FAP606: Free stuff Friday, Hispanic financial aid issues, college rankings, Matthew Ebel

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: As usual, U.S. News & World Report’s annual college rankings, released today, offer a heavy dose of déjà vu. Princeton topped this year’s list of best colleges, just as it did last year, while Harvard remained in second and Yale again took third. And the same institutions as last year rounded out the top dozen spots. But in one possible sign that organized criticism of the rankings is having an effect, the overall response rate to the magazine’s controversial reputational survey plunged to its lowest level ever.
+ Among liberal-arts colleges, the percentage of institutions that completed the U.S. News reputational survey dropped to 56 percent from 69 percent. Over all, 51 percent of the colleges and universities completed the peer-assessment survey, a drop from 58 percent last year. As recently as 2000, the rate was 68 percent.
+ Chronicle: High-achieving Hispanic students often focus on location, cost, and campus atmosphere, not prestige, in selecting their colleges, according to a report due out today.
+ “The level of pragmatism these college students had in making decisions was impressive,” said Deborah A. Santiago, the report’s author and vice president for policy and research at Excelencia in Education, a nonprofit policy group.
+ Hispanic-serving institutions tend to be located in areas with large Hispanic populations, are relatively inexpensive, and often have open admissions. That makes them an appealing option for Hispanic students, like those Ms. Santiago interviewed, who want to attend universities that are close to home, relatively cheap, and accessible.
+ However, students said they were not attracted by the Hispanic-serving designation, and few even knew that the distinction existed. An institution is classified as Hispanic-serving, under federal guidelines, if at least 25 percent of its students are Hispanic and 50 percent of those are from low-income families.
+ Flouting conventional wisdom, the students at Hispanic-serving universities interviewed by Ms. Santiago often did not choose the most selective institution that accepted them. Instead they were heavily influenced by the sticker price of an education.
+ “A quote that really stuck with me, and we heard it over and over, was this impression that, ‘College is college, and as long as I’m motivated, I can get a good education anywhere,’” Ms. Santiago said.
+ Peak season here for Stafford and Private Student Loans
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Private student loans at privatestudentloans.com

Scholarship Update
+ The National Society of Hispanic MBAs seeks to increase the representation of Hispanics in graduate business schools, corporations, and leadership roles. To that effect, NSHMBA has been providing scholarships to outstanding Hispanics pursuing an MBA for the past 16 years. Applicants must: Be United States Citizen or Legal Permanent Resident Be of Hispanic heritage (one parent is fully Hispanic or both parents are half Hispanic) Have a minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent) from either a bachelors degree or masters degree. OR have a minimum grade point average of 2.75 on a 4.0 scale (or the equivalent) from a bachelors degree in combination with two years of full-time work experience. Be current NSHMBA member. (Member ID required. Applicants who are not currently a NSHMBA member may apply now at the $20 scholarship application rate. Be enrolled in a graduate business program in a college or university in the United States or Puerto Rico, accredited by the AACSB (AACSB International) at the time of award.
+ $5,000 awards consisting of a $4,750 scholarship and $250 travel voucher.
+ $7,500 awards consisting of a $7,250 scholarship and $250 travel voucher.
+ $10,000 awards granted to the top 5 applicants who demonstrate financial need of $10,000 or more. These awards consist of a $9,750 scholarship and $250 travel voucher.
+ There is one level for part-time study: $2,500 awards consisting of a $2,250 scholarship and $250 travel voucher.
+ Awards are renewable for up to one year or until a Masterâ??s Degree is earned
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Free Stuff Friday
+ Tip from Lifehacker: learn a foreign language with free tools
+ Schoolr research portal
+ Renamer4Mac
+ OpenProj
+ iCopy – reuse that printer and scanner!
+ Coupon Notifier for Firefox
+ How to Mind Map
+ Stellarium and Celestia
+ My Mile Marker – VERY clever!
+ Walkscore – find out what’s in walking distance
+ 45 of the best freeware design programs
+ 85 free resources for designers – like photos, fonts, etc.

Promo
+ PodCamp Boston 2

Podsafe Music
+ Matthew Ebel, Trees (live)

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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