Know before you go…

“Within 10 years, 70% of college grads will not be working in a field related to their major.”

Most people ask for help from those who they are closest to.  Unfortunately‚ Mom & Dad may not be the best advisors when it comes to helping you decide what to do with your life.  In fact‚ most people‚ even those who dearly love you‚ will still give you advise based on THEIR personality‚ experience‚ and current life circumstances.  In other words‚ most people give you the advice they need to take themselves.

Many of them made the wrong choices and ended up poor‚ fired‚ divorced‚ or at least unhappy‚ and so their advice is questionable.  The best thing they could tell you is “I don’t know.  You are going to have to figure it out for yourself.”  However‚ once they tell you that you are back where you started… still needing help.

MAPS was developed with these students in mind… with ME in mind! MAPS helps students figure out WHO they are, so then they can figure out WHAT they can do. MAPS will give students their top strengths and we can then develop a list of majors that will BEST compliment who they are as a person. Once we figure that out, we can then generate a list of colleges and universities that would BEST suit their individual needs. And we can do it for a fraction of the cost of other counseling options.

College Life Planning does offer a comprehensive list of counseling options, but if you want my honest opinion, using MAPS would be the best, most affordable way to build a college list, choose a school, select a major, and build your College and Career path on!

Financial Aid Information

The best resource page for all things financial aid is the following: www.finaid.org

The following are the links to specific pages, a loan calculator, and the information about private student loans, and interest rates.

Loan Calculator:

Here is a link for a loan calculator, this is a resource given by the federal government:

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

“This Loan Payment Calculator computes an estimate of the size of your monthly loan payments and the annual salary required to manage them without too much financial difficulty. This loan calculator can be used with Federal education loans (Stafford, Perkins and PLUS) and most private student loans. (This student loan calculator can also be used as an auto loan calculator or to calculate your mortgage payments.)”

“The Federal Stafford Loan has a fixed interest rate of 6.8% and the Federal PLUS loan has a fixed rate of 7.9%. (Perkins loans have a fixed interest rate of 5%.)”

Private Student Loan Interest Rates

http://www.finaid.org/loans/privatestudentloans.phtml

The current (weekly) interest rates are:

• Prime      Lending Rate: 3.25%
• LIBOR      (1 month): 0.29%
• LIBOR      (3 months): 0.42%
• 91-day      T-Bill: 0.09%

So a private student loan will have an interest rate of 3.25% plus the LOBOR percentage, and they are based on credit, so these rates are only for the most credit worthy. Students must co-sign with parents or someone with excellent credit history.

I could attach my student loan bill, or show students the $3,500 I am paying every month so we can get out from under my loans this year. Student loans should be a LAST resort, and going to a two year is still an excellent option for the financially wise.

College Life Planning is here to help plan for all your college admissions and financing needs. We hold a creed here, “know before you go.” This is means that before you decide to take out student loans, know what that might look like for you after you graduate! This means that before you go to college, know why you want to go, and what kind of major you might be going for! This means that you have all the knowledge and power, then make wise choices as you move into your college life, and then your career after life.