Despite some panicky reporting to the contrary, the fact of the matter is that Stafford Loans are not in danger. The subject has gotten a lot of press recently due to the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the effects of which have finally trickled down to the arena of student loans.

There will, however, be some problems for student loans in the future, but these problems will be almost entirely limited to private school loans for some high risk borrowers. Students attending schools with reputations that have not yet been established will find that their loans might be at risk in the future as well.

The important thing to remember about this topic is that if an actual crisis arises which affects the availability of Stafford Loans, the federal government can take steps to make sure that the capital still is available. Nevertheless, poorly researched reporting has resulted in widespread fear about the future accessibility of Stafford Loans, and there is a lot of fear, if not panic, starting to go around. The ramifications of this unfounded fear could be many, which is why it’s so important to inform students about what’s actually going on.

One danger is that quick, unhelpful policy changes could take place in an effort to “fix” a problem which does not yet exist. The bigger danger is that students could start to believe that they will have no chance of securing a student loan, so they won’t even try. Remember – there are thousands and thousands of different Stafford Federal Family Education Loan lenders in addition to the Department of Education’s Direct Loan program — and Stafford Loans don’t require a credit check! Your regular, every day banks are still providing Stafford Loans, and some of them have even recently decided to lower interest rates on both federal and private loans. They would not do that if they were seriously worried about their ability to raise capital for the loans. Most big banks and schools are not worried about Stafford Loan availability – so neither should students.

Tags: Financial Aid by editor
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According to a recent PC World article (February, 2008), which quoted a new report by the market research firm IDC, the average Internet user spends a whopping 33 hours online each week. This number represents about half of the total time spent using all media and almost twice the amount of time we spend watching television.

Interesting, this is also eight times longer than we spend reading books and magazines, which come in at about 3.9 hours every week. One of the reasons our online time is increasing is that it’s easier than ever before to surf the Web. We can now do it from our phones, with laptops and Internet cafes, and even at Internet consoles at airports. Also, these numbers are relevant mainly for the younger generations, as the data suggests that people tend to use the media that they were accustomed to growing up.

Today’s young people were born in the Internet and text-messaging age, so they are more likely to make use of The Internet than other forms of media. The data also reveals some of the most frequently used online activities among the study’s respondents. These include using search engines (84 percent); mapping and navigation services (83 percent), personal research (77 percent), and using email (76 percent).

Sometimes when people use the internet they misspell the word or phrase that they are searching for. These spelling errors happen to everyone and Google developed a great feature that prompts users who type in a misspelled word with their possible options. One reason for the spelling errors is the difficult nature of some search terms for example the spelling of University of Phoenix as University Of Phoneix or University Of Phenix, there are many more similar misspellings that we try and help our users with on our page of
featured schools.

Interestingly, these numbers all appear to have gone up significantly since 2004, when a MARS study which used about 13,000 adult Internet users for a study, concluded that about 2/3 of the U.S. are active Internet users. The member of the study reported being online for just over one hour each day, which adds up to only 8 hours or so a week. The top activities for Internet users are emailing and chatting (by far), playing games, reading news and conducting research. Shopping and selling activities online have also increased a lot in the last five years.

Tags: Learning Technologies, Online Education by editor
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The deadlines for receiving FAFSA financial aid vary depending on the student’s circumstances, state of residence, and school she/he is attending or plans to attend. Some schools and states have different deadlines than the Federal Government and require additional paperwork. Also, students should check to see what is their school’s definition of an application deadline is. Some are receipt dates, while for others its the process date. As with all important applications and paperwork, its never a bad idea to turn in your forms early.
The Federal Government recommends that you submit your FAFSA requirement as close to, but not before, January 1st. That is, if a student wants to apply for financial aid for the 2009-2010 school year, submit your FAFSA as soon after January 1, 2009 as you can. Most schools require that FAFSA forms are submitted by spring in order to receive preference for the school’s financial aid for the following academic year. Students should check their school’s website or speak with a financial aid advisor.
The actual final deadlines posted by the Government are much later than that. The deadline for the 2007-2008 school year is June 30, 2008 for FAFSA on the Web, the primary FAFSA submission tool. Corrections to these forms must be completed by September 22, 2008. For the 2008-2009 school year, FAFSA forms must be submitted by June 30, 2009, while corrections have to be submitted by September 15, 2009.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid by admin
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Oprah Winfrey is in charge of the world’s largest book club, and soon, she will break new ground and offer online classes for students wanting to investigate some of her favorite books and authors. Starting Monday, March 3, Oprah Winfrey will join Eckhart Tolle, author of New Earth, to teach a ten-week online course about the book and its themes. The classes are free and take place once a week on Monday nights. Each week, students will have a chance to interact with both Oprah and Eckhart Tolle online before and during the class. Each class will correspond to a chapter in the book, and class discussions will revolve around the chapters’ themes.

Eckhart Tolle published New Earth in 2005, and it’s since become a very popular title. The book encourages a collective sense of commitment to changing the way we live for people who want to make a difference. Eckhart Tolle, a spiritual teacher and mystic, recognizes that the times we live in require desperate change on many fronts, and his books answers the important question: what can one person do to bring about that change? Tolle’s book is written very clearly and is easy to understand, and his writing tries to help readers enter new levels of consciousness. He wants to awaken readers to their lives’ true purpose, and to help them achieve that purpose.

Throughout this particular online course, the students will discuss what they have gained from the book and what dysfunctional patterns they see within themselves, and how to turn those patterns around into fulfilling their life goals and purposes.

Tags: Non-Traditional Students, Online Education by editor
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FAFSA – which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid – has made some important changes recently to both the form as well as to the application process. One of the most important changes is that students can no longer pick up the forms from their high schools, where they used to be distributed in bulk. Students now have to access the form online, they can download and print out the PDF version, or they may call to request up to three (3) paper copies of the form. The reason behind this change is that more students are using the online application. Also, high school juniors can now get an early jump on the FASFA process. Due to recent changes, juniors can now take advantage of the FAFSA4caster Web site, where they can take time to learn about the financial aid process, learn about their eligibility and many other pieces of information. This new site is a great chance for younger students to familiarize themselves with what can be a very overwhelming and scary process. The link to this Website can be found on the left-hand side of the mains fafsa.org Website. For the FAFSA form which is available as of January 1, 2008, there are a number of smaller changes which have been made which do not affect the availability of the forms. All of these changes are already worked into the forms, and the majority of the changes were made to clarify any ambiguous questions for directions. Some of these changes include:

1. The 2008-2009 FAFSA colors are orange for student information and purple for parent information.

2. Question 21 was revised to a more direct question by adding “are you female.” This question was changed in order to determine if a student is required to register with the Selective Service.

3. For Question 16 (on p. 7), specific instructions were added regarding marital status to clarify changing this information after signing the FAFSA.

Tags: FAFSA, Financial Aid by editor
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