The problem is that during the first 2-4 weeks of college, most students are in a daze. The best parties of the year are going down right now. Students are taken by an explosion of Football Games, Frat/Sorority rush, hall parties and meeting new people. The campus is bustling with activity. Focus is the last thing on a college kid’s mind. This is exactly when things can go wrong.

As a college student you might find yourself in a situation at the end of the semester where there are tests you are not ready for and papers due that are incomplete. But there are some simple things you can do early in the semester that can help get you though class without sacrificing your social schedule.

1. Identify classes that present the greatest challenge - If Math is not your strongest subject, or History makes you want to pass out, then recognize that you may need to focus more just to pass those classes.

2. Get to know your teacher - You don’t need to brown nose, just make sure the teacher knows you. Make a good impression by being on time for class and getting involved in discussions

3. Identify the smart kids – There will be some classmates that understand the subject perfectly. If you need help, ask other students in class about setting up a study group. It’s a great way to learn from other students that understand the subject.

4. Go to the academic support center - Many colleges have staff available to help you study a particularly hard subject. You should set up a schedule to meet with a tutor at least once a week if you are having trouble with a subject.

5. Don’t wait until the end of the semester - If you wait until the end of the semester to try and learn everything, it will be far too stressful. Set yourself up for success by figuring out early in the semester what classes will need extra study, and then proceed to do so. By planning how to handle a hard subject early on, you can save yourself a lot of frustration by the end of the semester.

“Back to School: Financial Aid Prep Course” webinar reviews everything you need to know about choosing a school and paying for it. Get the most out of what financial aid can offer and get the inside scoop on how Colleges award scholarships all in one webinar. Register today!

Wed, Sep 8, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/166482377

Wed, Sep 15, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/697211865

Wed, Sep 22, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/401837929

Wed, Sep 29, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/135187480

1. Start making friends early and often: Orientation Day, move in and first day of class are all great days to meet people. Being in a new environment full of people you never met can be a lot to handle, but stay confident and comfortable and you will have no problem getting along. Be the first person to reach out to others and it will be easy to connect.

2. Sit in the front of class: It is your time and money, so get the most out of your education. Sitting in the front will force you to pay attention and learn more. If you are the kind of student that has a hard time paying attention and sits in the back, it is time to turn a new leaf. College gives you the opportunity to become a better student.

3. Meet the administrators: During the first week, college administrators are super busy. However stopping by the financial aid office, counseling offices and student services can at least let you know who is who. Know where the offices are located and what they can do for you. Introduce yourself and get the email address of counselors that can help you. Chances are you will really need their help at some point during the semester.

4. Take a nice walk around campus: Get the lay of the land and figure out where all the buildings are while getting a bit of exercise all at once. This will give you an opportunity to meet new people along the way. Knowing where all the buildings are will also stop you from being late for class.

5. Get out and go!: Get involved, figure out what clubs and organizations you want to join and get active. First week of school always has some great parties so get out there and enjoy it!

It is widely held that smaller classrooms produce a better learning experience. The goal of maintaining smaller classrooms is to encourage a more in depth learning experience through increased academic rigor. But there is evidence questioning if this method is even working. My blog post entitled “Students study less than ever: What are they doing in college?” explains how average weekly study time has reduced from 24 to 14 hours a week per student. We cannot assume that teaching methods have become so effective that students need to study ten less hours a week. Evidence points towards more disinterested students than ever despite higher education’s claim that smaller classrooms best serve educational goals. Using smaller classroom numbers to justify increased tuition costs without inspiring students to perform academically only leads to a conclusion of inefficiency. While keeping a good student to teacher ratio may increase the cost of tuition, it is not enough to substantially demonstrate the incredible rate of tuition increases over the past twenty years.

For their second reason they claim that hiring highly educated employees to teach is very expensive. This ignores the fact that most college classes today are taught by low paid, non-tenured adjunct professors! Adjunct professors have seen an incredible increase in their role as part of higher education. An ongoing trend in higher education has been to cut their faculty pay rates to help save money. So if costs are being cut why has there been over the past twenty years a steady increase in college costs of 6-8% a year far outpacing inflation? If costs are rising but the cost of teaching is reducing, then I must ask, where is the money going?

Finally, the third reason claimed is that technological advancement is a cause for increased costs. As explained by Archibald and Feldman “The contemporary chemistry student, for instance, needs to be familiar with current laboratory tools, and they are more expensive than the chalk-and-test-tube world of the past.” While the cost of complexities in technology is apparent, they fail to recognize the dualities of this proposition. Namely those advancements in technology provide opportunities for efficiencies in other areas. Well used technology should be able to cut down on total costs when used correctly. Rather than use technology to increase efficiency for the benefit of the students, the authors claim it as a hindrance and reason for more expense. For every technological breakthrough in one area, there is a benefit of cost cutting in another. Technology is a two way street where costs and efficiencies are balanced appropriately. Again this cannot explain where the money is going.

So if reduced class size, cost of teaching, and technological advances are not the reason for increased costs, what are?

This leads to my conclusion of why costs have really skyrocketed out of control. Increases in spending were driven mostly by higher administration, maintenance, and student services costs. When attending school, students are really paying for amenities and services that are separate from the classroom experience.

The cost of administrating a college has been the major driver of increases, especially because of a failure to adapt and modernize useful technology. It may cost more to train chemists using modern techniques, but the cost of administrating such training should be reduced by using technology. Many schools use antiquated billing and payment methods along with web systems that are inefficient. They require endless paper documents where electronic documents are superior, and if paper is used, they must store it en masse rather than simply scanning the document and storing it electronically. This dramatically adds to total costs and inefficiencies because of all the wasted time and effort to complete mundane tasks. In a non-profit organization such as a college the greatest expense is salaries, and the fastest growing segment of college employment has nothing to do with teaching: it’s administration. The non-teaching staff at universities often costs as much as the faculty. In 1976, there were three non-faculty professional staff for every 100 students in American higher education; today, there are more than six.

Consider that most schools require students to buy overly expensive textbooks written on paper that become obsolete within one year. This has become unreasonable and inefficient the same as paper newspapers. The knowledge is important, but with e-books there is a better means of delivery as explained in a recent blog post. If schools were really committed to the cutting edge of technology as part of the curriculum, they would find ways to achieve the goal of superior education at a lower cost through utilizing technology.

Tuition costs are bundled with all services weather a student uses them or not. This leads to an increase in tuition for all students. Consider The Center for College Affordability’s study of the costs of intercollegiate athletics. Surely there is importance in sports activities, but what benefits do they provide to the average student who is not qualified to throw and catch a football for example. Hasn’t the realities of this economy revealed the importance of economic development in new areas? If students have already reduced study time from 24 hours a week to 14 hours a week, it can be inferred that colleges redirecting resources toward non-academic endeavors has had an effect.

In conclusion, the true costs of college cannot be blamed entirely on the need to keep classrooms small, the cost of hiring highly educated staff or the counter-intuitive claim of the cost to advance technology. The true cost driver is amenities and services and administrative staff that are separate from the classroom. In an effort to attract more students, colleges have developed a wide variety of creature comforts and features that look good on admissions tours but have driven costs unreasonably high. The result is inefficiency in cost/benefit that cannot be ignored.

For more detailed info please review a study titled “Over Invested and Over Priced: American Higher Education Today” by Dr. Richard Vedder of Center for College Affordability and Productivity

“Back to School: Financial Aid Prep Course” webinar reviews everything you need to know about choosing a school and paying for it. Get the most out of what financial aid can offer and get the inside scoop on how Colleges award scholarships all in one webinar. Register today!

Wed, Sep 8, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/166482377

Wed, Sep 15, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/697211865

Wed, Sep 22, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/401837929

Wed, Sep 29, 2010 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Registration Web Link: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/135187480

In a little over two weeks College starts up again. I’ve been getting lots of emails and calls from students that are mostly concerned with how they are going to get their bill paid. It can be especially stressful if you are trying to get cleared for moving into the dorms. I’ve put together an easy guide to getting cleared for move in without pulling your hair out.

1. Your financial aid needs to be ready: If you have not yet received any info from your financial aid office by now, you should be concerned. Financial Aid offices package students for funding all throughout the summer. If you have not been packaged for Financial Aid yet it could be for one of the following reasons:

A: You never actually registered for Fall Semester. If so, get registered and inform Financial Aid that you are ready for funding.

B: Your Free application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) was never processed. Confirm with Financial Aid if they received it.

C: You were selected for Verification, but you did not submit your required paperwork or you submitted it late. Contact Financial Aid to confirm what they need.

D: You are not making Satisfactory Academic Progress and you need to submit an appeal letter to Financial Aid to see if you can still get funded.

E: You still owe a bill from last year. You need to make a payment.

If none of those areas apply to you, then you need to contact your financial aid office ASAP and find out where your funding is. Be advised that financial aid offices are under tremendous strain due to economic factors driving further requests for funding. It just might take a long time for your funding to be processed.

2. A federal Stafford loan is most likely part of your financial aid package: If your school transitioned to Direct Loans this year, you need to complete a new Master Promissory Note with Direct loans.

3. If you still have a bill due after financial aid pays, you need to apply for a Parent Plus loan or a Private loan. There is still time to get an application processed, but you are cutting it close. Do not delay or you could have problems when the semester starts.

4. If you apply for a loan late, it may not be ready for you to get cleared for move in day. If so you can make a partial cash payment to the school through a payment plan (Like Tuition management systems) while your loan is still in processing. When your loan is cleared, just cancel the payment plan and let the loan pay the rest of the bill.

Scrambling to pay a college bill with just two weeks left in the summer is not an easy thing to deal with. If you are having a hard time with the process, let this summer be a lesson. Next year you will need to make sure you get the process started much earlier to avoid the last minute rush.

Studies show that students today are spending less hours studying than ever before. Study hours have dropped from an average of 24 hours a week to about 14 hours a week. So what is going on with today’s students? Are they even taking college seriously? In an article entitled “Students who don’t study” Patrick Allitt challenges the notion “that nearly every young person wants to be educated” and backs it up with insights into the changing landscape of higher education. Here are the highlights:

A groundbreaking report Leisure College USA, analyzes study time for students. Lazy students not owning up to high academic standards is nothing new, but is this generation particularly worse than prior ones? Expansion of Technology has allowed students to complete reports much more quickly by using internet research and Word processing, instead of spending hours in a library cross referencing books. However, a 10 hour drop in study time cannot be explained by technology. The report highlights that the college campus is a place where “academic effort is scarcely detectable”

A lack of challenge: Students today do not feel obligated to go above and beyond in the classroom. They are more interested in doing what is needed to complete a class and no more. Combine that with falling academic standards and you have students just doing enough to get by. Schools are willing to go along with the process. Allitt describes the tenure effect, “Where professors…coast along year after year, not bad enough to be guilty of professional misconduct but not good enough to enrich or vivify the university.” Are schools providing good value for a degree if students do not have to study to earn their place?

Market pressures: Students have demanded more services from their colleges and they have gotten them. Going to college has grown into a total experience with leisure and extracurricular activities becoming a main point for attendance. Even the Princeton review ranks “Party Schools” and students use that as a reason for attendance. In order to support increasing enrollments, amenities have been added, and University budgets are being redistributed to things outside the classroom. As Richard Vedder says there is a “Country Clubization of the American University” and it is redirecting the priorities of tuition resources. All of this is done to support student demand.

Where to go from here? Having a good time in school is important, and meeting friends and being social is every bit a part of that. But when huge sums of money and resources are being poured into colleges, and tuition increases are a 6% to 8% a year, there has to be some accountability. The point of attending school is to build a future for yourself, but these articles reveal that students are really paying for a college experience and not for an education.

The great thing about tough economic times is that they can bring clarity to decisions. It is now painfully obvious that students cannot waste their time in college. They need to make it a productive experience so that there is a future after graduation. The Leisure College, USA report confirms that there is a direct correlation between increased study time and increased earnings after college. Students, take your classroom studies seriously and make the best of college, your future depends on it.

1. Don’t believe the hype: Let me know if you have heard this before; A rap song about popping bottles in the club, while making it rain and rolling in a sick car with rims so expensive they require a separate insurance policy. Sound familiar? Yeah, it permeates popular music, but reality is a whole other game. I’m glad to hear when someone is doing well for themselves, but conspicuous consumption has gone out of style with college students. Smart college students know how to get the most out of the party scene without money. So go out and have fun and not worry about living up to the expectations of someone else. Just because you do not roll a Maybach does not mean you can’t have a good time.

2. Pre-Game: Don’t spend ALL your money at the college bar. Save it for taxi cabs if you don’t have a designated driver! Cut your costs at the bar. Best case scenario is to limit your drinks at the bar to an optimal level, and save the rest for future consumption.

3. Chill with the right friends: If you are around the right people you can have fun anywhere under any circumstances. Use your college experience to meet new fun friends and good times come naturally. Just keep a good positive attitude and you can stumble into some awesome circumstances on a college campus without putting a hole in your wallet.

4. Get some new hobbies: You do not need to be blowing money left and right. Instead of doing the same old stuff find yourself some new interests. Embrace change. Let this carnival economy of buying products for emotional satisfaction go to the wayside. Take a hike. Learn to play an instrument and have a jam with some friends. Take a trip to a museum. Culture your mind and you can find enjoyment in anything. The point is that you can find fulfilling hobbies and experiences that do not cost an arm and a leg; you just have to look for them.

5. Keep a “Fun Budget”: Before you go to school, have certain amounts of money available for the entire semester just for recreation. It does not need to be a lot, but consider it for “educational purposes.” This way you are paying for things in cash instead of using a credit card. Stand firm on your budget and commit to spend no more than you have to develop financial discipline. This will teach you a valuable lesson in “party management” for future years.

This does not sound good for an industry that has seen a rapid rise during the past decade. Schools like University of Phoenix have had booming enrollment. For profit schools attribute this to their ability to reach an underserved market segment through flexible online degree programs. This incredible rise is part of the reason why they are getting so much attention on Capitol Hill.
For profit schools that are qualified for federal financial aid funding for their students began a race for admissions. The for-profit model essentially built their tuition costs around guaranteed Stafford funding offered to any student that files a FAFSA form. This would ensure that any student enrolled would be able to pay their bill and continue their education. But it’s not just guaranteed federal Stafford loans. The University of Phoenix raked in over $1 billion in Pell grant funding as well. Students that attend for profit institutions make up 20% of all Pell grant recipients even though they serve about 6% of the country’s student population

Concerns of the quality of education provided are the major issue that is being dealt with now. Using government funding to finance a for-profit industry may make a great business model, but the end results have been unsatisfactory. While for profit schools serve a minority (6%-10% of all students nationally) they represent 40% of the defaults on federal student loans.

The heat is now on the for profit education industry. The government is concerned about wasted resources. Students defaulting on their loans are unable to get work after completing online degrees. And tax payers are being left to handle the bill. Could it be curtains for the for profit school sector?

Not so fast: As much as this industry has stumbled recently, we cannot ignore that technology must play a major role in the future of education. Online learning can be a valuable tool for education, but it must be used appropriately. Getting rid of for profit schools altogether would be like throwing the baby out with the bath water. We have to admit that this industry did indeed appeal to an underserved market segment searching for a learning resource. The problem is that the for profit industry took advantage of the federal financial aid eligibility of their students by not maintaining high enough admissions standards and not providing a degree experience that could guarantee employment. But to be fair the traditional non-profit colleges already in existence cannot guarantee employment through their programs either. Non-profit schools are not so non-profit when you begin to examine their payrolls and expenses. Every college has somebody making big money from enrollment and endowment enhancement. If both for profit and non-profit receive federal funding, they both need to be scrutinized for quality and efficiency.

For profit education is at a crossroads. They can no longer continue their business practices and expect to get guaranteed funding from financial aid resources. There are two options left. First, for profit schools can limit their enrollment to only admit qualified students based on experience, test scores and GPA from prior institutions. For profit schools knew what they were doing when they admitted massive amounts of students. They knew they could cheaply run an online program and get tuition paid for with guaranteed student loans that all students are entitled to. Claiming to extend educational opportunity while leaving students in debt without real job skills is deplorable and must be stopped.
The second option is that they become completely independent from federal financial aid resources. Students would have to pay their tuition by using their own cash or savings. This would allow the market to determine the worthiness of their online degree programs without government resource artificially propping their budgets. If the business model serves a legitimate market segment and can function without the support of government subsidies than it would be a worthy for-profit institution.

Buying books online was a great way to save money in 2003. But at the end of the day, I still had to buy a book that would become obsolete after a new edition was published. Plus I’d have to lug around unnecessary weight and take up valuable desk space in the classroom. Not to mention all the resources used to create a book in the first place. But now there is a new alternative. Electronic Books are becoming a better option to traditional books. The New York Times featured a great article about the issue of college books and makes a great addition to the ongoing Revolution of Technology topic.

It’s the 21st century; knowledge delivery has expanded into the realm of the digital. Shouldn’t college textbooks catch up to this already? Flash forward to 2010 and a lot of things are still the same. Colleges reveal their inability to adapt and provide by not updating their method of delivery. Take a walk through a college bookstore and all those books are even more expensive, and few professors are even thinking about moving to e-books.

The popularity of e-books is growing. E-books in the general market have seen a 200% increase in sales this year. The next big move should be in the classrooms where the cost of educational books could be radically reduced. Higher Ed charges too high a price not to innovate their teaching methods. Encouraging students to use digital based books in the classroom is the only logical step.

Colleges have no problem telling students to pay $700 -$1000 a semester for books, but an E-Book reader can go for $200 and last all the years of college. No longer do students need to be concerned with buying overly expensive books and then selling them back at the end of the semester. There would be no outdated books because the newest version can be easily downloaded. No more costs of carrying inventory at a book store. No more wasting time on a book store line only to find out it was the wrong edition. Plus a digital device can hold millions of pages in the palm of the hand. When all of these excessive costs are removed from the price of a book, the student can get the knowledge they need at a fraction of the cost with minimized waste. With the cost of college as high as it is, there is no excuse. It is a disservice not to innovate and provide superior value to students.

Until the time comes for colleges to adopt modern techniques, most college students will have to settle for old-fashioned text books. Here are some textbook tips:

1. Don’t buy books! Hold off on buying books for classes until you are absolutely sure of its need or use. This will vary from class to class. Some professors will list six or seven books on the syllabus as required for class but by the end of the semester only two were used. What a waste. Save your money and buy books only as necessary.

2 Maximize other resources: To avoid having to buy books you should use other alternatives. Utilize your library, or the internet for scholarly resources. Buying a whole book just to use one quote is a waste too. Chances are you can find whatever knowledge you need from a free source to complete whatever report or project is due.

3. Any books you buy should be put to use: Weather the book is on paper or electronic form, learning begins with your motivation. You should avoid waste and save money, but do not skimp on your learning experience.

4. If you have to buy a book, buy it online: The bookstore at school is ALWAYS more expensive.

1. Start saving early: In order to handle college expenses a 529 plan should be started early so a substantial amount can be saved. The earlier you start the more you can save. Of course saving money for college is easier said than done, but this is where serious parents step up in order to make a difference. The more money that is saved, the less will be required from a student loan to pay the rest of tuition. Read more about 529 plans and find one that works for you.

2. On average, grants and scholarships only account for a portion of the balance: No matter how much talent a student may have, they can’t depend on a full ride for school. Athletic scholarships go to less than 1% of all college students. Academic scholarships can be substantial, but rarely do they cover the whole bill. Grants are financial aid based on family income. This puts a lot of middle income families out of eligibility. Your dream college could end up costing more than it is worth if you have to use student loans to pay most of the bill. Be prepared to handle alternate financing routes such as working while in school, and applying for student loans only when absolutely necessary.

3. Establish worthwhile goals: Completing a college degree is a worthy achievement but it is just the beginning. You should establish goals for your life that go beyond graduation day. Goals will keep you inspired everyday by having something to work towards. Building a career, meeting friends, learning new skills, and keeping a positive attitude are just some of the goals you can pursue for a life time. If you are not sure what you want to do with your life, then make it your goal to figure it out. It is no easy task but that is why it is worthwhile. Having goals in place will help you with the college planning process because you will know what it is you are working towards.

4. Have realistic expectations for college: New college freshman and their parents tend to look at the world through rose colored glasses. They believe that college will transform a recent high school graduate into a gainfully employed adult after just four (or five) years. This is just not the case. College is an important time for a young person to learn and develop. However, results will vary. College is a life changing experience only to the extent to which a student is willing to learn and grow. Assuming your life will change simply by attending college does not account for any of the effort and work one must put in.

5. Student debt must be in line with your major and career goals: Many students use loans to pay their tuition bill. However, expecting a big income after earning a degree is a thing of the past. College grads need to build work experience before real income can roll in. Problems arise when students take out too much loans and their income is not high enough to pay them back. Check out average salaries based on degree so you have an idea of what to expect after graduation. Then compare that to the amount of debt you need to attend your school of choice. Using a high amount of debt to complete a degree with limited income potential could spell disaster after graduation.

This article reminds us of the importance of study abroad. If you have this option as part of your college curriculum you should participate. The world is becoming a global community with opportunities growing beyond the borders of America. The opportunities of the future will be for those that are thinking outside the box and gaining new experiences. These tough economic times are influencing a new generation of Americans to examine their options not only for employment, but for their life as well.

“Ask students to do role-playing exercises on Facebook or Twitter. For instance, students in an American-history course could each be required to set up a Facebook page for a historical figure and periodically post “status updates” of things the famous people did. Similarly, Utah State University organized a Civil War re-enactment on Twitter.”

This has potential hilarity written all over it. How about updating Ben Franklin’s relationship status with his dalliances in Paris. Or General Ulysses Grant reporting in a wicked hangover. Andrew Jackson can twitter about his own assassination attempt.

Some of the attendees were critical of technology, pointing out that it does not equate to learning. Some teachers are wary that tech is more about acquiring a coolness factor than about developing knowledge. I would disagree, because using technology effectively in the classroom is a learning experience in itself. Teachers need to combine their materials with updated technology to create a complete learning experience for students in the 21st century.

This transition has many school administrators nervous. As of 2008-2009 academic year there was $62.6 billion in federal loans disbursed through FFELP and $21 billion disbursed through Direct Loans. For the 2010-2011 academic year Direct Loans will assume disbursal for all $83 billion or more. Schools are highly dependent on timely disbursals of student loans and are worried that the Fed cannot transition to handle such a high volume increase this fast. This is an epic increase in processing for a federal government that is already swamped with the expansion of health care, foreign wars and oil spills.

The Department of Education can be of little help to assist schools in this transition because there are now over 6,000 colleges in the direct loan program. Schools are forced to handle all the necessary transition steps on their own. Schools must reformat their loan processing methods to match Direct Loans or they will be unable to acquire any student loans at all. This means an overhaul of the schools electronic processing systems that were originally designed to handle FFELP.

This has repercussions on students. Any continuing student that previously had a FFELP loan with lenders like Sallie Mae, Wells Fargo, Citibank etc. must complete a new Master Promissory note for Direct Loans. If the student does not complete the new Direct Loan promissory note, they cannot receive any loan proceeds.

Ken’s Tip: Best advice for students is to complete all forms in a timely manner and to follow up with their school account to ensure disbursal. Make sure you complete the Master Promissory note and entrance interview with Direct Loans if you have not already done so. If there are any issues with disbursal, first check with the Department of Ed and then your financial aid office to confirm required documents are in order. If the issue is due to your schools inability to process the new electronic transfer of loans, then it is mostly out of your hands. Hopefully your school is ready to handle the Direct Loan transition.

As you can see the loans with a 15 year repayment schedule had lower monthly payments but ended up costing the most to repay. A low monthly payment might be helpful to fit in your current budget but you unknowingly keep yourself in debt for too long and waste thousands of dollars on interest. A common mistake of most borrowers is to be more concerned about the monthly payment than anything else. When comparing loan options, you need to know what the total cost of a loan will be after you finally pay it off. The loan that costs you the least amount to repay is probably the best one for you.
If you want to accelerate your debt freedom, look for a loan that does not have a pre-payment penalty. A prepayment is when you pay more than the standard monthly amount due towards the balance getting yourself out of debt faster.
Ken’s Tip – If you are taking out loans to go to college you need the right tools to make the right decision. Fortunately, loan calculators are readily available on the internet. Smart debt management starts with choosing the right loan. Trying to keep a low monthly payment will end up costing way more to repay. Focus on the total cost of repaying the loan and choose the one that costs you the least.

Debt that quietly accumulates while in school turns into a roaring necessary payment every month for many years to come. Students enter a state of shock when they realize how massive the payments are on their student loans after graduation. That shock is a result of the level of ignorance student’s have about their debt. If they are not educated properly and if they have no experience in dealing with their debts while they are in school, then it becomes even more pain full when they are out of school. Some students march right back into Grad school just to avoid the payments, but this takes them even further into debt. There has to be a better solution.

Enter In School Payments. It’s simple. While the student is in school a standard minimum monthly payment towards the loan is established. This achieves three goals. First, it develops a healthy debt repayment habit that is so desperately needed amongst the indebted. Second, it greatly reduces debt outstanding when compared to not making any payments while in school. Third, it allows for the student to develop a positive credit history putting them in much better position to apply for future critical loans such as mortgages.

The ability to make a payment towards loans while in school has been available for Stafford loans for many years now. The option has generally been available for private loans as well, but certainly not promoted or generally ignored by the public. Most student borrowers would elect to defer loan payments until after graduation. This has been the status quo until today where we see college graduates finishing school without any debt management skills, but a huge loan payment due. Slim job prospects have not helped the situation either. It is the most disciplined student borrowers that learned to manage their debts appropriately that have positioned themselves apart from their fellow class mates to strive for success after graduation.

• A private loan is a credit based loan. Typically, they come with a 10-15 year repayment term and have a variable interest rate. Unlike federal loans which come with fixed interest rates.

• A private student loan can be used for higher education costs like tuition, room and board, books, transportation and other expenses.

• For the majority of private loans you must be registered at an accredited private or state college and be enrolled as a matriculated student in a degree seeking program.

• Before you apply for a private loan you should already know exactly how much financial aid you are eligible for. Subtracting your financial aid award from the bill should tell you how much to apply for.

• Your goal is to use a minimal amount of private loans to fund your education. The less you take out the less you will have to repay. It’s that simple.

• Estimate what your repayment would be by using loan calculators.

• If you are just finishing high school, chances are you don’t have much credit history and will need a cosigner to get approved for a private loan. If you are an adult who is continuing their education, you might qualify for a private loan without a cosigner, but keep in mind that there may still be benefits in the way of reduced interest rates on some programs if you apply with a cosigner.

• A cosigner is someone who signs on the loan with you. This means that if you do not pay your loan back, then the cosigner is responsible for the repayment of the loan. Virtually anyone can be your cosigner, but most often it’s a parent or close relative.

• Look for a loan that can provide a low interest rate. A lower rate can save you money during repayment. You also want a lender that can provide good repayment options such as rewards for on time repayment, or cosigner release options.

• Remember that you will need to continue this process for each year you are in school. Before each semester begins you should know what financial aid you are receiving and review if any additional funding is required since financial aid awards can change each year.