Student Financial Aid News

From the Monitor:

“In the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, Fulton and her fellow students find themselves facing a tricky financial matrix: As job opportunities dwindle, their rent and grocery bills are high, their student loan and credit-card interest rates are climbing, and a night out costs so much that they stay home. Accustomed by culture and habit to immediate gratification, the Millennials have tools most of their parents didn’t, like credit cards. And now they’re paying for them with “just-swipe-it”-induced debt. Eighty-four percent of undergraduates have at least one credit card, and median debt on those cards is up 55 percent, to $1,645, since last year, according to student lending institution Sallie Mae. A fifth of seniors carry more than $7,000 in debt.

CERI’s 2009 collegiate hiring report calls the entry-level job market a place of “quiet desperation.” Seven percent of the companies surveyed say they won’t hire anyone out of college this year – more than double the 2008 number. And 49 percent of companies say they’ll take fewer college grads this year than last.”

Commentary

The reality is that a college degree is more or less a commodity these days. There’s nothing special about someone with a college degree, just as a generation ago, there was nothing special about someone with a high school degree. With the advent of online degrees and online education, there’s literally no shortage of opportunities to attend college, save for paying for it. To be marketable after graduation, college students today must do far more than just earn a degree – they have to invest serious time building out their personal brands and reputations in the industries they’re looking to participate in.

If you’re not online communicating with your future industry via your personal web site, blog, and a variety of other communications media, you’re just another member of the pack. In a severe recession like this, no one is looking to hire you. You have to be looking and aggressively searching for companies that are hiring in your field of study, and demonstrating to them why you’re a better choice than your peers.

Scholarship Update

Aspiring artists have until June 8 to submit entries to the “2009 Design Scholarship Challenge” to compete for the national prize, an opportunity to work with DC Comics on an upcoming marketing campaign for “Absolute Justice” and a $25,000 tuition scholarship to one of the sponsoring design schools. With so many parents and students struggling to find the funds for college in this economy, this scholarship is a great opportunity to help alleviate some of that burden while offering students the chance to experience the real world of graphic design with all of its challenges and rewards. A local winner will be selected from each campus and all 15 will receive a $5,000 tuition scholarship to the sponsoring school of their choice plus a three-day, two-night expense-paid trip to San Diego to attend Comic-Con 2009 where the national winner will be named and will receive an additional $20,000 tuition scholarship to the sponsoring school of their choice.

Details at our free college scholarship search site.

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