FAP744: How to avoid borrowing student loans Listen now: Student Financial Aid News + I was on WCVB Boston 5 last night, which was fun. One of the questions that Bianca de la Garza asked was about financial planning for parents of young children - that’ll be a special delivery episode + Since I can’t find the video of the interview anywhere on their web site, I put one up on YouTube. + And hey, if anyone knows Chaniqua Louis at Brockton High, tell her to give me a call. + Dunkin Donuts has 99 cent lattes on sale today after 1 PM + Chronicle: Wal-Mart’s philanthropic arm announced today that it made $67-million in grants to educational programs during 2007, with much of it going to higher education. + The gift will provide $100,000 awards to 20 small- and mid-sized independent colleges and universities to increase the enrollment, retention, and graduation rates of first-generation students. + WSJ: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is taking steps to brace for an increase in failed financial institutions as the nation’s housing and credit markets continue to worsen. The FDIC is looking to bring back 25 retirees from its division of resolutions and receiverships. Many of these agency veterans likely worked for the FDIC during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when more than 1,000 financial institutions failed amid the savings-and-loan crisis. + “Regulators are bracing for well over 100 bank failures in the next 12 to 24 months, with concentrations in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Ohio, and the states that are suffering severe housing-market problems like California, Florida, and Georgia,” said Jaret Seiberg, Washington policy analyst for financial-services firm Stanford Group. + In job postings on its Web site, the FDIC said it is looking for people with “skill in performing duties associated with a financial-institution closing, such as receivership management, resolutions and/or asset disposition; knowledge of the resolutions process as it relates to complex financial institutions.” Such positions would require “very frequent overnight travel,” the posting said, and would pay up to $180,770. + What does this mean for you? Diversify your savings and make sure that at least some part is either FDIC or NCUA insured Scholarship Update + WCVB sponsors some scholarships at Boston University’s College of Communications, so that’s our scholarship for today + Directory of awards + May 1 deadline + Application PDF + Details at our free college scholarship search site News You Can Use + What if you wanted to avoid student loans? + Ironic for a student loan company sponsored podcast + Save early, save often, and in uncertain times, save safely + Diversified savings and investments are the key to making sure you don’t lose it all + Consult qualified financial planners and CPAs + File the FAFSA + Scholarships are the key + Grab our free scholarship search secrets eBook + Be prepared to work during school + Develop streams of passive income + Be entrepreneurial and look for opportunities to create value - campus textbook exchanges, etc. + Look back in your college’s history to see what students did in the days before financial aid - pre-1965. + Franklin and Marshall College, my bachelor’s alma mater, had eating clubs - college students not having money is not a new phenomenon + And as always, if they’re unavoidable, borrow federal student loans first, then private student loans 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 + Student Loan Network $10,000 Scholarship - Apply in 32 seconds or less! + Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com. + Free scholarship search secrets eBook at StudentScholarshipSearch.com/ebook + 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 + Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com + Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.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