Education Articles from College Matching Service

It has been discovered that many scholarship applications get rejected within the first thirty seconds of review. An administrative assistant usually opens the scholarship application form and compares the application to the checklist in order to decide which applications to hand off to the scholarship review committees. Many of these fail to meet the checklist criteria and are discarded.  While organizing your scholarship applications you should avoid some general mistakes so that your scholarship application does not get rejected.

Mistakes To Avoid While Organizing Your Application

Missing The Deadline

All scholarship applications that come after the closing date will get rejected automatically. Hence, while organizing your scholarship application you must never forget the deadline for application submission. Some scholarship programs stop receiving application forms even before the closing date if they already get too many forms. It is always advisable to send your scholarship applications as soon as possible to avoid rejection.

Unable To Meet Eligibility Requirement

Every scholarship has some eligibility requirements of its own. Some candidates submit the application without thoroughly reading these eligibility requirements. The form that meets all necessary requirements will  go to the scholarship adjudicators for review. If you do not meet the eligibility requirements, do not waste time in submitting that scholarship application, as you could use this time and energy pursing another scholarship that better suits your needs and one that you are eligible to apply for.

Fail To Follow Application Instruction

While organizing your scholarship application never fail to follow the application instructions. The administrative assistants will check whether you followed all the instructions before submitting the application form. If your application asks for a photograph, two reference names or letter of recommendations, have them all ready to present in clear concise fashion.

Incorrect Grammar And Spelling

After your scholarship application reaches the scholarship judges, they will check for your grammar and spelling. While organizing your scholarship application, remain aware of this crucial stage. A small mistake in punctuation and spelling can result in the rejection of your scholarship application. Hence, before submitting scholarship forms, double check for grammar or spelling error and ask your family members to re-check it when possible.

It can take just a few minutes to a fill out an application but that application truly represents a few years of preparation. Everything depends on how much time and energy you can invest in the process. If you are genuinely serious about saving thousands of dollars on college tuition bills, then the more time you can spend preparing for the scholarship process, the better. However, it’s never too late to start preparing and organizing your scholarship application. Whether you’re a just a fresh high school pass-out or a senior, you can start organizing and preparing for your scholarship application.

• Pay attention to the Grades: One of the most important things that most scholarship committees require and pay attention to is your grade point average. The grade point average represents the cumulative grades received in all classes you have taken while in high school. If you’re still in school then give yourself a good start and try to attain the best grades possible. Remember that even a couple points on your grade point average can mean the difference between qualifying for a scholarship and just missing the required criteria. Many colleges and scholarship committees like to see improvement over a student’s high school career. So, if you haven’t done so well before then work harder to show the scholarship selection committee that you are motivated and enthusiastic now about your higher education.
• Standardized Test Scores – Many of the colleges and scholarship applications require your SAT score. The SAT score is not like your grade point average, which may be weighted differently at different high schools. Even if your college grades are not too high, your SAT score can make up the difference you will need. Students who receive perfect or very high SAT scores are often given high consideration even if their grade point average is low. Therefore study for the SAT sincerely, take practice tests, consult with friends who have taken the SAT and get going.
• Mention your interests: The selection committee may like to see your commitment an activity or sport that interests you so mention them in your application. Students are usually advised to present a well rounded application showing their involvement in many different programs. You can therefore pick one or two activities or sports that you not only excel at but are passionate about. This will make your scholarship application look much better.

Preparing yourself for a scholarship is of course not an easy task. Just remember that it’s never too late to start organizing your application and paying attention to it. The time and energy you spend now can mean a significant savings during college.

Think of attending college as a part of investment into financial future. In the present economy, college or university education is more crucial than ever. The future earnings of a student as a result of university degree would make up for interest paid for the student loans. Choosing to earn a university or college degree will probably be the best decision you make.

If you want to fund your education, but you do not have access to a large amount of money, you will probably have to choose the student loan option to solve your problem. Apart from the tuition fee of college, you will also require funds for transportation, books and for meeting other daily expenditures.

How Student Loans Can Help

Luckily, several student loan programs are available nowadays, that may help you a lot to fund your education. Usually, interests are paid for all types of loans because of getting the benefit of borrowing money when you don’t have cash at hand. However, you can postpone the payment for student loan until you finish your schooling and get a full time job in your selected field of study. This helps you to carry on with your education, and you will have to pay back the student loan only when you get full time employment.

Before rushing to sign the student loan application form, you must have detailed knowledge about the student loan procedure. If you follow the procedure used by federal programs, you will possibly get the best value. Federal process usually starts with student filing a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid).

After the FAFSA is processed students receive a SAR (Student Aid Report). SAR delineates the grants and scholarships for which a student qualify. It also outlines the amounts and loan programs that are available to the student. It is always advisable to start with those student loan programs which provide maximum advantages to the students; then opt for other student loans in order to meet the remaining expenditures.

Federal loans are provided by the government for the higher education needs of prospective and current students. These loans generally have low interest rates and the rules and regulations are created by the United States Department of Education.

Some federal loans are:

I) Stafford Loans: These are given to both undergraduates as well as the graduates. This loan comes in both subsidized and unsubsidized forms. While you get the subsidized loan on the basis of need, the unsubsidized loan comes to students who need additional aid. This comes with interest.

II) Perkins loans: This is also a subsidized loan for both the undergraduates as well as the graduates. In this case the college is the lender using its own pool of money. The loans are awarded if there are exceptional financial needs.

III) Parent PLUS Loans: These loans are given to the parents of the students to supplement the financial need of the students.

IV) Grad PLUS Loans: These loans are for students who are enrolled in a graduate or a professional program

V) Federal Direct Loans: These are provided by the US Department of Education directly to the students after careful assessment of a student’s need.

These loans which are provided by the federal government are different than corporate loans. Corporate loans offered by various banks and other institutions. These are paid directly to the student as opposed to directly to a college or university.  This add flexibility to the prospective student to allocate the funds according to their needs.  Some common private loans are:

Wells Fargo Collegiate Loan

I) Citi Assist Loan

II) CLC Premier Loan

III) CLC Bar Loan

IV) Law Access Loan

V) Wells Fargo Education Connection Loan

VI) Sallie Mae Signature

VII) Wells Fargo MedCap Loan

If you are applying for any corporate student loan, there is something to keep in mind: corporate loans cannot be consolidated with the federal loans. You need to take them separately and also pay for them separately.  With these things in mind collect your research and carefully make the best decision for the loan that fits your education needs.

In certain cases you may need to have some form of student loan to cover up for your college education expenses. In fact according to research almost two thirds of all student aids comes from federal loans. But before you go for a corporate student loan there are some things that you need to research. These are:

a) Whether it is given to both undergraduate as well as graduate students

b) Whether checking the credit status of the students is a factor

c) Whether the rate of interest is lower than the interest rate offered by other organizations

d) Whether or not you can defer payment until after you have completed your program

e) Whether the interest rate is fixed or not

After checking these out you will be ready to pursue a corporate or federal student loan. Some benefits attract students to corporate loans rather than the federal loans. The benefits are:

i) No borrowing limit on the money

ii) Good interest rates and fees

iii) No application fees

iv) No deadline for applications – you can apply at any time

v) A grace period of 12 months after graduation

vi) Quick approval of loans

vii) Money is sent directly to you and not to the school

viii) Immediate disbursement of the loan within 48 hours of loan approval

ix) If you pay back on time then you would get 0.5% discount on interest

x) No need of having a federal loan application at your disposal

xi) If you have a cosigner with you then you would get the loan at much lower interest rate

However there are risks involved in these corporate student loans also. First you need to know very clearly what are the terms and conditions that you need to fulfill before you go for the loan. Secondly you need to understand whether these loans offer same protection like the federal loans.

What is a Federal Pell Grant? A Federal Pell Grant is awarded by the federal government to both part time and full time college and vocational students.

The eligibility criteria of Federal Pell Grant: To be eligible for the Federal Pell Grant you need to be a student whose house income is up to $50,000. However, in many cases Federal Pell Grant goes to those students whose house income is about $20,000. Moreover, there is no application fee for applying for Federal Pell Grant.

You can also receive a Federal Pell Grant for your undergraduate study, your first professional degree or baccalaureate.

Factors determining the award of the Federal Pell Grant: There is a formula that works behind the award of the Federal Pell Grant. Whether you would get the award or not depends on a lot of factors. These are:

a) The financial situation of your family

b) The number of members in your family

c) What type of course you are following- that is whether it is full time or part time

d) The tuition price of your program

Where can you use the Federal Pell Grant? The Federal Pell Grant can be used in almost any school that you attend. As a precaution, ask the financial aid administrator whether the school and the course that you have chosen supports the Federal Pell Grant.

How to apply for a Federal Pell Grant? You need to complete a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) application form if you want to apply for a Federal Pell Grant. Some schools prefer that the application form is filled electronically.

After you have submitted the application form, you need to wait for processing time before you get the grant. If you want to know the status of your application you can call up the Federal Student Aid Information Center.

No sooner than you open your mouth expressing your wish to pursue higher education, small, large, private and public banks would deliver a long list of investment plans. There are some other lucrative plans like, stocks, shares and mutual funds that also advertise them for the benefit of students. When options are aplenty it often becomes difficult to decide on the right one.

You are the right judge of the investment plans that you are going to make for your future. There are a large number of parameters that determine the nature of investment. A financial adviser can suggest you better on any investment plan. All you need is to take some initiative in noting down the prospective colleges where you would like to apply, the present cost for the course and the duration of the course. You planning for the investment would be based on these determinants. If you feel that your course duration can elongate, then plan the finances accordingly. For a better solution, you can consult a career counselor.

Tips for investment

Below are some investment options that you can pursue if the situations support:

• U.S. savings bonds - The benefit that you can obtain from this bond is that it is simply free of federal tax. But the condition is that you have to qualify in terms of income earned and also apply for the colleges listed by them.

• Pay tuition fees in advance - There are some states which provides an option for the students to pay off their tuition fees in advance. This will enable the students to escape the hassle of paying the tuition fees during the course. No matter what the course fee changes to be in future, they won’t be charged again anything extra. The condition for such payment is that when the student gets enrolled, the tuition cost will be covered. There is a restriction of colleges even in this plan. Private colleges are generally not included.

• 529 savings plans - This is a typical college saving plan offered by individual states. This plan has a large number of facets that can benefits higher education to a large extent.

• Other options - Apart from the above mentioned methods you can select from other option like Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and IRAs.