Economic stimulus plan affects college grants

Economic stimulus plan affects college grants By The Associated Press
An examination of how the economic stimulus plan will affect Americans.
The recovery package has tax breaks for families that send a child to college, purchase a new car, buy a first home or make the ones they own more energy efficient.
Millions of workers can expect to see about $13 extra in their weekly paychecks, starting around June, from a new $400 tax credit to be doled out through the rest of the year. Couples would get up to $800. In 2010, the credit would be about $7.70 a week, if it is spread over the entire year.
The $1,000 child tax credit would be extended to more low-income families that don't make enough money to pay income taxes, and poor families with three or more children will get an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit.
Middle-income and wealthy taxpayers will be spared from paying the Alternative Minimum Tax, which was designed 40 years ago to make sure wealthy taxpayers pay at least some tax, but was never indexed for inflation. Congress fixes it each year, usually in the fall.
First-time homebuyers who purchase their homes before Dec. 1 would be eligible for an $8,000 tax credit, and people who buy new cars before the end of the year can write off the sales taxes.
Homeowners who add energy-efficient windows, furnaces and air conditioners can get a tax credit to cover 30 percent of the costs, up to a total of $1,500. College students — or their parents — are eligible for tax credits of up to $2,500 to help pay tuition and related expenses in 2009 and 2010.
Those receiving unemployment benefits this year wouldn't pay any federal income taxes on the first $2,400 they receive.
Higher Education:
The maximum Pell Grant, which helps the lowest-income students attend college, would increase from $4,731 currently to $5,350 starting July 1 and $5,550 in 2010-2011. That would cover three-quarters of the average cost of a four-year college. An extra 800,000 students, or about 7 million, would now get Pell funding.
The stimulus also increases the tuition tax credit to $2,500 and makes it 40 percent refundable, so families who don't earn enough to pay income tax could still get up to $1,000 in extra tuition help.
Computer expenses will now be an allowable expense for 529 college savings plans.
The final package cut $6 billion the House wanted to spend to kick-start building projects on college campuses. But parts of the $54 billion state stabilization fund — with $39 billion set aside for education — can be used for modernizing facilities.
There's also an estimated $15 billion for scientific research, much of which will go to universities. Funding for the National Institutes of Health includes $1.5 billion set aside for university research facilities.
Altogether, the package spends an estimated $32 billion on higher education.


Economic stimulus plan affects college grants

Time to Thank a College Counselor

Time to Thank a College Counselor


Super Sunday has come and gone, and Phil the groundhog has sentenced us to six more weeks of winter, but did you know we’re in the middle of a weeklong holiday? This is National School Counselor Week, and with it comes the opportunity to thank the professionals in our schools who work with teachers to make sure students have stronger self-esteem, clearer academic and career goals, and brighter futures. While counselors may be better known for fixing schedules and doing lunch duty, there are hundreds of thousands of students out there who are college-bound, drug-free, in safer homes, or simply alive, thanks to the behind-the-scenes efforts of these highly committed individuals.



If your holiday budget was entirely spent on guacamole dip for last Sunday, don’t worry. The three best ways to thank these low-key workers are free.



First, thank them directly. Counselors are busy people (nationally, there’s only one counselor for about every 400 students), so if all you do is call, write, or walk in to say “I heard it’s School Counselor Week, so thanks for all you’re doing”, that will be more than enough. Any time a counselor gets a message they don’t have to respond to, you’ve made their day, and this is especially true if that note is one of gratitude. The price is right for you, and the value is immeasurable to them.



Second, thank the principal for what counselors are doing. Most of what counselors do is so behind the scenes, others at school often don’t know what’s being done, including the principal. Your word of support reminds principals of the value of counselors, and may get them to think twice before giving counselors duties that take them away from serving students in a professional capacity. Sure, someone has to sharpen the pencils for testing week, but why does it have to be the only person in the building who’s trained in crisis intervention? Your thanks will help balance the perspective.



Third, encourage the principal to hire well-prepared counselors. Budget cuts are leading some schools to lay off counselors, or hire individuals who don’t have the expertise in personal, career, and college counseling needed to help students and their families make strong change and healthy choices. Learning is the top priority at school, and counselors help students learn about themselves, so they can be better students and stronger people. Use your voice to make sure students can find theirs.



Challenging times require us to find ways to live with what we have. Because of school counselors, students understand more about the wealth of what they have, who they are, and what they can become. That’s something we should be thankful for all the time, but especially this week.

Time to Thank a College Counselor

College Essay Advice

College Essay Advice

Found this interesting college essay advise at Bukisa:

Assemble all of the application forms for all of the colleges you are considering applying to. Read and jot down any essay requirements, particularly any prompts or questions your essay must respond to. Your goal is to try and see if you can't get away with writing only one or two essay which will satisfy the needs of all you applications.

For each school you are considering...do some research so that you can fill in the blanks in the following sentences:

"At ___ (the name of the school) I would hope to study ___ by majoring in ___ so that I could explore my interest in ___ and possibly one day pursue a career as a ___. I believe that ___ (name of school again) is an ideal place for me to study ____ because _____________________"

Some version of these 2 sentences needs to appear in at least one application essay that you submit to every school - usually starting off the last paragraph. It shows that you care about that application and that school enough to know why you would like to go there.

Now you need to do the hardest part of the essay. You need to take any prompt or question you are responding to and figure out how to combine that with what you want to study with a catcy/quirky/clever opening. If you're lucky enough to be allowed to write any essay you want for all of your applications, you still need to combine an opening with where you want to go and what you want to do.

For example, I helped my sister with an essay recently where the prompt was something to the effect of, "What is the greatest challenge facing your generation and what are you doing about it."

I helped her to come up with this:

"I am not Angelina Jolie or Condoleezza Rice or Oprah Winfrey. I am not the daughter of some billionaire or politician or record producer. I am also pretty sure I will not be the next Miss America or Olympic gold medalist. I am not even the president of my student body or the valedictorian. What I do know, however, is that none of that prevents me from making a meaningful difference in the lives of people around me—people I know and people I will never meet.'

"The greatest challenge facing my generation is one of self-worth and guiding purpose. My generation believes that changing the world is the province of the smartest, the richest, and the most famous. In the face of Bono’s extravagant ONE Campaign, Bill Gates’ giant foundations, and even the occasional twenty-something on MTV promoting his save Darfur organization STAND, there does not always seem to be a place for the less glamorous among us to make a difference. I find it a little sad."

You need an opening that is going to get someone's attention and then let you tell your story. In the next three paragraphs, my sister described working at a daycare that serves the underprivileged, helping her friend in his fight against leukemia, and then concluding with how if everyone did such simple things how much better everything will be. It was one of 2 essays, so she used the other to describe her reasons for choosing that school.

In an open essay, use your opening to get you to where you can start telling your story and how it leads you to what you want to study and where. Here is the opening from my sister's other essay:

"“Let’s do eckersizes!! All right now…one..two..three…and switch!” I chirped while sitting on a lumpy hospital bed next to my stubborn grandfather leading him through his rehabilitation exercises. He had just gone through open heart surgery, and everyone kept telling me how I was the only one he would listen to and work for, so I kept at him. At eight years old the word ‘exercise’ was still a bit beyond me, but a love of guiding someone through a recovery regimen was just budding. I was fascinated with how simple movements done over and over again, day after day, could result in someone recovering from an injury or illness."

The essay goes on to talk about my sister's desire to study athletic training and why the school she was applying to was a good place for that.

Start early, this is a tough essay to write. Ideally, start over the summer after your junior year in high school. Most senior high school English classes will spend some but not enough time on this in the fall.

Have several people read your drafts for multiple perspectives.
Hold onto this essay when you're done - you can probably use it lots of times for scholarship applications.
Your parents are probably not the best judge of this essay. Most adults simply don't do this kind of writing and haven't since they were applying to schools.
When you get to a final draft, have people read it simply for grammar and typos. You must strive for a 100% error-free essay

College Essay Advice

College Counselor

College Counselor

Found this at the US News Web Site:

Our Meeting With High School Counselors - Morse Code: Inside the College Rankings (usnews.com): "Editors from U.S. News met earlier this week with a cross section of high school counselors to get their input on various education issues. We found this meeting highly beneficial and heard many new ideas that we are studying.

The high school counselors who attended were Silvette Bullard from Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.; Marjorie Jacobs from SAR Academy in Riverdale, N.Y.; Annalee Nissenholtz, an independent college counselor in St. Louis; Susan Rexford from West Springfield High School in Springfield, Va.; and Missy Sanchez from Woodward Academy near Atlanta.
Here is a sampling of the topics that were discussed:
How is the current economic downturn affecting the types of schools your students are considering applying to?
Are students applying to public colleges more frequently than they did in the past?
Has there been an increase in students applying early decision or early action during this admission cycle?
Are more students going to a two-year college in order to save money for a couple of years before going on to a four-year college in their state?
The pros and cons of going to a historically black college
Are colleges reducing their recruiting and other outreach efforts because of their current budget woes?
Tips for students from lower-income families on how to successfully navigate the college application process. Students from lower-income families need to start thinking about the college application process much earlier than many do.
What are some pointers for students being recruited for an athletic scholarship? How important is the sophomore year to athletic recruiting?
The new policy allowing choice on repo"

College Counselor

College Grants

College Grants

I just saw this information at my-college-counselor.com/ :

"With all of this paperwork and research and decisions to
make, I don't know where to begin to get it all done!"

"My child is a sophomore in high school, is it too early to
begin the college admissions process?"

"Help, I'm already a Senior and I haven't even sent in
one application yet!"

Does this sound familiar? Well, you're not alone. The process of applying for and gaining admission to the college of your choice is one of the most daunting and intimidating tasks you'll ever face. And to add to the stress, you're expected to go through this while you're still a teenager! (or the busy, stressed-out parent of a teenager)

Don't stress out! Help is on the way.

Introducing:
Patrick O'Connor's
COLLEGE ADMISSION SUCCESSWARE
A complete college application and admission toolkit from
Patrick O'Connor
Author and one of America's most effective admissions counselor.

COLLEGE ADMISSION SUCCESSWARE
An all-in-one package which will provide students and parents alike with the tools and knowledge to effectively make it through the application process. That's right, not only will you gain the knowledge and insight, but also the tools and a PLAN to succeed.

Meet Patrick O'Connor
Patrick O’Connor is on the Political Science Faculty of Oakland Community College and is Director of College Counseling at The Roeper School, both in Metropolitan Detroit. Born and raised in Detroit, he has been a college counselor since 1984, serving students in rural, urban, and suburban high schools, as well as community college. He has worked as an independent
college consultant, and is one of the counselors who assists students through the Ask the Counselor column on MyFootpath.com.

The first generation in his family to go to college, Patrick has served as president of the Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling, and the National Association for College Admission Counseling. He is a recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award from Oakland Community
College, the Margaret Addis Service to NACAC Award, and the William Gramenz Award (for outstanding contributions to college counseling in Michigan.) He holds five college degrees, including a Ph.D. in Education Administration.

And now, Patrick brings his expertise and know-how to your home with this
Multi-media college admission toolkit.

College Grants

College Application Information

College Application Information

College Goal Sunday is a nationwide financial aid workshop held annually to assist students with completing their FAFSA's (Free Application For Student Aid) early, understanding financial aid, and other general college information.

The event will be held on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at 10 a.m. Burroughs & Chapin Auditorium on the Conway Campus of Horry-Georgetown Technical College.


Anyone wishing to attend any college is invited to attend this event.

Staff from Coastal Carolina University, South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, and Horry-Georgetown Technical College will be on hand to assist students and their parents in the financial aid process.


For further information, please contact Susan Thompson, (843) 349 - 7818.

College Application Information

SAT's matter

GREAT ARTICLE! Check this out...from the Orlando Sentennial
"Changes to the SAT college entrance exam -- chiefly the addition of a writing test in 2005 -- 'did not substantially change how predictive the test is of first-year college performance,' according to a report from the College Board released today. But the SAT is still the best test available, College Board officials said. The report 'reiterates the usefulness of the SAT as a national, fair benchmark at a time when grade inflation at high schools is a problem,' Laurence Bunin, the College Board senior vice president who serves as general manager of the SAT program. The report should be of interest to college admissions officers who were waiting for this sort of study to decide whether to use the writing section score in admissions decisions, College Board officials said. Some schools still only use the math and critical reading, formerly verbal, sections of the test to decide who to let in.
High school GPA is a slightly better predictor than the SAT score, but both numbers together are the best predictor, the report concludes. The College Board owns and operates the SAT and conducts periodic surveys to determine how well SAT scores predict college freshmen GPAs. This latest report is the first to include students who took the new writing test."