FAP767: Going green on Free Stuff Friday, Earth Day 2008 Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + Inside Higher Ed: “Banks are marketing aggressively through a variety of channels. They’re calling students on the phone, they’re mailing to students, and they’re using a combination of on-campus and off-campus tables where they give away products, ranging from offers for sandwiches, offers of food and pizza, all the way up to iPod shuffles,” said Edmund Mierzwinski, consumer program director for U.S. PIRG. The organization manages the “Truth About Credit” campaign. + The survey, of more than 1,500 students at 40 campuses in 14 states, found broad support among students for limiting credit card marketing on campuses. Eighty percent said they supported at least some limits. There was strong support for restricting access only to promotions for cards with fair terms and conditions, and opposition to colleges’ sharing or selling lists containing student contact information. “Many credit card companies encounter no difficulty in securing information of current students at colleges for marketing purposes,” the report notes. “It is also true that some state public records laws compel public universities and colleges to sell their lists of student information as public records, to anyone.” + I’d have to say that paying tuition with a credit card is a terrible idea, far worse than private student loans + Our student credit card education site + Chronicle: Guarantee agencies such as USA Funds, despite their concerns, are cooperating with the department to prepare for a possible emergency, James Manning said. Only three weeks after department officials said they were troubled by the state of preparations for a lender-of-last-resort declaration, “we’re much more comfortable with where we are now,” he said. + Mr. Manning also made it clear that the administration is not ready to be offering assistance directly to lenders. Even if large numbers of lenders withdraw from the bank-based system, the 20 largest lenders handle 85 percent of student loans, he said. The size of the lenders, along with the continued migration of some colleges to the direct-lending program, should prevent any large-scale disruptions, he said. + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + Parent PLUS loans at ParentPLUSLoan.com Scholarship Update + The Woodlands High School GREEN Scholarship + $1,000 scholarships - 3 of them + For students at Woodlands High School in Texas + Be sure to Google for your city, town, county, and state with the words Earth Day scholarship to see what local environmental scholarships are available + Details at our free college scholarship search site Free Stuff Friday + Let’s see what we can come up with for green and free + Last week we mentioned PhoneRaiser to recycle phones and earn cash + FreeCycle.org is a site for trading stuff + Check out your local Craigslist free stuff column + Also check out the barter/trade column as well + Free Photoshop Express + When buying software, opt for digital download, and delivery is usually free + Mint has 30 free eBooks on personal finance + If you like horror, Scott Sigler’s eBook Infected is free until March 31 + Scholarship Search Secrets is free and paperless, too + Money savers - compact fluorescent lightbulbs - I’ve just started having to change bulbs I put in my house in 2001 - rechargeable batteries with a 1 hour charger + A really important point: green living can be money saving, too - sometimes. + Earth Day is April 22 - be on the lookout for free giveaways - last year, Lowes, Ikea, and Home Depot all had free CFL lightbulbs Free Song of the Week + Dirty Work, by Munk Promo + Financial Aid Podcast Live: Surviving the Credit Crunch Did you enjoy today’s show? If so, please consider subscribing for free to get it delivered to you . Subscribing for free means you don’t have to remember to download it every day. + + + Direct MP3 file download: Click here to download the MP3 Reminders + + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + Open an FDIC-insured savings account today! + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com + Student credit card information at StudentPlatinum.com + FAFSA form tutorials and free help at FAFSAonline.com + Grad student? Get graduate financial aid information at the GradLoans.com blog! + Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com + The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network. I want to hear from you! Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 206-350-1208. Technorati Tags: financial aid financialaidpodcast ShareThis Less