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By on September 4, 2015 in Financial Aid, In the Workplace, Student Discounts
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Image by 401kcalculator.org on Flickr

A college education opens doors. Successfully earning a degree can set an individual on the fast track to a lucrative career. Too often in the past, prospective students taken the college plunge without giving enough thought on how they will pay for their education.  In 2013, 70% of the graduating class entered the work force with an average of $28,400 in student loan debt.

With the startling number in mind, current and future students should gear up to face the uphill battle to escape the student loan pit. Federal grants, scholarship contests, a part-time job, or planning to locate job with the federal government are the traditional methods of paying for college.

There is another option: working for a company who pays for college. Many businesses have begun to recognize the importance of an educated work force, as well as the difficulties that their low income employees have accumulating the funds to attend college. In order to help their employees overcome that problem, many companies have added a tuition reimbursement plan to their benefits package.

Individuals who have college dreams and student loan nightmares, might want to think about applying to work at one of these companies.

Fiat Chrysler’s free college tuition program helps their employees earn their associate, bachelor, or master’s degree. The program is open to all part- and full-time employees who have worked at the company for thirty days. Chrysler will pay 100% of tuition, fees, and books upfront when their workers attend Strayer University. Individual dealerships must pay a fee to the overall corporation for their employees to participate.

Smucker’s tuition reimbursement benefit will pay 100% of tuition costs for company approved courses.

Starbuck’s College Achievement Plan will pay 100% tuition coverage when their employees attend one of Arizona State University’s 49 online bachelor degree programs. The plan includes all employees located in the United States.

Verizon Wireless’s tuition assistance program offers full-time employees up to $8,000 and part-time employees up to $4,000 when they pursue an associate’s, bachelor’s or MBA degree.

Monsanto’s tuition reimbursement Program will reimburse full-time employees up to $7,500 and part-time employees up to $3,750 every year for eligible courses. The employee must maintain a good grade to remain qualified for the program. The program will also reimburse employees for CLEP exams fees, certification courses, entrance exams, and licensing exams.

Bank of America’s tuition reimbursement plan will reimburse their employees who have been employed for 6 months up to $5,250 per year. The plan will cover tuition, per unit credit fees, registration fees, any other class fees, and textbooks for job related courses and non-job related courses if they support a job related degree.

Oracle’s college tuition reimbursement benefit will reimburse full-time employees $5,250 per calendar year. The degree must either be related to current or future job responsibilities and the individual must maintain a grade of B- or better.

Apple’s plan will reimburse employees that work more than twenty hours a week up to $5,000 per year.

Best Buy’s college benefit plan will reimburse employees who have worked for them for 6 months $3,500 for undergraduate degrees and $5,250 for graduate degrees.

Disney’s tuition assistance program reimburses employees $700 per credit unit, 100% of purchase price of all books, and up to $100 per course for the cost of materials. College courses covered by this program must relate to the employee’s job duties.

This article was contributed by guest author Samantha Stauf.

By on August 26, 2015 in Financial Aid, Saving Money, Scholarships, Student Loans
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By www.gotcredit.com

Let’s face it: college tuition is through the roof, and it’s only going to get higher. At the same time, many higher level jobs are only available to those with degrees. Add the two together, and college becomes a daunting and expensive task, rather than a chance to learn and grow as a person. Not all hope is lost, however! There are plenty of methods you can use to cut back on costs and get a degree without having to climb a mountain of debt! Methods like…

Scholarships and Grants

This one is a no-brainer, but sometimes it still just feels like a lottery. Don’t be discouraged, though! If you can name one single thing that makes you stand out, you can bet there is a scholarship or grant for it. Are you short? Tall? Boy? Girl? Can you dance? Can you sing? Are you a liberal? Conservative? What career path are you aiming towards? The answers to those questions and more can all, you guessed it, get you some no strings attached cash. Is it worth it? Yes! If you spend three hours applying for dozens of scholarships and grants and even only get a single $500 scholarship, that’s the same as three hours working a $167/hour job!

Get Textbooks Cheap

Textbooks can be one of the hidden costs of college. Altogether, the price to buy all the textbooks you need for a single year might be a thousand bucks or more. Everyone knows that renting is one way to cut down costs, but another tip is to buy the previous edition of the textbook required. Do they want the 4th Edition? Get the 3rd edition. Oftentimes, the information is exactly the same, and if the questions in the book are different, you can always just work with a classmate. If you rent a used book in an older edition on Amazon, it’s entirely possible that you can get it for a single penny, minus shipping and handling. Yes, that’s a true story. How about that?

Online Classes

The best way to make things cheaper is to make them digital, and classes are no exception. If you’re taking a gen-education class or even some specialized classes, why pay full tuition just to sit in a lecture hall and listen to the professor, when you can pay half, sometimes a quarter as much? On top of that, you get more options and features to help you learn, like these online masters in aging interactive study guides and re-playable lecture recordings.

Live Off Campus

Here’s a little fact for you: if you do the math, on-campus housing at some colleges can be very expensive. Would you spend a thousand dollars a month for a place to live and eat? Two thousand? Three? Maybe if you were rich and wanted a condo. But you’re probably not rich, and are definitely going to be plopped into a noisy, smelly dorm. So what to do? Go ahead and live on campus your first year or two, make some friends, and then book it to an apartment or rental house with them! You’ll no longer have the luxury of paying for everything in a single lump sum payment, but you’ll have the advantage of, well, saving a lot of money and having your own place.

So there you have it, not one but four ways to make sure your money stays your money whenever you ship yourself off to college this fall. Use these wisely, and imagine the looks on everyone’s faces a couple years after you graduate, when you tell them you already paid off your loans!

This article was contributed by guest author Lizzie Weakly.

By on November 6, 2014 in Scholarships
Image by Philip Taylor, Flickr

Image by Philip Taylor, Flickr

Scholarships are awards that can assist you in paying for your tuition fees and your textbooks. Scholarships can give you a sense of accomplishment for being handpicked for an award, and they also look excellent on a resume. However, many students don’t apply for scholarships because they don’t think they have the time, or because they don’t believe that they will win. Here is the truth about three popular scholarship myths:

Scholarships are only for students with high grades.
Although it is true that some scholarships require high grades or a high academic average for students to qualify, there are many scholarships that don’t have anything to do with grades. Many reward you for your creativity, volunteering commitments, or essay writing. The Stuck at Prom Scholarship requires you and your prom date to create your prom outfits entirely out of duct tape. A pair of students will win a $10,000 scholarship and $5,000 for their school. The Scotiabank National Scholarship requires you to answer the essay question, “In 150 words or less, tell us how you will fund your future.” 12 scholarships worth $2,500 each will be given away.

Scholarships are impossible to win.
In some cases, it may be true that hundreds of students apply for the same scholarships, and they are often competitive when a high profile award is offered. However, this shouldn’t discourage you from applying for them. There is a simple golden rule when it comes to scholarships: If you don’t apply for them, you can’t win them. Without any risk, there won’t be any reward. Take a chance! You never know what might happen.

Scholarships are only for graduating grade 12 students, university, and college students.
There are many scholarships up for grabs if you have just enrolled in high school. The Easy Money Scholarship only requires you to be at least 13 years old, enrolled in a Canadian high school, university, or college, and be a member of the StudentAwards website. As there are many scholarships that can be applied for early on in high school, it will give you a lot of time to search, plan, and apply.

These scholarship myths often discourage students from applying for scholarships. Don’t let yourself be one of those students – there are thousands of scholarships to apply for and many of them are neglected. Happy scholarship hunting!