It is often easier to cut expenses rather than scrape together extra cash, especially during hard economic times like a recession. So where can you cut back on expenses?

Financial aid officers say students with cars would often be much better off if they sold the cars and used the savings on gas, parking, insurance, and car loan payments to pay for tuition and books.

Many colleges also offer dorm discounts to students who are willing to live in triple rooms, serve as resident assistants or find chores that people will pay money for: doing laundry, baby sitting, dog walking.

Living at home, or with relatives, is cheapest of all. Students also canbuy text books some where besides their campus book store. Same for book supplies - become friends with your local Dollar Store.

Don't forget my previous entry on Community Colleges. Students should be familiar what is being offered there or another idea is to take cheaper credits online or from local community colleges to speed graduation.

Many students are saving thousands of dollars by transferring from expensive colleges to cheaper in-state public universities. They have also discovered that they need to get through college faster so they get jobs that pay better.

Article by, College Parenting Expert, Dr. Debi Yohn, whose advice on successfully getting college students through college with an emphasis on graduation and rewarding employment is sought by parents from around the world. Now for the first time, she reveals 27 Winning Strategies for Success - a guidebook geared to parents of new college students. Get her free e-Book now at http://www.collegeparentsadvice.com/ and improve your child's chances of a successful college experience.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 28, 2009 at 11:19 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

PayPal has introduced a new service for parents with kids who are in high school or college. This new service is called Student Accounts. Actually it is a special PayPal-branded Mastercard debit card. The difference is its tied to the parent's PayPal accounts. So, the parent acts as the provider and they can funnel money how and whenever they like. It can be on predetermined dates, or on request which will probably be the norm.

The goodies of this new card includes no overdraft fees and having a debit card that's not tied to a particular bank account. This means the balance can come from a variety of sources.

All of this makes it easier for the parent. They can send cash after getting that emergency call but then they can also track where it goes. If you send $20 they said they needed for gas and it ends up being for the late-night beer run, finally the parents are going to know about it.

For Paypal an ecosystem is being created for PayPal users who will become comfortable handling their finances with Paypal. Money transfers happen through out life so getting use to PayPal while being a student or a parent with a student, gets both parties used to dealing with its system.

Check it out. Go to paypal.com

Article by, College Parenting Expert, Dr. Debi Yohn, whose advice on successfully getting college students through college with an emphasis on graduation and rewarding employment is sought by parents from around the world. Now for the first time, she reveals 27 Winning Strategies for Success - a guidebook geared to parents of new college students. Get her free e-Book now at http://www.collegeparentsadvice.com/ and improve your child's chances of a successful college experience.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 25, 2009 at 11:16 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

There are two choices to prevent lap top theft: one is the trusty security cable, which every parent buys for about 30 bucks, and no kid really uses. This cable locks into the security slot of the laptop and will stop only the casual thief. I bought one for my son. I have never seen it since the day I purchased it. Lap tops are movie screens, game screens and chat screens. The cable is just too much trouble for most students.

This leaves us the other choice which is a product like Lojack for Laptops. JAMES DERK, Scripps Howard News Service recommends a CompuTrace product that will "phone home" when your stolen laptop is ever plugged into the Internet. This product, which costs about $35 a year depending on where you get it, even works if the computer's hard drive has been formatted in many cases. (CompuTrace is also available direct from many computer manufacturers upon purchase of the laptop, too.)

Article by, College Parenting Expert, Dr. Debi Yohn, whose advice on successfully getting college students through college with an emphasis on graduation and rewarding employment is sought by parents from around the world. Now for the first time, she reveals 27 Winning Strategies for Success - a guidebook geared to parents of new college students. Get her free e-Book now at http://www.collegeparentsadvice.com/ and improve your child's chances of a successful college experience.

James also recommends a minimum of 2 gigs of RAM these days, a minimum of 100 gig hard drive and a 14-inch screen. (Larger screens equal more weight and less battery life.) A portable optical mouse is required these days and a stack of recordable DVDs. He recommends a lecture about backing up some data once in a while but I would have a heck of a time fielding any questions beyond the actual lecture. You might just say it to cover your bases.

Also, tell your child to seek out a computer geek immediately. I recommend this even to my adults that move around the world. First thing you do is get wired in. For students I recommend buying the computer with the extended warranty from a store like Best Buy which is usually found in most college towns. They also have the Geek Squad that makes home visits. My son bought a lemon of a lap top but after 3 trips to the repair shop, Best Buy made good on giving him a new computer of equal value of what I paid for the original one.

If your student is a geek, tell them they have a business opportunity. Encourage their entrepreneurial spirit to form a little business for pocket money. They need to post their skill on the community bulletin board, Craigs List etc... with their hourly rate. Then it is established before everyone expects it for free.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 25, 2009 at 11:12 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Throughout its long history, Syracuse University (SU) has transformed itself from a modest liberal arts school into a powerhouse research institution with satellite campuses and seven international centers. Founded as a university in 1870, the thirteen separate colleges of SU proudly occupy the University Hill neighborhood, a small 200-acre city unto itself in the upstate New York city of Syracuse. Syracuse University offers over 200 undergraduate majors, including respected business and law schools.

Vice President Joe Biden is an alumnus of the College of Law, among many other famous alumni such as William Safire, Dick Clark, Donovan McNabb, and Robert Jarvik. The architecture and industrial design programs consistently rank among the best in the country, and in journalism, the nationally known S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications stands among the top three schools of its kind. The main library, the Bird Library, contains a core collection of 2.3 million books.

As an institution with over 19,000 students and some 16,000 full-time jobs, SU offers a wide variety of internships and entry level jobs, to support students' financial needs and vocational goals, and to advance the university's vast array of research initiatives. Independently recognized as a nationally important research institution, there are 29 separate research institutes and centers supported by Syracuse University in a wide variety of disciplines from biomaterials to social sciences, from tax research to supply chain management.

The competition to get into SU is stiff: for the incoming freshman class of about 3000, Syracuse University screened 23,000 applicants. Tuition averages about $33,000 per year, and 80% of undergraduates receive some kind of need-based financial aid. As to student life, the SU population is diverse. About 50% of incoming freshmen are from New York State, and another 10% come from around the world to attend. All 50 states and more than 110 countries are represented by the student population. An active Greek life on campus, supporting one of SU's 20 Big East Conference sports teams (one of which took home the 2003 NCAA Championship), and many cultural opportunities in and around campus also keep students busy in their off hours.

The vision of Syracuse University is "Scholarship in Action," a phrase that's not taken lightly. The vision means forging long-term collaborations with business, local and global communities, allowing SU to reach outside its old limits, and take the intelligence and energy of its people where they can make a true difference.

Article written by a freelance writer

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 21, 2009 at 6:54 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Car insurance

If your student goes away to school and does not take a car, your insurance could drop substantially so check with your agent. Check out this site that I found for some good rates...

InsWeb (http://www.insweb.com)

Renters insurance

If your student lives off campus, you need to make sure those expensive electronics are covered by insurance. They will also need liability insurance. This is a litigious society. Protect yourself for $200 - $300 a year.

Health insurance

If you student is not covered by your insurance, consider getting a high deductible with high coverage limits.

Often the student insurance offered through the school has low cost but low coverage. Just check everything out.

Article by, College Parenting Expert, Dr. Debi Yohn, whose advice on successfully getting college students through college with an emphasis on graduation and rewarding employment is sought by parents from around the world. Now for the first time, she reveals 27 Winning Strategies for Success - a guidebook geared to parents of new college students. Get her free e-Book now at http://www.collegeparentsadvice.com/ and improve your child's chances of a successful college experience.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 1, 2009 at 8:24 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Are you prepared for a text book expense of $1000 plus... A year? Textbook costs are rising much faster than tuition costs so do not discount the impact this expense will have on your students college expenses.

Check out www.dontbuytextbooks.net

More sites to check out:

www.chegg.com

www.skoobit.com

www.BookRenter.com

www.campusbookrentals.com

So your student does have options. You can rent, download ebooks or buy used.

A final option if you twitter follow: twitter@dontbuytxtbooks

Article by, College Parenting Expert, Dr. Debi Yohn, whose advice on successfully getting college students through college with an emphasis on graduation and rewarding employment is sought by parents from around the world. Now for the first time, she reveals 27 Winning Strategies for Success - a guidebook geared to parents of new college students. Get her free e-Book now at http://www.collegeparentsadvice.com/ and improve your child's chances of a successful college experience.

Posted by Candice Arnold on September 1, 2009 at 8:10 AM | Leave a Comment (0)