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.

It's Not Too Late Ask The Instructor.

On and off Planet College the pace of business and social activities heats up markedly right about now. If you've become distracted by endeavors and find you've been skipping class sessions lately it is a good time right now to check out your standing in any classes you have missed. This can be accomplished effectively by asking the instructor or TA what you need to do to pass that class. Texts, tweets, phone messages and e-mails accomplish most communications effectively but this particular
communication is best done in person.

Here is what you need to do.

Find your instructor's office if she has one.  If not, see if you can catch her  (or him) after class. This time of year there is likely to be a line to talk to your instructor or TA because you are not the only one who has been skipping class sessions and missing assignments. When you do talk to her identify yourself, "I'm your student and I'm in your section for your subject,"-whatever it is.  Than say, " I'd like to know what I need to do to complete this course with a passing grade." Just that.  ( She ( or he) may not have all the information right now. If not ask the instructor to e-mail you with the information. ) But ,if they do, write down the total due now. Missed assignments and possibly missed examinations or quizzes, whatever the total is. Take note of them and say, "Thanks. I will make a serious effort to make these up and complete this course."

 That is all you need to do, right?

 No, not quite. You still have to do what she said. Follow through. No more excuses. Don't miss any more class sessions. Turn in the material due. If it is possible to take make-ups for the missed exams and quizzes do so. Right now. Find out, schedule and do it. 

What About IBR?

 Because Winter break is coming, a time to earn for most students and, of course a time to spend, Planet College brings you this reminder.

This is about Income Based Repayment, IBR.

If you have been using loans to fund your education and you are approaching graduation either this term or Spring then re-payment is looming on your financial horizon.  Briefly, loans are the temporary use of some product or service with the expectation that the property or service will be returned along with compensation. When the product is money the compensation along with returning the borrowed money is called interest. Interest is the fee, usually expressed as a percentage, for using the money. Most loan rates are expressed as annual percentage rates meaning the total due on the loaned money is figured yearly.

Interest is a kind of rent.

Here is a simple example. If you needed a thousand dollars to go to school and some person or organization said " We can loan you the thousand dollars you need. We will charge you ten per cent interest annually."  Ten percent of a thousand dollars is a hundred dollars. They would be saying that after you have received the money you would owe them a hundred dollars a year in addition to the thousand dollars you borrowed until you paid them back. If you paid them back within one year you would have paid them eleven hundred dollars.

Those are the basic principles and the basic procedure.  There is more to it but that is the basis your lender is working from.

So. What about IBR?

Lenders who deal with a large number of people develop a variety of programs which are intended for specific types or groups of borrowers.  One group is graduates with loans who do not initially earn large salaries.  Individuals in this group often have, relatively speaking, large debt. That means large loans to repay but a small income  from which to repay .  With this in mind some lenders have developed a program which bases the debtors payments on their earnings.  This program uses income as reported by the former student to calculate their monthly payments. This program has two purposes. One, to get the lender their money, two to assist the former student in dealing with their loans.  Simply put, the sooner you pay off your loans the less you will pay total.      ( And you will get to keep more of your income to spend on things you really want.)

Annual Reminder The Turkey Trap.

With the long anticipated and hugely welcomed break approaching Planet College here again reprints its annual reminder about break.  The original is here.

If you are too tired to click the link this is what it says.

It is almost time for a welcome break from Planet College. It is also time to remind students of the looming danger called The Turkey Trap.

Polly's story explains it well.

Polly heard the pilot announce 'Please fasten your seat belt as we approach for a landing.” and awoke from her reverie.  It had been a restful Thanksgiving break. She had arrived home Tuesday evening after an eventful freshman semester. She visited with her family, ate too much turkey and went on a snooze cruise. Saw friends, got caught up and now, as her return flight approached the airport,the cabin lights came on and another light went on in Polly's head. It was accompanied by an announcement that said, ”Oh my God, I've got a paper due for my ten o'clock class and I haven't even started it!"

 

 Polly had fallen for The Turkey Trap.  Since colleges started giving students breaks students mistakenly had assigned these times to get “caught up.”  “Oh, I'll just do it over break” is a common mis-conception students have applied to work due later in the term.   Don't fall for it.  You will not do anything over break. Don't fall for The Turkey Trap.  When you get an assignment start on it right away. Finish it in as timely a fashion as possible. Over break pig out, kick back, visit your sister. Bounce your new little niece on your knee and just generally forget about school. Period.  That's what breaks are for.  Don't fall for the Turkey Trap. If you haven't even started the paper before break, you won't do it over break.