The following is a guest post from John Carpenter of AskJohnAboutCollege.com:
Many of the students who work with me are international kids. They come from China and Haiti, Germany and Ghana, Nepal and Costa Rica–and dozens of other places as well. And while they are as different from each other as you can possible imagine, they all have one thing in common when it comes to attending college in the United States: in order to get a visa to study in the US, they all have to demonstrate where the money is coming from to pay for college.
Some colleges recruit international students partly for their ability to pay full tuition, and in fact, many families outside the US save and save and save for years to be able to pay cash to send their children to a great school in the States. However, increasingly, colleges and universities are realizing that having international kids on campus is good for more than just financial reasons.
The following is a guest post from Brenda Ortega of The Educational Bar:
Get the most out of your student loan by learning to budget
College or university is a learning opportunity for the student both in and out of the classroom. When it comes to cost, most students aren’t prepared for the student loans they’ll have apply for to pay for tuition costs, accommodations and school supplies. A first year college student requires a stockpile of new school supplies for college, and because they are away from home (probably for the first time in their lives) those will include items and furniture for their new dorm room or apartment, personal items such as food and personal hygiene items, and class essentials such as a laptop, money to buy or rent textbooks.
Smart students start budgeting and collecting their supply needs the year before they leave for college. That way, they’re not stuck paying top dollar for things they need at the last minute. Here’s how:
With the calendar turning to 2012 and your college applications in the mail, it’s once again time to start thinking about financial aid. So how do you get your hands on some extra cash for college? If you haven’t already, be sure to file your FAFSA to make sure you get the Federal aid you need. Once that’s out of the way, it’s time to start looking for scholarship opportunities. Fortunately, we’re here to give you a cheat sheet to finding some great scholarships with upcoming deadlines.
To receive a monthly list of upcoming scholarship deadlines right in your inbox, as well as our other financial aid advice and tips, subscribe to College Money Insider here – it’s free!
Additionally, check out our affiliates at ScholarshipPoints.com for the opportunity to win up to $10,000 in scholarship dollars!
Here are your January 2012 Scholarship Deadlines:
With 2012 just days away, it’s almost time to fill our your FAFSA (Free Application For Federal Student Aid) for the 2012-13 school year. As always, the new version of this critical financial aid form goes live on January 1st.
Although you can fill out your FAFSA at any point over the course of the year, many aid providers have first-come, first-serve policies that require you to complete the form as soon as possible.
Fortunately, the government has simplified the FAFSA in recent years, and the form is not nearly as daunting as it once was. If you prepare the information you’ll need ahead of time, it shouldn’t take long at all to finish your FAFSA.
So what do you need to do to get ready? Check out our handy FAFSA checklist below, and read our in-depth “How to Prepare for the FAFSA” article for more information. Also, you can get a sneak peak at the paper version of the FAFSA from our friends at CheapScholar.
With application deadlines rapidly approaching, you’re probably spending most of your time on polishing your essay responses and making sure your recommendation letters are ready to go. That’s obviously really important, but it’s not the only thing you need to worry about! While it might seem overwhelming, you should also be spending a bit of time looking at ways to pay for school once you’re accepted. Luckily, there are some great scholarship opportunities out there this month, and we’ve compiled a list of them just for you!
To receive a monthly list of upcoming scholarship deadlines right in your inbox, as well as our other financial aid advice and tips, subscribe to College Money Insider here – it’s free!
Here are your December Scholarship Deadlines:
