I’m expecting next week to be a busy consolidation week. Save yourself some frustration by having everything in front of you ahead of time. By the way, to find out if the rate drop impacts you or what the new rates are going down [...]

Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
In part because of the FAFSA’s multiple pages and scores of questions seeking personal and financial information about students and their families, many policy experts believe, hundreds of thousands of potential recipients forgo many millions of dollars of federal college aid each year. the Education Department will, right now, make several changes that do not require Congressional approval. This summer, the department will take advantage of existing technology on the Web-based FAFSA to allow married or independent students to skip questions about their parents, …

Student Financial Aid News
Huge news day today. From the Washington Post:
Education Secretary Arne Duncan is expected to announce today an effort to streamline the complicated process of applying for federal financial aid for college. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which includes more than 100 questions about income and assets, is so difficult that some parents pay private companies to fill it out for them or just give up. By Education Department estimates, about 1.5 million students would probably be eligible for Pell grants — which are for …

Ever notice how some press releases just drone on and on with phrases like “industry leading”? David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR, calls these gobbledygook phrases:
“not another flexible, scalable, groundbreaking, industry-standard, cutting-edge product from a market-leading, well positioned company!”
In the spirit of distilling press releases down to their absolute essence, here’s Edvisors’ three most recent press releases, confined to sticky notes.

If that’s hard to read, they read:
$10,000 scholarship. Deadline July 31, 2009. www.ScholarshipPoints.com
We’ve relaunched www.Edvisors.com. Please go look. kthxby
Get your student loans now for …

With no show last Friday due to travel, I wanted to take some time to answer the mailbag rather than make people wait.
Carol writes:
I just read your e-book on finding scholarships. My son is finishing his sophomore year in HS. Is it really appropriate to be applying for scholarships now, when he hasn’t even applied yet to college and doesn’t know where he is going? I didn’t realize they awarded scholarships to younger students. Carol in NH
Even if the scholarships aren’t necessarily open, it’s a great idea to identify ones …

Student Financial Aid News
From Inside Higher Ed:
Congress could formally begin its work on President Obama’s proposal to restructure the student loan programs to free up money for Pell Grants and other financial aid as soon as next week, with the House of Representatives scheduled to mark up legislation that (by most accounts) would end all loan originations out of the lender-based Family Federal Education Loan Program but would not call for providing a consistent, permanent source of funding for Pell Grants. With that major development looming, the U.S. Education Department …

Financial Aid News 144: Connecticut Student Loan Foundation Ceases Lending
Student Financial Aid News
From the Courant:
The financially struggling Connecticut Student Loan Foundation will stop offering new federal loans because of its uncertain future. The foundation, which had been issuing about $130 million in loans a year, has been notifying colleges and guidance counselors that it can no longer act as a lender. The decision will have no effect on those who already have loans through the foundation. “The organization is in dire financial straits and may not be able to make …