Monday, January 22, 2007

Here is a great example of finding a scholarship. This Sunday in the coupon section of the newspaper, I found an ad for a college scholarship from Sharpie. With this scholarship, all you have to do is log onto Sharpie.com and enter for a chance to win a $25,000 college scholarship. This would probably be an outside chance for getting money, but one of those things that won't cost you to enter--won't cost time or money! Besides, you definitely won't win if you don't enter! So why not give it a shot.
We are currently in the major scholarship season of the year, and it will be worth your time and effort to keep your eyes open for other scholarship opportunities!

Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Good morning!
There could be great news coming out of Washington---they are considering lowering the interest rate on school loans. Right now, Congress is debating lowering the interest from around 8.6% to about 3.4%---this could mean huge savings for students that have to borrow money to pay for education. The downside looks like the money the government would loose would be covered by making the lending institutions pay more fees. This could effectively make it a less lucrative business for the lending entities and make it more difficult to find lenders. Time will tell.
We have found that educational loans were the only way we could finish paying the cost of education beyond what scholarships and grants covered. Our girls have minimal loans to repay since they received so much funding in money that didn't have to be repaid. Even their small loans w0uld be easier to repay at a lower percentage rate.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

It's been some time now since I have added to this blog. With this new year, I will try to blog occasionally and keep you up to date on college admission and scholarship information.

If you have a student that will be heading to college next fall, NOW is the time to begin your financial aid search. It is time to begin working on getting your taxes done so that you can file your FAFSA (Free Application for Student Aid). I always spend some time in January gathering all my tax information so that when our W-2s come in we can get our taxes done in early February and get our FAFSA filed before March 1. This has worked really well for us, and both our girls have been able to use some federal money for education. It has also been used by their schools to calculate their other aid in the form of scholarships and grants.

This will be the last year that I have to file a FAFSA as our youngest will finish her college work in the spring of 2008. The FAFSA we file this year will handle her funding for the 2007-2008 school year.

This is our 8th year to file a FAFSA and we have learned so much about how the system works! In my materials, I have further information on filing this form--lots of tips and hints that homeschoolers will find very helpful.

I wish each and every one of you a very happy new year!