Degrees Online: the pros and cons of attending an online college

When I was considering going to college online, I had no idea what the process of college was. My mom went to college in Germany and my dad furthered his education through the military, so the process of applying for financial aid, applying to attend college, and actually going were a big mystery to me.

Many people ask me if I thought I missed out on the experience of attending college because I went online and not on campus. I generally tell them that I wasn’t there for the experience; I was there to learn without wasting a bunch of time and gas to drive an hour each way.

Online classes give people like me the option of furthering their education even if the situation isn’t perfect. I have 3 kids, so there was no way I would want to go on campus simply for their sake. Plus, I’d been partially home-schooled in high school, which had given me a taste of the independent student life. I always had a tendency to finish the work I needed to more quickly than others.

So let’s go over some of the pros and cons of attending college online. For people with children, attending online is especially convenient – for those who don’t have children, going on campus migt provide a more solid education.

Pros:

  • Convenience. Attending school online means you can simply go to your computer and read, participate, and do the work you’re assigned.
  • Saves time. Commuting isn’t fun for most of us, especially if the commute is a longer one. I once had a job that required a commute of 1.5 – 3 hours each way depending on traffic… after 7 months, I was completely burned out. This also made me severely anti-commuting since then, even though I used to love to drive.
  • Saves money. Instead of spending a ton of money on gas, you can save a trip and just pay for internet, which most people already have. The internet is an amazing tool for just about everyone, and makes attending school online a reality.

Cons:

  • You don’t get the full college experience. Some people learn better in a classroom environment, speaking with people face-to-face. If you’re that kind of person, then online college might not be the right choice for you.
  • Lack of social interaction. The age-old protest of why home-schooling is inferior to public school is that you don’t get the social interaction that you normally would.
  • Communicating with your instructor takes a back seat to self-help. Because your instructor isn’t right in front of you, sometimes getting an answer to your question is a little more of a drawn-out process than just asking and getting an answer. Many times, though, online instructors will have a discussion forum or system in place that allows for easy access and answers to questions.

The biggest bonus of going to college online for me personally was being able to develop my web skills. I now have an understanding of the internet that not too many people do, can literally find everything I could ever need online, and love those results for myself.

You begin to learn about the ins and outs of the internet, web search tools, search engine optimization, and many other aspects of online activity. You can find everything from scholarships to recipes online, and even specialized terms for a specific field of study and its meaning.

Attending college online does require a little bit more self-discipline than attending on campus. It’s more difficult to slack off because you’re graded on results, not on attendance – or at least not as strictly. You may have to log in once a day for a specific number of days out of the week, but even that is fairly easy to pull off. You can divide your work into that amount of days and go from there.

What do you think? Have you attended college on campus? How did you like it? Have you attended college online? How did you like that?

Four Resume Tips

Resumes are one of the most important tools in your job search. They are designed to get you into that recruiter’s office so you can sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. Advice on good resume writing is out there, all with different rules to apply. However, not everything that you read or will be told about resumes will be accurate. Here are some simple points that are often disputed that you need to follow when writing a resume. If you stick with this advice, you will find that your resume is well-accepted by employers.

  1. Your resume can be over one page. Do not let anyone tell you that your resume must be only one page in length. Research has shown that recruiters do say that they prefer one page resumes, but actually call in more candidates with two page resumes for an interview than those with only one page. Instead of scrunching up all the information on one page, allow it to be two pages. However, there is a rule of thumb. If the resume has less than three lines on the second page, make it a one page resume.
  2. Do not add a bunch of soft skills if you cannot back it up with examples and quantifiable tasks. In other words, statements like, “great leadership ability” is much more acceptable if tied with actual job tasks that you have performed in the past. For example, “Demonstrates leadership ability by leading a group of five employees in a process improvement process, exceeding deadline by one month”. The soft skill of leadership ability is there, but it is also backed by something you have accomplished. Both components are important when writing job statements.
  3. The objective statement on the resume should be replaced by qualification statements instead. The old way of resume writing would have you write an objective that would sound something like this: “To obtain a job with (X company) to better enhance the company’s reputation”. These are boring and mundane. Qualification statements are statements that should be linked with the job that you are applying for and should tell key characteristics about yourself. For example, some statements might include, “entrepreneurial spirit with 5 years of experience in X industry”, “excellent leadership abilities”, and “ability to strategically plan while paying attention to detail”. However, since these statements reflect soft skills, you should only have about three to four of them and you should be able to provide a specific example for each one in an interview.
  4. Do not state that “references are available upon request”. This is redundant. Employers know that you can and will provide this information if you are asked to come in for an interview. The statement takes up a precious line on the resume that can be used for something else. If you are called in for an interview, have three references typed on a sheet of paper that you can provide to the employer.

These four tips reflect the newest information on resumes. Some people may tell you any of these four tips are wrong. However, the old way of resume writing has been replaced with new. Follow these tips to help get your resume noticed.

Smart Ways to Save Money at College

Some of these may require a bit of work and charisma on your part, but you will save big. I have assigned a 1-5 difficulty rating system with 5 being the most difficult.

Live off campus.

Dorms are too expensive and too small. Even with the deposit required for an apartment, you can expect to save 50-75% off of your housing costs. Whether it requires allergy fabrication, a note from your second cousin that lives near your college, or any other harmless lie, this is the best way to save money. Call it whatever you want, but if you don’t do it other students will. Keep in mind that for any excuses involving a parent or relative, a signature/letter will be required, so be prepared to produce this.

Difficulty 3 – Will depend on the university and your creativity. Take your time figuring out your reasons and cover all your bases beforehand.

Never buy a meal plan.

University meal plans are huge scams. In no way shape or form should every meal of the day cost an average of 6-7 dollars. The catch to nixing the meal plan, at least at my university, is that you are required to purchase it your freshman year unless you live off campus.

Difficulty 1 – Not hard at all once you live off campus.

Buy from graduates.

Each semester, try and find a graduate trying to get rid of stuff. See if you can get a washer and dryer set for 250-300 dollars, this will save you money in the long run.

Difficulty 2 – People always have too much stuff, but the selection is entirely random.

Exchange textbooks with other students.

Always ignore the stores. Check with your upcoming professors to find out which of your classes supposedly “require textbooks”. Search for students who have just finished the related courses. If they are your friends they may be willing to give some books to you. (Be sure to give them a little cash or at least a hug.)

If after scouring Facebook, your university bulletin board, and your cell phone you are unable to find anybody with the books, you have two options. The first is to say hell with it and try to wing it by sharing. This is not necessarily the most polite thing to do, but most people will allow you to do this if you ask kindly enough or express a desire to study with them. The second is to find a friend willing to go in half on the book. Wait until a few days into the course to make sure this is actually required. When all else fails, AbeBooks has always been cheaper for me than Amazon or any other major online bookseller. You can sometimes get lucky with Ebay.

Difficulty 1 or 5 – If you have a hard time making friends or approaching people, this will be tough.

See if any of your friends have huge meal plans.

Some parents obligate their babies to get the meal plan so they don’t go hungry. If your friends don’t care, ride this gravy train to the cafeteria whenever they ask you to join them. If you aren’t entirely close, follow them to the cafeteria while talking. When you don’t walk through the double doors let them know you don’t have a meal plan. This is when you’ll find out not only how nice they are, but also if they even have anything to spare. (Most meal plans do not even roll-over from week to week. The goal is not to take advantage of people, but to make the most of resources.)

Difficulty 1 or 5 – Same as previous

Use AP/IB/CLEP credit.

If you are still in high school, you are ahead of the game. By entering college with 10 classes worth of these tests, you save yourself a year of work as well as a year of cash. If you are still in high school, get in touch with whoever is in charge of administering CLEP tests at your campus. These tests only cost about 75 dollars, and allow you to trade an hour of two of your time for an entire semester’s worth.

Difficulty 4 – It is hard to be motivated enough to get tons of credit like this. For placement tests like the CLEP, it can be stressful to study and downright demoralizing when you don’t pass.

Join an internet rental service like Netflix or, my personal favorite, Gamefly.

If you rent movies or games all of the time, you will definitely save money with one of these services. For the price you pay of renting 2 or 3 games a month, you could be getting an unlimited supply from Gamefly. This is definitely worth checking out.

Be nice to cafeteria/custodial staff.

This is something you learn at a very young age, especially if you like to eat. Though many cafeterias are self-service, some are not. The people with whom you often carry on a conversation will help you out whenever you don’t have enough cash or you forget your student card. You may not save much with the custodial staff, but it is worth a shot. I usually work either really early or really late. This often gave me the chance to get to know the custodians by name as well as listen to some of the best ranting I’ve ever heard. Whenever I needed a broom, mop, or some kind of cleaning product all I had to do was ask.

Difficulty 3 – There is often not much opportunity to talk to these people, so rapid rapport-building skills will be necessary.

Start reading a quality money publication.

Many business professors require students to subscribe to the Wall Street Journal. It’s always a smart idea to start investing as soon as you can, and now that the WSJ offers both the online and print version you get all the best money information in two ways. The price tag may seem a bit steep for students, but if you are serious about investing you will be pleased with the purchase.

See if any of your friends (or their friends) work nearby.

If you can find somebody who works at a restaurant, video store, etc., see what they can do for you. Free food, free rentals, or even just an employee discount could save you tons in the long run.

Difficulty 1 – If you already have the friends this will not be hard. Usually the people capable of getting you free stuff are managers already. Don’t get anybody fired!

There are loads more, but these are just the ones I have used personally and found to be effective. Please send in ideas of your own. I’ll post the good ones and give credit.

Handling Rejection After an Interview

Talk to any successful business person what has taught them the most about success and nearly all of them will say, ‘failure’. The ability to fail, and fail well, is a prerequisite for success in any aspect of life. It is by trying and failing we begin to truly understand how things work, and begin to learn about ourselves. The key is to learn how to handle rejection and use it as a building block to improve the way we do things and learn what it has to teach us.

Think about it, Steve Jobs was once fired from Apple, Steven Spielberg was rejected three times by the university of Southern California to sturdy Film and Elvis was told after his first performance by his manager, ‘You won’t amount to a thing – go back to driving a truck’. Rejection is a prerequisite to success, but to secure a great job you have to understand that employment rejection is a comment about the hiring process, not about you a person. Whatever happens, do not take rejection personally – you have to get over it.

Recruiters have a limited number of people they can hire for any job and receive many more applicants than they can place. At each stage of the process someone has to be rejected, and more often than not, the recruiter has an extremely difficult choice to make from the applicants before them. A rejection is never an emotional decision, it’s quite simply that the recruiter had someone else apply who matches their criteria more fully – and that may mean six months more experience, a different skill they want to utilize or a personality that fit in their team better. It’s never that there was something ‘wrong’ with you so don’t let the rejection stop you from moving forward.

Use the rejection to move you closer to success. When you receive the rejection:

1: Be bold! You have nothing to lose! Ask the employer why you weren’t hired. Ask for specifics. Explain you want to understand how you can improve and would appreciate feedback. Take that information and use it to modify your next job hunting skills.

2: Set goals. Challenge yourself. Take the feedback and make a plan on how you can improve. Don’t be too zealous on any one comment as you need to be a well-rounded candidate, but set positive goals that you can achieve and then enjoy the feeling of pushing forward to securing your next job.

3: Write everything down. Make a note of the feedback, your goals and your successes. Concentrate on improving and what you can do to make yourself the best candidate at your next interview. Review your progress and remind yourself where you’re going and how you’re succeeding when you need to.

Just bear in mind that a rejection is not the end of the journey – securing a job is. Be positive, look forward and your confidence will grow to a stage where there is no better candidate in the process but you.

The majors with the highest unemployment rate are…

When you decide to go to college, you have to find a happy medium between what you want to do and what will get you decent work. A college degree doesn’t serve a lot of purpose if you can’t get hired anywhere, right?

So which college majors have the highest unemployment rate? The Huffington Post did a piece on this, and for 2011, the results were pretty interesting.

Let’s go through the list and see what the top 5 are.

  1. Educational Psychology

Educational psychology is the study of how people learn in educational settings and various factors that play a part in the effectiveness of education on children from various different backgrounds and in various class environments. An educational psychologist likely does some studies to determine the effectiveness of small, medium, and large classes, and works with educators to improve the education system.

The unemployment rate for this field is at 10.9%, higher than the national average, which is currently at 9.1%.

  1. Library Science

Library science encompasses many different disciplines, but essentially is the organization of information sources and archival thereof. How libraries and information are organized and presented in an orderly fashion so information is easier to find for the public or for people who need it is what library science is all about – a sort of large-scale organization of information. This field deals in information organization and archiving of information and its sources, which means that information technology is also a factor in this field.

The unemployment rate for this industry is a whopping 15%.

  1. US History

Our country’s rich and colorful history may be interesting to study, but apparently someone with a degree in this field has less a chance of being employed than other fields. It’s sort of ironic that the country’s historians and history scholars are less employable than others, but unless you combine this with a teaching degree, apparently you won’t be as likely to find a job as other majors.

The unemployment rate for this field is at 15.1%.

  1. Fine Arts Degrees

If you choose to study fine arts, then you may want to pull yourself out of the “starving artist” mindset or you could wind up with the 16.2% of degree holders that are out of work. This is unfortunate, as art is such a rich and amazing study, but no matter what kind of fine arts degree you’re pursuing, the unemployment rate seems to be higher. The good thing about artists, though, is that they always seem to keep doing their work no matter how poor they are, so let’s hope that the majority will fail forward.

  1. Clinical Psychology

I guess people are beginning to cope with their problems a little better, otherwise this field would still be thriving… either that or the average person is just too broke to go to counseling these days. Whatever the case may be, this is the degree with the highest unemployment rate – an astonishing 19%!

Choosing the Right Degree

How can you make sure that the major you’re going into has a lower unemployment rate or that you’ll be able to do something with the degree no matter what? Do some research!

There’s always that balance to uphold: doing something you love that will also pay well. Unfortunately, these two don’t always go together. I, for example, am majoring in Creative Writing – a field that doesn’t necessarily even have an unemployment rate if you acknowledge all of the self-employed people. Every author is either employed elsewhere or self-employed; with the internet and so many companies outsourcing, its common sense to guess that people will find alternative ways of earning money.

If you’re in it to make money, your best bet is to go to college for something such as nursing, business, or another growing field. Nursing is an especially good choice, because the medical industry is always in need of more professionals. Those brave and dedicated individuals that do go into the medical field definitely have to love what they do, anyway! Doing a little research can easily teach you how to become an EMT or a nurse, so if that’s your calling, then go for it.

If you feel like you have to follow your heart, then do what you love and blaze your own trail – if you can make money doing something you love, you win twice!

7 Things Nobody Will Tell You About Study Abroad

Find a doctor and ask him to tell you about medical school. Find a marine and ask her to tell you about boot camp. Find somebody who has done anything of some significance and see how complete a picture you get. Human beings have immense difficulty consolidating dramatic experiences.

For something at least physically non-painful like study abroad, this is intensified. In an almost cult-like fashion, students will sing the praises of hopping on a plane to have at it for a few months in another country. As someone who has just recently finished studying abroad, let me give you a bit of insider information.

You WILL get bored.

You’re still going to have to do your dishes, wash your clothes, and have a weekly routine. That cathedral you took awesome pictures of in August will be blocking your precious sunlight in late November as you battle the wind on the way to school. Things will become ordinary and it is up to you to find new things to do.

The people living in your host country do NOT know you are an exchange student.

I once thought that being an exchange student was a golden ticket into the hearts, minds, and homes of every person living in your host country. Wrong, wrong, WRONG I was! These people generally didn’t even look at me in the street. If you want people to know you are studying abroad, you have to TELL THEM! If you want to eat with them, YOU have to ask! The amount of initiative required to overcome the fact that these people are simply living their daily lives is ENORMOUS so sharpen your ax before you get there and get ready to get culturally cracking!

You have to make your own friends.

The staff at your host university is not going to tell you where all the best dance clubs are located. Also, most students are not going to be amazingly willing to drag lost, helpless foreigners along with them, either. Acquiring friends abroad is your number one and most difficult priority.

Classes are classes regardless of where you may be.

You’ll have something resembling a chair, something resembling a desk, and something resembling a professor. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking. School is school.

Avoiding English speakers or other international students to fully immerse yourself is impossible.

Say what you want before you get there, but watch what happens. Embrace the inevitable and try to find a compromise between yourself and these people that permits everybody to get the most out of their time abroad.

A summer program is better than a semester or a year abroad during your regular academic year.

Colleges are horribly picky about the credit they accept from abroad. Unless you have exact matches with courses and your academic adviser that approves your credit is having an affair with somebody at your host university, stick with the summer. Time spent during fall and spring semesters is incredibly valuable, and more and more companies are realizing that study abroad isn’t such an amazing resume-filler after all. An intensive summer program will be more than enough to do the job.

If you don’t live with a family, you may as well stay home.

I cannot stress this enough. Let me repeat it. FIND A HOST FAMILY, OR STAY HOME!!! Do you have that in your head? Do you realize how vital it is to live in the real environment every day to get anything worthwhile out of a study abroad experience? You get the customs, the food, the language, everything all in the same place you wake up and go to bed. Don’t settle for less than a home-stay just because you are itching to go abroad. Take your time and find a family. You owe it to yourself.

How to Start Your Own Student Organization – Part 2

In our previous post, we began talking about how to start your own student organization by looking at how to attract and retain members and how to come up with a mission statement to solidify your organization. Now that you know how to get started, we will look at how to establish your organization as credible in your university and in the surrounding community. Although there are many ways to do this, there are two main avenues that I urge you to explore when starting an organizations: faculty involvement and local-business endorsement.

Faculty Involvement is crucial to establishing your fledgling organization as credible. The reason for this is simple: university faculty is already established as an integral part of the educational community and having one or two faculty members involved in your organization extends that legitimacy to what you’re trying to accomplish with your group. How do you go about getting faculty involved? Really, it’s not too difficult. Just ask. If there is a professor that you take class with that you feel would be beneficial to your cause, schedule a time to meet with him or her and clearly lay out your organization’s purpose and goals. Invite him or her to a meeting to see what the dynamic of a group is. If the first faculty member you speak to is too busy to be involved, ask another. Chances are, you can find a professor that has some interest in your organization of you look.

Scope out your local business owners and meet with the owners to explain what you are trying to accomplish in your organization. Don’t just pick any business; do your research and find a business or businesses whose values align with those of your group. For instance, if your organization is about feeding the hungry, meet with a local restaurant owner and see if they would like to help out in some way. Once again, the key here is persistence. If one business is unwilling to help, another might be. Gaining local support in your community will not only help your organization survive, it will also help its success.

Starting your own organization can take some time, but in the end it is worth it. Not only will you be able to say you started something that will exist past your time as a student, you will also be able to say you made a difference!

Nationally Recognized Student Organizations: The Greek System

As we move through our investigation of the benefits of membership to student organizations, it is important to remember that organizations come in all shapes and sizes. In the last post, we began looking at nationally recognized student organizations whose membership was based on academics. Today, we will wrap up our look at nationally recognized student organizations by giving a brief overview of the Greek System on college campuses: what it is, why it can be beneficial, and how to join.

The Greek System is most commonly known as sororities and fraternities, with sororities being limited to female membership and fraternities being limited to male membership. These organizations are known as the Greek System because they are identified by two or three letters of the Greek alphabet. Generally, sororities and fraternities have houses–or chapters–all over the country. There are sororities and fraternities for everyone: some base membership on major, some on family, and some on whomever wants to join. Most people join the Greek System their freshman year, although some wait until their sophomore year.

People who wish to join the Greek System must undergo a “pledge period”, usually occurring at the beginning of every semester or quarter, where the person who wishes to be a member must undergo intensive activities relating to the sorority or fraternity. Once initiated, the members live together in houses, often sharing rooms, meals and expenses. For many, this is a great alternative to living in dorms.

While it is true that members of the Greek System have a reputation of being wild and unruly, this is not a universal, and membership to these organizations has many benefits, as well. For instance, because most sororities and fraternities have chapters nationwide, membership gives you a vast array of contacts across the country. Also, membership means you will be in constant contacted with like-minded individuals. And finally, many employers look upon membership in a sorority or fraternity favorably upon graduation, as it shows that you can be part of a team.

Number of Needy College Students Increases

It’s been found recently that the number of college students who aren’t able to contribute to their tuition is growing rapidly. With more adult students than ever before attending college while having families, independent students are in need of a great deal of financial aid and often can’t contribute to their own education.

This is scary! How many students will be forced to drop out of college due to lack of funding? Jobs are scarce, the economy is down, and things have gotten worse and worse since 2008. Wealthier colleges are assisting all the needy students they can. Other colleges are going broke because they have to provide financial aid to more students.

In the global sense, our efforts to get ahead educationally is threatened by the lack of funding and help for students. They will end up being denied the opportunity for a higher education not because of lack of ability but because of financial need.

So what are some solutions for some of the nation’s needier students? Of course there are several, but some of the most successful ways are also the most difficult and require a lot of extra work. Let’s go over some ways to raise money for college students, and ways to earn scholarships and find out about your college’s merit and other grant programs.

ChipIn.com

This is one of several fundraising web sites online that allow people to create a cause and raise money for it. You can also sell small things like trinkets with this site, like another college student did. She’s raising money for college because she isn’t eligible for financial aid. By utilizing this web site, a student (or a non-profit, or whoever) is able to raise funds for their cause and collect through donations.

Work Your Way Through

Obviously this works better in an economy that has more jobs. But these days, you can make money over the internet doing virtually anything. Even if you don’t have that much experience online, work is available… all it takes is some research and figuring out what you’re good at that you can do online. For some its affiliate marketing, for some it’s freelance writing or design… but if you have a skill that can be used to provide a service long-distance, then freelancing could be a viable option for you.

You could also go try to find a part-time job at a local business or store or restaurant… but honestly, that may or may not work, especially depending on where you live. If you’re a rural student online then the possibilities are pretty slim.

Win Scholarships

This, of course, is an excellent way to help pay for college. Winning scholarships is free, requires some effort but not too much, and there are a whole bunch of them that you can apply for. Sites such as Cappex and Zinch specialize in matching students and scholarships, so it’s becoming easier and easier to apply for and win scholarships on a regular basis. Some of them are smaller, some of them larger, but many of them are achievable by many people. Some companies even have a weekly scholarship.

The days of gliding by are gone. If you’re like me and your financial aid runs out, you have to begin considering these other options. My financial aid will be gone as of June… I will have no choice but to win scholarships or pay out-of-pocket.

The last – and least desirable option:

Private Loans

The problem with private loans is that interest is often not fixed, so you could end up paying back twice what you owe, sometimes even more. If you get a loan with a co-signer, your co-signer will then take responsibility if you can’t. I really prefer not to use this option… which is why I’m so grateful to be able to apply for scholarships as well as have my parents’ help when needed.

Unfortunately, a lot of other independent students don’t have the option to fall back on their parents.

That’s why scholarships are so important. For me, a thousand dollars pays for my tuition and books for a class. If I consistently apply for scholarships on a weekly basis, there’s a good chance that I’ll be able to win enough to pay for college. My education is important to me… I don’t want to have to miss out on it because of a lack of funding. Working hard to accomplish this will be more than worth it.

Know Where You’re Going or You’re Already There: Selecting Your College and Degree

Know Where You’re Going or You’re Already There: Selecting Your College and Degree is a free ebook put out to address the plethora of concerns facing the soon-to-be college freshman. From deciding what you want to do in college to how to pay for it, this ebook is an invaluable resource for high school seniors and parents of any nationality looking to further their education in the United States. This ebook will take you through all of the necessary steps to get yourself into the institution that is the best fit, starting with readying yourself to apply, researching schools, and ending with how to find funding for your education.

Readying yourself for the application process consists of many steps, from meeting with your high school counselor, studying for and taking the SAT, choosing the right kind of institution that will best suite your needs, and learning how to fill out an application correctly. While these steps may seem easy, that is not necessarily the case. Our ebook provides a great reference guide should you get stuck anywhere in this pre-application process. It answers questions like:

Who can help me narrow down my choice of colleges to institutions that will suit me academically, as well as emotionally?

How is the SAT divided up and who scores this test?

Do I have to stay to the word limit on my college application?

And many more…

Researching college institutions can be a daunting process. To do so effectively, you need to not only know what questions to ask, you need to know the importance of how institutions respond to these questions, as well. Our ebook explains the importance of a school’s reputation, as well as stresses the importance of knowing any given institution’s policy on international students and students with physical and/or learning disabilities. It is important to know that all universities are not created equal, and our ebook will help you weigh various colleges against each other. You will learn the answers to important questions, such as:

How important is a college’s academic reputation?

How do I find out about the professorial staff of a college?

Do I have to tell my potential college about my learning disability?

And many more…

Higher education is expensive, especially if you don’t know how to access monies available to students to assist in the cost. It is important that you know what you’re financial obligation will be upon enrolling school, as well as what it will be once you have graduated. Our ebook clearly explains the difference between federal and state grants, need-based and academic scholarships, and loans to help you along the path to fund your education.

Nervous about beginning your college search? Look no further than our free ebook, Know Where You’re Going or You’re Already There: Selecting Your College and Degree!