Archives for schools category
8
Sep
Posted in schools, Sponsored Posts by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
There’s plenty of issues that need to deal with if you are parent; increasingly, one of those issues is helping your children fund their education. While not something that should be tops on your financial priority list (funding your own retirement and paying off credit cards, among other things, should be a higher priority for you), it is always nice to be able to help your flesh and blood. If you want some advice on how to do that, read on for some thoughts on how to do so from HSBC:
Once your children have grown up you may think that you no longer have to support them, but with the costs of education increasing all the time you may need to help your child through their college education. As the job market changes, it has never been more important to have a college education or degree. The cost of a college education can be vast, with examination fees, tuition fees and accommodations, the modern student has to be a frugal one. There are many ways for you as a parent to finance their education. You may need to apply for a personal loan or even support them out of your household income, so it is good to have a finance plan in order before they embark on their college education. A college education could be their ticket to the dream job, so here are a few of the ways that you can help.
The usual method of supporting your children is out of current income, but as many of you know, this is unrealistic for most households. Even with two incomes, it would be a stretch. If this is the only option for you, then you should try to plan ahead and save a small amount from your wage every month whilst your child is in high school. By doing this you will reduce the impact of the costs, leaving you with smaller payments to your child every month.
Your children could always work through college and fund their own education, although this is not an ideal situation. Most colleges have a policy outlining the number of hours a student should work when undertaking their studies, as excessive working hours will adversely affect your child’s education.
If your child is granted a scholarship, then you will have a smaller burden, but these sources of income can be unreliable and may not be available every year of your children’s education. Although these avenues are unreliable, they are still worth exploring and if your child successfully obtains a scholarship your burden will be reduced.
Some colleges allow you to pay for course fees in low monthly payments and you are not charged interest to use this service. These may be a useful service for some parents.
Another option available is a personal loan, which you can take out and co-sign with your child. They are more likely to be granted a loan if you sign the agreement with them. There is also a federal loan available for parents of undergraduate students, called the PLUS loan. To apply for the loan you must pass a basic credit check or have an endorser.
Congress has also recently made it possible for parents to defer payments on their PLUS loan until after their child’s graduation. However, this would mean that the parent has more to pay off at the end of the period and that the loan will be amassing interest. Many sites encourage parents to pay the interest-only payments, if they are able to, to keep the amount of loan at a minimum.
There are many options open to parents who wish to fund their child’s education, but make sure you explore all avenues before deciding on a course of action.
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28
Jan
Posted in schools, work by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
One thing I’ve had to deal with while running this blog is that I’m not doing it in a vacuum; as much as I might sometimes want to simply bury myself in my blog, there are other things going on in my life. During the nearly two years I’ve been running this blog, for instance, I’ve had several different jobs, lived in three different locations, and recently I’ve begun grad school again.
Looking back on all this, it occurred to me that while trying to do a blog or similar ‘side hack’, you face some distinctly different challenges if you do so while you’re in school compared to doing so while working. There are many things that are the same between both types of situations, of course; the restrictions on your time and the desire to rest (rather than keep working on a side project) when you get home being two of the big ones. But the differences are significant, and students and workers face their own challenges while trying to build a side income. So, let’s take a look at some of the advantages each group has while trying to get a side business started.
(Before we begin, though, one quick note: I don’t know about you, but I have very distinctive images of ‘students’ and ‘workers’ in my mind, namely a young, early twenty year old living on campus and a middle-aged fellow with a wife and kid working 9-5, Monday through Friday, respectively. Obviously, that’s not the situation for all students and workers, and basing the advantages on those stereotypes will end up rather skewed. In the notes that follow, I’ll try my best to not let such stereotypes influence the pros of each type of situation.)
Power to the (Student) People!
-More Time (Theoretically) Available for Side Projects: Compared to the typical 40 hour work week (at least, here in the United States), the typical college schedule is rather skimpy: 12 hours a week can let you be a full time (undergrad) student, 18 hours is a very full schedule, and 20 hours a week in classes is typically considered an overloaded schedule. While many students have family or jobs that occupy a sizable amount of that time, in theory, they have more time than the average worker in which to ply an (outside) trade. (In practice, as we shall see, this is not always the case…) None of this includes the sizable summer and winter holidays that most schools offer (as well as Spring Break, if you can avoid the siren call of Cancun).
A student, hard at work.
-Access to Numerous Resources: One advantage of school campuses is that there is all sorts of useful equipment for the would-be entrepreneur. Computer labs with internet access, professors and instructors who can help share their knowledge and possibly aid your goals, and libraries full of books (and in the modern college library, magazines, CDs, and DVDs, to say nothing of more of those computers) covering just about every subject you could need a boost in, all just outside your classroom doors. Add to that the possibility of taking an elective or two in any number of subjects to help your understanding, and it’s hard to imagine that you can’t get the information that you need directly. But if you can’t…
-Plenty of Other Students Who Could End Up Helping You: Perhaps one of the most important resources you have at a college campus are your fellow students. While your skills are undoubtedly limited (don’t worry; everyone’s are), a college serves as a melting pot of individuals with different skills and talents. You could, with limited effort, find an artist, a writer, a computer programmer (in any of the numerous computer languages that you might need), an accountant, a skilled translator, or any number of other specialized (pre-)professionals, many of whom would be happy to meet with you and help you to build your business (for the chance to share in the potential profits, of course).
So, quite a few advantages held by the students (not that surprising, given the number of companies, particularly online companies, started by college students *cough*Facebook*cough*). But current employees have their own advantages when it comes to starting a business on the side.
Workers of the World, Unite (And Start Companies of Your Own)!
-No Homework: It’s easy to forget if you haven’t been in college for a while (I certainly did), but while the hours you spend sitting in a lecture and copying down notes/sleeping are limited, the hours you’re expected study outside of class aren’t. Between writing papers, doing practice problems, and simply studying, it’s easy to turn preparing for your classes into a full time job (particularly if you follow the adage to spend 2 or 3 hours preparing and studying for each hour you spend in class). While working for forty hours a week at a job eats up a lot of time, so does spending every other weekend studying for another test. Speaking of which…
-Only One Boss (At Least, Most of the Time): It’s a rare full time student who is only taking one class (most schools frown on that type of thing), so most likely if you are a student, you have 4-6 different professors, all teaching different courses. (To say nothing of lab instructors, supplementary instructors, TAs, etc.) As hard as it can be to keep up with the demands of one boss, having to keep up with the studying and assignments from half a dozen professors, most of whom have no problem scheduling tests and assignments that end up conflicting, can prove to be nigh impossible.
And here we have an white collar fellow, similarly hard at work
-Money, Money, Money: As a general rule, students aren’t paid for going to school. (Even us grad students don’t exactly rake it in.) If you’re a full time student who’s not working on the side, chances are you don’t have much money available to put into side projects. While there are side jobs that can be started with no (or small amounts of) money, being a full time worker and getting a regular income can give you many times as much, providing a decent starting capital for any of your entrepreneurial aspirations. (Assuming you don’t spend more than you earn, which hopefully, if you’ve been following my blog, you aren’t.)
Alright, so clearly there are some advantages to being a wage slave who wants to break into a side project, as well. That just leaves us with one question…
Which Group Has An Easier Time Doing Side Work: Students or Workers?
Well, as with many such questions, the answer is ‘it depends’. As mentioned at the beginning, I’ve been running this blog as both a student and as a worker, and there are challenges aplenty in both situations. (Even when unemployed, when limited time is much less a factor, there are difficulties, from limited money to (at least in my case) an undeniable pessimistic sensation.)
The key to starting something like a blog or any other source of passive income is to play to your strengths and use what you have available. If you’re a student who has free time (also known as ‘time to party’) and talented, enthusiastic friends to join you, starting an online company could be your ticket to financial success. On the other hand, if you are the typical worker, you might not have the time during the week to start another job, but you can use some time on the weekends to research investments and put your money to work. The key is simply to apply the resources you have available to the task of increasing your income, using whatever methods seem to fit you better. Regardless of your work/school situation, enjoy the challenge of building up a side income!
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10
Dec
Posted in off topic, schools by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
Well, I’m certainly glad that I’ve managed to finish my finals with my sanity (and my GPA) more or less intact. It took quite a bit of effort, but I think I’m in pretty good shape. Assume my grades turn out as expected, I should have A’s and B’s on my report card. (And just calling it a ‘report card’ makes me all nostalgic for junior high; good times, good times.)
Now, I realize that the final season is just getting started for some people (my fiancée Sondra has all her finals next week, for example), and I also know that next semester (whether you consider the winter semester as the ‘next semester’ or the spring semester when everything will really pick up) there will inevitably be more finals (and tests of all kinds, really). So, I thought I would help out my fellow students, take a little break from the personal finance, and give some advice on test taking.
Rule One: Always have plenty of supplies available come test time
I’ll break it down by the amount of time you have until the test begins, but first, some advice on how to study:
Throughout The Semester
-Keep up (or get ahead) on the reading: Chances are, you have a textbook or two associated with most of your classes; for all the talk of a ‘digital classroom’, ink on paper is still a vital part of the educational process. In addition, your teacher might give out regular hand outs, post notes online, or some combination of the three. Make sure that you don’t fall behind in this reading, as it will be a vital supplement to what you hear in lecture. Better yet, do your best to jump ahead of the game and read the material your professor WILL be covering; you’ll have a much better understanding of your professor is discussing. Speaking of which…
-Attend the lectures (and take notes): I almost feel bad about including this; but, given the number of people who skip lectures, many times on a regular basis, I feel I should. Not only will attending the lecture give you a better idea what your professor will and won’t cover come test time, but it provides an alternative method of covering the material. The more times, and the more ways, your brain is exposed to particular ideas, the more the material will sink in. Plus someone is paying for your education (be it you, your parents, or a student loan company), so you might as well get their money’s worth.
-Seek help if needed: At some point in your educational career, you’ll probably find yourself having trouble understanding something you need to learn. Luckily, the old academic model of professors lecturing and then leaving you on your own until test time is all but gone; there are plenty of resources available to the modern student to help you learn what you need to know. From visiting the Learning Center or its equivalent at your school to asking a professor (or one of us helpful grad students), there’s no reason to go through the semester without having a full understanding of the material you need to know.
Alright, that should get you through most of the semester; but when tests or finals are approaching, you need to bump up your studying skills to match the coming challenge. It helps if you get a good start:
One Week to Go
-Prioritize your goals: Chances are that you’re not taking only one class at a time; you need to know how to keep up on more than one thing at a time. At finals time (and possibly throughout the semester, depending on how your tests are scheduled), you’re likely to have more than one thing you need to study for at a time. You’ll need to prioritize your goals, although how you’ll do that is up to you. I’d suggest focusing on the subjects that have given you the most trouble, but working on the material that you will be tested on first could also work.
-Eliminate distractions: Obviously, you can’t ensure that you will be completely undisturbed the entire time you are trying to study, but trying to take care of things ahead of time will make your study time go much more smoothly. Of particular note are major projects; there’s a fair chance you have one or more things on your ‘To Do’ list that you’ll need to finish around the same time your tests occur. If you can finish them quickly (and still do a good job), getting them done will make it much easier to focus on your studies. (Note, though, that it’s not worth forgoing two days of studying for a 200 point final in order to do a phenomenal job on a 50 point project; be sure to prioritize the most worthwhile tasks.)
Three Days to Go
-Test Yourself: Now is a good time to test yourself to see how well you know the material; you still have plenty of time to brush up on areas where your knowledge is lacking. There are several ways to test yourself, from using the questions found in most textbooks to getting old tests from your professor or previous students. You could also work with one or more partners, make up tests for each other, and trade; that way, you’d see how well you know the material, and possibly see a way of asking something that you didn’t before. In any case, focusing your efforts on areas where you didn’t test well should be your next goal.
-Switch up your routine: By now, if you’ve been studying hard for four days, you’re probably getting a bit atrophied. It’s a good time to try something different. If you’ve been studying from the lecture notes, try cracking open the textbook; if you’ve been going over back of the chapter problems in the text, try re-reading your lecture notes. Anything that will make your studying fresher should be considered. (It’s also a good time to consider taking a break for a day to let your mind rest, particularly if you have a good grasp on the material, so long as you get back to studying soon.)
One Day To Go
-Test yourself again: By now, you should have an excellent handle on the material; another practice test should be a huge confidence booster that you’ll do well on the final. If your score still isn’t where you want it to be, though, you’ll need to do some serious studying to get up to par by test time. (Note: If you’re using the same practice test as before, be sure that you are getting a better score because you know the material better, and not just because you’ve memorized the test. Remember, you don’t want to just do well on the practice test, you want to be able to translate that into doing well on the real test.)
-Get a good night’s rest: It’s tempting to pull an all-nighter and cram before a test, but you’ll only end up hurting yourself. Don’t panic; if you’ve been studying well throughout the semester (and over the last week), you should do fine. (And if you haven’t, I’m sad to say that one night of cramming probably isn’t enough to save you, anyway.) Getting a good night’s sleep, waking up rested and refreshed, and (assuming time allows) studying more in the morning of the test is a much better plan.
The Day of the Test
On the day of the test itself, there’s not too much more you can do to prepare (at least, assuming you’ve been following this plan and have been studying up to this point). Hopefully, you’ve managed to pack your brain with so much information that’s it’s near capacity. A few last minute tips: Eat a good breakfast (and lunch and dinner, depending on when your test is held) before your test, so you aren’t distracted by hunger, but no so close to test time or so large that you’re overstuffed and distracted while taking the test. Be sure to get to school with time to spare, so you don’t feel rushed or pressed for time. Do some light reviewing while you wait for test time to approach (don’t try to learn a chapter or two of material at the last minute, but a few warm up problems will help get you thinking about the test material). Lastly, but most importantly, DON’T PANIC. If you’re prepared, it should be pretty easy to do well on this test.
Good luck, and here’s hoping all you finals takers will have good news to report to your friends and family come Christmas!
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14
Jun
Posted in schools by Roger, the Amateur Financier |
Welcome to the first of a multi-part series where we’re going to take a look at the American school system and see if we can find ways to improve it. We’re all affected by the effectiveness of the educational system and its ability to produce well-educated, capable workers and leaders for the future. Even if we don’t have kids (at least for myself and many others, not yet), how the country progresses will be determined by how the young people around us are educated and grow into adults; making that education process as effective as possible benefits us all.
First, though, a quick note in defense of the US educational system. If you’re a US citizen and pay any attention to the news, you’ve probably heard much talk about how US public schools, well, suck. The general narrative is that compared to private school students or students in foreign countries, the average US public school student is underachieving, failing to stack up to foreign competition or even the more effective teaching methods offered by private schools.
Well, that’s just not the whole truth; as Trent of The Simple Dollar noted back on one of his much earlier posts, the cause of this seeming disparity is Simpson’s Paradox. In a nut shell, private school students seem much more successful than public school students because their personal qualities (socio-economic status chief among them) mean that they would succeed no matter where they are schooled. Similarly, unlike the US, most foreign countries divide students into segments; the academically higher achieving ones are sent to high school (and get counted in studies that compare their performance to other students around the world), while the less accomplished students are sent to vocational technical schools (and are conveniently ignored). Take those factors into consideration, and suddenly US public schools don’t look so bad.
Of course, ‘not as bad as they first look’ is hardly the sort of goal we want to set for our education system. (To say nothing of the fact that, if we need to set aside the performance of poor or otherwise ‘disadvantaged’ students for our national scores to look good, we apparently have a problem ensuring they get a proper education.) That’s why we still need to find ways to improve our schools, starting with…
Funding
Fitting for a blog about personal finance, our first area to consider is how our schools get their money. An effective funding system can ensure that our schools have the resources needed to survive and innovate; an ineffective one will doom our schools to a slow downward spiral. To ensure a more equitable and effective means of distributing funding, here’s a few suggestions:
-End Property Taxes: One of the most common mechanisms to fund schools is through property taxes, and it’s also rife with problems. Since property taxes are linked to the value of the property you own, rather than the amount of money you earn or spend, they end up hitting the elderly or others on fixed income the hardest. They can dry up when property values take a hit, as they have these past few years. Property taxes ensure that the students of the wealthiest parents, the ones who can afford the most expensive houses in the most expensive districts, have the nicest, most expensive schools to attend. (There’s also an argument to be made that property taxes mean that the government really owns your property; if you fail to pay every year, year after year, the government can come in and take your property, selling it to collect back taxes). Ending property taxes, replacing them with a sales or income tax specifically to fund schools, will eliminate these problems.
-Divide the money (mostly) equally among students…: As mentioned, property taxes ensure that the areas with the most expensive property have the nicest school system. We get into something of a repeating loop, where students go to schools that have fewer resources, have fewer opportunities, get lower paying jobs, move to areas with lower property values, and the cycle ends up repeating for their children. We can break this cycle by dividing the money taken in by our new sales or income tax among all the children in the state, increasing the opportunity for children from poor families to get a quality education. There won’t be anything stopping well-off families from spending more on their children’s education if they want (in fact, as we’ll see in just a bit, it’ll be easier for not so well-off to move their children to more effective schools), but there will be a minimum amount available to fund every child’s education.
-…And provide a bit extra for special cases: Let’s be honest: there are some students who have needs beyond those of other children of the same age. Physical disabilities, mental handicaps, or emotional problems are issues that can prevent children from getting a quality education; providing extra funds will both help the schools to provide the extra staff or other support needed, and (hopefully) help keep the special needs child from being ignored. (Might I add that, as someone who was (and I hope, still is) considered ‘gifted’, a little bit of extra funding for schools with gifted students to allow them to stretch their mental muscles would be appreciated.)
-Attach the money to the children, not the school: This is a biggie. If we’re going to ensure that each child gets the same amount of money spent on their education, we want to be sure that is goes toward educating that child. If a child goes to a private school, the money the state is putting towards his education follows him to help offset tuition. If another child is home-schooled, the money (or at least a portion of it) goes to her parents to help compensate for the expenses involved. If a family wants to send their children to a different school district without leaving their current house, the money follows their children, not their residence. As John Stossel notes, we’ll increase competition and make educators and administrators work to improve their schools to draw in more students.
-Expand the choice of schools: A continuation (or natural extension) of the above point; there’s not much point in giving students and their parents the ability to move their children to other schools if there are NO other schools. Given that the school system, for the whole of its existence, has been effectively a monopoly, with residents having few options other than their local school districts, setting up real competition will take some time and money. Directing some money away from existing schools and toward viable alternatives, at least until we can have a more reasonable competition, seems like the best way to expand the options available.
-Tie funds to performance: Unfortunately, sometimes parents make decisions about schooling for their children for reasons other than trying to ensure the best possible education for them; these sorts of situations are only going to increase if we add the possibility of parents trying to ‘home-school’ themselves into a fortune at their kid’s expense. Being sure to regularly test the progress of all children in an impartial, fair manner (admittedly, a challenge in and of itself), with published results and, particularly in cases where parents attempt to home-school their children, the loss of education funds until the children are put into a more successful education system, will help to ensure that only the highest quality education is allowed.
There, several ways to alter the means by which we fund our schools, (hopefully) leading to a better, more productive school system as a result. Join me again later this week when I look at how to improve things for teachers and make a more vibrant school curriculum.
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