Engineering Degree Online | Paying off your Student Loans

Posted by bposton on November 13th, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

So let’s say you have a rich uncle and you’ll have no loans to pay off after you graduate…

Well you can stop reading now, if you wish (you lucky dog) :-)

For the rest of us, how to pay off our student loans is a big deal.

According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Education, 26 percent of college graduates borrow at least $25,000 to pay for their college educations.

So if you see that you’re going to graduate with a large amount of  debt, you’d be wise to take some time and sort of “map out” a strategy for paying it back as quickly as possible.

Here are some tips to consider from American Education Services, a national financial aid services organization:

Consolidate. Consolidating your loans can reduce your monthly payments and maybe even lower your interest rate. But You need to look into this option as soon as possible to lock in a low interest rate. When you consolidate, you’ll get just one bill per month, which makes it easier to keep track of your payments.

If possible, make payments during your six-month grace period. This is a great way to save money on your subsidized loans because any payments you make will be applied directly to the principal balance. This lowers the amount of interest you will owe after the grace period expires. Plus, you’ll be able to pay off your loan months earlier than you expected.

Use direct debit to help you pay your loans on time every month. Direct debit is a free, automatic payment service for borrowers who prefer to make their loan payments electronically. If you use this service, you also may qualify for an interest rate reduction after a specified number of on-time payments.

Make everyday expenses count toward repayment of your loans. When you join Upromise, participating merchants will contribute a portion of what you spend with them to your Upromise account, which you can use to help pay off your loans.

AES has a web site called youcandealwithit.com, designed to help college students and graduates become financially responsible.

Hope that helps

Ben

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engineering degree online : Is this a new trend - Corporate tuition discounts?

Posted by bposton on October 23rd, 2006 — Posted in engineering degree online

Drexel University  recently announced that they have created what they call an
“educational partnership” with Aqua America, which is the nation’s largest
U.S.-based, publicly-traded water company.

As a result, Aqua America employees will be able to get a special tuition rate for the
online degree or certificate program through Drexel. These employees will be able to
choose from a range of bachelor’s, master’s, and certificate programs that Drexel offers
online in areas such as business, engineering, computer science, computing technology,
and information science.

Pretty sweet deal, if you work for Aqua America :-)

And I guess it’s a good deal for Drexel.

In case you didn’t know, Drexel is very reputable. They are ranked among the
Best National Universities in “America’s Best Colleges” by U.S. News & World Report for 2007.

Drexel is also accredited by the Middle States Association for
Colleges and Secondary Schools and its individual programs are accredited by bodies such as AACSB (Business), NLN and CCNE (Nursing), and ALA (Information Science).

And this isn’t the first such parternship, In fact, Drexel has been doing this for the
past three years with corporations, health systems, and professional associations across
the United States who are able to offer their employees special tuition rates, along the big benefit  - the flexibility they need to continue working while earning a degree.

Dr. Kenneth Hartman, who is the academic director of Drexel University Online had this to
said about this newest partnership:

“A well-educated workforce is a competitive advantage for companies today. Organizations have been selecting Drexel as their preferred online education provider because they know that our programs reflect the same high standards as those on-campus, but offer the convenience busy professionals desire. We look forward to this new venture with Aqua America and in assisting them in meeting the educational needs of their workforce.”

Sounds like a growing trend to me.

Maybe you should contact the HR folks at the company you work for and sugges they look into this kind of relationship as well. It can only help both you and the company you work for in the long run…

Ben

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