Something to think about - and how are your finals going?

WKU has Commencement soon. Do you?

London Fireworks photo by Chris Downer on Geograph.

I am enjoying reading about my Facebook friends who are graduating this year. They are taking finals and are excited about that too. (Or just terrified...)

So... how is your education experience going, nontraditional students?

Leave your thoughts in a comment at the end of this posting.

Also, I just listed something fun for students still enrolled in school. Why not spend some time applying for some unusual and unknown scholarships this summer? Here is that link:

Unusual, odd, wacky, and unknown scholarships and sites to explore.

I wish you the BEST of luck on your exams, graduation, and enrollment for next year or for Summer Term.

All for today,

Betsyanne

Some tips for nontraditional students for finals and tests

Exams... deadlines... stress... finals... plans!<
Are you finishing final projects, or getting ready for exams and tests? At this time of year, this is normal. If you have kept good records and have gone to class regularly, you may find yourself sitting pretty and fairly well organized.

Need help? Consider visiting a free tutoring area if this is available, and go see your teacher to narrow down what you need to study.

You may want to increase the number of times your study group meets in certain classes.

Remember to get plenty of sleep during this could-be stressful time too, and take good care of yourself.

These postings from this blog may help you too:

10 Tips and Links to help you do GREAT on your Finals and Tests
Get Organized for Finals

Good luck on finals and tests this semester.

Leave a comment about how it is going!

Thanks,

Betsyanne

Current and former Nontraditional Student

Some Nontrad links:

The Nontrad site and blog

Join Nontrads on Facebook

Nontrads on Yahoo

Nontrads on Twitter

Two recent USA Today articles definitely are of interest to nontraditional students - and all students, in fact.

#1: More Schools vary tuition by major. Do you agree with this? Some majors would pay one price, others, like math and science degrees, would cost more. I have not heard of this before, and I wonder if more schools will jump on this bandwagon. This article is by Alicia McCarty: More schools vary tuition by major.

#2. Obama talks low loan rates in pitch to college students. President Obama has been talking about his and his wife's students loans lately. This article, by Richard Wolf, Catalina Carnia and David Jackson tells of a speech by President Obama at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

President Obama wants to see less interest on students loans, and is speaking against raising Stafford loan interest rates to double what they are now. What do you think of this happening? Of course, it would happen only to new borrowers, but the rate is already a lot higher than I and others think it should.

The article says an even bigger problem right now is that graduates right now have few jobs to pick from. Leave a comment on these issues below. Thanks!

Betsyanne
Current and Former Nontraditional Student

Some Nontrad links: The Nontrad site and blog Join Nontrads on Facebook Nontrads on Yahoo Nontrads on Twitter

Student Loans - what you should know, and some tips

Do you have a student loan? Are you thinking of getting one?

You should know that student loans in the U.S. aren't all the same. For instance, a Stafford Loan can have a fixed interest rate of around 6.8%. 

A Perkins Loan can be 5% interest, and has a 10-year payment period. A PLUS loan (parent loan) is about 7.9%.

This is more than current interest rates for savers, because the rate of school loans is made by Congress, and does not change as much as the cost of living does.

One thing is for sure (and has been all over the news lately) - all student loans must be repaid. Many lenders have you start repaying 6 months after you are out of school, or are not in school at least part-time.

Getting a private (not government) loan is generally more expensive. And putting student debt on a credit card can be extremely costly.

As you may have heard on the news lately, declaring bankruptcy does not get someone out of paying a loan.

But not all students can raise the money nowadays to attend college just from a summer job or savings. So getting a student loan can be necessary.

Be careful, take as many courses as you can per semester (as many as you can safely handle), and have a plan for what you want to take. Making a course plan is very important, as you can save money by not having to wait and take another semester of classes just because of a prerequisite that you forgot to take. Make sure you get an adviser too, to prevent this kind of mistake.

Make sure to ask your advisor about your credits transferring, if you plan to take more courses at another school or graduate school. There have been some scary stories of much student loan money being paid and lost and credits not applying towards a professional program.

And don't just go by what the advisor says, check for yourself at your second school before you spend time and money for classes that will not help you.

Are you looking for a loan? Fill out your information at the FAFSA site, and you will see all the loans available for you. You may even qualify for a scholarship or grant there too, and with the help of the FinAid or Fastweb site.

Find out more:

Loans - at the FinAid site.

The Stafford Loan website

Subsidized vs. unsubsidized loans

The official FAFSA site

Via Wikipedia: The Federal Perkins loan

Probe finds Fraud and Deception at For-Profit Schools (From USA Today)

And here are more of myome nontraditional student links: 

The Nontrad site and blog

Join Nontrads on Facebook

Nontrads on Yahoo

Nontrads on Twitter 

Betsyanne
Former and current Nontraditional Student

Are you ready to go back to school?

Here are some home study and prep ideas for New Nontraditional Students.
Before going back to school, check with an advisor there, and go talk to him or her. Some schools have back to school programs for new students. They may also have testing to place you at your correct level for certain classes like English or Math.

If you can plan ahead at least a half a year, you can take online quizzes or tests and get your skills back too.

One or two study helps are buying a study book with CD, such as a Peterson's or Kaplan study guide. Here are some examples:


You may also want to brush up on your computer and typing skills.  Peter's Online Typing course is a good site for brushing up on your typing.

And some good and free computer courses are listed on my Betsyanne For Seniors page.

Remember to give yourself a pep talk too! It can help you go ahead with your plans.  Good luck in going back to school.

And here is the official FAFSA page for when you decide to see how much loan, grant, or scholarship money you qualify for.

All for now,

Betsyanne

College, trade school, a GED - is one on your bucket list?

This posting is for people who have always wanted to go back to school, but keep putting it off.