Several such institutions now have their own online degree programs. These schools also bring their highly regarded academic rigor to Internet delivery of course materials. One of the most obvious programs of study for an online degree is IT (information technology). The schools below have been singled out by U.S. News and World Report, as well as Top5.com as the best online IT schools in cyberspace.

University of Southern California
Through a system that rates schools based on faculty credentials and training, student services and technology, student engagement, and admissions selectivity, U.S. News has concluded the University of Southern California has the best online information technology program. Situated in urban Los Angeles, USC is a private university that is most well-known for its sports programs, but is also very selective, large, and is known in the education community as providing some of the best education money can buy. USC has recently expanded its education services to online courses, a service of which anyone interested in information technology should take advantage.

Sam Houston State University
Founded in 1879, Sam Houston State University, located 70 north of Houston, is the third oldest public institution of advanced education in the state of Texas. SHSU enrolls over 18,000 students a year in a variety of undergraduate, masters, and doctorate programs. While the school is most well-known for its college of Criminal Justice, it also boasts a comprehensive variety of online courses, included classes in information technology. SHSU has been recognized by U.S. News for the effectiveness and quality of its online programs in a variety of categories, including information technology, bachelor’s degrees, and graduate education.

Virginia Tech
Nestled in Blacksburg, Virginia, the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, most commonly known as Virginia Tech, is a public university well known for its affluence and expertise in the technology industry and applied sciences. Virginia Tech has pioneered an online system of computer software and feedback that streams one-on-one discussion and small group tutoring, which makes it the perfect learning environment for an individual interested in online classes. With classes from Virginia Tech, you can rest assured that you’ll have the resources and help to succeed in information technology.

University of Bridgeport
One of the most racially diverse campuses in America, the University of Bridgeport is an independent, privately funded university that ensures an individualized learning experience. This University was ranked by U.S. News as #1 for its information technology program in 2012 and is #4 in 2013, demonstrating that this program is consistently one of the best and most successful and reliable programs in the country. UB also has a variety of resources for English as a second language, or ESL students, if you wish to have a quality educational experience but worry about your mastery of English.

Pennsylvania State University – World Campus
Also known as “Penn State Online,” this is a component of the world-famous Penn State University that allows students from across the globe to get a quality education. This system was established in 1998 and hosts over 6,000 students every year from various states and countries, and offers more than 90 online undergraduate and graduate degrees. This program treats the student exactly as if they were a physical student at the University, holding them to the same academic standards; for instance, students must complete exams at educational institutions close to them in front of webcams. If you need an online educational experience but don’t want a watered down system where you aren’t treated like a real student, Penn State Online is an ideal choice.

The post Best Online Schools for IT appeared first on Frugal Dad.

Tired of paying inflated prices to spend your days sitting in a classroom? Don’t want to play by the old college rules? Maybe you have interests that don’t fit the academic mold. Maybe you’re in a remote location. Maybe you have a family, a job, or other responsibilities and you can’t take on life as a full-time student. Maybe you love new technology and new ways of learning. Or maybe you’re just a rebel! In any case, you need to know how to play the system. Anya Kamenetz, in her eBook Edupunks’ Guide offers these seven suggestions to earn college credit without taking a college class.

ACE Credit
The American Council on Education is a trade association representing all accredited U.S. colleges. Their Credit Recommendation Service translates approved forms of military and workplace training into recommendations for college credit. Eighteen hundred institutions around the country accept ACE credit; the list includes state universities as well as community colleges.

CLEP Exam
The College Board runs the College Level Examination Program. They give 33 separate tests, covering entry-level college subjects in English, business, history, math, science, and foreign languages. The 90 minute exams are administered at testing centers on computers, so you can see your score immediately after you finish. CLEP credits are accepted at 2900 colleges nationwide.

DSST Exam
DSST exams, targeted specifically at military personnel, are now commonly taken by civilians as well. They can be administered at military installations as well as local college campuses via the Internet or on paper. DSST offers 38 exams in diverse subject areas, usually less general than CLEP subjects. Examples include: substance abuse, health, public speaking, Vietnam war history, and intro to world religions. Designed to allow students to get college credit (usually, per ACE recommendations, up to 3 baccalaureate or upper-baccalaureate credits) for previous learning experience outside traditional classroom settings, including on-the-job learning experience.

Excelsior College Examination
Excelsior is a public online college located in New York State that’s been an innovator in evaluation, assessment, and accreditation for non- traditional learners. The college has developed fifty-one of its own examinations to award course credit in a variety of subjects from “Juvenile Delinquency” to “Global Population.” These ECEs (Excelsior College Examinations) are accepted in turn for college credit at hundreds of other universities.

LearningCounts.org Portfolio
Learningcounts.org is an initiative for DIY learners by the nonprofit Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL). It’s a national service for Prior Learning Assessment. You can call the organization and talk to someone who will walk you through all the possibilities for earning college credit for something you already know. You can then submit a portfolio that shows your prior learning in order to earn ACE credit directly for something you already know.

UExcel Test
A newer program than others on this list, UExcel offers several different examinations covering the content of typical low-level college courses—calculus, psychology, political science, college writing, physics, and statistics. Administered at Pearson VUE testing centers.

Western Governors University Assessment
At WGU, you can earn your whole college degree by passing tests. They formed as a private nonprofit in the 1990s, when the governors of nineteen Western states decided to take advantage of the Internet to expand educational access to rural students across the region. Today they have 12,000 online students in all fifty states. (The state of Indiana launched its own separate chapter of WGU in the spring of 2011.) WGU offers fully accredited bachelor’s and master’s degrees in teaching, IT, business, and nursing.

The post College credit without college classes appeared first on Frugal Dad.

The federal government is making huge profits when it lends money to college students and their parents. According to a recent Congressional Budget Office report, the government pockets a tidy sum for each student loan dollar you borrow. For each dollar lent, the U.S. government makes:

According to CBS Moneywatch, the CBO report attracted surprisingly little attention. Meanwhile, the press is up in arms over the prospective doubling of the interest rate for subsidized Stafford Loans on July 1. After a lot of backing-and-forthing during the 2012 election year, Congress managed to forestall the looming increase until this year. If you’ve listened to/read media accounts of this scheduled rate hike, you might mistakenly assume that this is the biggest problem facing college loan borrowers today. CBS MoneyWatch reporter Lynne O’Shaughnessy and Mark Kantrowitz, a nationally recognized financial aid expert, report that the rate hike would cost a borrower an extra $760 over a 10-year repayment period, which amounts to just $6 a week.

Congress is in blinders with respect to the issue, focusing narrowly on whether the impending rate hike will happen. In reality, what Congress should be doing is taking a broader perspective of how the financial aid system could be fixed. One issue in particular should draw their attention: why aren’t the rates on federal college loans market-based? Currently, Congress sets the rates (the unsubsidized Stafford rate is 6.8%), which explains why these rates are arbitrary and attract too much political posturing.

Solutions anyone?
In an attempt to encourage in-depth examination of federal student aid programs, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation awarded grants to organizations that could suggest solutions. Organizations that submitted papers included the College Board, The Education Trust, the New America Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. This is actually an excellent time to be generating these proposals because Congress is scheduled to renew the federal Higher Education Opportunity Actnext year. This is when Congress is supposed to take the long view and go beyond enacting piece-meal legislation.

One significant change that emerged from the last renewal was the requirement that all colleges and universities post net price calculators on their websites. This is a big deal for families: now any parent can use an institution’s net price calculator to get a personalized estimate of what that school will cost long before a child sends in an application.

Some of the Gates’ grantees are urging Congress to move to market-based rates rather than letting Congress continue to arbitrarily set them. Student groups want any market-based system to include salary caps. Two other areas that attracted a great deal of attention from the Gates participants were focused on loan repayment and tax credits.

Automatic repayment based on income
Under current law, borrowers with federal student loans can choose several repayment plans and some qualify for the income-based repayment plan. The IBRessentially allows students who are unemployed or underemployed to repay their student debts based on what they can afford rather than what they owe. Some groups have suggested that graduates with federal student loans be automatically enrolled in the IBR program.

Tax credits
Eleven of the 16 Gates-funded proposals called for consolidating, shrinking or killing off education tax credits, which are controversial because they are regressive. The tax credits chiefly benefit more affluent families whose children will be heading off to college with or without these credits. Money saved from curtailing the tax credits could be sunk into Pell Grants that benefit needy families. As a political reality, however, eliminating the tax credits is unlikely to happen. If you want to learn more about the proposals to revamp the federal financial aid behemoth, the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators has summarized the recommendations in a summary matrix.

The post Feds Profit Off Student Aid appeared first on Frugal Dad.

While many will be heading to beaches and nightclubs this summer, more and more students are choosing to spend their summer vacations giving back to the community by undertaking service projects for charity. Why not earn college credit or resume-building life experience while you’re at it?

International Student Volunteers Make a Difference During Summer Break
ISV reports that more than “140 universities granted academic credit to their students for participation in the ISV Volunteer Program.” Students may find challenging and rewarding opportunities in South Africa, Thailand, Eastern Europe, Ecuador, Australia, the Dominican Republic and also New Zealand. Students experience a mix of adventure travel and charity oriented service projects. All life experiences are sure to alter the way you look at spring break, and some will even offer college credit.

Spend Summer Break with Break Away
Break Away partners with well established chapter programs at some of the best-regarded schools in the United States. Examples include Cal Poly in California and Emory University in Georgia. Students desirous of attending these schools may find a suitable “in” by participating in school-sponsored service projects that in some cases might even provide college credit.

Even when there is no college credit attached, the life experience you’ll get looks good on resumes and college applications. Volunteer opportunities vary greatly from tutoring non-English speaking children to helping with farming and home building.

International Service Projects with International Education Programs (IEP)
Spend summer break traveling the world and volunteering your time and expertise. Whether you want to serve in Belize, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru or the Philippines, this organization can match you up with a good fit. Moreover, it also provides you with the documentation required to turn your service projects experience into college credit – if your school approves.

Gain Life Experience with the Homeless Challenge Project from the National Coalition for the Homeless
The National Coalition for the Homeless issues a 48-hour challenge to live like a homeless person. Spending two full days living and interacting with — and getting to know the lifestyle of — the homeless provides life experience you cannot get from a classroom setting. It will also prepare the student for charity work or spring break volunteer projects with the homeless.

Internships and Work Experience with i-to-i
The advantage of life experience-building trips with i-to-i is the short-term nature of the service projects. They may last only two weeks or go up all the way to six months. Not always charity, the opportunity to interact with a new culture, on foreign shores — and gain valuable hands-on experience — is worth every penny of this trip.

A Final Word on College Credit
Unless a service project is directly sponsored by a school and carries a notice that college credit is offered, it is up to your university or college to decide whether your request of credit for one or more service projects will be honored. If you are looking to charity work with an eye on specific college credits, contact the school of your choice or academic advisor ahead of time to inquire about their willingness to accept your proposed summer vacation service project.

The post Fun and Meaningful Ways to Earn College Credit this Summer appeared first on Frugal Dad.

This week, news regarding financial aid and paying for college has really focused on student debt — both how to avoid and how it’s not really a good thing to have too much of it. We’ve banged the drum about avoiding debt whenever possible but also understand that it’s at best difficult not to go to college and incur at least some student loan debt.

In fact, one of the best ways to maximize the value of your education is to not borrow more than you absolutely need to. Savings, scholarships, grants, credit by examination, income from a job – all of these things should be used toward college before you borrow money to attend school. Especially for an undergraduate student just starting his or her career. Those first few years out of school will likely be the lowest income earning years of your career. They will also have the unpleasant distinction of being the years during which the largest percentage of your salary is going toward the payment of your student loan interest.

This can be particularly crippling from an opportunity cost perspective because those early years are the years during which you will see the most return on the dollars you’re saving. So, the more dollars you can invest and save instead of paying toward student loan interest, the better off you will be in the long run. You may live somewhat more meagerly than you like during your four or so years of college, but nor having that debt follow you around for another ten or even twenty years down the road will allow you to enjoy far more stress-free years than your peers.

So, after all is said and done, is it worth it to go to college and to borrow money to do so? The answer, ultimately, is up to you. If you feel fulfilled and happy and don’t mind the loan payments, then who is anyone else to judge? But, if scraping by for 10 years after scraping by for four years of school doesn’t sound like the self-actualization you were looking for, then choose a degree that you can earn a good living from and keep your school borrowing as low as possible.

Hopefully the following articles will give you something to think about over the summer as you think about paying your tuition in the fall.

An in-debt education from
Mail Tribune
Many students rode out the recession in college, getting additional degrees to improve job prospects. But now, says SOU Financial Aid Director Peggy Mezger, students are being encouraged to wrap up their bachelor’s degree in four years and avoid …

College helping students tackle debt from
Evening Observer
It’s about smart borrowing and about awareness early on the moment students walk on our campus. It involves not just the financial aid office but many other student offices on campus which is really critical. It’s not just one area, it takes a whole …

Paying It Forward: Student Debt at GS from
Bwog
Read on forthe final installment of managing editor Anna Bahr’s three-part series on the student debt at Columbia. This last part looks at General Studies. To review the first two pieces, which examinestudent loans in CC/SEAS and financial aid for …

Florida Higher Education: Fix Financial Aid from
The Ledger
It equates to about $93 a year more for a student taking 30 credit hours. It seems like a … If the governor is seriously concerned about college affordability, he’ll pay as much attention to fixingfinancial aid as he has opposing tuition hikes …

The post Financial Aid News Roundup appeared first on Frugal Dad.

Recently, according to a Campus Progress report, Claremont McKenna College (CMC) announced it will end its “No Package Loan” financial-aid policy beginning next fall for incoming freshmen, showcasing the uphill struggle some colleges face in providing access to some of their neediest students.

According to some students and administrators, the policy shift is representative of a movement toward a larger amount of aid based on “merit” and less need-based aid.  Such a shift has the potential to harm lower income students in the long run — even more so than the specific loan policy that illustrates the shift.

CMC was only one, among a handful, of schools that instituted policies in recent years to remove student loans from the financial aid packages offered to undergraduate students in order to make college more accessible to lower-income students.

The college enacted its No Package Loan policy in 2008. Instead of loans, the school pushed for more financial aid programs. But with the recent economic recession, the school’s board of trustees decided the college wouldn’t be able to sustain the policy.

Research and input from the admission and financial aid committee guided the decision, which studied the effects of the No Packaged Loan financial-aid policy over the past five years.  At Claremont-McKenna, the generous financial-aid policy was directly responsible for some students even being on campus. Such students would have been unwilling or unable to attend a private college without the promise of significant financial aid.

CMC President Pamela Gann announced the policy-shift in an email to college students, staff and faculty earlier this year. She explained need-based students who enter CMC in fall 2014 will be offered “reasonable” loans of up to $4,000 per year in their financial aid packages. She further emphasized that students up to the Class of 2017 would be grandfathered in and remain unaffected by the change in policy.

Campus Progress reports that one CMC student said, “The administration showed us the changes in college cost vs. ability to pay. College cost has risen quickly, and ability to pay has risen slowly. A lot of that is because of the recession, and as a result CMC has overspent its financial aid budget in the past few years. Families have less money to send kids to college, but it costs colleges more to retain their competitive edge.”

Other schools that have dropped or altered their no-loan policies include, Carleton College of Northfield, Minn., Cornell University, Yale University, Dartmouth College, and Williams College. Many colleges advertise diverse student bodies and try to recruit students with diverse backgrounds.  However, socioeconomic diversity is woefully absent at a lot of private liberal arts schools. It is difficult to make the claim that a student body represents a wide array of life experiences if the only students who can afford to attend are from upper- and upper-middle class backgrounds.

At CMC, one of the issues that arose is that announcement of the new policy came on the heels of other announcements about the school doubling its endowment and making plans to renovate dorms and build a new fitness center.

With more than 38 million Americans burdened with $1 trillion of student loan debt, there’s no mistaking that student debt is a growing crisis in need of meaningful solutions. Reducing the amount of funding students are pressured to borrow through student loans was a step toward that, but as colleges and universities face the unsustainable nature of no-loan financial aid programs it’s becoming clear that other avenues are necessary to lessen the burdens experienced by student loan borrowers.

The post Colleges Take Back No-Loan Promises appeared first on Frugal Dad.

A recently released report found that private colleges are keeping the poor in debt while giving wealthier students a leg up with “merit” aid. The reasoning behind the policies that have resulted in this imbalance is somewhat counterintuitive: the economy. So, if you’re a poor student paying top dollar to attend a secondary institution, you’re not alone—and your wealthier classmates might be going on the cheap.

Campus Progress reports that a recent white paper from the New America Foundation, a nonprofit public policy institute, notes an increase in merit aid awarded to wealthy students and a corresponding decrease in financial aid to low-income students at public and private colleges. According to the report, colleges and universities lure wealthy students who can afford to pay nearly full tuition at the expense of aid to low-income students.

“[C]olleges are not just looking for the best and brightest students,” said the report. “They are also working hard to bring wealthy students to their campuses in order to maximize their revenue.”

Colleges have always awarded merit aid, but the upward swing is notable.

In the 1995-1996 school year, 24 percent of students at private institutions received merit aid, while 43 percent received need-based aid.

Compare that to the 2007-2008 school year, in which 44 percent of students received merit aid and 42 percent of students received need-based aid, and the higher education industry’s shift in priorities becomes clear.

Low-income students at two-thirds of private universities surveyed were charged up to half of their family’s yearly income in tuition, the report found. That equals a “net price,” or the amount of tuition students pay after an institution’s aid has been distributed, of over $15,000 a year.

“In many cases,” the report said, “these institutions are trying to lure in top students who will help them improve their standing in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings so they can enhance their reputations and marketability.”

George Washington University and Boston University both scaled up their recruiting efforts of wealthy or desirable students over the past few decades, leaving low-income students to foot the bill. Campus Progress interviewed one such student, Garineh Panosian, a Boston University senior.

“I’ve had a pretty terrible experience with the financial aid here,” Panosian told Campus Progress in an email. “My family’s combined income puts us in the lower middle class bracket and BU barely gave me a quarter off the tuition.”

Despite the President Obama’s goal for the U.S. to have the world’s highest proportion of graduates by 2020, the outlook for low-income students at these universities seems bleak.

Needy students denied aid who decide to take on debt for their education often end up having to work during school, making graduation in four years less likely, said the report. Their debt adds to economic stress, increases the chances that they will rely on social welfare programs, and promotes the cycle of poverty and the education gap.

Panosian, who plans to finish her degree requirements at another institution, said BU not only skimped on financial aid, but also charged her late fees when she had trouble with her bank. She said she now realizes the lack of support in higher education isn’t universal.

“Had I known another institution would’ve paid for full or even half, I would’ve gone there, but hindsight is 20/20,” Panosian said. “That was a very expensive decision, and I don’t know if I still stand by it.”

The post Private Colleges Propogate Wealth Gap appeared first on Frugal Dad.

STUDENT DISCOUNTS
Many business and entertainment venues offer discounts to student for everything from bus passes and computer equipment to theater tickets and travel. Some advertise them widely on campus, often in the form of a guide to student discounts that you receive at the beginning of each academic year. Other businesses, however, have student discounts but only offer them to you if you ask about them.
Some of the discounts can be worth quite a bit if you are careful and plan accordingly. In larger cities, many entertainment venues offer “rush” tickets which students with valid IDs can buy at a steep discount within a specified time before the show begins. Sometimes the tickets are even for great seats. The advantage to the student is a cheap seat to a hot ticket; meanwhile the theater or other venue fills up and sees some revenue on seats that otherwise would have remained unsold.
Whenever you’re in a store near campus or considering a major purchase, be sure to ask if there’s some kind of student or education discount or special pricing. Apple is one retailer that has consistently offered educational discounts. Many software companies like Adobe and Microsoft also offer student pricing or even packages geared specifically toward students. The credit branches of some auto manufacturers also occasionally offer rebates or discounted loan rates to students who qualify. Don’t be shy – the simple act of asking could save you a lot of cash.

VOLUNTEERING
I once volunteered to help staff a fundraising event for a non-profit affiliated with my school. I didn’t have to do much: just dress nicely, decorate some tables and greet people warmly. For that, I got a free meal for which the actual patrons were paying more than a hundred dollars per plate, plus the other volunteers and I got to hang out into the wee hours with the keynote speaker, John Grisham. I got an evening’s worth of entertainment, dinner and an interesting anecdote that I can use at parties, all for the cost of bus fare.
So my fellow frugal scholars, when you read about an event that sounds interesting and you see the per-ticket cost and despair, fret not. Simply call the venue, the promoter or the sponsoring organization and ask if they have need for any volunteers. You wille to put in some sweat equity, but you’ll save money and may actually get an experience you couldn’t pay for anyway.

LET SOMEONE ELSE PAY
Apart from the traditional part-time jobs and other methods of earning money that are out there, you can also try a few avenues that are not only more flexible time-wise but also tend to be less tapped out than the job market. One avenue you could explore that could actually be fun is to be a secret, or “mystery” shopper. Many legitimate companies, like National Shopping Service or Intellishop, will actually pay you to eat out at restaurants, get oil changes or buy groceries that you get to keep. You definitely won’t get rich doing it, but it’s fun and the combination of money earned from the work and the dollars you save on food and entertainment expenses could go some way in padding your bottom line this summer.

It is possible to be frugal and live a full student life over summer break. A little creativity, a little research and a little effort can go a long way in stretching the dollars that you’ve been working hard to sock away. You may have to work harder or ask a few more questions, but in the long run it will pay off for you.

The post Maximize Your Summer Savings appeared first on Frugal Dad.

If you don’t win a scholarship or land a portable gig, paying to study overseas can be a little trickier. As I mentioned before, some schools will allow you to port their financial aid to an affiliated college abroad; but what if the program in which you’re interested isn’t affiliated with your school? The task of finding aid can be a little more daunting.

While the financial situation is looking a little grim for U.S. citizens studying at overseas schools that are not approved by the Department of Education, it is not entirely hopeless. Students who are willing to transfer, or get creative, might find ways to finance an overseas education.

Generally, though, if a school is not on this Education Department list, the federal government will approve neither students’ applications for low-cost Stafford loans nor parents’ applications for federally backed PLUS loans. (The U.S. also won’t send any grant money, such as Pell or SMART grants, to any overseas school, whether or not it is on the list.)

Few, if any U.S.-based will make private educational loans to schools that haven’t been approved by the Education Department. Sallie Mae, one of the few big lenders still making private educational loans, said it would approve a private loan only if the school was approved by the Department of Education and the borrower was a U.S. citizen with good credit.

So what can students who want to study overseas do?

1. Ask. The first and best place to start searching for aid information is your college. The folks in the financial aid or study abroad offices may very well know of aid programs for people just like you.

2. Search. Students also can check out a few websites that compile overseas scholarships, like this one created by the Institute of International Education and this one created by the University of Minnesota

3. Go American. Instead of enrolling directly in the foreign school, students can enroll in an accredited American school with an approved study-abroad program. This is one of the simplest alternatives, because such American schools typically handle the aid hassles for students.

But there are some downsides. The overseas school you’re interested in might not have an American partner. American schools typically don’t approve study abroad for more than a year, disappointing those who may want to spend more time overseas. And this can be a costly option, since most American schools charge higher tuition than most foreign schools. (Though that may be offset by higher living costs overseas because of the dollar’s recent weakness against other currencies.) And while some students like having lots of American support and friends when they are abroad, others feel some of the American programs don’t sufficiently immerse them in the host country’s culture. Students can contact the overseas school they are interested in to see if any American schools have pre-approved study-abroad programs there. Tools to search among study abroad programs can be found here, here, and here.

4. Transfer. As this official list shows, hundreds of overseas schools are approved to receive federal educational loans. Overseas students who need access to federal loans can transfer to one of the schools on the approved list.

5. Persuade your school. If there are lots of American students at your overseas school, or your school is interested in attracting more American students, it pays for the school to get approved by the States. There are lots of forms to fill out and lots of hoops to jump through, but hundreds of other international schools have done it. Information for overseas school administrators can be found here and here. The downside: This isn’t a quick solution. It can take a school a long time to earn U.S. approval.

6. Alternative loans. If a student has an adult with good credit willing to take on the debt responsibility, the adult can take a second mortgage or other loan and then have the student agree to pay back that loan through contracts such as those executed by Virgin Money. A growing number of students—many without cosigners—are trying out the new social network lending websites, such as LendKey or GreenNote..

And one thing not to do:

If you can, avoid charging your overseas academic adventures. It might be tempting to just charge overseas tuition or living costs to a credit card. Tempting, but dangerous. Credit cards tend to charge high interest rates. They typically demand payments every 20 or 25 days. And they charge big penalties to those who are just one day late. In addition, most credit card companies won’t let students borrow very much. So while credit cards can be useful in an emergency, they shouldn’t be a college funding mechanism.

The Princeton Review offers these three steps to help you minimize the costs of studying abroad:

Step 1: Get the facts from your school.
Speak with your study abroad advisor and financial aid officer to find out about your school’s policies. Make sure you understand the consequences of choosing one program over another (i.e. your financial aid may help cover a program approved by your school, but not one they’ve never heard of).

Investigate whether you’ll pay regular tuition rates during your time abroad. This means you pay your home school and they pay the program. This could be a good deal or a bad deal, depending on whether the cost of your regular tuition is more or less than the cost of your study abroad program.

Many state schools will allow a student to go on an approved study abroad program and continue to pay the in-state tuition rate. If you attend an expensive private institution, you may be able to pay less than your regular tuition by going abroad during a semester off (although this could affect whether or not you earn credit for your studies).

Step 2: Find out how much you’ll really need.
“Cost of attendance” means the total cost (to you) of the semester or year abroad. It includes not only tuition and other fees charged by the study abroad program, but also all other necessary costs such as lodging, transportation, meals, books, health insurance and incidental expenses (phone cards, postcards, pitchers of Sangria).

Not all programs include the same items in their fees. A program that charges $10,000 and includes full tuition and room and board may well be cheaper than one that charges $7,000 but includes only tuition. You should always compare the total cost of attendance and add any of the aforementioned expenses that are not included.

When comparing costs, assess the degree of support you’d like. There are a number of “bare bones” programs that offer low prices but few services. These may be ideal for a mature, independent, self-motivated student who wants almost complete immersion in the host culture, but not so appropriate for a student who needs a significant amount of moral support and advice.

Finally, always overestimate how much money you’ll spend. There are invariably unexpected expenses. You shouldn’t leave the U.S. without enough money to sustain you until you return home. It’s very difficult (and potentially illegal) to find a job in another country, and you don’t want to make that late-night phone call begging Mom for a wire transfer.

Step 3: Track down extra dollars.
There are many organizations that will help you finance your study abroad. These include your college or university (check for special grants and scholarships), the U.S. government (which offers grants, loans and scholarships), foreign governments interested in promoting study in their countries and private foundations and clubs like Rotary International.

For a complete list of resources, visit the website of NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

The key to funding your study abroad is starting early. Deadlines may fall months before you plan to leave. So if you’re planning to go abroad, meet with a study abroad or financial aid advisor at your college now.

The post Paying to Study Abroad: Tips for Funding Your International Education, part 2 appeared first on Frugal Dad.

Studying abroad is a rite of passage for many students — an experience that’s rewarding far beyond the time spent in the classrooms of a foreign university. Apart from the typical costs of the study abroad program itself (which usually include tuition, housing, some meals and some trips), it can be pretty easy to rack up expenses like additional meals, shopping and side trips.

Despite the costs, study abroad is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for most; one that you should not eschew only because of expense. Many grads acknowledge that their biggest college regret is not studying abroad. So don’t let a few — or a few thousand — bucks get in the way of your international adventure.

Paying for the adventure may not xome easily. But with sufficient effort and mental fortitude, you’ll be able to realize your study abroad dreams.

Scholarships
It’s a lot of work to search and apply for scholarships. But your hard work could pay off big time. Just think: If you spend five or ten hours applying for a scholarship like the Gilman (mentioned below), and receive a $4,000 award that you can spend on whatever you want or need for your trip, you’re getting paid $400-$800 an hour! Not too shabby right?

Apply for the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. If you’re a strong student and you receive Federal Pell Grant funding, I highly recommend applying for the Gilman scholarship. While the program is competitive, they award over 2,300 scholarships per year with an average amount of $4,000. So unless you’re a D-student with a seven-figure trust fund, you really have nothing to lose by applying, except maybe a few hours of your time. The deadline for Summer/Fall is usually around March 1st, so be sure to

The Gilman is great, but don’t discount the small scholarships either. Sometimes there is less competition for say, a $100 scholarship, and every bit really does help! Here are some tips for your scholarship search:

Check with your school’s study abroad and financial aid offices to find out how paying for study abroad will work for you. In study abroad programs through your school, you will typically pay normal tuition and rooming fees. In most accredited schools, your financial aid will transfer. This means that study abroad is (theoretically) financially feasible for many students. However, this may also mean that you may not be eligible for certain outside scholarships, such as those offered by the study abroad programs themselves. Different schools have different rules, so make sure you know what you’re looking at financially before you start applying for programs and/or scholarships.

Apply for other study abroad scholarships. Unfortunately, this means doing your fair share of research. Study abroad scholarships may be specific to a country or language, may only be offered once (as opposed to recurring scholarships like the Gilman), and can have applications that range from just filling out a form to essays, recommendations and more. Studyabroad.com and Allabroad.us have some great info to get you started.

Telecommute
Ever heard of a virtual assistant? Thanks to resources like Skype, Google Docs, and Drop Box, more and more people are moving their work online and hitting the road. You may not be able to earn money working for a company in your host-country while you’re abroad, but there aren’t any laws against working for a company or individual(s) back home, while you’re abroad.

Do what you enjoy/what you’re good at. Love organization and communication? Virtual assisting might be right for you. Do you speak another language fluently? Consider giving one-on-one language lessons over Skype. Are you a social media marketing or website development maven? Offer to build people’s online presence for an hourly or project fee. The more you like what you’re doing, the more likely you are to stick with it (and hopefully earn some major bucks in the process), so make sure your “business” is something you enjoy.

Set up a simple website or Facebook page and email everyone you know. These days, it’s almost impossible to run a successful business without having a website, or at least a Facebook page, that explains who you are and what you do. Fortunately, it’s very simple and costs next-to-nothing to make your own website using a WordPress template. And of course, Facebook is free. Once you have an online presence, send an email to your friends, family and other key contacts explaining that you are looking for clients, and ask them to pass it along to their friends. Include your contact info and a link to your website and you should get some response in no time.

Set realistic expectations. Start with a couple of clients/projects before you go abroad, to test out your idea and get a feel for how many hours a week you’re realistically going to put in while you’re abroad. Whatever number you come up with, cut that in half, and try to make up the difference by working and saving money before your trip. Remember, the point of going abroad is to have fun too, and despite your best intentions work will probably be one of the last things on your mind. That being said, keeping one or two clients that are flexible about you setting your own schedule can be a great way to earn extra cash when your reserves start to run low.

The post Paying to Study Abroad: Tips for Funding Your International Education, part 1 appeared first on Frugal Dad.