California's biggest college fights to stay open

Main campus has 4,000 Pinoy students

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco City College’s fight to keep its accreditation got much-needed support from San Francisco Attorney Dennis Herrera.

Last week, Herrera filed a suit in Superior Court against the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, to stop the agency from revoking the accreditation of the city’s community college on July 31, 2014.

The commission has cited problems with the City College’s governance and fiscal planning. The sanction could shut down California’s largest school, because it would lose access to local, state and federal funding.

The City College of San Francisco has about 85,000 students. In its main campus alone, 4,000 of the 35,000 students are Filipino, the largest population of Filipino students in any school outside the Philippines.

"There’s no question in anyone’s mind that City College is really a piece of the fabric of the City and County of San Francisco. Everywhere I go, everyone I’ve spoken to, have either taken a class, or have a relative taking a class here," said Dr. Robert Agrella, Special Trustee of the school.

In a recent press conference at the New America media, Agrella assured people that the City College of San Francisco continues to operate as it tries to meet the requirements for accreditation.

“We are alive. We are well. We are fully functioning. We are fully accredited, as we go through all these processes leading to the maintenance of our accreditation. We remain an accredited institution,” Agrella stressed.

In fact, City College officials said that the quality of education there has not been sacrificed, despite the crisis it’s going through.

“Our number of sections for the classes that we are offering this year, is actually up, in our credit area in particular. We have not made a big reduction. We are looking to see that the classes meet the demands of our students,” said Joanne Low, Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs.

Low added that the school is even hiring more instructors to accommodate more classes.

City College officials hope that the school will show enough progress that the commission could extend its accreditation deadline. But while it’s still open and trying to recover, students are worried about its future. The community college has so far suffered a 10 percent decline in its enrollment for the new semester.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

4 Tips to Help 30-Somethings Handle Student Loan Debt

By the time most college graduates reach their 30s, they've been dealing with student loans for years. Yet increasingly, even 30-somethings still face big challenges from their outstanding college debts, and those challenges are affecting the way they manage the rest of their financial lives. Homeownership rates among 30-year-olds have fallen much more dramatically since 2008 for those with student loan debt than for those without it, according to a recent Federal Reserve Bank of New York study.



Yet many people in their early 30s have either already started a family or plan to do so in the near future. That raises the question of how to balance your own financial needs against those of your children in order to reduce the odds that your kids will suffer under the crippling weight of excessive student loans of their own.

Let's look at some tips for getting your own debt paid down and for preparing for potential family educational costs down the road.

1. Put Student Loans in Their Place.

Many borrowers assume that they should always pay down their student loans as quickly as possible. Yet even though paying off those loans can give you a psychological boost, it's not necessarily the smartest move if you have other debt with less generous terms and higher finance charges. By understanding the terms of your student loans as well as credit-card agreements, car loans, mortgages, and other debt you might have, you can identify the highest-cost debt you have and prioritize getting that paid off first. Even if that means waiting longer to retire your student loans, doing so will still save you money in the long run.

2. Don't Skimp on Savings.

Whether to put money toward savings and investing when you have outstanding student loan debt is a subject of debate, with good arguments on both sides.

But to take advantage of the tax deductions and free employer-matching contributions you get from contributing to a retirement account, it's worth diverting extra money away from paying down student loans, especially those with low interest rates in the 3 percent to 4 percent range. As your income increases, you'll be able both to stay current on your loan obligations and to set money aside for other important financial goals.

3. Make Your Employer Pay for More School.

As you advance in your career, getting more education and boosting your skills might be a lucrative move. But once you're in the workforce, you don't necessarily have to pay for those classes yourself anymore. Many employers have recognized the value of investing in their employees through tuition reimbursement programs, which will pay you back for all or part of your costs. Availability and conditions differ from company to company, and typically, the education has to be connected to your job. But they're a great way to avoid adding to your student loan debt.

4. Don't Let Student Loan Debt Hit You Twice.

As heavy a burden as today's young graduates carry, educational debt among their parents is also reaching epidemic levels. In 2011, parents received $10.6 billion in Parent PLUS loans, a 145 percent increase since 2000, even adjusted for inflation, according to a study from The Chronicle of Higher Education and ProPublica. And the size of average individual loan is up as well, by about a third to nearly $12,000 in constant dollars. If you have kids or plan to, you'll want to take steps to ensure you don't end up facing a huge loan burden a second time around.

Put time on your side by setting up savings programs for their college educations now. As your income grows and you rise into higher tax brackets, the advantages of using a tax-favored college savings strategy such as a 529 plan increase in value. As with any market-based investment and saving strategy, 529 plans work best when you give them as much time as possible to produce strong returns. Moreover, 529 plans have very small minimum starting investments, so you can start a account without placing too big a burden on your finances.

source: dailyfinance.com

U.S. Congress Finally Votes to Cut Student Loan Interest Rates

WASHINGTON - U.S. college students will likely pay a reduced interest rate of 3.86 percent on their student loans for the new school year, after lawmakers on Wednesday finally passed a compromise bill that would reverse a recent rate hike.

The House of Representatives voted 392-31 in support of a bipartisan deal to lower interest rates on millions of new federal student loans. The Senate passed the bill on July 24 and President Barack Obama is expected to sign it into law.

The action followed months of partisan bickering, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for a politically embarrassing delay that had the potential to cost students and their parents thousands of dollars.

The legislation replaces a system in which Congress fixed interest rates every year and substitutes it with a market-based mechanism tied to the government's cost of borrowing and capped to protect borrowers in the event of a severe spike in rates.

The legislation passed just two days before Congress recesses for five weeks, after several failed efforts in the House and Senate.


Interest rates on student loans automatically doubled on July 1 to 6.8 percent after Congressfailed to meet the deadline to prevent the rate increase. Congress has since incorporated a retroactive fix that would keep borrowers of loans originated since July 1 when rates had doubled from paying the higher rate.

The measure passed Wednesday pegs interest rates on student loans to the 10-year Treasury note plus 2.05 percentage points for undergraduates, and plus 3.6 percentage points for graduate student loans.

The interest rate would roughly work out to 3.86 percent this year for undergraduates and 5.42 percent for graduates.

Supporters of the bill say it gets politicians out of the business of setting student loan rates and provides certainty for students and their families.

'Long-Term Fix'
Critics of a market-based system say it fails to offer enough protection against increasing rates as the economy improves.

"This bill provides American college students immediate debt relief on upcoming studentloans," said California Representative George Miller, the senior Democrat at the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "Families battered by the recent recession should have received this relief over a month ago."




In 2007, Congress lowered the interest rates on federal subsidized Stafford loans to 3.4 percent. That lower rate was due to expire last year, but Congress extended it for another year rather than argue about a replacement for it during an election year.

Under the caps in the new plan, if market rates rise, undergraduates could pay as high as 8.25 percent and graduates as much as 9.5 percent. The rate could go to 10.5 percent for PLUS loans for parents who borrow to pay for their children's college.

"We wanted to get out of the partisan squabbling that has been happening in this city every year - let the market do it in a way that is fair to students and the taxpayer," said Education Committee Chairman Representative John Kline, a Minnesota Republican.

"After months of great uncertainty, students can finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that interest rates on subsidized federal loans for college won't double from last year and a long-term fix will be in place to avoid these annual political chess matches over the loan program," said Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.

source: dailyfinance.com

Senate Passes Student Loan Deal

The Senate passed legislation Wednesday that would make it less expensive for college students to borrow money to pay for classes, housing and books. But interest rates could soon start climbing.

The proposal, that passed by 81 votes to 18, would link interest rates on federal student loans to the financial markets. That means student loans for the next few years would have lower interest rates. Higher rates would come in later years if the economy improves as expected.

Liberal Democrats opposed the White House-backed proposal as a bait-and-switch measure that would lure in new borrowers. Republicans supported the measure and helped the bill win passage. The bill is similar to one the House has already passed.

The White House and its allies said the new loan structure would offer lower rates to 11 million borrowers right away and save the average undergraduate $1,500 in interest But there was no denying the new structure could cost future students if the economy improves as expected and interest rates climb. The White House's allies instead suggested the new formula is better than the status quo.

After the bill's passage the White House released a statement from President Obama applauding the vote.

"This compromise is a major victory for our nation's students," the statement read. "It meets the key principles I laid out from the start: it locks in low rates next year, and it doesn't overcharge students to pay down the deficit. I urge the House to pass this bill so that I can sign it into law right away, and I hope both parties build on this progress by taking even more steps to bring down soaring costs and keep a good education - a cornerstone of what it means to be middle class - within reach for working families."

Rates on subsidized Stafford loans doubled to 6.8 percent July 1 because Congress could not agree on a way to keep them at 3.4 percent.

Liberal members of the Democratic caucus were vocal in their opposition over the potentially shifting rates included in the Senate measure, which passed with support from both parties. The bill passed with support from 45 Republicans, 35 Democrats and Sen. Angus King, the independent from Maine who helped negotiate the deal.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, joined 16 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, to oppose the legislation.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., did not cast a recorded vote.

"This permanent, market-based plan makes students' loans cheaper, simpler and more certain," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, the top Republican on the Senate education panel. "It ends the annual game of Congress playing politics with student loan interest rates at the expense of students planning their futures."

Under the bipartisan deal, undergraduates this fall could borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents could borrow at 6.4 percent. Those rates would rise as the economy picks up and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money.

The compromise could be a good deal for students through the 2015 academic year. After that, interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus in the spring, if congressional estimates prove correct.

As part of the compromise, Democrats won a protection for students by capping rates at a maximum 8.25 percent for undergraduates. Graduate students would not pay rates higher than 9.5 percent, and parents' rates would top out at 10.5 percent.

Using Congressional Budget Office estimates, rates would not reach those limits in the next 10 years.

But even among those who voted for it, frustrations remained evident.

"The bill that is before us represents a number of compromises that were made on both sides," said Sen. Tom Harkin, the Iowa Democrat who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, before the vote.

Harkin said the legislation is not what he would have written if he had the final say but he also said that he recognizes the need to restore the lower rates on students before they return to campus for classes.

"It's the best that we can do," Harkin said on the Senate floor. "If we don't pass this today, there will be one sure effect: student loans will be almost twice what they would be under this bill."

Most Senate Republicans who pushed for interest rates to be linked to the financial markets voted for the measure. It was negotiated by Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and GOP Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, the top Republican on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

"They may come from different political parties, but they all really care about students. And this bill proves it," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "And there's something else this bill proves, too: That Democrats can work with Republicans when they actually want to do it -- when they check their partisan, take-it-or-leave-it approaches at the door and actually talk with, rather than at, us."

The compromise negotiated in the Senate closely hews to what House Republicans passed this year, and that's a sticking point for some liberals.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., pushed for an extension of the current 3.4 percent rate so lawmakers could address the subject this fall during the revision of the Higher Education Act. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has objected to students paying higher interest rates than the Federal Reserve offers to big banks.

"I understand that compromise isn't always pretty, but there isn't any compromise in this bill," Warren said last week when the deal was announced.

"In fact, I think the whole system stinks," she added during a Senate speech.

Sens. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Al Franken, D-Minn., planned amendments that would redirect any profits made through the bill to help low-income students.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill as written would reduce the deficit by $715 million over the next decade. During that same time, federal loans would be a $1.4 trillion program.

"We've got to get out of the business of making profits of struggling families who want nothing more than to be able to send their kids to college," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats. "This legislation only makes a bad situation worse."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

source: dailyfinance.com

College Costs Level Off as Use of Savings Plans Rises

Average spending on college for the recent academic year leveled out to $21,178, as the use of college saving plans increased to its highest level ever, according to an annual report by Sallie Mae, a financial services company specializing in education.

The report, called "How America Pays for College 2013" and released Tuesday, found average college spending declined since 2010, when families paid a peak of $24,097. Like last year, the report is based on survey results of about 800 undergraduate students ages 18 to 24 and parents of undergraduates.

Since Sallie Mae (SLM) released its first report six years ago, families have spent more on college, but with the recession, families became more cost-conscious, said Sarah Ducich, senior vice president for public policy at Sallie Mae.

While tuition has risen, the amount families spend has leveled off because of the choices they are making, she said.

For example, for the 2012-13 academic year, one-fifth of parents increased work hours or earnings to help pay for college in 2013, down from 24 percent in 2012. Forty-seven percent of students increased their work hours in 2013, and 27 percent chose to accelerate their course work to spend fewer semesters earning a degree, in an effort to spend less on college overall.

For the recent academic year, 52 percent of families eliminated certain schools from their selection decision because of how expensive they are, the highest percentage Sallie Mae has seen.

The typical family uses six sources of funds to pay for college, says Sallie Mae. For the recent academic year, the average family depended the most on grants and scholarships, which paid for 30 percent of college costs.

The following list comprises the whole pie of the average percent of total cost paid from each source:

    1. Grants and Scholarships: 30 percent
    2. Parent Income and Savings: 27 percent
    3. Student Borrowing: 18 percent
    4. Student Income and Savings: 11 percent
    5. Parent Borrowing: 9 percent
    6. Relatives and Friends: 5 percent

It's not just low- and middle-income families making choices to cut costs. Overall, 57 percent of the survey respondents said a college student is choosing to live at home to cut housing costs, up from 51 percent last year.

"I think it's been striking more than half of low income families and close to middle income families live at home. It's just one of the ways you save money to go to college," said Ducich.

But this year, a striking 50 percent of high household incomes of $100,000 and above said a college student was living at home, a jump from one in four college students in that household income range who lived at home four years ago.

Parents are willing to stretch their budgets and limits as much as they always have, but stagnant income levels have solidified their upper limits, said Cliff Young, managing director of polling at Ipsos and a co-author of the study.


Ducich said because parents are "taking control" of their college investment choices, they are reporting that they are less worried about rising cost of tuition and other college-related expenses.

When asked if parents reflected worry over the increase in federal student loan interest rates, Ducich said parents are focused on the overall cost, and not just rates.

But while students and families are not obligated to pay back federal student loans until after they leave school, Ducich encourages families to begin paying back while students are in school if they can.

Twenty-two percent of families report they are paying student loans while they are in school to reduce the cost, according to the Sallie Mae survey.

The biggest amounts of borrowing occur in unsubsidized Stafford student loans and Graduate PLUS federal student aid, Ducich said.

"When you defer your payments in school, all you are doing is borrowing more," she said. "Paying early to reduce cost of borrowing is a really good strategy."

source: dailyfinance.com

Get Scholarships and Grants for College

Considering the tremendous impact that having a college degree has on lifetime earnings, and the importance of scholarships for needy students, the scholarship application process is about the most important thing a teenager can undertake. Getting scholarships can be the difference between your investments in College having a positive or negative ROI. That is if they are planning on going to college – (make sure to read Derek’s great post on is it really worth it?). Since around 90 percent of all applications are thrown out in the first round of reviews because of common errors, it is important to avoid making these mistakes on scholarship forms.

Extracurricular Activities vs Academic Excellence

If you are a student whose scholarship application makes it through the first round, you are in for the real test. The second stage of the scholarship application process is where the judges increase their focus on the details, and where extracurricular activities assume almost as much importance academic excellence. There is no room for error in this very competitive process.

Best Places to Search For Scholarships and Grants

 

The best places to search for scholarships are government run institutions like…

1. https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/scholarship-search
2. http://go.salliemae.com/scholarship/default.aspx

Make Sure You Are Applying for the Correct Scholarship

 

It is important to avoid the first basic error, which is applying for the wrong scholarships. Every scholarship fund has its own goals and purposes, and your achievements are not considered in a vacuum, but in relation to the fund’s objectives and the course of study you plan to pursue. So, don’t make the mistake of wasting your time (and the judges’) by applying for the wrong scholarship.

Assuming that you have determined the right places to apply for scholarships, you still need to avoid these common mistakes on your scholarship forms:

10 Most Common Scholarship Application Mistakes

 

1. Not meeting the minimum requirements, of whatever kind. If you apply for a scholarship requiring a foreign language you did not study or a minimum GPA you did not achieve, you should not waste your energy or the judges’ time. This is similar to the fundamental error, mentioned above, of applying for the wrong scholarship entirely.

2. Submitting the wrong items, or inappropriate ones. Baby pictures are not considered “your photo” in this stage of your life.

3. Making avoidable mistakes of spelling, grammar or facts. Even a single misspelling can damage your application, so use both a spell-checker and have a good writer or editor review your application.

4. Mailing the application package with insufficient postage. It may arrive to the judges with postage due, or be returned so it misses the deadline.

5. Leaving off all or part of your contact information (address, phone numbers, zip code). The head of a well known free scholarship search and information Web site polled over 40 scholarship judges, and was surprised at the number of reports of contact information being left off forms.

6. Submitting a wrinkled or stained application or supporting documents. Surprisingly (or perhaps not to teenagers’ mothers), scholarship applications often show the evidence of having been filled out while the applicant was eating or drinking soda.

7. Sending an envelope without the application in it. The scholarship service mentioned above reports that this is also quite common.

8. Submitting an illegible application. It is bad enough that some applicants fill out the applications and write their essays with poor penmanship, but those using word processors should know better than to use a script typeface in all capital letters, or a weird mix of different typefaces.

9. Making inappropriate or personal comments in essays or letters. Not only is it poor manners to tell judges how to do their jobs or criticize their work, it will almost certainly guarantee that they will tell other scholarship judges about you, and not in a good way.

10. Turning in an incomplete application package. If you are asked to include photos or other documents, make sure to do so.

It is said that these common mistakes are made by more than 75 percent of all scholarship applicants. In a process as important and life-changing as applying for a scholarship, it is important to do things correctly and show the right amount of care, concern and respect for the application package – not to mention yourself and the judges, too. You can assure yourself a fighting chance if you simply avoid making these mistakes on your scholarship forms, so slow down and be extra careful! If you are looking for other ways to get through college with no debt be sure to read Derek’s eBook here.

source: lifeandmyfinances.com

Male student raped by 2 men

MANILA, Philippines – A 21-year-old college student sought help from police after he was allegedly raped by two unidentified men last May 23.

According to “Ian” (not his real name), he had just left school when he was hit on the head with a hard object, rendering him almost unconscious.

Ian said he recalled that 2 burly men carried him inside a van, where he passed out.

When he woke up, Ian said he found himself naked and tied to a bed inside a room.

He claimed that he was forced to drink a suspicious beverage, which was allegedly laced with drugs.

"Pumiglas ako kaso mahina katawan ko. Hinalikan ako, sabi ko ‘Kuya tama na.’ Sabi niya magugustuhan mo rin 'yan. ‘Enjoy ka lang.’ Naiyak na 'ko. Gusto kong lumaban,” he said.

After he was allegedly raped, Ian said he was again carried into the van and was dropped along EDSA.

Ian said he later discovered that the men also stole P6,000 from him, which was supposed to cover his enrollment fee.

The student sustained a wound on his head and is set to undergo a medical test to determine if he contracted Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). -- Report from Niko Baua, ABS-CBN News

source: abs-cbnnews.com

Fashion blogger Bryanboy to judge next season of ‘America’s Next Top Model’

Fashion blogger Bryan Grey Yambao, more popularly known as Bryanboy, will become a judge in the the next season of “America’s Next Top Model”.

Bryanboy will fill up one of the two vacant seats in the show’s judging panel. Long-time judges and mentors Nigel Barker and Jay Manuel left the show earlier this year.

Bryanboy was a former freelance web developer based in his parents’ home in Manila. Heis eponymous blog received the Philippine blog award for Best Fashion and Lifestyle Blog in 2007.

In its 2010 Power Issue, Vogue named him one of nine bloggers “making a global industry sit up and take notice”.

“America’s Next Top Model” is hosted and produced by supermodel Tyra Banks. According to Tyra, she chose Bryanboy because the fashion blogger writes about global fashion events.

Bryanboy is currently in the US taping episodes for the 19th cycle of “ANTM”.

The 19th cycle will feature a brand new theme. It will cater to college students aspiring to become models. The “college edition” of “ANTM” is set to premiere in the fall in the US.

source: interaksyon.com