The Secret Of Enrollment Management – What Private Colleges Don’t Want You To Know About Their Financial Aid Policies!

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
Secret Of Enrollment Management -  What Private Colleges Don’t Want You To
Know About Their Financial Aid Policies! style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
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style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> 

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Have you ever heard
of the term, “Enrollment Manager”? If not, then here’s a lesson in college
economics that most parents will never hear about. style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> 

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">College enrollment
management became prominent in the 90′s when private colleges
discovered that they were losing high quality students to public universities
due to “sticker price shock”. Many private colleges suffered from lower
admissions numbers and feared that they would go out of business if they did not
find a better way to pinpoint the high schools and markets where their best
prospects would most likely be found. As a result, they turned to enrollment
managers. In a nutshell, here’s how the enrollment management process works:
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">A
private college hires an enrollment management firm to analyze the college’s
admissions policies, student enrollment patterns, demographics, and diversity.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
enrollment management firm analyzes the college’s revenues and costs to
determine the college’s break-even point, or the number of students the
college needs to recruit and retain in order to cover their necessary
expenses.
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
enrollment management firm then adds in the college’s projected new spending
to determine the minimum revenue needed to achieve the college’s
total expenditure goals for the year.
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
enrollment management firm then calculates the average EFC (Expected Family
Contribution) per recruited student that is needed in order to meet the
college’s total expenditure goal. This is called the “Target EFC”.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
enrollment management firm then develops a marketing campaign to target
students of academic quality that live in zip codes that will most likely
yield the Target EFC needed to meet the college’s financial goals.

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">The
enrollment management firm then offers those quality students grants and
scholarships equal to the difference between the college’s total cost of
tuition and fees and the target EFC.
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"
class=MsoNormal> style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Once
the college has recruited enough students to meet the break-even point, the
enrollment management firm gradually begins to reduce the grant and
scholarship offers up to the point where the college is at full admissions.

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">These enrollment
management firms are increasingly able to accurately identify the students
likely to enroll without any financial aid. Some enrollment managers can even
predict how big a scholarship it will take to attract the kinds of students the
college is short on; such as females at engineering schools or rural kids at
urban colleges. style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> 

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Many private
colleges are now using enrollment management firms to minimize the amount
of money they have to give out to meet their enrollment goals, which means
that some students attending those schools may get the short end of the
stick when it comes to financial aid. style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> 

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">College is BIG
BUSINESS and the quicker parents realize that the sooner they can put together a
game plan to get the best college deal for their money. Before you fill out your
financial aid forms, give us a call first, we’d love to help you build
that plan. style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">The
author of this newsletter is Brian Safdari.

style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: blue; FONT-SIZE: 10pt">If you
have any questions about the information contained in this newsletter, or any
questions about college funding in general, please contact our office at
661-295-9946.

Obama comforts crying student..

Obama meets with a college student and her financial aid counselor.

-Brian Safdari

Barack Obama’s Tax Plan

Attention
Friends and Family

 

Below is
information from a local CPA that is very knowledgeable in the accounting world.
He is one of the best CPA’s I’ve ever dealt with.

 

I’m
sending this to everyone because I get requests from clients of a good CPA. So
for those of you who would like someone to show you how to reduce your tax
liability, Sam is the right guy for you.

 

Please let
Sam know you were referred by College Planning Experts because I have arranged a
special discount for all my clients.

 

Even if
you have a current CPA, he will give you a second opinion.

 

Have a
nice week.

face=Consolas> 

face=Consolas>Cordially,

Brian
Safdari

 

face=Consolas> 

Brian
Safdari’s “College Planning Power Hour” Radio Show Tuesday’s from 2:00-3:00 PM
KHTS AM 1220 face=Consolas>www.hometownstation.com

 

 

 

Brian is a
member of : National Institute of Certified College Planners, National
Association of College Admissions Counselors, Western Association of College
Admissions Counselors, Toastmasters International, Ambassador at Santa Clarita
Valley Chamber of Commerce, San Fernando Valley of Commerce, Better Business
Bureau, National Association for College Funding Advisors, Higher Education
Consultants Association, National Collegiate Advocacy Group, and Santa Clarita
Valley Concierge.

face=Consolas> 

face=Consolas> 

 

Significant Changes You Need to
Know in Obama Tax Plans:

face=Consolas> 

 

***(Gyu)
Sam Cho, CPA is a principal of MYBL Accounting Services, Inc. He obtained a
Masters of Accounting degree from USC Kenneth Leventhal School of Accounting and
worked for various nationwide accounting firms as a tax professional. He is
responsible for the delivery of tax and accounting services to a broad array of
business enterprises and high net worth individuals. Mr. Cho has had extensive
experience in all aspects of corporate and individual income taxation and is
well versed in minimizing income taxes, including a leading edge tax planning
related to accelerated depreciation expense for new building acquisition and
leasehold

face=Consolas>improvement.(661-702-9983)*** style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

 

 

On the
campaign trail, Barack Obama proposed more than a dozen tax changes that would
affect individuals. The net effect would be to raise taxes on higher-income
people and reduce for low- and middle-income ones.

 

 

Most of
the ideas were floated before credit markets froze and the economy faltered.
Pundits say this could force Obama to shelve his tax plans while he focuses on
the economy.

 

“Most of
his tax proposals will be deferred because they don’t have a stimulus effect and
some of them will make the economy worse,” says Robertson Williams, principal
research associate with the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.

 

The
centerpiece of Obama’s tax plan is the Making Work Pay Credit. It would give
workers making up to $75,000 per year a credit equal to 6.2 percent of their
first $8,100 in annual earnings. The credit, worth about $500 per year, would
essentially refund what eligible workers paid in Social Security tax. Couples
earning up to $150,000 a year could get up to $1,000 if both work. The credit
would not stimulate the economy because it “rewards people for what they have
already done. Those people are already working,” Williams says. Like other
proposed tax cuts, the credit would provide no immediate stimulus because people
would not get the benefit until they file their 2009 taxes in 2010, unless it
was sent out in an advance refund check – a tactic used in the Bush
administration.

 

For
high-income people, Obama planned to restore the top two rates in effect during
the Clinton era – 36 and 39.6 percent. Today the top rate is 35
percent.

 

This
increase would affect people whose taxable income exceeds about $165,000
(single) or $200,000 (married filing jointly). (Taxable income is the amount you
pay taxes on; it is less than gross income.)

 

Obama
would also increase the capital gains and dividend tax for this same group of
people to 20 percent from 15 percent. Clint Stretch, managing principal for tax
policy with Deloitte & Touche, estimates that a family of four with $500,000
in income from wages, interest and capital gains would pay an extra $3,100 in
taxes under the Obama plan.

 

But
Stretch predicts that Obama “will not be anxious to raise rates until the
economy firms up. Is this the first fight he wants to have, or are there things
the new administration wants to do that would have a higher possibility of
bipartisan support?” Should you sell any capital gains you happen to have left
while rates are lower? My simplistic answer: How much would you pay in
transaction costs?

 

Bob Doll,
Blackrock’s global chief investment officer for equities, also doubts that Obama
will try to raise taxes as long as the economy is contracting. “If you are going
to raise taxes, you don’t do it in the middle of a recession,” he says. “We
would be surprised to see significant tax increases enacted in 2009.”

 

Obama’s
more recent tax proposals intended to help suffering from the downturn, but
they, too, would be a hard sell. For example, he proposed letting people
withdraw 15 percent of their Individual Retirement Plan or

 

401(k)
balances (up to $10,000) without paying the 10 percent penalty that applies to
withdrawals before age 59 1/2. It would apply this year and next.

 

face=Consolas>Retirement-security advocates hate this warm-hearted idea. “Any
proposal that tries to solve the larger economic crisis by telling people or
making it easier to use their 401(k) money is not the right solution,” says
Karen Friedman, policy director of the Pension Rights Center. During Obama’s
term, higher income people are likely to pay higher taxes. Does that mean you
should realize capital gains – if you have any left – or accelerate income into
2008 to take advantage of today’s lower rates?

Before
selling an asset to get this year’s capital gains rate, Stretch says investors
should weigh their transaction costs against how much they would save in taxes
and also consider the “opportunity cost,” or what else they could do with money
they would send to the government.

 

Summary of
Obama tax proposals’ effect on individuals

 

Permanent
changes:

 

(1) Income
tax: Restore Clinton-era tax rates for high-income earners. The marginal tax
rate on taxable income exceeding $357,700 (for singles and married couples
filing jointly) would rise to 39.6 percent from 35 percent.

 

The rate
on taxable income between $200,300 and $357,700 (for joint filers) and between
$164,550 and $357,700 (for singles) would rise to 36 percent from 33
percent.

 

(2)
Capital gains: Raise tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends
to 20 percent from 15 percent for people with taxable income exceeding $164,550
(singles) or $200,300 (joint returns).

 

(3)
Restore phaseouts: Reinstate the phaseout of personal exemptions and itemized
deductions for higher-income taxpayers. The phaseout is scheduled to end in
2010.

 

(4) Making
Work Pay Credit: Create a tax credit equal to 6.2 percent of the first $8,100 of
annual earnings for workers making less than $75,000 per year. This credit,
worth up to $500 per person, would refund the eligible employee’s Social
Security tax.

 

(5)
Seniors: Eliminate income tax for seniors earning less than $50,000.

 

(6)
Mortgages: Give homeowners who don’t itemize deductions a new credit ($800
maximum) equal to 10 percent of their annual mortgage payments.

 

(7)
College: Replace the Hope credit (maximum $1,800) with the American Opportunity
Tax Credit (maximum $4,000). Applies to qualified expenses paid the first two
years of college. Income limits apply.

 

(8) Child
care: Increase the credit for low-income families and make it available to
workers who don’t earn enough to pay income tax.

 

(9) Earned
income tax credit: Expand this credit for low-income workers.

 

(10)
Alternative Minimum Tax: Make the 2008 AMT exemption amount permanent and index
it to inflation. This would prevent a big increase in the number of people who
pay AMT. Some high-income people would pay less AMT because they would pay more
regular tax.

 

(11)
Estate tax: Make the 2009 rules permanent – no tax on estates less
than

 

$3.5
million per person or $7 million per couple. Amounts over that limit taxed at 45
percent.

 

Temporary
changes :

 

(12)
Retirement plans: Workers could withdraw 15 percent (up to $10,000) of their IRA
or 401(k) account without paying a penalty in 2008 and 2009.

 

Income tax
would still apply. Retirees older than 70 1/2 would not have to take withdrawals
from their tax-deferred retirement plans in 2008 or 2009.

 

(13)
Unemployment benefits: No tax on unemployment benefits in 2008 and
2009.

 

If you
have any questions, please call Sam Cho, CPA

 

Sam Cho,
CPA

MYBL
Accounting Services, Inc.

MYBL Minds
Your Bottom Line!

26007
Huntington Lane #5

Santa
Clarita, CA 91355

face=Consolas>Ph:661-702-9983

face=Consolas>Fx:661-702-9984

TEACH GRANT…

Good Monday everyone! I hope you all had an amazing weekend!

 

I got this from FAFSA’s official website and I think this will be a very
useful GRANT for a lot of students.

 

TEACH GRANT PROGRAM

NOTE: For the TEACH Grant Fact Sheet, href="/students/attachments/siteresources/4807Teach_FactSheet_v3.pdf"
target=_blank>click here.

Through the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007, Congress created
the Teacher Education Assistance for College and Higher Education (TEACH) Grant
Program that provides grants of up to $4,000 per year to students who intend to
teach in a public or private elementary or secondary school that serves students
from low-income families. If, after reading all of the information on this fact
sheet, you are interested in learning more about the TEACH Grant Program, you
should contact the financial aid office at the college where you will be
enrolled starting with the 2008-2009 school year.

Effective Dates

The first TEACH Grants will be awarded to eligible students for the

2008-2009 school year.

Conditions

In exchange for receiving a TEACH Grant, you must agree to serve as a

full-time teacher in a high-need field in a public or private elementary or
secondary school that serves low-income students (see below for more information
on high-need fields and schools serving low-income students). As a recipient of
a TEACH Grant, you must teach for at least four academic years within eight
calendar years of completing the program of study for which you received a TEACH
Grant. IMPORTANT: If you fail to complete this service obligation, all amounts
of TEACH Grants that you received will be converted to a Federal Direct
Unsubsidized Stafford Loan. You must then repay this loan to the U.S. Department
of Education. You will be charged interest from the date the grant(s) was
disbursed. Note: TEACH Grant recipients will be given a 6-month grace period
prior to entering repayment if a TEACH Grant is converted to a Direct
Unsubsidized Loan.

Student Eligibility Requirements

To receive a TEACH Grant you must meet the following criteria:

• Complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), although
  you do not have to demonstrate financial need.
  
• Be a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen.
  
• Be enrolled as an undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or graduate student
  in a postsecondary educational institution that has chosen to participate in
  the TEACH Grant Program.
  
• Be enrolled in course work that is necessary to begin a career in teaching
  or plan to complete such course work. Such course work may include subject
  area courses (e.g., math courses for a student who intends to be a math
  teacher).
  
• Meet certain academic achievement requirements (generally, scoring above
  the 75th percentile on a college admissions test or maintaining a cumulative
  GPA of at least 3.25).
  
• Sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve (see below for more information on
  the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve).

High-Need Field

High-need fields are the specific areas identified below -

• Bilingual Education and English Language Acquisition.
  
• Foreign Language.
  
• Mathematics.
  
• Reading Specialist.
  
• Science.
  
• Special Education.
  
• Other identified teacher shortage areas as of the time you begin teaching
  in that field. These are teacher subject shortage areas (not geographic areas)
  that are listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Teacher Shortage Area
  Nationwide Listing. To access the listing, please go to href="http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc"
  target=_blank>http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ope/pol/tsa.doc.
  

Schools Serving Low-Income Students

Schools serving low-income students include any elementary or secondary
school that is listed in the Department of Education’s Annual Directory of
Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits. To access the
Directory, please go to href="https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp"
target=_blank>https://www.tcli.ed.gov/CBSWebApp/tcli/TCLIPubSchoolSearch.jsp.

TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve

Each year you receive a TEACH Grant, you must sign a TEACH Grant Agreement to
Serve that will be available electronically on a Department of Education Web
site. The TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve specifies the conditions under which
the grant will be awarded, the teaching service requirements, and includes an
acknowledgment by you that you understand that if you do not meet the teaching
service requirements you must repay the grant as a Federal Direct Unsubsidized
Loan, with interest accrued from the date the grant funds were disbursed.
Specifically, the TEACH Grant Agreement to Serve will require the following:

• For each TEACH Grant-eligible program for which you received TEACH Grant
  funds, you must serve as a full-time teacher for a total of at least four
  academic years within eight calendar years after you completed or withdrew
  from the academic program for which you received the TEACH Grant.
  
• You must perform the teaching service as a highly-qualified teacher at a
  low-income school. The term highly-qualified teacher is defined in section
  9101(23) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 or in section
  602(10) of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act.
  
• Your teaching service must be in a high-need field.
  
• You must comply with any other requirements that the Department of
  Education determines to be necessary.
  
• If you do not complete the required teaching service obligation, TEACH
  Grant funds you received will be converted to a Federal Direct Unsubsidized
  Stafford Loan that you must repay, with interest charged from the date of each
  TEACH Grant disbursement.

IMPORTANT REMINDER

If you receive a TEACH Grant but do not complete the required teaching
service, as explained above, you will be required to repay the grants as a
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan, with interest charged from the date
of each TEACH Grant disbursement.

Next Steps

If you are interested in learning more about the TEACH Grant Program, you
should contact the financial aid office at the college where you will be
enrolled to find out if they will participate in the TEACH Grant Program. For a
listing of the 2008-2009 school year TEACH Grant eligible institutions, click href="http://ifap.ed.gov/eannouncements/attachments/092208TEACHGrant0919.xls"
target=_blank>here.

Disclaimer

This page provides a preliminary summary of the TEACH Grant Program based on
the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007. The information on this page
is subject to change and is not binding on the Department of Education.

 

 

For more detailed information on this Grant and many
others visit my website and sign-up for a FREE workshop

www.CollegePlanningExperts.com

 

 

-Brian Safdari

 

“HOPE AND LIFETIME LEARNING CREDITS DOUBLED FOR SOME COUNTIES”

For 2008-09 some counties in the states of Wisconsin, Iowa, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Nebraska have doubled the Hope Credit to the amount of $3,600 and the Lifetime Learning Credit to $4,000.

 

 

www.CollegePlanningExperts.com

 

-Brian

Federal Student Loan Update!

Happy Monday!

 

So, Bush is still making some moves on the economic problems before he leaves
office at the end of the year. Here is a piece of the press release from the
department of educations website:

A Department of Education Press Release:

The Administration intends to provide liquidity support to one or
more conforming Asset-Backed Commercial Paper (ABCP) conduits. These conduits will purchase FFELP
loans, providing longer-term stability to the guaranteed student loan
marketplace. The Department intends to make all fully disbursed,
non-consolidation FFELP loans awarded between October 1, 2003 and July 1, 2009
eligible for this program. An eligible lender trustee creates a pool called a
conduit, to which other lenders transfer ownership of their student loans.
This conduit issues commercial paper to sell, backed by the loans in the pool
(Asset-Backed Commercial Paper). After private investors purchase the
commercial paper (CP), student lenders would be paid out of the amounts
received from these investors. The Department of Education will provide
liquidity to the facility by entering into forward purchase commitments with
these eligible lender trustees, whereby the Department promises to purchase,
at a date in the future, eligible student loans at a prearranged price if the
commercial paper that has been issued by the conduit cannot be re-issued or
“rolled” at maturity and the conduit does not have sufficient cash to repay
commercial paper investors.

 

Understand everything??? This was just a press release, now just
imagine the 1000+ pages of the Higher Education Re authorization Act is written.
This is the book you must read if you would like to know EVERYTHING about the
financial aid system. FUN! I know, I read it.

 

Basically what the Department of Education is saying, is that, they
figured Re authorization a way to increase the capital that banks that fund the federal loans
have, in turn making it possible to still receive federal loans. This is great
news for anyone that will be taking out a PLUS Loan, Stafford Loan, or Perkins
Loan this coming year. But, if your in need of a private loan, your still in
trouble because that problem has not been solved yet.

 

If you think you are in need of a private student loan, and are not
sure what will be available in the coming months/years, then I would seriously
suggest for you to visit my website and sign-up for a FREE workshop! There are
so many different avenues to pay for college, and in most families situations,
private Student Loans are the worst way to pay! Do your research!!!!!!

 

Have a great day!

 

-Brian

More from President-Elect Barack Obama…

Hey
guys!!!! Happy Friday!!!

Yesterday I posted an article from Inside Higher Education’s website
outlining Obama’s views on education and college. He has some very interesting
proposals to change some of the issues parents and students have when going to
and paying for college.

 

Watch this video that is posted on Obama’s website to get a better idea,
directly from the President-Elect himself, of what he has in mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you all have a great and amazing weekend!!

 

P.S. Don’t forget to sign up for my November FREE College Planning Workshop
to get all the details of the up and coming changes in higher education and how
they will affect YOU!!

 

href="http://www.CollegePlanningExperts.com">www.CollegePlanningExperts.com

 

-Brian

President Elect Barack Obama on Higher Education…

Happy Thursday everyone!!!!

I am posting this article from Inside Higher Education’s website about
Obama’s views on college. This should give us some idea of what could be up and
coming with College costs, rules, and regulation changes.

Pay close attention to what Obama says about the college textbook scams. If
you are or have a student in college, I suggest, looking into used
textbooks and online resources for textbooks (dont just go to the schools
bookstore as your only resort!!). 

Reducing your textbook costs could save you thousands of dollars per
year!!!

 

Obama on Higher Ed

Many higher education leaders had hoped to see
college issues, or education generally, emerge as a major issue in the 2008
race. That never quite happened. And with the war in Iraq and the collapse of
the economy, that may not be surprising. But over the course of two years
leading up to his election, Sen. Barack Obama has given many policy addresses
and issued many proposals about education that may guide his work in office – at
least after he deals with the economy, Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are some of
the highlights:

Loan programs: Obama
responded to a scandal last spring about student loan programs by proposing a
series of reforms.
href="http://www.barackobama.com/2007/05/15/obama_calls_for_elimination_of.php"
target=_blank>In a May 2007 proposal, he
called for eliminating subsidies to lenders and pushing all borrowing into the
direct lending program. He said that eliminating subsidies would allow for a
significant boost in support for Pell Grants. At around the same time Obama made
his proposal, similar ideas were unveiled by Hillary Clinton and John Edwards,
who were at that time emerging as top competitors in the race for the Democratic
nomination. In part because all of the leading candidates were more sympathetic
to direct lending than to the guaranteed loan program, and the Republicans at
the time were largely ignoring higher education issues, there was little
sustained debate about these proposals.

Access to higher education: While Obama started with a focus on loan programs, he went on to
issue more detailed proposals on college access, saying repeatedly that he
worried about the challenges families faced paying for college. Included in his

href="http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/CollegeAffordabilityFactSheet.pdf"
target=_blank>college access plans:

• A fully refundable tax credit to cover the first
  $4,000 in college costs – enough for two years of community college tuition in
  most cases – for everyone. The only requirement would be 100 hours of public
  service a year; this could be performed in the summer or between semesters.
  
  
• Simplification of federal aid applications.
  (There has been some progress on this issue, which attracts bipartisan
  support, since Obama spoke on it and prior to the election.)
  
• A pledge to keep Pell Grant maximums rising at
  the level of inflation or higher if possible.
  

Community colleges:
Obama has proposed a new grant program that would provide funds to community
colleges to conduct more thorough analysis of the types of skills and technical
education that are in high demand from students and local businesses; to create
new associate of arts degree programs that cater to emerging careers; and to
reward institutions that graduate more students and also increase their numbers
of transfer students to four-year institutions.

Science and technology:
During the campaign, the president-elect repeatedly linked investments in
science and technology to improvements in the economy, and he made
target=_blank>a number of specific proposals. Obama has
called for expanded financing of federal research programs, with special efforts
for those academic scientists starting their careers; the creation of new
programs to improve math and science education and to attract more students to
them – with special efforts to recruit minority and female students to fields
where they have been underrepresented; and special efforts to promote research
and education related to climate change and health care. Obama has backed stem
cell research and opposed Bush administration limits on such funds. Further, he
has pledged to “restore the basic principle that government decisions should be
based on the best-available, scientifically valid evidence and not on the
ideological predispositions of agency officials or political appointees.” A more
philosophical outline of Obama’s views on the link between education, science
and economic competitiveness may be found in
href="http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5nQB"
target=_blank>his speech in June at Kettering
University.

Affirmative action:
Obama has repeatedly said that affirmative action should not be eliminated, but
he has suggested a combination of class and race as factors. In a 2007 interview
with ABC, asked if his daughters will deserve affirmative action when they apply
to college, he said that they “should probably be treated by any admissions
officer as folks who are pretty advantaged.” Further, in Obama’s
href="http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/18/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_53.php"
target=_blank>Philadelphia speech on race,
he noted with sympathy the frustrations of some while people “when they hear
that an African American is getting an advantage in landing a good job or a spot
in a good college because of an injustice that they themselves never committed.”
But in that speech, as in others, Obama has also repeatedly stressed that the
economic and educational gaps between some minority individuals and others are
real and need attention.

While presidential candidates prepare policies on
issues such as education and research, they also end up speaking on other higher
education issues when they are asked surprise questions on the campaign trail or
in debates, or when they happen to be campaigning in an area that is focused on
a particular issue. In these situations, Obama has:

• target=_blank>Called for colleges to lift bans on Reserve Officers
  Training Corps programs.
  Obama opposes the military’s
  discriminatory policies against gay people – the source of much campus
  opposition to ROTC. But in an appearance at Columbia University in September,
  he said that “the notion that young people here at Columbia or anywhere, in
  any university, aren’t offered the choice, the option of participating in
  military service, I think is a mistake.”
  
• href="http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/obama_on_a_college_textbook_ra.html"
  target=_blank>Criticized the cost of college
  textbooks and professors who assign their own books.
  In an
  appearance in Texas, he said: “Books are a big scam…. I taught law at the
  University of Chicago for 10 years, and one of the biggest scams is law
  professors write their own text books and then assign it to their students.
  They make a mint. It’s a huge racket.”
  
• target=_blank>Backed the right to attend community college for
  those without legal status to be in the United States.
  Obama
  spoke on this issue in North Carolina, where this has been the subject of much
  debate. In an interview, he said: “For us to deny them access to community
  college, even though they’ve never lived in Mexico, at least as far as they
  can tell … is to deny that this is how we’ve always built this country up.”
  
  

- Scott
Jaschik

 

 

Hope you all have an amazing rest of the week and a great weekend!!!!

 

-Brian

If you start, make sure you finish

Going to college is one thing, and graduating college is another. You want to make sure you finish what you start when it comes to going to college. The best way to maximize the chances of a student graduating college is to get them on the right track from the beginning (i.e major choice and college choice). There are a lot of reasons why students do not finish college, but the biggest reason I have noticed is that students do not know what major they want to study and what college they REALLY want to go to, which a lot of the time leads to dropping out.

From Inside Higher Ed:

The reality that only about 7 in 10 students earn
degrees after four years in high school has been widely deplored. But
if that situation is seen as such a crisis, why aren’t more people
upset about the fact that graduation rates in higher education are
quite a bit worse?

That’s the fundamental question underlying a new paper by Mark S.
Schneider, vice president for new educational initiatives at the
American Institutes for Research who was, until a few weeks ago,
commissioner of education statistics in the Bush administration’s
Department of Education.

Comparing American higher education unfavorably to its peers
internationally as well as to U.S. high schools, he zeroes in,
particularly, on about 408 four-year institutions that graduate fewer
than one third of their students, and calculates the cost of those
“failure factories,” as he calls them, at about $770 million in federal
grant aid and lost tuition payments, to the government and families.

Student planning is a huge part of reducing your the end costs of college. Helping the student figure out their major and which college they will stay at for ALL YEARS (not just the fist semester) can save parents THOUSANDS of $$$$$$$!!!

For more information on student planning and financial aid, check out my website and reserve a seat at one of me FREE college planning workshops.

P.S. I hope you all voted!!!

-Brian

The Student Loan Crisis Countinues….

 

Hey Folks,

       Here is a perfect example of why college
cost need to be planned out for ALL 4 YEARS, ahead of time and not on a
year-to-year basis. Student Loans are being cut-off left and right and students
that depend exclusively on these loans might not be able to pay for school this
year. If you are going to be a college student in teh next few years, are a
college student now, or are a parent of a college student you need to make sure
you exhaust ALL avenues of available money for college cost. DO NOT just
rely on one source to fund your college costs. The economy is changing
drastically and this WILL affect how you pay for college and how much it will
cost.

This video is about what one state is going
through with their student loan problems.

 
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/P>    align= center>

 

 

If you would like to learn about all the different avenues of paying for
college and reducing your college cost, you must attend one of my FREE
college planning workshops. You will be amazed by the simple things that can be
done and the amount of money that can be saved by taking the time out to come to
one of my workshops!! Stop procrastinating!!

 

College Planning
Experts, Inc. Website

 

Till next time

-Brian