$10,000 Scholarship Contest from the Student Loan Network

The Student Loan Network is giving away $10,000 for school yet again! For those of you who aren’t familiar with this drawing…keep reading.

To enter the scholarship drawing you must be an undergraduate or graduate student, currently (or soon to be) enrolled full time in an educational institution. See terms and conditions for all the official rules. I think the greatest thing about this contest is how short the entry form is. It takes about 20 seconds (give or take, depending on your typing skills), and you don’t have to submit an essay or provide any recommendations. Just fill out your basic info, click submit, and you are entered. To see how short the entry form is click HERE! Now there is a way to increase your odds of winning. When you sign up for the drawing, you are automatically becoming a member of the Scholarship Points community. ScholarshipPoints.com is a website where you can complete various activities, which gives you more points, which in turn, gives you more entries for the scholarship drawing. It is up to you whether you want to increase your chances, but either way just by filling out that quick form you have one guaranteed entry for the contest. No gimmicks. For real guys…Good luck! OH, and last time I checked, grad school was not cheap, so I think every grad student (and undergrad, AND high school seniors) can spare the 20 seconds, and fill out the entry form.

Here are some recent winners of our monthly scholarship drawings:

January 2009 Scholarship Winner: Adrienne Meagher – Florida Institute of Technology I’m a junior at the Florida Institute of Technology studying aviation management and business administration. I go to school in the summer so this scholarship will definitely help cover the financial stress. Thank you ScholarshipPoints!

January 2009 Scholarship Winner: Jessi Hoin – Wheaton College
This is a huge help in covering my expenses as an English major. With all of the books that I have to buy for my literature classes, the
costs really add up. This $1,000 scholarship will more than help ease that burden!

December 2008 Scholarship Winner: Kelli Saxer – Texas Tech University
Being a first generation college student is tough on my family. We save every penny and apply to all the scholarships I’m eligible for. This $1,000 scholarship will help us out tremendously!

December 2008 Scholarship Winner
Lourdes Sanjurjo – University of West Georgia I’m a Language Pathology major at the University of West Georgia. As a Freshman, it’s been a tough year financially. This scholarship will allow me to buy books and possibly a laptop! Thank you ScholarshipPoints, it truly means alot to me.

Learn more at: http://www.StudentLoanNetwork.com/10K/

Other Educational Resources:

Private Student Loans

Graduate Plus loans

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FAFSA Financial Aid Application Deadlines

Now is the time to complete your FAFSA.  Actually, you should have done it already.  However, many deadline for filing you financial aid application are coming up quickly.  The deadlines vary by state and by school – so check with your financial aid office.  Here is an overview:

Financial Aid Application Deadlines

The Department of Education considers an application’s receipt date and time to be when the application/correction has been successfully submitted. The last page of the online application/correction submission process is therefore called the “Confirmation Page”.  It contains a 22 (if an application) or 30 (if a correction) character long “Confirmation Number”. This number contains the exact date and time (Central Standard Time) the form was received. It is recommended you print this for your records.

Important to remember: Transactions must be completed and accepted by midnight to meet the deadline. If transmissions are started before midnight but are not completed until after midnight, those transmissions will not meet the deadline. In addition, any transmission picked up on the deadline date that gets rejected may not be able to be reprocessed because the deadline will have passed by the time the user gets the information notifying him/her of the reject.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE WEIGHS IN ON FINANCIAL AID FOR COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS

The Education Department’s Advisory Committee on Federal Financial Aid has released a study encouraging colleges, students and the government to do more to help community college students access need-based financial aid. Without such an effort, the report indicates that fewer students (particularly low- and moderate-income students) at 2-year institutions will be able to transfer to 4-year institutions.

The report finds several reasons why community colleges are not applying for aid they are eligible for. Among them (based on a survey of students who had transferred to 4-year institutions):
• They thought they were not eligible for financial aid (39 percent).
• They had sufficient funds to pay for college expenses (35 percent).
• They found the financial aid application form too complex (6 percent).

The report notes that to avoid debt, “a large share of community college students work an excessive number of hours, which reduces financial aid eligibility, lowers academic performance, and undermines persistence.”

The study recommends that “steps must be taken by the U.S. Department of Education, states, and community colleges, including:
• Communicate increased federal aid eligibility widely and effectively.
• Make applying for financial aid easy and a priority.
• Encourage students to moderate the number of hours worked.
• Improve the implementation of the auto-zero EFC.

The report is available at Advisory Committee on Student Financial Aid CRS

Scholarship and Scholarship Contests

I found this fascinating quote today:

Student Loan Network will be holding a $10,000 scholarship drawing on October 31, 2008. There are no GPA or essay requirements, and the registration form is very quick, and easy. Make sure you’re registered at: StudentLoanNetwork.com/10KStudent Loan Help, Oct 2008

You should read the whole article.

Great Student Resources

I just found a site offering a bunch of useful resources for students.  Check out:

http://www.studentloannetwork.com/student-resources/

They recently sponsored an online financial aid webinar and you can listen to it no, or any time, on their site.  They also offer free downloads on how to search for scholarships, apply for financial aid and much more.

Let me know if there are other resources out there like this one!