Vote to Save Money on Education

Next year, this country will have new leadership. The presidential elections are right around the corner and the choice you make this November can greatly impact your financial aid future and the accessibility of higher education for those who come behind you.

According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (USPIRG), Congress passed the College Cost Reduction and Access Act last year which lowered interest rates on subsidized Federal Stafford loans from 6.8% to 6.0% as of July 1st, 2008. A study by USPIRG estimates that this move will save the average four-year college student starting school in 2008 with subsidized Stafford loans about $2,570 over the life of his or her loans.

This Act had many other benefits for college students, most of which are well summarized here.

Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, was a part of the Conference Committee that helped push this bill through. In fact, the first bill he introduced as a Senator was aimed at making college more affordable.

Interestingly, Republican nominee, John McCain voted against the College Cost Reduction and Access Act and has in the past opposed other such legislative efforts that support public and higher education.

This is not a political blog so we're not telling you who to vote for. Just be aware that Congress and the President have the power to enact legislation that impact federal financial aid policies which in turn can either help us or hurt us when it's time to repay student loans. The outcome of this election will directly affect what legislation will succeed in the next four years since ultimately, the president must approve it.

College School Year Planning Checklists

FastWeb has published four helpful chronological checklists to help college students stay organized and plan out major things to do as the school year progresses. Each list highlights items that a student should be doing or planning to do at each part of each year leading up to graduation. These are great to print out and hang on your wall or post in your notebook to help you keep track of important things to do as the year progresses. Here's a preview of the items they suggested for each year of college:

Freshmen

• Familiarize yourself with campus resources: health center, student center, libraries, gym, cafeterias, financial aid office, academic department offices, etc.
• Research local banking options and open a checking account. If you're planning to get a credit card, read the fine print on all offers.
• Meet with your faculty advisor to discuss courses, extracurricular activities and career building options.
• Gather financial records and materials you need for the FAFSA. The form is available January 1st.
• Start applying for scholarships from private organizations. Check your FastWeb search results for new scholarships.

Sophomores

• Declare a major (and minor) if ready. Some schools require students to declare their major by the end of the fall term.
• Select a volunteer organization you'd like to get involved with. Community service can help you gain practical experience while building up your resume.
• Put together your resume, including academic record, extracurricular activities, honors and volunteer work.
• Explore alternative career planning options such as: assisting a professor with research, international internships, mentoring programs and independent study.

Juniors

• Map out the classes you'll need to take for the next two years in order to finish on time.
• Start taking leadership roles in clubs, activities and volunteer organizations. Employers are impressed by students who take initiative and demonstrate leadership skills.
• Begin identifying possible career paths. Create a target list of industries and companies you'd like to work for and research them.
• Meet with your faculty adviser to discuss plans for summer and next fall.
• Senior
• If you're planning to go to graduate school, begin studying for the required standardized test - typically the MCAT, LSAT, GRE or GMAT.

Seniors

• Sign up for on-campus interviews. Check your career center for workshops on interviewing, networking and negotiating.
• Conduct informational interviews with professionals in your career field. Ask to shadow a professional for a day to find out about the daily routine of that career.
• Join professional organizations in your field. They can be a good source for contacts and job leads.
• Use free job-search Web sites like Monster.com. Their job boards have comprehensive and up-to-date job listings.
• Review job offers. Make sure to look at the whole package - benefits, opportunities for advancement, location, corporate culture.
• Create a loan repayment plan. Use online loan calculators to help set up your plan.

Fastweb has done a great job of breaking down the major steps that are important in each phase of a college career. Many of the items they listed are pretty common sense but what's most helpful is the time range they give for when to begin and when to be done with those common sense items. For example, everyone knows they have to get a resume together eventually but how many students really begin piecing it together in their sophomore or even their freshman year so that when the time comes to use it, they're well prepared.

Full lists: Freshman | Sophomore | Junior | Senior

Back-to-School Savings

The Back-to-School season typically means increased traffic and big bucks for retailers. However, this year the economy is lagging and consumers (especially college students) are doing everything they can to stretch each and every dollar. For example, according to a recent study by consulting firm, Deloitte, 70% of back-to-school shoppers in Illinois plan to buy lower-priced items than they did a year ago. A recent study conducted by the National Retail Federation* predicts the following trends in back to school spending among college students:

"While students will still allocate the largest portion of their budget to electronics, spending will fall to $211.89 per person from $258.43 last year. Spending on clothing ($134.40 vs. $149.85 last year) and dorm furnishings ($90.90 vs. $109.85 last year) will also drop, while spending on shoes will remain flat ($58.46 vs. $59.90 last year). Only one category—school supplies—will experience a notable increase, from $63.52 last year to $68.47 this year. Spending on collegiate gear, a new category, will average $35.26 per person."

They also expect these trends to hit over-priced college campus bookstores the hardest with "only 41.8 percent of students planning to buy from those stores, a sharp decrease from 57.2 percent last year." This is obviously great news for the discounters like Wal-mart and Family Dollar who are likely to draw even greater flocks, but what does this mean for the online retailers?

Our generation is very internet-savvy and well aware of the potential savings and convenience of shopping online. Online retailers want some of this price-sensitive traffic so you'd better believe they're going to have their share of discounts although finding some may take a bit of digging.

Here's a sneaky little tip for finding the best discounts on Amazon. By adding a tiny piece of code (like this: "&pct-off=70-") to their search results urls you can easily and quickly narrow down items discounted by a certain percent or more. Our example would limit search results to items discounted 70% or more! Use the links below to jump right to discounts on the stuff you need.

Office & School Supplies: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Cell Phones: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Computers: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Laptop Notebooks: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
DVDs: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Electronics: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Study Snacks: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Kitchen Appliances: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off
Dorm Decor: 10% Off 20% Off 30% Off 50% Off 70% Off 90% Off

*About the Survey
The NRF 2008 Back to School and Back to College Consumer Intentions and Actions Surveys were designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to back to school spending and back to college spending. The surveys were conducted for NRF by BIGresearch. The poll of 8,361 consumers was conducted from July 1 -8, 2008. The consumer polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.0 percent. - NRF.com