Nontraditional College Students

Hello everyone, just wanted to take the time to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving. Hopefully that bit of school stress that you may have gained, I know that I have, you will be able to enjoy the holiday weekend. Fall semester is almost to a close and I wanted to say congrats to all that have made it through another semester and closer to their goal of getting their degree or have already earned their degree. Keep the positive thoughts in your mind and think of the positive reasons that you are back in school and to keep pushing through.

When you started to register for you classes, you knew what major you would get into. Something that would hopefully get you a nice paycheck or something that you really felt passionate about, or something that would continue on with what you are already doing. Sometimes when you begin classes and go through the course, you realize that this may not be what you need to be in or that you are in need of a change. I know I was that way when I set my mind on a major and then changed it the next semester. I feel more confident on my major now and know that I am comfortable with it and had made a better decision for myself.

If you are deciding on changing your major, it’s best to know what you want to explore and what you feel comfortable with. On The Maverick Muse , there are some tips to help you to figure if what the major you are taking now is the best path for you.

It’s time for registration for the spring semester that is fast approaching. You probably will be getting a letter of notification of when you should start to register for classes and when to see your adviser about what classes you may need to take or not take. So it’s a good idea, I think, to get your classes registered early especially those that you will be needing.  If you are going for full time student, then 12 credits would consider you as full time. If you are taking less then that, you would be considered part time and a full load is 18 credits. Best piece of advice I could give, is don’t take on to much then you can handle as it could burn you out. I’ve learned that this semester myself.

Well one of the tips that should be a given is to be nice, which goes a long way. Below are 5 tips to getting financial aid which comes from an article from FastWeb.com.

• Write a letter to the financial aid office, thanking them for the “generous” financial aid package they’ve already awarded you. Tell them that you’re planning to attend and ask if there is any more money that could be awarded to you now that other students have made their decisions.

• Make sure you know exactly what you’re being asked before you fill out a financial aid form like the FAFSA or an institutional form. You don’t want to be dishonest but you also don’t want to volunteer unnecessary information that can wind up costing you.

• Try to negotiate before you’ve sent in your deposit confirming enrollment. There’s nothing wrong with letting a school know what another college has awarded you.

• Let the financial aid office know if your financial circumstances have changed since the original package was awarded. If your parents lost their job or work in a field being particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, some schools will take that into account.

• Above all, be nice! No student is so valuable that a school is going to drop to their knees to give you whatever you want. “When you approach the financial aid office, approach with hat in hand-never demand,” she said. “Go in with a demanding attitude and you’ll get the cold shoulder.”

Below is part of an article along with a link for further reading about how or if the economy will affect financial aid.

The stock market’s plummeting. Congress is bailing out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And student loans are getting tougher to come by.

But you’re not sure how — or if— any of it affects you. Chances are it will. And while you may not be feeling the effects of it yet, that’s simply because it hasn’t trickled down yet.

When it comes to financial aid, some know the scope of the industry better than others. Mark Kantrowitz is one of those people. The author of our own, FastWeb College Gold, A Step-by-Step Guide to Paying for College, and a slew of other financial aid resources including FinAid.org , Kantrowitz sheds light on what today’s economy means for you.

 Further reading of this article HERE

This was a cool website that came across my email this morning. It’s called Education Xpo where you are able to visit colleges just sitting at your home, taking a virtual tour. It’s basically an online college fair. A quote from the site says

“EducationXpo will feature world-class admissions and financial aid experts, helping students and parents access the information they need to make smart education decisions - and it’s 100% FREE.”

There may also be scholarship money that you could qualify for by registering at the site and visiting them when they open the Xpo on November 6, 2008. Hopefully you are able to attend, even if not to try for the scholarship money, but to gain some information about colleges that you have an interest in attending.

Have you ever thought that you know there are possibly textbooks somewhere that are inexpensive or even hopefully free? Well you know what, there are! Just by doing a search online, there are quite a few websites that offer some textbook for free online. One example is http://books.google.com . I’ve come across a few books, whether for classes or recreactional reading, and they have quite a range of books online that you can read for free. A few more websites that I have found are:

Free Online Textbooks

Textbook Revolution

Download College Textbooks Online

I hope these few sites will help you in saving on textbooks as I know they have helped me with saving and I plan to continue to use them throughout my college career as they are available to me.

This is a good scholarship to try to apply for if you are in the field of accounting and law perhaps. This is located at FastWeb.com where you can also apply for many other scholarships that you may be qualified for in the field of study you are in.

Attorney-CPA Foundation Essay Contest

Award Amount: $2,500

The Attorney-CPA Foundation Essay Contest is open to undergraduate and graduate students who are majoring in accounting and law. You must write an essay that addresses the topic presented on the Web site provided. There are two divisions and different topic is given in each division.

Time management is something that a non traditional student has to really apply the time to, to ensure that things in there life does not get to unbalanced. Managing home life, college life, work, social and other things at one time can be difficult, but setting your mind on what your priorities are more important to you can help. Below is a youtube video about a real nontraditional student on how he used time management to put a handle on things in his life. I hope that he will give you a couple of ideas that you may be able to try and use for yourself.

In an earlier post, there was mention about scholarships and grants that you could apply for to pay for tuition, books, and other fees that would be costs of continuing your education. There may be at times that the funds may not cover everything that needs to be paid for and you may be given an option to apply for a loan. Majority of the times, anyone that applies for a loan would usually get one. The loans splits to provided proper payment for each of the fall and spring semesters you are taking. There are all kinds of loans that you could apply for whether you search for one that online or that a school may suggest one for you.

For a non traditional student, the Federal Staffford Loan is one that you would apply for. There are two types that you could choose from, subsidized or unsubsidized. Depending on what you choose and what status you are of your year in college (freshman, sophmore, etc) it will depend on the amount that you will receive and have to pay back. For example, if you are a sophmore and you have a subsidized loan from whoever you got the loan from, you would get $4500. This would give you about $2250 for each semesters costs for your classes. For a subsidized loan, you are given the option to pay after you graduated within a few months time.