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Paying For College In An Economic Downturn

Paying For College In An Economic Downturn

Your stocks are down and college tuition is rising. How do you pay for your child’s education in an economic downturn? Answering this question depends on how far away your child is from going to college. If your child is three years old, you have time for the stock market to turn around. But if your child is within two years of attending college, you’ll have to take a different course of action. Start is by evaluating your family’s individualized circumstances – beginning with your current savings and investments for your child’s education.

What You Have: Savings and Investments
If your child is 10 years away from college, use economic downturns as warning signs for what can happen to stocks and bonds in a sour economy. Either look over your investment accounts yourself or with your investment advisor to verify that your account is balanced based on risk levels you’re comfortable with for the long-term. If your child is within two years of attending college, move your investments into extremely safe investment vehicles such as savings accounts and money market accounts.  

But what if, with only two years until your child attends college, your stocks have dropped in value below what is needed for your child to attend the school of his or her choice? It’s still best to get your money out of risky investments. Even if you’re not happy with the current value of your 529 plan or other investments, taking the risk that your investments will become further devalued is not advisable. Base your choices on what money you know is available, not just for your child’s freshman year but for all the way through to your child’s college graduation. The only way to do this is with relatively safe investments.

What You Can Get: Federal and Private Loans
Federal and private loans can bridge the gap between the money you have available and the full costs of your child’s college education. Start by determining your federal financial aid options the year before your child attends college. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used to evaluate your child’s financial need based on your income level and assets. Colleges you select on your FAFSA will receive your income and asset information, and let you know what college or federal grants your child may qualify for, as well as the amount of federal loans your child is eligible to receive. You don’t have to accept these loans, but knowing your options will help you evaluate the feasibility of your child attending each particular school. 

If federal loans aren’t enough, private lenders can also provide needed funds . Compare rates among multiple lenders. Because private loans generally have variable interest rates, ask the lender to discuss what your payments could escalate to if interest rates were to rise. You must be prepared to make the payment even if the rate changes. Also, ask both the high school guidance counselor and the college admission counselor for estimated salary ranges your child can expect after graduation to help you determine how much of that salary can contribute to paying off the loans. 

Re-Evaluating Public Versus Private Colleges
Your child wants to attend a private college with a tuition rate of over ,000 a year, but you can’t afford this amount out of your pay and the money you’ve saved would only allow an annual contribution of ,000 a year. If student loans are taken out, your child – or you - will be saddled with loans that could easily exceed 0,000 after a four-year degree.

Your family has a decision that will affect all of your financial lives for years to come. Ask yourself these questions:

Is this private school worth it? Will the potential income in my child’s prospective career make up for the difference in cost?
Can my child attend a public college and still attain the same goals?
Could my child attend a public school for the first year or two to offset the costs of private school?
Have we checked into scholarships, grants and other available financial aid?

Use all available resources to make this decision. Again, speak with your child’s high school guidance counselor and the academic advisors from the colleges your child is considering. Although each college advisor will likely tell you their school is worth the money, the specifics of why they think their school is worth it can help you comparison-shop.

Testing Out Basic Courses
Between advanced placement (AP) classes, the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) and the Dantes Subject Standardized Test (DSST), your child can earn up to two years of college credits before stepping foot on a college campus. The tests award college credit for the knowledge your child already has and the testing fees are insignificant compared to the cost of one to two years of schooling. AP tests are administered at high schools, and CLEP and DSST tests are conducted at local university and community college testing centers. Be sure to check out study guides from the library or purchase them from the bookstore, and help your child set up a study plan. If your child is unprepared, paying testing fees won’t be worthwhile. 

Setting Aside Family Time for Scholarship Research
Set aside an hour a week for the whole family to search for scholarships together. It’s a fantastic way for the whole family to be involved in the college funding process and it will help reduce the eventual cost. There are tens of thousands of scholarships available that can be found in books and on websites. By involving the whole family, you can take some of the pressure off your aspiring college student to find funding. Sort through the information available to find scholarships based on your child’s interests and talents. As a bonus, younger siblings can learn about scholarship research before it’s their time to enter the college funding process.

Conclusion
When the economy lags, your child’s college wishes don’t have to fall with stock prices. Use all available resources to find free and borrowed money to supplement the money remaining in your 529 Plan. In the process, you’ll bond as a family. Your family’s united efforts may even end up saving you enough money to put towards your retirement or perhaps even a celebratory dinner for your new, soon-to-be graduate.

Written by qena

Question by Jefferson Steelflex: What colleges should I be looking for to earn a PhD in meteorology/atmospheric science?
I want to earn a PhD in meteorology. I did a search online and I couldn’t find a college here in Florida that has that option. Are there any colleges online that would offer a PhD in meteorology? I don’t want to have to go out of state for a college. Also with a PhD, what is the research like that you have to conduct before earning the PhD? Sources?

Best answer:

Answer by FaZizzle
Start with your degree. No, an online degree won’t be offered in meterology, especially not for PhD.

I HIGHLY suggest getting through your undergrad first before taking on a PhD. Things are going to change in the next decade, and you will really need to think about your undergrad and masters first.

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Posted by University Guide - September 4, 2011 at 4:07 am

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MBA Education for Banking and Non-Banking Managerial Jobs

Business schools in many countries offer management courses tailored to full time, part-time, executive and distance learning MBA programs. Since MBA degree from any well-known institute not only offers recognition, but also a high salary package, a wide range of MBA programs are tailored with specialized concentrations like finance, marketing, accounting, information technology, human resource management and many other fields. In India, some MBA colleges offer post graduation diploma courses called PGDM programs which are approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE). AITCE is an apex Indian government undertaking with a view to improve the qualitative technical education system throughout the country and regulate the norms and standards for planning the quantitative growth and matters connected therewith. Since the strength of any country’s economy lies in finance and banking sectors, the importance of MBAs in these sectors cannot be understated.

In India, all types of commercial banks, public sector banks, rural banks, foreign banks, private banks and urban co-operative banking institutions play a significant role in boosting the economy and financial position of the country. MBA degree is considered to be the foremost qualification which is required by these banking and financial institutions for their managerial level positions. MBA education in finance provides important knowledge about the financial skills and solutions for the issues relating to the domestic and international banking and services. Market analysis and cash management skills are two important areas which every MBA student must know how to handle. MBA with specialization in finance offers to learn a variety of subjects like costing, budgeting, corporate finance, international finance, investments, working capital finance and securities etc. MBAs pursuing their courses in finance can start their career in any investment firm or any banking institute as an associate manager. MBA in finance from top MBA colleges offers lucrative job placements from big companies and financial institutes. An MBA in finance has options to work with leading banks and non-banking institutions. He or she might have an option to work as a securities analyst or working with brokerage firms dealing in buying and selling of securities.

Degree of MBA in India from any reputed college is considered to be one of the most sought after degree aimed at providing high class management studies. Since the studies of marketing teaches about the art of selling products and services, MBAs has to analyze and assess the feasibility of products and services according to the market demand. They are required to introduce marketing strategies for marketing new products. They have to set marketing goals and have to work on branding, planning and adoption of promotional campaigns. In other words, marketing MBAs have to bring out new ideas and concepts which can help the companies and organizations to grow and prosper. Marketing MBA courses are designed to help inculcate good reasoning and problem solving skills which can help the individual to sell and market the products in difficult situations. MBA in marketing offers good pay-scale packages and jobs in this area are always in demand for all commercial, industrial and corporate sectors.

ISBF has been established to impart quality education with international recognition in the area of Economics, CFP, Management and MBA Educationcourses in India.

 

Visit us at: http://www.isbf.edu.in/ for more info on MBA and MBA Colleges and Finance courses.

Question by Wilma: How much Education is required before an individual is considered for a position?
Working Adults are advancing their careers. (If they are working, why would they need more education)? Since 1946 we have provided hundreds of thousands of people with practical real world education, aimed at advancing their careers. That is the message I received. Yet no-one in this area is working. So how much education is required before an individual is considered for a position?

Best answer:

Answer by fangtaiyang
It depends on the position

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Posted by University Guide - August 22, 2011 at 4:08 am

Categories: Education   Tags: , , , ,

Landmark Education on Communication

Everyone at some point has experienced an impasse in communication; those frustrating occasions when it all breaks down and people want to get up and walk out. Just look at a sample of recent headlines: “Peace Talks Breakdown” or “Labor Negotiations at a Stalemate” or “Negotiations Fail to Result in an Accord”. When the stakes are high and people are afraid they have something to loose communication becomes strained and people stop listening to one another. Usually this is while claiming that the people on the other side of the table are actually the ones who are not doing the listening. We get so concerned and fearful about getting other people to hear what we have to say, we become unwilling to hear what they have to say.

Indeed, listening seems sometimes as if it is a rare happening among human beings. We can’t really listen to another person speaking if we’re preoccupied, or if we’re trying to decide what we’re going to say when the other stops talking, or if we’re debating about whether what is being spoken is true or relevant or agreeable. Listening, in other words, is being accessible and open to what is being said.

At Landmark Education we contend that listening has an amazing power. It gives life to what is being spoken. You might even say it is with the listener that both the speaker and what is spoken exist and come alive. Think of how inspired and enlivened the elderly can become when you sit down and have an extended conversation with them. Think about what happens when someone is really listening to you. Ever notice that you become funnier and more playful when someone laughs at your jokes? What about when a child recognizes that adults are actually listening to them? Their whole demeanor shifts. In the programs of Landmark Education, you find yourself with a new ability to listen to others. You find yourself inspired by the people you have in your life. When you truly listen to people you discover the best of what they have to offer.

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Speaking, meanwhile, can be something more than talking, more than the exchange of symbols or information, more than saying what you really think. In speaking we can share ourselves; we can evoke experience in others. Speaking is where our ideas become clear and possible. It is where others are expanded by our time spent with them. It allows for the futures we create. Speaking lives in poetry, in the appreciation of another, in idle conversations that pass the time, in great theories and books that give rise to wonder and thought.

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Speaking allows for “who” and “how” we “are” in the world. It is what gives voice to all that is possible in being human. In our ability to speak and share we have the ability to shape the world we live in.

In the courses of Landmark Education you find that true communication is creation. It has the power to shape, determine, and alter the course and quality of our lives. It moves people. It generates experience in others. It not only delivers information to others, it actually transforms their ability to hear. True communication transforms both the speaker and listener.

The Landmark Forum suggests that what it is to be human has its own domain and that domain is one of language—of communication, of conversation. Through communication —the realm of language, of conversation—each of us has complete access to ourselves, to others, to the very essence and possibility of what it means to be human.

This is the essence of what Landmark Education is about and what The Landmark Forum provides.

Copyright © 2007 Landmark Education. All rights reserved.

Landmark Education, an international training and development company, offers a wide range of programs. The ideas, insights, and distinctions on which Landmark Education‘s programs are based make Landmark Education a leader and innovator in the field of training and development.

Question by hplss.rmntc: How is education in the United States different from education in other countries?
How is education in the United States different from education in other countries? Which country’s education system do you like best?

Best answer:

Answer by Brian K
Here, we make a futile and stupid attempt to educate everybody, whether they want an education or not. In other countries, they value education more, because if you don’t pursue it, they stop educating you and you have to take a menial job and suffer. Parents don’t want that for their children and they push them. Here, when someone doesn’t want an education, we force them to stay in school with compulsory education and we give them the “No Child Left Behind” treatment. We keep their sorry butt in school and let them drag down the whole educational system. The parents don’t have to take the responsibility to make their kid rise to challenges. As a result, our school systems and teachers are swamped with trying to produce even mediocre results from a population that has no reason to care or to try. Pick a developed country in the world, and its educational system will be better than ours, because here our lawyers have determined that we have to try to save people from themselves.

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Posted by University Guide - August 13, 2011 at 4:08 am

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