How to Pay for Your Degree

By Alcides Hoy Jr.

You've been waiting for this moment for nearly 18 years: Your baby is almost ready for college. Your finances, not so much. The market's protracted free fall means that your college fund is now worth just a fraction of what you need. Your home's value has no doubt dropped sharply too - no help there. The only thing that keeps going up, you guessed it, is college tuition. So it's goodbye, Dream School U., hello, Central State, right?

Wrong. While there's no denying times are tough, you have more options to help pay for that BA than you think. From targeting the right schools to taking advantage of new financial aid rules and tax breaks, you can get the price to a manageable level. These steps will ensure your kid ends up at a great school you can really afford.

1. Use your savings strategically

The typical 529 college savings plan of a high school junior or senior has dropped 12.5% in value over the past year. And if you didn't invest in an age-based portfolio that automatically shifted into safer investments as your child got older, your losses may be far worse. The big question before you: Should you try to hold off withdrawing money from the account to give your savings time to bounce back?

Click to Read More

Secret Expenses Thats What They Are

By: Alcides Hoy Jr.

NEW YORK (Fortune) -- My Rolls-Royce is a lot more expensive than your Buick. A pint of Ben & Jerry's costs double the A&P generic brand. That makes sense. But when it comes to college tuition, the difference between the Harvards and the Podunks is not nearly so great.

Yale will charge $36,500 next year. Harvard, MIT, and Pomona are in the same ballpark, as you would expect. Yet so are the University of Richmond, Bucknell, and Kenyon. Due respect to those good schools, but they don't offer the same level of faculty, facilities, or cachet. Moreover, a range of lower-ranking schools, including Allegheny and Manhattanville, charge $30,000 or more.

Yes, you can get a fine education at hundreds of American colleges; not every Nobel laureate or Fortune 500 CEO graduated from Stanford or Amherst. But nobody would seriously argue that a degree from a middling university confers the same benefits as an Ivy League school or comparable elite. So how do they get away with charging practically the same price?

Click To Read More

Its Almost Time for Graduation Do you Know Where Your Job Is?

By: Alcides Hoy Jr.

For many seniors graduation is approaching and many of you seemed puzzled in your job search. I spoke to one senior the other day and he told me he hasn’t received any job offers. Things like this hurt many of us who work so hard in college and then get let down by the real world. Everyone wants to know where the jobs are but are afraid to make that move if necessary. And YES, I’m talking bout THE MOVE. In some cases your city will not be the place where the jobs are so you might need to relocate. Don’t be afraid to make the move because it could work out best in your favor. I can definitely tell you that right now cities like Detroit and Fresno are not the place to be while they have recorded a thirteen percent jobless rate. You don’t have to be a mathematician to figure out how bad of a jobless percentage that is. One option for some who don’t mind traveling overseas would be to step into the Indian and Chinese job market where many of graduates with proper credentials are starting off around 125,000 US dollars. This is more than many of us can say within the US. Or for those who choose to stay local you might want to seek cities such as New York, Chicago, and Washington D.C.

Indian Job Market

CNN MONEY

CAMPUS BUZZ

Financial Fit

By Alcides Hoy Jr.

This video will give us a better knowledge of finanical fitting when it comes to applying for graduate school or to help our following generations with undergraduate enrollment.

Ease the tuition squeeze

By: Asim Mohammed

Magazine) -- You've been waiting for this moment for nearly 18 years: Your baby is almost ready for college. Your finances, not so much. The market's protracted free fall means that your college fund is now worth just a fraction of what you need. Your home's value has no doubt dropped sharply too - no help there. The only thing that keeps going up, you guessed it, is college tuition. So it's goodbye, Dream School U., hello, Central State, right?

Click here to read more.

More Cash, More Confusion

Posted by: Asim Mohammed


The economic stimulus plan President Barack Obama signed today creates yet another new tax break for college: The American Opportunity Education Tax credit. Even if your family hasn't qualified for earlier college tax credits, this one might provide you with thousands of extra dollars.


click to read more.