Everybody like freebies. Taking advantage of all the freebies that are given away on campus to college students is a MUST. Teaching your kids to watch for them is all part of being an effective parent college coach.. Why pay for something when it’s available for FREE?
It’s no urban legend: Free stuff is doled out on college campuses all the time. But it’s up to you to scout out where to find these complementary goods. From pizza to plane tickets to straight-up cash, we show you what you can get and how to score it … so keep reading.
Free Entertainment Get tickets to concerts, sporting events, art exhibits, theater openings, forums and lectures.
How to score: Use your student ID card as an all-access pass. Every campus has a student union building, and if you’re unfamiliar with it, we suggest you become acquainted, since it’s plastered with bulletin boards announcing free upcoming events for students.
Free Food Get free pizza, soda, snacks or breakfast, depending on the time of day.
How to score: Attend club meetings. “If you look in your student building and sign up for all the listservs, you will know when clubs and residence halls are giving away free food,” says New York University sophomore Doreen Naor. “With breakfast, you can basically always get muffins and coffee, and for real meals, most clubs give out pizza.” Join three clubs that meet weekly, and you’re looking at three regularly scheduled meals.
We also like CampusFood.com, where you can play online games that earn coupons for your next restaurant visit. A few clicks at a mindless computer game, and you can have yourself a free meal. Not too shabby!
Free Cash Earn hard cash (typically from $5 to $10 for about an hour of your time — could be up to $100). No taxes taken out, no checks.
How to score: Participate in a focus group or study, which typically requires very little effort, such as filling out an easy survey. Head over to the campus psychology building, where you’ll find volunteer recruitment flyers.
Focus group companies pay more for your input. If your school is in a metropolitan area, check out focus group centers in need of college student participants. Go to FindFocusgroups.com to scope out opportunities near you.
Free Swag Pick up product samples, coupons, gift certificates and other giveaway items, including iTunes cards, DVD players and even airline tickets.
How to score: “All you have to do is open your eyes and pay attention,” says NYU junior Annie Baer. “There are always people giving away free things [on campus].” Marketing companies often hire student reps to hold major promotions that often include giveaways and contests on college campuses. Next time you see a student rep giving out samples, ask if the campaign offers any other giveaways.
Note: You can get updates about sponsored events and contests directly from the source. By becoming a Facebook fan of brands or products you like, you can get automatic updates about big promotions and giveaways, and be the first to know about any contests they might be hosting.
If you have a college-bound teen who is learning disabled, you will be happy to know that there are specific scholarships set aside for these type of students.
Start by looking at the Learning Disability Organizations in your home state. Those state specific college scholarships for ADHD will be less competitive than national scholarship programs as well, which makes them worth checking out even if the award amounts are small.
Another resource that students and parents seldom think about is scholarship programs that are only learned about through the Disabilities Department at the college that your teen will attend. It is vital that you check in with, and register with this department at the school, and inquire about available scholarship programs for learning disabled students when doing so.
Check into school specific college scholarships for ADHD available for learning disabled students as well. Many colleges offer at least one, if not several, ADHD scholarships for students who are learning disabled, and who will be attending that specific school, or even students enrolled in specific programs of studies - if they are learning disabled. Of course, ADHD Scholarships, although not specific, are considered learning disability scholarships as well.
Make absolutely certain that you check with vocational rehabilitation organizations or departments in your state and county as well. These organizations exist for the purpose of helping those who have been displaced or unable to work and get the educations that they need to find gainful employment - despite disabilities. Often, people mistakenly believe that these organizations only help adults who have already been in the workforce, but this isn’t true at all. They can also appraise graduating high school seniors and college students about scholarship and grant programs available for ADHD or learning disability scholarships.
Many organizations who would otherwise offer college ADHD scholarship programs for learning disabled students fail to do so because they assume that learning disabled students, such as those with ADHD will not be attending college. Today, nothing could be further from the truth, and in many cases, if you contact organizations or businesses that are related to ADHD in some way, you may find that they will help you to fund your teen’s education in some small way.
Here are just a few examples:
Our guest blog post today is by Susan Posluszny, the founder of OPTIONS for Career & Life Planning, specializing in unique programs and services to support students with college major and career planning. Susan is a Master Career Counselor with over 25 years of career counseling experience including 18 years as a college career center director. She is the author of In Search of a College Major & Career Direction, an interactive program designed to support teens and young adults with choosing a college major and career path.Her career counseling and coaching practice is located in New Boston, NH. Subscribe to Susan’s e-newsletter, Career Options, at www.collegesandmajors.com
While watching the Food Network channel one day, I happened upon a series called ‘Chefography’. This episode of Chefography featured a biographical account of Wolfgang Puck’s journey to success. I knew little about this renowned chef but I was intrigued since I’d recently been to Disney World and had a great experience at his restaurant, Wolfgang Puck Café, in Downtown Disney. While annual revenue from his cluster of businesses now averages millions of dollars, his father did not approve of his career interest and his early career experiences were quite shaky.
At the tender age of 14, Puck left his home to work as an apprentice in a hotel kitchen. Evidently, young Puck was a bit of a klutz and the chef threw him out and sent him back home to his parents. He was ashamed to face his father with the news of his job loss since his father was against this career choice. Dreading going home, he spent hours on a bridge contemplating suicide while looking over a river that ran through town. Eventually, Puck went back and hid in the hotel’s basement, peeling potatoes for the kitchen workers, until the chef discovered him two weeks later. The chef appreciated Puck’s tenacity and made arrangements for him to apprentice in another hotel’s kitchen. Puck’s career took numerous twists and turns over time as he honed his culinary skills and began his ventures as a restaurant owner.
As I watched this show, I couldn’t help but imagine the emotions that surged through Puck as he contemplated facing his father or committing suicide. It’s natural for children to want to please their parents and fear of parental scorn can weigh heavily on a child. If young Puck had committed suicide, would his father have realized the role his influence played in the choice to end his life? As I reflected further on Puck’s life and career, I couldn’t help but wonder what his father must think of his son’s career decision now that he’s a successful businessman and one of America’s most famous and influential chefs. I expect that he no longer considers his son’s decision to have been a poor one.
Research that I conducted while working as a college career center director revealed that parents are the number one influence in the career and college major choices made by their children. That influence may be subtle, and beyond the conscious awareness of the child, or not so subtle as was the case with young Puck and his father. Now I suppose you could argue that his father’s influence actually helped to lead young Puck to success. You might say that what helped Puck to hang in there, when the going got tough, was wanting to avoid hearing his father say, ‘I told you so’. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help think that there are better ways to influence a child.
As parents, it can be most challenging to support a child’s career decision when it goes against the grain of our own personal values and the future we envision for that child. Yet, we can never know what the future holds and where a chosen path may lead. As children grow, they need to cultivate a sense of self in order to one day make their own way in this world. Along with a growing sense of self, they also need to develop confidence in their ability to take positive action towards their career goals. This includes learning how to identify their career and lifestyle preferences, how to explore career options that match those preferences, and where to go to gain the skills and life experiences that will move them in a direction of their own choosing. Parents can help their children to build self confidence by telling them they believe in their ability to take positive action on their own behalf. Parents can also facilitate a growing sense of self by encouraging their children to engage in activities and experiences that let them explore and reality test their career interests, so that they are making informed choices. Yes, as parents, we are the number one influence in the lives of our children. It’s up to us to decide the form that our influence will take.
If you would like to contact Susan or find out more information about the services she provides, you can contact her at:
Her websites: www.careeroptions4me.com and www.collegesandmajors.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/susanposluszny
Email: susan@careeroptions4me.com
The number one question I receive from parents is: Where can my college-bound teen find scholarships? The best place to begin is at these sites and then expand the search to fit your individual student. Follow the trails that the matches give you and search locally as well.
1. Cappex.com–A site created for students to help them simplify their college search, create a profile and search for scholarships.
2. MeritAid.com–The place to go to find merit scholarships and academic scholarships from colleges across the country.
3. Scholarships.com–An extensive scholarship search engine that helps you search and schedule alerts for deadlines.
4. Fastweb.com–An extensive scholarship search website with a massive database of scholarships, along with articles and helps designed specifically for parents.
5. Zinch.com–A free service for students and parents where students can showcase themselves, connect with colleges, and search for scholarships.
6. FastAid.com is the world’s largest and oldest Private-Sector Scholarships, Graduate Scholarships, Worldwide Scholarships, Fellowships, Grants and Free Undergraduate College Scholarship database.
7. SuperCollege is a free database of over 2.2 million college scholarships, grants, fellowships and contests worth more than $15 billion.
8. Broke Scholar is the home of over 850,000 scholarship award listings to help you locate third party scholarships and grant money.
9. ScholarshipExperts has been helping parents and students find scholarships and free college money since 2001 with an updated database of college scholarships and grad school scholarships to provide accurate and timely scholarship information.
10. Xap provides a scholarship search capacity where students can search by name or by profile matching.
Here’s some great tips to help parents help their college-bound teens save some money when they go off to college. Take notes and start implementing these strategies into their lives BEFORE they leave for college.
Living on a shoestring budget? Whether your parents float you funds or you’re pulling a part-time paying gig, here’s how to stre——-tch every precious penny.
Broke — it’s a common catch in student jargon. “OMG, I broke my phone at that rager last night” or “I just broke up with my girlfriend ’cause she was cheating on me with my best bud.” But when used as an adjective, the word describes the financial status of most college kids.
Unless Dad is handing over his preferred platinum card or you strike it rich selling those musty ol’ Pokemon cards, you’ll have to get by on meager means. Here are some painless ways to get major bang for your buck … even if it’s your last buck.
Whether you’re craving a change from the monotonous glop of the dining hall, celebrating a friend’s birthday at a nearby bistro or taking a study break to go for a late-night munch, your wallet will take a hit. Cutting back on these extravagances means getting clever.
Life doesn’t have to be a snore just because your pockets are empty. Money buys neither happiness nor a stellar social life. You can get out and about without tossing around a ton of green.
Enter upscale department stores and exclusive boutiques at your own risk, but you don’t have to totally give up the urge to splurge. Just tone it down a few notches.
Ask not what you can do for your school but what your school can do for you. Universities give back to their student patrons in plenty of ways, so take advantage.
A few weeks ago, a disgruntled professor shot and killed several of her colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Another shooting occurred at Northern Illinois University between students, where two years ago five students were killed and dozens more wounded. And who could forget the tragedy at Virginia Tech where 32 faculty and students lost their lives at the hands of a shooter during classes.
As a parent of a college-bound teen, you want to be assured that your child will be safe when you send them off to college. And while you have no control over random acts of violence, you can know what systems the prospective colleges have in place to deal with these type of unexpected tragedies. According to a former FBI consultant, parents should visit the campus security office and ask this one question:
What systems do you have in place to protect my child in the event of an emergency such as the Virginia Tech shooting?
It’s important to insist on a detailed answer. Shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, the American Council on Education published a list of questions school leaders should ask themsleves. Parents should expect answers to these questions when discussing this issue with campus security:
Before sending your child off to college, do your homework. Make sure that if something bad does happen, the incident and the students get the attention they deserve. If you know the plan and have assurance that the college has implemented specific procedures to facilitate it, you will worry less and sleep better at night.
Heads up, traditionalists! A radical new idea promotes kissing the four-year academic program buh-bye and saying hello to a three-year system.
As accustomed as we are to its infrastructure, it would take some serious shaking up to rattle the U.S. education system. Yet Robert Zemsky, chairman of the Learning Alliance for Higher Education at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Making Reform Work: The Case for Transforming American Higher Education, is advocating for major changes on university campuses — most notably a three-year college program.
Zemsky argues that given today’s economic, political and technological climate, it’s time for Americans to minimize cost, unnecessary resources and wasted time repeating coursework. His proposed plan would cause a drastic uplifting of the current system, impacting high schools as well. But it is Zemsky’s hope that reform ultimately would spawn a more streamlined institution. While the government might not be ready to back such lofty plans, the real question is: Are you?
How will students benefit from such reform? According to Professor Zemsky, shifting to a more sequenced, regimented three-year program will save students time and money — cutting tuition costs by a whopping 25 percent. This is less moolah out of your pocket, not to mention additional interest that builds up as you work to pay off hefty loans. At the very foundation, students would pay for 90 credits over the typical 120.
In a contemporary society where minimizing time and financial expenditures ranks high on to-do lists, it seems almost given that a new system should be put into place. Right? Not necessarily. For one, the program basically assumes all undergrads will go on for a post-grad or masters degree. “If you want college to help vocationally, you have to go beyond the undergrad,” says Zemsky. Under the new system, college would be a breeding ground whereby students learn the basics of a particular trade. It is then in graduate school that learning would become truly vocational.
So how would high schools be affected by this change? High school seniors are infamously plagued by “senioritis” and finding ways to sidestep mundane assignments. Zemsky proposes doing away with wasteful course schedules during senior year and instead modeling it after the current freshman year of college. He suggests pre-college seniors take some of the basic humanities and sciences normally taken by college freshmen.
Zemsky tells us in a phone interview, “High schools would need to make assessments at a ninth-grade level as to whether a student is making progress to be ‘college-ready.’ Remediation would take place at this time rather than at the first year of college. The 10th and 11th grade levels would look the same, and the 12th grade would become equivalent to the first year of college. There would be an alignment so that senior year of high school sets students up for freshman year of college.”
What is the downside of a three-year college program? Some students feel it’s unreasonable to be expected to choose a major and commit at age 18. And indeed, the pressure is really on if the typical college career were condensed. “I don’t know what I plan on majoring in,” says U Penn freshman Brett Levine. “In a three-year program, undecided people have less time to explore new subject areas.
“Even with people who know what they want to study, a three-year program would surely be more demanding if requirements for majors or graduate schools admissions stay the same. A lot of pre-meds and engineering students have difficulty satisfying graduation requirements as is. For undecided students like myself, the variety of course options is incredible. It allows me to explore new subject areas unavailable in high school.”
Says Zemsky: “Students are given endless choices, but it’s expensive. It confuses lots of people, and it takes longer to graduate because they get lost. Redesign the curriculum so it is not a smorgasbord of options.” Say goodbye to elective courses too, because in this system, there’s no room for classes that do not directly relate to your plan of study.
How would such lofty goals be implemented? Zemsky doesn’t kid himself into thinking this would be a minor undertaking: “To really kick off reform, it would take an invitation from the president. I can’t imagine this happening without presidential leadership.” And, yes, he’s referring to the president of the United States.
In a recent Newsweek article, Zemsky argues his position by stating, “Everything around us — technology, medicine, politics — has changed … and [higher education] will too have to rethink what we are about.”
Still, Levine questions the practicality of Zemsky’s proposal. “A three-year program would essentially make college an even more stressful period. It would probably restrict options for traveling abroad, which many students value. It has many potential benefits for some students. People who know they want to major in economics, political science, Spanish or other relatively less intense majors may only need three years. However, others need four to prepare for graduate school or their desired career.”
And furthermore, Levine adds, “Socially, it obviously restricts the amount of time commonly dubbed ‘the best years of your life.’”
What do you think? Do you think our kids are growing up too fast? Do you think a 3-year degree is a wise educational choice?
With technology progressing faster than we can keep up with it, Tufts University is inviting prospective students to post one-minute videos on YouTube telling the university a little something about themselves. According to an article in The New York Times: The Choice, one of the dean of admissions at Tufts came up with the idea:
Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions, said the idea came to him last spring, when watching a YouTube video someone had sent him. “I thought, ‘If this kid applied to Tufts, I’d admit him in a minute, without anything else,’” Mr. Coffin said.
Some of the YouTube video submissions have garnered quite a following; opening an interesting debate about privacy online.
One new company, has come up with a solution to having the whole world view your admissions video: MyCollegei. They have partnered with colleges to allow your college-bound teen to post their video FREE of charge and create a video that will give colleges an insight into who they are and find that “perfect-fit” student for their college community, while maintaining the student’s privacy.
Here’s a GREAT video presentation of the service, describing what they offer and how they have created a user-friendly site for students who want to get that extra edge in the admissions process. (Just click the graphic!)
Admissions officers are always looking for that “perfect-fit” student and videos are an excellent way to see beyond the traditional application and essay. And after all, teens today have grown up using technology. As colleges strive to keep up with the times, this is just another way that prospective students can communicate their creativity and passion.
High school guidance counselors are forever urging their students to go out and visit prospective colleges. View books, short online videos, and guide books are all helpful, but actually walking the campus, listening to students while checking out the surrounding neighborhood is the best way to develop a feel for each school.
That’s why we began our video series. We’re college counselors from New Jersey, and we videotaped those student guided campus tours and put them on DVDs available at www.collegiatechoice.com. They average one hour per college.
Cliff Kramon Collegiate Choice collchoice@optonline.net www.collegiatechoice.com
You could waste four years studying a foundering field. Or, find out right here what careers (and majors) are still worth pursuing during times of economic stress.
Like the national census or a good Bruce Willis movie, a recession hits the United States about every 10 years or so. It doesn’t take a math major to see it’s been nearly that long since the burst of the dot-com bubble, and now, the collapse of mortgage-backed security has brought Wall Street — and the rest of the economy — to its knees again. As for college students? Well, we’re just crossing our fingers that four years is enough time for the job market to rebound.
Luckily, the U.S. financial system seems to be on the upswing. “By the end of the year, things should be looking better,” says Laurence Shatkin, author of The 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs. But Shatkin warns that a recovery would not necessarily signal a return in jobs. “They are the last thing to recover in a recession; businesses are going to wait until the last minute to stop using temporary hires. It will easily be over a year until this country starts seeing an increase in job openings.” Here, we relay the crème de la crème of careers so you can declare a major now that will set you up for success later.
Health care
Even in dire straits, people need certain services. Shatkin cites the health care industry, which pays well and continues a growth pattern as the field most adept at staying afloat during a financial downturn. Careers in the medical realm — physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, health service managers — round out No. 6 through No. 10 on Shatkin’s list of 150 recession-proof jobs. Major in: biomedical sciences, biology, chemistry. Plan on being pre-med.
Information technology
High tech is an industry with heavy growth — recession or no recession. With the Internet getting bigger by the millisecond, the stakes for finding a job in the technological world are up. The market does, however, face competition from outsourcing, since labor abroad is cheaper. Major in: computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, electrical engineering. No lit majors here.
Government
Shatkin is quick to point out that careers in government don’t have to be defined by bureaucratic paper pushing and yards of red tape. “Careers like school administrators and law enforcement officers fall under the government’s sphere,” he says. Government positions have had better protection against layoffs, which means more job security. Major in: public policy, history, politics. Law school is another path to take if you’re looking to snag a spot working for the Feds.
Green jobs
An important, budding movement is the green sector — especially green energy. Organizations are looking for enthusiastic college grads to jump on board. Plus, the current presidential administration wants to transform energy needs into a self-sustaining machine anchored by clean and renewable power. Major in: environmental science, civil engineering, environmental engineering. Although, there are opportunities for activists, advertisers and writers to get involved too, since the field is relatively new and malleable.
Education
The good news is that there’s still a very high demand for teachers. The bad news is that schools get funding from local taxes, so when this revenue dries up, so does money toward teachers’ salaries. Making big bucks is almost out of the question. Major in: various topics in education, from math to P.E.
Journalism
While Shatkin says several journalists still maintain great jobs in various trades, from padding the blogosphere to entertainment reporting, the field faces an uphill battle against two formidable opponents: bankruptcy and the Internet. Shatkin, himself a writer, claims the trick is to find a good niche: “I write about careers now, and I love what I do.”
Entertainment
“The field has always been fiercely competitive,” Shatkin says. He points out that many who can’t make it in other jobs resort to packing up and moving to Hollywood, betting on a slight chance of making it big. Now that the masses have less money to spend on entertainment, the industry has lost some of its sheen.
Finance
Careers in finance have been hit harder than most. “It was oversold for a very long time, and now it’s hurting,” says Shatkin. He describes the nature of finance as extremely cutthroat. Many financial companies value experience, which puts recent college graduates at an immediate disadvantage. And since many former employees in the financial realm were laid off and are now looking for work, the competition is stiff.
In the eight months since Shatkin’s book was published, the situation has gotten worse. “When I wrote the book, there was only the likelihood of a recession,” he says. “You never know you’re in a recession until you’re knee-deep. Nowadays, it’s harder to find a job, investments have lost value and layoffs are increasing. People’s retirements are at stake.”
Shatkin’s advice to freshmen? Get a well-rounded education. “We need people in liberal arts who understand science and math, and engineers and scientists who can write,” he says. By pursuing different subjects, students discover skills or talents they never knew they had. “You become more versatile and learn about yourself. Don’t limit it to schoolwork. Pursue out-of-class activities on campus as well.”
