Blog

by Katie Askew, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

There are many factors that one should consider while searching for the perfect college. While cost, location and student life are all very important, where your friends are or aren’t attending school could play an unexpectedly vital role in your decision.

During college search time, my best friend and I were both focused on out-of-state schools. We both knew we wanted to get out of South Dakota but our interests were different – she was focusing on music and I was looking into English – and in the end, we had one college we both loved in our top three choices: Colorado State University. After much debate, I ended up at the University of Minnesota, while my best friend chose to go to CSU. My decision to not go to CSU was (along with a slew of other minor factors) mostly due to my friend, as I wanted to forge my own path and start fresh in a new city. Two years later, I have no regrets and our friendship is just as strong as ever.

Some students base their college decisions on where a friend, boyfriend/girlfriend or relative is attending school without really considering what they themselves want and need out of their own college experience. Yes, these relationships are important but it’s more important to decide for yourself: I know I made the right choice because I thrive in the big city and my friend loves the picturesque views of the Rocky Mountains outside her apartment window. Would our friendship have survived the turmoil of change college students go through if we were at the same school? We’ll never know for sure but it certainly has stayed intact across the miles...not to mention that I get an amazing spring break in Colorado and she gets a week-long summer vacation in the Twin Cities!

Some friendships may survive the chaotic transformation every college student goes through but some will not and you should not base your college choice on just this one factor. Distance from your high school friends, whether it’s thousands of miles apart or a couple blocks across campus, will impact your college life – just don’t let it dictate your decision for the wrong reasons.

Katie Askew is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota pursuing degrees in journalism and English. At school, Katie can be found reading, drumming or working in the Office of Admissions. Outside of school, she enjoys traveling, teaching and performing music and spending time outdoors with friends and family. Katie loves all things zebra and has a necessary addiction to coffee. Her iPod is perpetually playing Death Cab for Cutie or classical music because she truly believes that when words fail, music speaks.

Wouldn't it be amazing if that super expensive college you were just accepted into said, "Hey there, new friend – thanks for all your hard work saving, scrimping and scholarship searching but we’ll take it from here, financially"? It can happen...kind of.

When a student fills out the FAFSA, a figure known as the expected family contribution (EFC) – the amount a student or family can reasonably spend on one year of college – is calculated using family income, number of children, amount of assets and other factors. There is sometimes a gap between the EFC and the final cost of college but 62 schools have reported to U.S. News that, on average, 100 percent of their admitted full-time undergraduate students' financial need was met for fall 2010 by some combination of aid (work-study, merit scholarships, grants, subsidized loans, etc.).

Now, we're not going to list every single college and university that reported these claims (you can check out U.S. News' site for that) but we will say that some well-known schools like Yale, Vanderbilt and Grinnell – the latter of which has never failed to meet full need for a student in 20 years, according to financial aid director Arnold Woods – have made the cut. Way to go and keep up the good work!

by Jessica Seals, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

It’s Tuesday afternoon and you just finished your last class for the day before heading off to club meetings, work, and finishing up two big papers. As you realize just how full your schedule is, you remember that you forgot to include time to eat and, given your time crunch, you decide to grab a quick burger for lunch and some chips to snack on later. As a college student, this scenario probably seems very familiar: We have so many different things going on in our lives that we struggle to make time for healthy meals. Although eating fast food occasionally will not cause you much harm, you will eventually notice changes in your body and mood if you eat it each day – in college and beyond.

Although the infamous ‘freshman 15’ still causes concern for college students, many continue to rely on fast foods. During my freshman year of college, I was more than excited to learn that our campus dining halls featured a few popular fast food restaurants but after eating these foods without including any fruits or vegetables in my diet, I noticed a big change in my mood. I have a high metabolism so gaining weight didn’t worry me but I was concerned about my lower energy level – I always felt too tired to do anything, even after I had just eaten and I could not focus on reading assignments or writing papers. At that time, I realized that it was time to make a change.

I knew that I could not give up fast food completely, but I did start keeping fruit in my dorm room or eating salads instead of burgers. When I went to restaurants, I opted for healthier choices and slowly but surely, my energy level returned to normal. My advice to even the busiest college students? Make room for healthy foods. Your schedule may be packed but you’ll be able to get through it much easier when you have more energy!

Jessica Seals is recent graduate of the University of Memphis, where she majored in political science and minored in English. She was the secretary of the Pre-Law Society, the philanthropy chair of the Phi Kappa Phi Student Council and a member of Professional Assertive United Sisters of Excellence (PAUSE), Golden Key Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, Sigma Alpha Lambda Honor Society and Black Scholars Unlimited. As she prepares for law school, Jessica will continue to tutor and volunteer in her community.

For any student thinking about transferring, there’s always the worry that the credits they’ve worked so hard to achieve will be worth nothing at their new school...any student except those transferring to DePaul University, that is.

According to Lois Bishop, DePaul’s director of community college partnerships, transfer students at DePaul have great grades and high graduation rates but many have failed to take prerequisite courses or accumulated credits at their previous institutions that won’t count toward their bachelor’s degrees. In order to make transferring as educationally- and cost-effective as it can be, the school created the DePaul Admissions Partnership Program to help transfer students earn their two-year credentials and bachelor’s degrees on time. Students in the program are guaranteed a spot at DePaul if they finish community college with a 2.0 GPA and receive $2,000 a year after transferring if they achieve a 3.0. They also lock in bachelor’s degree requirements if they enroll within three years of starting the program, have access to DePaul advisers while at the community college to ensure they take the right classes for their eventual majors and can earn reverse credits toward associate degrees. (Check out additional details from Inside Higher Ed here.)

Since the program’s launch last year, DePaul has partnered with Richard J. Daley College, Kennedy-King College, Malcolm X College, Olive-Harvey College, Harold Washington College, Truman College, Wright College, College of DuPage, Harper College, Moraine Valley Community College and Oakton Community College but hopes to expand the opportunity to more schools and students. What do you think of the DePaul Admissions Partnership Program? Would a program like this appeal to you if you were thinking about transferring?

by Jacquelene Bennett, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

There is going to come a time when you are writing a paper or doing a research project when simply doing a Google search will not be enough to get the information you need. As you progress through your college career, the papers you write and the projects you do will get harder and more in depth and the research tools you used in high school and in intro-level classes won’t help much. So how do you do proper research?

Start off by going to the library and looking at books – real, actual books. Contrary to what people think, books are not outdated or irrelevant but are actually great sources for papers and projects. The plus side to going to the library is that if you have trouble finding sources, you can ask a librarian who will be more than happy to help you out.

Another way to find reliable and informative sources for a paper is through scholarly journals. Scholarly journals are collections or databases of articles written by experts and professionals on different subjects and issues in almost every academic field of study. The databases I use are JSTOR, Project MUSE and LexisNexis but there are literally hundreds of different journals and students generally have free access to them through their universities. You can usually find these sites linked to your school’s library website, through a class’s Blackboard site, Google Scholar (though you generally have to pay for these), or, of course, a librarian can help you access them.

While a Google search might give you fast surface facts, you will have to search for a long time to find citation-worthy in-depth analyses and reliable information. With books and scholarly articles, you get the information you need and you never have to question their legitimacy.

Jacquelene Bennett is a senior at the University of Redlands where her areas of study are creative writing, government and religious studies. When she is not studying or working, you can usually find her eating frozen yogurt or blogging about her day. She has a cactus named Kat and believes that Stephen Colbert is a genius. Jacquelene works hard, laughs hard and knows that one day you’ll see her name in lights.

The world’s toughest problems will be addressed one solution at a time. But who will lead the change? Compete in the Microsoft Imagine Cup and you’ll join thousands of high school juniors and seniors from around the world who are stepping up to the challenge of global change...and the chance to earn $25,000 for college.

For the Imagine Cup, students can choose from three team competitions — Software Design, Game Design: Xbox/Windows, and Game Design: Phone. If you are already signed up to compete in one of the three competitions, you can increase your chances to share your world-changing ideas by signing up to compete in the Kinect Fun Labs, Windows Metro Style App, Windows Azure or Windows Phone challenges.

There are multiple deadlines approaching so be sure to check out the Imagine Cup website for more details. Get involved, stand out, raise your skills and find additional scholarship opportunities through our free scholarship search!

by Kayla Herrera, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

It's that wonderful time of year when colds and the flu grip us by the throat – figuratively and literally. For me, it began as allergies (probably a development due to my rabbit) and somehow, the allergies turned into a sinus infection, which then morphed into bronchitis. I woke up in the middle of every night wheezing and sneezing and while the rhyming doesn't even begin to make it sound better, I found a way to survive.

I had to visit the doctor at the Shopko clinic twice (doctors up here are either hard to get into or incompetent) and she recommended a humidifier (I’d never had one before) and some other products. Here’s the rest of my cold and flu season survival kit:

• Vicks humidifier (it’s surprisingly inexpensive, I promise!)
• AlkaSeltzer Allergy and Cough (their cold stuff is great) or Tylenol Cold (the blue liquid is a miracle worker for colds and the flu)
• Lots of lotion-filled tissues
• Cough drops that taste good and work (Halls clear the nasal passage while helping your throat but avoid Ricola...ugh)
• Nasal strips for congestion like Breathe Right (watch out because they do leave a red bump on the nose if you wear them overnight but it can easily be covered with makeup)
• Mint tea to help the nasal passages – make sure to breathe in the steam, too!
• Vicks VapoRub (helps the wheezing, coughing and sometimes nasal congestion)

If you do go to the doctor, always check any prescription they give you. This past week, the doctor prescribed me a medication with the very item I was allergic to (despite me writing it down on my information sheet!) so when I took the pill and looked it up, I freaked out and marched back up there. Turns out she had realized her error and changed the prescription at the last minute before I had picked it up but it was still concerning. Be careful and get better!

In addition to being a Scholarships.com virtual intern, Michigan Tech student Kayla Herrera is a media coordinator for the Michigan Tech Youth Programs and is a writer for The Daily News in Iron Mountain, Mich., Examiner.com and WHOA Magazine. She love a tantalizing, action-packed video game and can't get enough of horror movies (Stephen King's books always have her in their grip, though she prefers the old over the new). Writing is what she has always done, and that is what she is here to do.

For some students, heading off to college for the next two, four or even six years isn’t the right option. And while college isn’t for everyone, an education should be. In order to stay competitive in the workforce, it’s important to realize that there are opportunities in the form of both trade and vocational schools for students who don’t see themselves on college campuses. But before you sign up for a program that offers training as a dental hygienist or ultrasound technician, verify that the institution is accredited or run the risk of obtaining a very expensive yet useless certificate or licensure. Think this doesn’t happen? Unfortunately, it does: The California Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education has ordered the Institute of Medical Education to close its two campuses in San Jose and Oakland for falsely claiming accreditation.

According to the college’s website, the Institute of Medical Education is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Schools of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The reality, said commission has not been a federally recognized accreditor since 2010. “Those things put students at enormous risk,” said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Consumer Affairs, which oversees the bureau responsible for shuttering the schools. “These students have spent a lot of money and a lot of time for programs that may not allow them to sit for licensure examinations.” The institute had offered certificate programs in vocational nursing, medical assisting and other health-related fields for fees of up to $40,000 and state officials have urged students to apply to the state’s Student Tuition Recovery Fund, which reimburses students at schools that close.

Have you considered the possibility of going to a vocational school instead of a traditional four-year college?

by Radha Jhatakia, Scholarships.com Virtual Intern

No two people are alike and neither are their beliefs. People have similarities and differences, grow up in different environments and have diverse experiences which shape their beliefs; when we are in college, people with diverse beliefs are brought together and thus students must be tolerant and respectful of the beliefs of others. It is not right to ridicule the beliefs of others or to impress our own beliefs upon them.

In college, people will have many different issues they are passionate about and we will take classes with these students and interact with them on a daily basis throughout our time in school. People will practice and believe in whatever is best for them and no one has the right to dictate otherwise. We may not believe in another religion over our own but does that make someone else’s lesser? No, it does not and as citizens of a country where freedom is valued, people must respect that. People must be tolerant of is sexuality; homosexuality may not be your orientation but your beliefs should not cause others to suffer. Whether you believe the same or not isn't the issue and this mindset is especially useful when living on campus for the first time: Your roommate or neighbor could be 100-percent your opposite but respect for their beliefs and lifestyle will make for a more comfortable living arrangement and maybe even a lasting friendship.

In a time when the world is at odds and there are wars over petty issues, respecting beliefs of others is more important than ever. Can you imagine how many conflicts would end tomorrow if those fighting simply followed this advice? Argue for what you believe in – everyone is entitled to their own opinion – but just because you don’t believe something doesn’t mean you have the right to disrespect it. Be respectful of those around you and their beliefs – sometimes it’s all we have.

Radha Jhatakia is a communications major at San Jose State University. She's a transfer student who had some ups and downs in school and many obstacles to face; these challenges – plus support from family, friends and cat – have only made Radha stronger and have given her the experience to help others with the same issues. In her spare time, she enjoys writing, reading, cooking, sewing and designing. A social butterfly, Radha hopes to work in public relations and marketing upon graduation.

For the budget-conscious high school senior, it seems like a no-brainer to apply to the local state school for the best shot at affordable tuition. But with the economy in a slump and funding cuts becoming the norm, public universities across the country are more interested in recruiting out-of-state students. Why? It’s pretty simple: On average, tuition and fees for students crossing state lines is more than double that of their in-state peers. So if you have your sights set on schools beyond your state’s boundaries, check out the 10 most expensive public schools for out-of-state students (figures do not including room and board, books and other miscellaneous costs):

1. University of Michigan – Ann Arbor: $37, 265
2. University of Virginia: $36,570
3. University of California – Irvine: $35,780
4. University of California – Davis: $35,672
5. College of William and Mary (VA): $35, 409
6. University of California – Santa Barbara: $35,386
7. University of California – Santa Cruz: $35,211
8. University of California – San Diego: $35,006
9. University of California – Riverside: $34,729
10. University of California – Berkeley: $34,645

Did your prospective college make the list and does this information alter your interest in the school? Is it fair for colleges facing financial woes to place the burden on the shoulders of incoming out-of-state students?