FAP533: Jobcast on LinkedIn, obvious scholarships, loan scandal firing, Curious

Student Financial Aid News
+ From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Texas at Austin fired its financial aid director Monday after an investigation by the university system concluded that he had violated campus and system policies and rules as a result of his purchase and ownership of stock in a lender with which the university worked. The dismissal of Lawrence W. Burt makes him the first campus financial aid official to lose a job in the ever-expanding, multilateral investigation into possible wrongdoing in the student loan industry.
+ IHE: California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday announced a plan to sell EdFund, the state’s student loan agency, for up to $1 billion, The Sacramento Bee reported. The governor says they money will help close a state deficit, but critics say that the plan would decrease oversight at a time that national scandals demonstrate the need for more scrutiny of student loan programs.
+ From the Chronicle: Colleges may frequently be “overspending” by offering students larger financial-aid offers than are actually necessary to entice them to enroll, according to a working paper released last week by three economists.
+ In a detailed examination of the admissions practices of two selective private colleges, the economists found that — contrary to the idealized models developed by scholars who study admissions — the colleges generally made larger financial-aid offers to students who were already highly likely to attend. Those practices contradict scholars’ typical idealized models of financial aid. The standard model assumes that financial-aid offers are incentives to enroll, and that colleges will direct those incentives at “marginal” students — that is, students who might easily decide to attend a different institution.
+ From the Chronicle: Administrators at Case Western recently built a virtual version of the campus in Second Life, complete with several campus buildings, some athletics facilities, and a favorite diner. They decided to give campus tours there for those who could not get to a regular campus tour.

Scholarship Update
+ Obvious search secret: check your school’s financial aid office page for a listing of institutional scholarships and applications
+ Example: Framingham State College Scholarships
+ Thousands of dollars in local scholarships
+ Almost certainly low competition for the awards
+ Deadline March 15 of each year for renewable scholarships
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site
+ Have you enrolled in the free college scholarship contest Scholarship Points?
+ STILL no Bum Rush the Charts sales data

Jobcast
+ Leah Lage in the Financial Aid Podcast Loyalist group requests a new jobcast
+ More about LinkedIn, which is very hot on my radar
+ Spend some time customizing your profile – be detailed in contact section – what kinds of opportunities are you looking for?
+ Get recommendations – create positions for which you’ve worked, and solicit appropriate people to provide testimonials
+ Put a link to your profile on your personal home page
+ Check out who has viewed your profile – and consider applying to those companies
+ Create a master contacts list in a text file – GMail, email, college fair directories, then upload and add as appropriate
+ Get connected to hubs – add me in, I’ve got a little over 2,000 connections
+ I can’t mention it enough – if you haven’t watched Mitch Joel’s video on personal branding, you absolutely must before you start your job search

Rant
+ Gasoline protest day tactics are largely ineffective – follow these two tips instead

Podsafe Music
+ Curious, Goodbye
+ 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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