If You Keep Doin' What You Been Doin' You'll Keep Gettin' What You Been Gettin'.

If your grades are in and you've found them on line you have one question. Were the academic results for this past term satisfactory?  Only you can answer.  If your results were satisfactory then read no further. If not. Read on. And consider this.

What could you have done different, better or more or less to have achieved the results you desired? Slept less, studied more?  Partied less, gone to class more? Participated in class more? Been a better lab partner?  Found a better lab partner?

Some brief reflection will no doubt show you what you might have done to achieve what you intended to achieve at the beginning of the term.

Was there one thing, one thing you would have changed?

If there was and you know what that one thing was you now have item number one on your list for next term.

Note it, remember it and apply what you have learned to your next term. That is what college is about. Learning. And applying what you have learned. And on Planet College there is no better teacher than experience.

Because, if you keep doin' what you've been doin' you'll keep gettin' what you been gettin'.

Reminder; Stuff Comes Up And Then More Stuff Comes Up

Planet College occasionally posts past entry as reminders. Whether you in between terms or about to go into Winter Session this is a reminder about stuff coming up.

Loan Acceleration.

Money is a major concern among students and Planet College regularly features entries about money. Especially as graduation approaches the necessity of re-paying student loans looms on the horizon. This is an entry about splitting payments, a tactic which is sometimes useful in paying back borrowed money. Hence the term Loan Acceleration.

With some luck and plenty of persistence you will be a graduate soon. You will be leaving Planet College and it is likely you will be leaving with at least some debt.

     Other than getting some kind of worthwhile employment the situation on the minds of you and  99.9% of all the rest of the other college graduates is debt.  Debt is money owed and this debt is from school loans.  The statistics reflecting student debt and the average amount owed by a student at graduation are available from numerous sources including the United States Department of Education.  One source puts it at $25,000.00 per student as of 2011.

     You know what you're debt is, don't you?  Well, if you don't over break it might be a good time to determine just exactly where you are with you loans.  And with that information in hand it will be a very good idea, a very, very good idea, to develop a program, your own program, to handle this debt.

     Planet College has a suggestion which some students are employing successfully in reducing the total they will repay on their loans.  The approach they are using is called 'loan acceleration.' What this means is by employing a procedure in repaying, making the actual loan payments, they are reducing the overall total that they will eventually have repaid. The procedure, simply put, is splitting the payments. This is possible because for most loans there is a monthly payment due. Splitting the payment, making two payments totaling the monthly due, rather than one, can reduce the total due faster than just making one payment.

     This is how it helps. The first payment is always applied to the interest.  Splitting the payment allows the second monthly payment to be applied to the principle, the bulk of the loan.  Paying this way reduces the total sooner.  This has the effect of overall reducing the time it takes to pay the loan back.  Reducing the time effectively reduces the TOTAL amount the borrower will have paid by the time the loan is paid off.

This has been a Planet College entry about loan acceleration. As always Planet College counsels students and graduates to verify any information about their student loans. It IS your money.

Dude Where's My Stuff?

Among the pandemonium usually occurring on Planet College at this point in the term is the chaotic scene in most college libraries.  Since you are about to spend possibly several days in the library Planet College re-posts the warning we posted last year.  The link is here . If you are spending countless hours virtually squatting in the library click it. It is a reminder you'll need.

High School In College Part 2

College in High School.  A surprisingly large number of students leave high school with out graduating. In some areas the total is nearly 50%, half of the students leave without a diploma. Often these same students enroll in a college, often a community college, but at other  times a technical or private college. Their purpose is usually to obtain skills which will increase their ability to earn. It is not a widely known fact that frequently a student with no high school diploma can complete the requirements for  high school graduation while attending college.

     As with all things educational, for average students, the first question is, " Who pays?"  The answer to this question may be surprisingly simple. So if you are attending a community college but have to achieved high school graduation consider this. It is possible the district where you attended but did not complete high school may help pay for courses leading to your high school diploma.

     To find out if that district may has a program which will help pay for the courses you need to complete your high school education call their district offices. Explain you had been a student. Tell them you left before you graduated but you are now in a community college. Ask if they have a program to help former students complete the requirements for a diploma.

     The second possible source of funding may be the community college you are currently attending. That schools administration office may have the information you need. You simply need to ask.

     Planet College encourages all students who have not graduated from high school to follow through and investigate every possibility.  Because you are older now and can make more thoughtful choices you do not need to continue to be handicapped or impeded by your past behaviors. Go ahead, check it out. Planet College emphasizes, Always Ask.

High School Goes to College Part One

If you are currently a high school student who is considering taking college courses before you graduate there are a couple of factors basic to College Academic Life you need to be aware of.

One is a term present in all of education but critical in Higher Education you need to become very, very  aware of -  Transcript. From the time of your first college course enrollment your transcript, the record of the courses in which you have enrolled, will follow you. College transcripts are a permanent record. Permanent. That means forever, always, for good, continuing.  They follow you from campus to campus if you transfer and even after you graduate your transcripts never go away.

     The second basic fact of College Academic Life is this. Since you have either little or no experience with the customs and procedures of higher education it is in your best interest to carefully consider for yourself just exactly which course or courses you intend to enroll in and how you expect to get a passing grade.

     High school students, particularly those who are accustomed to getting good grades, frequently fail to realize that the standard for grading a typical college course is very different than the high school standard. Even courses with exactly the same name, Calculus or Creative Writing, World History or Statistics, for examples, will not at all resemble what you are used to in a high school class room. This is because the content for a college course is more densely concentrated and the pace of the course is usually brisk. One additional condition which exists in most college courses can be particularly devastating for students who ' always get straight A's' , the students for whom any grade less than an A can be initially devastating.  This condition is that typically the course instructor does not care at all that a student ' always gets A's'.  The instructor is there to present the course, evaluate the student's work, grade the assignments and issue the appropriate final grade.

     Therefore it is important for  inexperienced students to understand that the grade they achieve, whatever it may be, will be preserved on their higher education Transcript, no matter what school has awarded it.

     Planet College therefore counsels all high school students to thoughtfully review any college level course they may be considering before enrolling.  Be Aware: as we are emphasizing, the grade you receive will follow your higher education career permanently.