Why should you consolidate student loans? The answer is simple - you lower your monthly payments to fit your budget, make repayment much easier and save money on lower interest rates. Whether you have federal, private, graduate student loans or parent PLUS loans, you should consolidate those loans so you can manage your monthly finances.

As you start your new life and new career, you need your money for rent, new furniture and maybe a new car. You could be considering buying a home, getting married or starting a family. Whatever the case may be, this is the time when you need your money the most.

With the average post-secondary student graduating with over $20,000 in loans (Stafford and Perkins loans), you can see why it’s important to consolidate student loans and make them financially manageable.

When you consolidate debt, you lump your existing student loans into one large loan. By doing this, your monthly payment on the consolidation loan is much less than the total monthly payments of all your existing loans. And that provides you with the much needed money to get your life started the way you want. (more…)

With graduate debt averaging over $15,000, the ability to spread the cost of further education using a student credit card is obviously attractive. Adding to their appeal is the fact that these cards are relatively easy to obtain. Unlike many standard credit cards, they are available to people who do not have a regular, minimum income and credit history.

They often come with tempting offers including low rates for an introductory period, shopping discounts and free CDs. Flexing student plastic has the additional benefit of creating a credit history that can be used to support future loan and mortgage applications.

So, with no regular income and credit history, what exactly is the attraction of students for the credit card companies Well, the fact that graduates can expect to earn, on average, $400,000 more over their lifetime than the national average, means that financial institutions are eager to attract this extra earning potential. Banks and credit card providers know that the general public are reluctant to go through the hassle of changing accounts, so by attracting students early in their career, they are likely to stay with them for life. (more…)

Q. What is a 529 Plan? A. A Section 529 college savings plan is a tax-advantaged state-administered investment program that is authorized under Internal Revenue Code Section 529. These plans allow investors to save money in an account in which the earnings will grow free from federal income tax and, when used to pay for “qualified higher education expenses”, may be withdrawn federal income tax-free.

In many states, a participant can receive special state incentives, including state tax treatment that mirrors the federal tax treatment, tax deductions and/or other state tax benefits, based on participation in their state’s program(s).

Q. What’s the difference between a 529 prepaid tuition program and a 529 savings program?
A. Prepaid Tuition: Essentially, parents, grandparents, and other interested parties may purchase future tuition at a today’s lower rate. The program will then pay the future college tuition of the beneficiary at any of the state’s eligible colleges or universities (or comparable payment to private or out-of-state institutions). Amounts of tuition (years or units) may be purchased through a one-time lump sum purchase or monthly installment payments. The program pools the money and makes investments to enable the earnings meet or exceed college tuition increases in that state. (more…)

Michele Hernandez boasts that 95% of her teenage clients are accepted by their first-choice school. Her price: As much as $40,000 a student

As I listened to my 8th period English teacher drone on for the third time about how Finny, a character in A Separate Peace, was indeed the main character although he was not the narrator, it finally dawned on me that this was not the exciting world of high school that I had hoped for.

This is how Andrew Garza began an essay in his application to Haverford College. It was a 1,200-word piece that established him as an intellectually curious young man. It was crafted to appeal specifically to the admissions officers at the small liberal arts school. And it was the idea of his high-priced college admissions coach, Michele A. Hernandez. Garza attended a private school in Switzerland, and that worried Hernandez: She thought he might appear to be a privileged teenager without much substance. So she advised him to write about why he had left his public high school in suburban New Jersey. “We had to make it seem like he didn’t want to be around so many rich kids. We spun a whole story about him taking the initiative to leave in order to broaden his experience,” Hernandez says. “It was his initiative. But he wouldn’t have written about it.”

Today Andrew is a senior at Haverford, studying sociology and economics. His father, John, paid Hernandez $18,000 for 18 months’ worth of advice. “It is a lot of money,” says Garza, a manager at Abitibi-Consolidated (ABY ) in New York. “But if you look at it as an investment, it’s not a bad one.”

A DIVISIVE FIGURE
Hernandez may well be the most expensive college coach in America, charging as much as $40,000 to get a student into an elite college. As one of this fast-growing industry’s most visible practitioners, she uses methods that are publicly scorned by rivals but are nonetheless becoming part of the profession’s standard operating procedures. She is a divisive figure in an already controversial field, regularly drawing condemnation from admissions officers who say she is selling advantage (BusinessWeek, 10/24/07) to people who least need it. (more…)

Despite the fact that the working poor who take college courses think of themselves as students first and employees second, their work place commitments, financial stressors and familial obligations pose particular challenges to full-time attendance and degree completion, as detailed in a new report from the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

The conundrum faced by the working poor in a nutshell: “Despite working long hours to provide for their families, their incomes still teeter on the brink of poverty. They understand that enrolling in college and earning a degree will help them improve their skills and increase their earnings potential. However, given their work and other responsibilities, it is difficult for them to enroll full time, thus making it harder for them to receive financial aid and complete the classes necessary for a degree,” according to the report released today, “College Access for the Working Poor: Overcoming Burdens to Succeed in Higher Education.”

Yet, the very fluidity of the term “working poor” was one of the more surprising findings of the report, said Alisa F. Cunningham, head of the research department at the Institute for Higher Education Policy. The working poor can periodically move into the “nonworking poor” category and vice versa as individuals make constant trade-offs about whether to take time off from work and attend college full time — with full-time status being a major predictor when it comes to degree completion — or step up the hours in the work place to pay for course work and the cost of living, Cunningham said. (more…)

Jill Adams’ first job in communications had her hobnobbing with U.S. congressmen and women, receiving visiting dignitaries, flying on Air Force One — a far cry from her previous job slinging burgers in Kansas City, Mo.

Typical of most kids starting out, Adams held a number of unglamorous jobs in high school and college. But as a student in D.C., Adams heard about a job opening in a California congressman’s office, applied, and shortly after graduation found herself writing press releases and information packets about Rep. Glenn Anderson during the Ronald Reagan administration.

The job included attending events with D.C. politicos, and Adams was once sent as an Anderson representative to a “baptism” ceremony for a submarine in Groton. She went in style, flying on Air Force One, and spent the ceremony sitting behind then-Vice President George H.W. Bush.

“As a 24-year-old, that’s pretty exciting,” she said.

Today Adams is president of Avon’s Adams & Knight Advertising, but her path wasn’t a straight one. (more…)

The transition from high school to college is tough. First-time independence takes some students by surprise. But with the whirlwind of classes, parties, social events, and new responsibilities, the pace of life tends to keep the typical college student busy enough to adapt easily.

Many students think that once they’ve gotten used to college, they’re set for life. However, once the degree is earned and the dorms have been emptied, they face another transition, this one into what’s commonly known as “the real world.”

For some, this transition is actually harder than the original one from high school. Routines are changed, responsibilities become bigger, and focuses are redirected. All in all, it can be overwhelming and more than a little scary. Here is a list of things an upcoming graduate can expect after college and tips for how to survive the transition.

1.Schedules change - College students, while having a say in the classes they take and the work they do, are bound by the basic structure of the university. Class and exam schedules, as well as on-campus jobs and extracurricular meetings, dictate much of where a student needs to be and what they need to be doing at any given time. Free time is often spent studying. While a job might be necessary, it usually takes second place to academics. Yet in the real world, students find that their schedule changes dramatically. A full time job is likely to be more demanding than a class schedule in many ways. Those who enjoyed afternoon classes might have a difficult time adjusting to a day job where they have to be up early in the morning. On the flipside, those who were used to have a set schedule may have to get used to a job where the schedule changes constantly if they go that route. (more…)

Debt consolidation can solve your debt problems. However, you need to take it easy and consider your options carefully because if done wrongly, you could do more harm than good. Following are some tips on how to avoid missteps when consolidating your debt. You should follow them carefully to steer clear of problems during the consolidation process.

There are several unwise things to do when consolidating that you should avoid: Getting into a consolidation program if you know you’ll need finance in the near future, consolidating some debt that should be left apart and not taking the necessary precautions when selecting the agency or agent that will take care of negotiating with your creditors:

Thus, Beware Of:

• Consolidating If you will need finance.

• Consolidating Debt that should be excluded.

• Choosing Fraudulent Consolidation Agents.

What If I’ll Need A Credit Card or Loan?

Don’t consolidate. If you are going to have to request either a small loan or a credit card in the near future, avoid consolidating your debt till you’ve completed that financial transaction. Otherwise, you may be declined for your credit card or loan due to a worsening of your credit score and history and you’ll find yourself unable to obtain finance from regular channels. (more…)