What is New in Student Financial Aid This Fall

By Ginny Estupinian

As we approach the beginning of the new academic  year,  it is good to know what has changed in the world of financial aid so that you can be best prepared to make the most out of it. Here is a brief overview:

Pell Grant Changes

 The maximum annual Pell Grant will increase to $5,350 from $4,731. These are federal awards that don’t need to be repaid. In order to qualify for these grants the applicants income must not exceed $50,000 annually. In order to apply for this grant simply fill out the Application for Federal Student Aid.

 Student Loans

 The good news for those taking out a new subsidized Stafford undergraduate loan, is that the interest rate will now be 5.6% instead of 6.0%.  These loans are need based and have different amounts available base on the year you are in. For example: a maximum loan amount of $3,500 per year for Freshman, $4,500 per year for Sophomores, $5,500 per year for Juniors and Seniors. 

 In these types of loans the government pays the interest on these loans while the student is in school.  Students with unsubsidized loans, available regardless of financial need, must pay their own interest or ask to defer it. 

 Student loan interest rates have been dropping since the 2007-2008 academic year and will fall to 3.4% by the 2011-2012 year.  The rates are only applicable to loans originated in that given academic year. It Is important to note that you cannot retroactively apply this rate to loans from the previous school year.

 What About Graduate Student Loans?

 Interest rates for Graduate and Parent PLUS loans, loans that graduate students take out for themselves or parents take out for their undergraduate children, remain at 7.9% in the direct lending program and 8.5% in the Federal Family Education Loan Program.

 Subsidized loans for graduate students remain at 6.8%.

 What If You Have Old Loans?

 People who borrowed from federal sources between July 1, 1998, and June 30, 2006, have variable interest rates pegged to the May 91-day T Bill auction.  The rate is at a historic low of 2.48% versus 4.21% last year, during the repayment period and 1.88% versus 3.61% while the student is in school and during the six-month post-graduation grace period. If you are concern that interest rates may rise again in July 2010, you may want to look into consolidating those loans that you got before 2006.

As always, this is just a brief overview to give you a heads-up of what is available. Make sure that you look over all your options with a qualified financial aid counselor.

Green Job Opportunities Being Made Available to Veterans

By Ginny Estupinian

Green jobs have recently been the buzzword among U.S. policymakers who say they could be one answer to rising unemployment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Under the Labor Department’s Veterans’ Workforce Investment Program  grants are being awarded to various organizations to help veterans enter this growing field.

Through the program, veterans receive skills assessments, individual job counseling, classroom or on-the-job training, skills upgrading and placement assistance. Secretary of Labor, Hilda Solis, announced these agency grants with the objective to provide about 3,000 veterans nationwide with training and employment in green jobs.

Participating veterans will be trained for jobs including: residential and commercial solar energy system installation, solar water heater repair, solar energy roofing, and electrical installation and maintenance, and solid wastewater treatment.

At present seventeen groups nationwide, will receive $500,000 in grants to train and find jobs for veterans.  Besides California the other states awarded grants include Texas, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Indiana and Arizona.  ”This grant will provide our veterans with tools and skills that will ensure they are certified and trained in green jobs,” said Solis, adding that there was great need for such training.

The New Benefits of the GI BILL

By Ginny Estupinian

The “post-9/11″ GI Bill that takes effect on Aug. 1 2009 and offers some great benefits for Veterans returning to school or just finishing a college education.  It’s the most comprehensive package of education benefits for service members since the original GI Bill of Rights was signed during World War II. The new GI Bill invests $2 billion in educating U.S. military personnel and veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq at colleges and universities nationwide.

The new benefits package pays tuition, but also offers a monthly housing stipend and up to $1,000 a year for books and supplies. This increase in benefits are expected to increase the number of veterans going to school in the next two to three years by 20 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

The original GI Bill failed to keep pace with the rising costs of higher education, said the new bill’s sponsor, Sen. James Webb, D-Va. The post-9/11 bill provides enough money for veterans to consider even private colleges. Where before under the old benefits it would be very difficult to do.

The new bill covers more than 1.8 million veterans who have served in the Armed Forces since Sept. 11, 2001. The bill also covers Reserve and Guard members who were activated for more than 90 days.

An important thing to remember is that Veterans have 15 years after they leave active duty to use the benefits.

Here is a quick breakdown:

Post-9/11 GI Bill

What it is: Enhanced education benefits for military veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq

What it covers: Tuition and fees at any public college and many private ones; monthly housing stipend; books and supplies; one-time relocation allowance

Information: Interested veterans are encouraged to apply on-line at http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp/main.asp;

A Veteran’s Quick Guide to The Stimulus Bill

By Ginny Estupinian

So what does the $787 Billion stimulus bill mean to veterans and their families

Well, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is one of the most sweeping economic packages to be passed in decades.

The Alternative Minimum Tax

This  bill has a provision in it that will keep the alternative minimum tax from affecting about 24 million  middle class taxpayers. In many cases due to the cost of living adjustments

Social Security and Supplemental Security Income  for Veterans

This bill provides for a   onetime $250 payment to all Social Security recipients as well as disadvantaged persons on Supplemental Security Income and veterans who receive disability payments and pensions.

Car Buyers

You can deduct the sales tax you pay on a new vehicle

First Time Home buyers

If you are a first-time home buyer (defined as someone who has not owned a home in the last 3 years) in 2009 you will get a $8,000 credit that does not have to be repaid. This is not available for people making more than $75,000 individually or more than $125,000 jointly

Homelessness

There is about $1.5 billion directed to help prevent homelessness

Education

For those looking at college there is an increase in the maximum Pell grant to $5350.

Unemployment

The bill provides about $40 Billion to help extend unemployment benefits and about $20 Billion to increase food stamp benefits.

 

As with any information you need to check with your own tax professional to see how these and many other provisions can affect your tax liabilities.

 

The Fund for Veteran’s Education

By Ginny Estupinian

As I have previously discussed in this forum, paying for educational expenses after the service is challenging and at times it feels like it is just not possible.  At times veterans can not even use the G.I. Benefits because it decreases other financial aid.  Recently, I came across a non profit organization that has a scholarship that is helping bridge the financial gap.  The Fund for Veterans’ Education is a scholarship that is basically available to veterans who were deployed for at least 60 days to Afghanistan, Iraq, or served in the surrounding areas.  The fund provides a maximum scholarship of $36,396 that is available over four years.  Based on the information that I read,  a veteran can use this scholarship along with other forms of financial aid. Therefore, before applying for this scholarship it is necessary that interested veterans first apply for financial aid.

If you would like more information or simply want to apply you can do so at : http://www.veteransfund.org/

To Get A Degree or Not to Get A Degree

By Ginny Estupinian

As the economy begins to slow down and jobs become more difficult to come by, a lot of job seekers will turn their attention to considering getting a degree. After all, the links and banners on most job search websites are there screaming the virtues of getting a degree. There is also the first hand experience of looking for work and seeing that a lot of the jobs that you are interested in require a degree that you do not have. So a rational person would have to ask if getting a degree would be the answer to getting the job that they are looking for. The answer is both yes and no.

First of all getting a degree does not guarantee anyone a job once they have completed the program.  In fact even trade schools that used to offer job placement services after completing their programs are now quick to disclose that there are no job guarantees. One reason is that you could finish a technical training program and still be lacking the skills to interview well or simply not be a good match for the company culture. Secondly, how many times have we all known fellow students that were great in class and just lousy in the work place. Third there is always a risk of choosing an educational program simply because it is the hot thing that employers are looking for now. By the time that it takes to finish most programs it is possible that the demand for people with these skill sets may have disappeared. We all saw a lot of this with regards to the computer industry several years ago. During the 1980’s and 1990’s the talk was about getting into the computer industry (today we say the IT industry) because common wisdom told us that this would be the ticket to a successful career.  The around 2001 there began to appear a glut of people who had these skills and wages began to suffer also. One of the reasons for the loss in demand stemmed from the outsourcing of some of this type of work to other parts of the world.

Now this is not to say that there are no computer service related jobs available, or that everyone who went into the computer field is jobless. Rather what I am saying is that you can not bank on the demand for a specific field as being the reason to get a degree. Instead you really need to find what you are interested and passionate about first, and then see whether or not a degree is necessary.

A lot of my friends and I have known many individuals who went through a formal education just to hate doing the work once they got out. In one case a young man got his bachelor degree, and then went on to get his law degree, just to find out that he hated being a lawyer when he got out.  Think about it, that was a total of seven years of education and he spent well over a $150,000 to get the education just to exit the profession after two years. Fortunately he found his calling in life, and today he is a very successful commercial mortgage broker who is very content with his life and his chosen profession.

My recommendation for anyone considering getting a degree in a specific profession is to first spend some time talking to those that do the actual day-to-day work. Talk to as many people as possible first, and even try to spend some time with them as they do the work. This is why internships are so important and powerful tools.  We have all learned that there is a big difference between studying something and actually doing it. So definitely begin by spending the time to look to see what you are really interested and passionate about. Then if a degree is necessary you will not feel as much the burden of studying and spending the money to get the education.

3 Key Points to Know About Veterans Educational Benefits

By Ginny Estupinian

The current law that allows Veterans assistance with college cost first became law under the Montgomery GI Bill that was passed back in 1944. This law was initially targeted to help World War II veterans and is still a benefit that veterans can take advantage of today.  However, it is important for anyone using these benefits to know the limitations of the GI bill so not to miss out.  Knowing a few important key aspects of the bill will help in making the financial decision as to where you should go to school and how you will pay for it.  This is especially true considering a recent report from the College Board showing that the average four year public university could cost as much as $65,000 and the costs at a private university could be as much as $133,000.   

So let’s take a broad view of the Bill and take note of some of its features. In order to be able to use the benefit service members have to first have agreed to have $1200 deducted from their pay during their first year in the military. This money once paid in can’t be refunded even if the veteran decides not to use the benefits. A key limitation to remember is that the benefits are only good for 10 years from the date of discharge. According to many reports this time limit appears to be the single biggest problem for veterans who want to avail themselves of the benefits. Often when veterans leave the service they are not ready to go back to school because they may need to find a job first. Then years later they decide to return to school only to find out that their benefits have expired. Secondly, it is important to know what the maximum available educational benefits are. For veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan the benefits are $1,101 per month, or $39,636 over four years. However, for those veterans who served combat tours with the National Guard or Reserves those benefits are approximately $440 per month.  

The way that these benefits work is also important to recognize. According to the current regulations veterans must pay their own tuition, room and board, and other college costs upfront before they will be reimbursed up to their eligible amount.  Lastly, there is one more thing that is critical to know concerning these benefits. These benefits count against federal student aid when trying to qualify for student loans and other financial aid. In other words a veteran may not qualify for as large of a financial aid package because of these benefits. Therefore, it is very important that any veteran thinking about using these benefits first have a college financial aid officer work the numbers with and without these benefits to see what gives them the best outcome.

The Challenges of Making the Transition from Military Education to Civilian Education.

Ginny Estupinian

 

As most people will tell you nothing teaches you more than real world experience. Although you could spend hours reading, and even practicing in laboratories, nothing compares to doing the work in real time under real conditions. This is why the military often highlights the educational advantages of their training, and why they feel that this training should be counted as valid credits to earning a university degree. The harsh reality is that many of the thousands of veterans who attend college after tours of duty are being denied credit for the military courses and skill training that they received. This is occurring despite actions by the armed forces to obtain accreditation through the American Council on Education. While colleges regularly recognize the military transcripts they are not bound to honor the amount of credit that these transcripts claim. In a lot of cases many universities and colleges are not accepting any of the training as valid credit towards a degree. The result is that students are forced to take more courses than they had planned for and this involves extra time and money.

The denial of any credit by these colleges is simply an elitist prospective. The hypocrisy is that almost all schools provide college credit for independent study and internship or cooperative learning experiences.  When you examine the type of training and experience that military personnel receive; it is at least as educational as any independent study program and at most it is superior to what can be learned within the sanctum of the university system. In some cases these returning veterans have had to learn the task and apply the information in life and death situations. Just taking an incomplete or receiving a failing grade was not an option. Then you consider that most of the world envies the training and sophistication that our military has and provides to its personnel. To say that none of this training is worth at least some college credit is simply ludicrous. Obviously, not everything that a service person does while in the military should count as credit, but there should be a lot more counting towards a degree than is currently being honored.

So what can you do now before any real changes take place to remedy the situation between these two camps? Well, a lot of veterans are seeking out those colleges that are “military friendly” in order to maximize their credits. One such college is Hodges University. This school is actually involved in a veteran recruitment blitz.  They are not only recognizing a lot of the training but they are actively seeking ways to help veterans get the financial aid to attend the school. Hodges does this through a series of fund raisers and by developing their endowment.  

The important thing to remember is that there are ways to obtain the degree despite the challenges that are sometimes in front of us. Finding the path of least resistance is one way to move ahead and there are schools like Hodges University that are willing to help today. This does not mean that we just forget these problems but that we continue to push for the changes while moving ahead ourselves.