Archive for July, 2008
Student Loan Default Help – Fast and Easy!
Jul 29th
A bad credit rating will probably follow if you default on your student loan. Taking your college debt seriously is very important when dealing with lenders because defaulting on this debt can result in a bad credit rating, wage attachments and loss of income tax refunds from the government.
If you follow a few simple guidelines you can easily avoid defaulting on your student loan. The first step to avoiding defaulted student loans is to keep the lines of communication open with your lender.
Admitting to your lending institution that you are facing financial difficulties usually stops the need to default. My monthly repayments at one time became almost impossible to maintain because of loans acquired whilst a student.
‘So how do they take back your education?’ one of my friends said with sarcasm. If you take this approach you will definitely have a problem and default on your student loan.
The first thing to do is contact your finance company before defaulting on your loan. After all the worry, getting a deferment was quite simple and painless. The company was very helpful and they assigned an agent to me who assisted me with the deferment process.
It was a weight off my shoulders because it only took seven days for the payments to be deferred until I was back on my feet again. Although defaulting on my student loan wasn’t what I wanted, I knew that other financial institutions would not be quite as accommodating. My student loan providers understanding assistance helped me when other agencies weren’t so obliging.
Although a deferment is a useful facility, interest is still being added on whilst the loan is suspended which means in the long term you will pay more. Keeping my financial record clean of a defaulted student was more important than the extra amount I would pay. In many cases it is possible to make small partial payments to the lender.
Paying just the interest on your loan is an option that some banks will agree to. Banks can agree, on occasion, to arrange an interest only payment on a loan to help alleviate financial worries. Although you can avoid the defaulted student loan, you can’t avoid the principle sum which still remains to be paid at the end of the process.
Financial support for education is a necessity for many students who would otherwise be unable to attend college. New students may not be able to have a loan if the percentage of defaulters is too high. Your loan provider would prefer you communicate with them if the debt is becoming a problem.
Alternative payment arrangements or a deferment on the loan are just two alternatives to avoid a poor credit record. Less defaulters means more money in the pot for other people needing to pay for their education.
Organization: The Key To A Successful School Year
Jul 29th
Organization is extremely important, particularly for special education teachers. Being organized will save you time and frustration in the long run. The problem areas, at least for me, are keeping assigned student work and completed student work from taking over my desk. That’s what we’ll focus on in this article.
ASSIGNED WORK
None of the students in my classroom do the exact same assignments–they are just too far apart developmentally. What’s appropriate for a 4th grade student with the developmental level of a baby, isn’t going to be appropriate for a 7th grade student who is able to do 2nd or 3rd grade level work. Getting all of this work organized takes a lot of time. Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different ways to organize. None of them worked as well as the one I’m using now.
To keep this mass of individual work organized, I get one hanging file folder for each student and put all of the folders in a plastic crate. The crate is kept in a centralized location. Into the folders goes the assigned work. I copy worksheets or assignments on a similar topic and staple them into a workbook. The kids work through the workbooks in their file folders a page or two at a day. The workbooks may last two weeks or up to the entire quarter. They are not meant to be completed at the end of each week. Doing the workbook system saves time in the long run because I don’t have to scramble to come up with assignments for each student every single day.
I’ve tried using individual notebooks for student work. This didn’t work too well. Students tended to rush through the work, past what they’d been assigned for the day, and by Friday I would have to figure out something else for them to work on. In addition, every Sunday night I’d be at school copying work and putting it into the notebooks. I didn’t like that.
When I had only 3 or 4 students, I could get away with assigning individual worksheets every day. The downside of this is that it doesn’t work well with more than a few students and papers tended to get lost easily.
I’d recommend using the crate system over anything else. Its portable and organized. It also gives the student some responsibility, i.e. getting and putting away his or her folder and deciding which order the work will be completed.
COMPLETED WORK
Completed work can quickly become overwhelming. In the past I’ve tended to hang on to everything just in case I need it as a work sample for the alternative assessment portfolios. Consequently, I get very large piles of completed and corrected work sitting on my desk. I attempt to go through it at least quarterly, but sometimes this just doesn’t happen.
Since my main worry is not having enough work samples collected in the Spring for the state-required portfolio, I’ve designated “data days” with pre-determined work that will be assigned and completed on those dates. The work is specifically targeted to the goals I’m tracking for the portfolio. This is the only work that gets saved. Everything else goes home at the end of the day.
Get yourself a large (3″) binder and 2 pocket folders. You will need a pocket folder for each student. These folders are then put into the binder. As you collect work throughout the year, you can simply put it into the pocket folder for that student. I also keep the paperwork required by the state in the pocket folder (permissions from parents, etc.). Just before the portfolios are due at the Department of Education, I move each student’s work into its own smaller 3-ring binder.
What’s my solution for making sure work gets home every day? It’s really basic.
Here’s what to do. Get as many heavy duty magnetic clips at the store as you need–one for each student. The magnets need to be heavy duty, otherwise they won’t hold well without sliding. Each student’s name is put on a clip. I use a label maker to make name labels, so I can reuse the clips with different students each year.
On the whiteboard, I draw a black line from the top of the board to the bottom about three feet from the end of the board. At the top of the space, I write “To Go Home”. The clips are put in and stay in that area. And, nothing else goes into that area.
As work is returned to students, they put it on their clip. They practice reading, hand strengthening and general responsibility by doing this themselves. Part of the end of school routine is having the students check their clips for things to take home.
The magnetic clips have been a real success in my room. It’s one of the few organizational strategies that has stood the test of time.
I’m sure there are many other organizational systems to manage student work: cubby boxes, mailboxes, magazine racks attached to the wall, etc. When it comes down to it, no one organizational system will work for everyone and you’ll have to do a lot of experimenting and tweaking until you find one that fits exactly right for you.
Beware of Scholarship Scams
Jul 29th
It happens every year. High school seniors and their parents are defrauded by scholarship scammers; people who promise to help them land scholarships and financial aid they wouldn’t otherwise receive.
Estimates vary, but it seems likely that these crooks…and that is an appropriate word…collect in excess of $100 million annually from unsuspecting families.
Because college costs scare nearly all of us, and because many people do not realize that there is money available to help them send their children to college, these scammers have found it very easy to find and exploit their victims.
The first contact between the scammers and their potential victims is a letter offering expert advice and assistance.
The letter often looks like it comes from a top college or university. Thats not an accident. The font, the grade of paper, and the logo are chosen by the scammers to give the letter an academic look. Its junk mail alright, and its far more malicious than most, but thats not what it looks like. As a result, instead of throwing the letter away, many families open it. Thats mistake number one.
The letters generally start by appealing to fearby talking about the high cost of college.
Once they have stated the problem…paying for college…they assure you they can provide the solution. They may offer to “teach you the secrets of financial aid”, “locate millions of dollars in unused scholarships”, or otherwise help you take advantage of their special expertise.
What all the letters have in common is that they invite families to a free seminar, often at a local hotel. Because the letter offers the hope of extra financial aid, and because the evening is free, many families accept the invitation. Thats mistake number two.
The meetings are run by well- practiced pitchmen who tell families they have the special knowledge and experience required to shake the most money off of the financial aid and scholarship trees. In reality, they want to sell you services and help which are readily…that’s right, readily… available elsewhere. At no cost.
After the group presentation, families are invited to meet individually with staff members sometimes called counselors. In the world of sales, these folks are called “closers”…folks trained to close the sale. Their job is to get families to sign a contract and pay a fee of up to $2,000 before leaving. Unfortunately, they succeed all too often.
Every year, a new set of potential victims come along. But, you and your family can avoid these masters-of-rip-off by turning to the people who really do have your best interests at heart…school counselors and college financial aid professionals.