Student Loan Consolidation is the process of combining all your student loans into one loan, one payment, and one (usually) low interest rate. Your Loan Consolidator pays off all your current loans, and issues you a new loan based on the combined balances of your previous loans.
What are the benefits of Student Loan Consolidation?
- Simplify your payoff process - Lock in a low interest rate - One lender to deal with - Extend the payoff term up to 30 years (note: will increase total interest paid) - lower your monthly payment
What is the interest rate on a Student Loan Consolidation?
The interest rate of your Loan Consolidation is usually the weighted average of the interest rates on the loans being consolidated. Some Loans have a locked interest rate, and some have a variable rate (based on the current federal rate). The difference of a few tenths of a percent can mean hundreds of dollars to you, so try and get the lowest rate possible.
How much will I have to pay a month?
With Student Loan Consolidation you usually have flexible payment options, depending on your income and budget. Of course, the faster you pay it off, the less total interest principal you pay.
Who is elgible for Student Loan Consolidation?
Students who have multiple college loans. Some loan consolidators will only consolidate if you have loans that add up to at least $10,000. With all the shysty loan consolidators out there your best bet might be to go through the US government.
You can consolidate at any time, during your grace period, or during your repayment period.
When do I have to start repaying?
College students usually get a 9 month grace period on repaying loans once you are out of college, or go half time or less. Although you can start paying sooner if you like.
Can I defer my loans?
Yes, if you are eligible. Deferring loans means you don't have to pay it back yet, and interest does not accrue.
If you are unemployed or are under economic hardship, the U.S. Department of Education will pay the interest that accrues during an eligible deferment period.
The number one rule is don't default on your student loans, as then the choice is out of your hands and you end up paying alot more than you should be. Plus, it looks bad on your credit.
Beer Pong - A test of drunken skill and aim. Perhaps the greatest drinking game ever invented???
How to Play Beer Pong:
Keg Cups (usually 6 or 10) are partially filled with beer and set up in a diamond shape on each ends of the beer pong table. When a ping pong ball lands in an opposing players cup, that cup must be drank by the opposing player. The winner is the player with the most cups left.
Beer Pong Cup Formation
Flip Cup - A great drinking game for groups who are energetic and like doing something active. This game can get loud, as with most drinking games. But, the competitiveness this game brings is fun!
Game Summary:
Flip Cup
Its a team based drinking relay race. Two teams line up opposite of each other at a table. First person chugs their beer out of their keg cup. The next person can't go until the person before them has drank all their beer and set their cup on the edge of the table and successfully "flipped it" until it has landed upright.
Quarters - Test your ability and accuracy by bouncing quarters off a table and into another's drink. A great ice breaker...just go up to someone and say "drink" and slam a quarter on the table and sink it in their drink. Ok, not really, but a fun game to play at home or at the bar.
Typical Kings Rules
Kings Cup - Another great drinking game for big groups. This card game is not only fun and entertaining...it'll get you drunk!
Game Play:
Place a beer on the table and cards face down in a circle around it. Who ever draws the 4th King has to chug the beer in the middle. Each card turned over before the 4th King has it's own rule, giving many variations to the game.
Presidents & Assholes (card game) - Which one are you? There are many different house variations of this game. The idea is to be the first to get rid of all your cards to become President. The person who finishes last in the round, is the Asshole.
Bullshit (card game) - Call out your friends if they are BS'ing you. The point of this game is try to lie and try and get away with it. But, if your opponents call "Bullshit" and catch you lying, you have to drink.
3-man (Dice game) - A pretty simple dice game that will always get the "3-man" drunk. Time to bust out your dice rolling (craps) skills because every time you roll a "3" the 3-man drinks.
High or Low (card game)- Another one of those pointless drinking games where the idea is to get drunk. Grab a deck of cards and start turning over the cards one by one. You guess whether the next card will be higher or lower, and if you guess wrong you drink.
Shotgun - A race to see who can drink the fastest. Something that is argued over between guys at every party you go to.
Fuck the Dealer (card game)- The point of this game is to get the "dealer"...well, you know. Its a card guessing game that involves a lot of drinking.
Dorm rooms, frats and sororities can be a bit crowded, loud and obnoxious. Lets face it, it's not a great place to study.
Your environment definitely effects your work. Obviously if you are trying to do your studies with with loud music or a party going on, its going to reflect in your work and concentration.
You'll want to find a nice relaxing environment where you can focus and concentrate well.
Here are some great places to study and do your homework besides home:
The School Library - Free High Speed Internet, a load of resources, and a nice quiet environment.
Library
A Local Coffee Shop - Also a great place to meet others. The Coffee shop provides a relaxing homey environment that can increase your work speed. A little caffeine helps with that too!
Out at Lunch - A great way to multi-task. Feed your stomach and your brain at the same time. Just don't drip any sauce(s) on your work.
In Class/Lecture - Doing homework in class is a great way catch up on homework. Just make sure you keep an ear open to the lecture going on, or else the teacher may call you out.
Park or Courtyard - Get outside, get fresh air (weather permitting).
Student Union Building / Student Center - Though it can get a bit loud and social at times, its a great place to collaborate with fellow classmates.
Also, between classes is a good time to do homework, if your work load at night is overwhelming.
With the amount of reading required in college, you better learn to speed read or read summarized notes, which isn't a big problem with all the latest web 2.0 note taking tools.
Steal Microsoft Office. That's right, you heard me. Microsoft is putting on a new promotion for Office 2007 just for College Students named "Ultimate Steal".
Students can buy the Ultimate edition of Office 2007 for just $60.
To be elgible, you must be "actively enrolled" in a higher education program and have an e-mail address from that school.
Deciding on a major is one of those tough choices college students face. Mainly because it is an important one, as changing majors can cost lots of time and money.
Many newer students are unsure about their futures, making the most popular major for incoming freshmen being "undecided".
This is mainly because many College students do not have any idea of what they want to do after college. This is why you will see some students take general recommended classes and other prerequisites first, to get them out of the way.
The most popular majors fall into the categories of business, social science and education.
Top 10 Majors:
Business - Business Administration and Management is the most popular selected major. Business also includes finance, marketing, and accounting, which has a high demand right out of college. This can get you good paying job right from the start, especially with a business degree from a top business school.
Social Sciences and History - This includes anthropology, economics, geography, sociology and political science.
Education - Elementary Education is the most popular, as many of these majors go on to be K-12 classroom teachers.
Psychology - There seems to be two types of Psych majors. Those who are really into psych and those who see psych as an easy major and therefore an easy way to graduation. Many psych majors don't technically go on to work in the psych field, but other related careers where the skills of such major can come in handy (ex: human resources, public relations, market research and sales).
Nursing - The nursing field is competitive, and some programs may have wait lists. However, you are pretty much guaranteed a job when majoring in nursing due to the severe shortage of nurses.
Communications - also includes journalism, communications is one of the fastest growing majors in College.
Biology - Biology majors do a lot of research and development and work in a laboratory or the field. Common employers of biology majors include: hospitals, national & state parks, universities, pharmaceutical companies, research firms, aquariums and zoos.
Engineering - A major that usually produces a high salaried job from the start. But, plan on taking very aggressive math and science courses with this major.
English - An English major can be involved in copywriting, editing and teaching, but not just limited to that. Also a good gateway degree to graduate school, or law school.
Computer Science - A highly technical field involving a lot of advanced math and computer courses. Though, many universities have seen sharp drops in their computer science majors.
One thing to remember is your career will not always be related to your college major, but it can help prepare you for a career.
You can visit career fairs to get a sense of what various careers are like, or even get a first hand experience by doing an internship, which you can use
to test out if a certain career is right for you.
Those still unsure about a College major should speak with a College advisor at their school, who can guide you in how to choose a major.
An advisor can help in making the right choice, selecting the proper classes, and helping you find something you will enjoy and excel at.
Also make use of your college's career center, which a great place that can help in finding a job after college.
You should have your major decided by the end of your freshman year in College. As, anything later than that, makes it hard to complete a major within the normal 4 years.
From all aspects of College life, here are some of the best websites beneficial to college students:
Social Networking and Blogging
facebook - A site that started just for college networking; many believe a facebook account is a must have for college students. There's also a lot of facebook apps perfect for college.
AlumWire - A career network for college students and alumni.
LiveJournal - A social network revolved around journals and blogs.
MySpace - Still a big player in the College scene, though many agree facebook is the social network of choice among college students.
MyDataBus - 5 GB of free storage for your photos, videos, music and other files. Also has facebook integration.
Del.icio.us - Social Bookmarking: An easy way to bookmark your favorite sites online. In college you'll be using more than one computer, and this tool enables you to keep all your bookmarks in one place.
Dorm Item - College Classifieds search engine and RSS feeds.
eBay - Huge online auction site. Great way to sell your stuff.
Amazon - World's biggest online retailer. Another good place to buy your textbooks.
Craigslist - Free online local classifieds with a huge user base.
College News, Tips and Advice
CampusGrotto - A College Blog covering Top College News Stories.
HackCollege - A life hacking site dedicated to college students.
IvyGate Blog - An edgy Blog providing Ivy League news and gossip.
Research
Wikipedia - Online Encyclopedia. Its use as a cited source has been questioned as of late. However, Wikipedia is a good tool for looking up information fast.
Yahoo! Answers - Find and share information by asking and answering questions.
AnswerU - Similar to Yahoo Answers, but for College.
Scholar.com - A social bookmark site for scholarly research and educational links.
Finances
College Startup - Perfect site for the college entrepreneur out there.
Dorm Room Biz - Gives ways and ideas on how to make money from your dorm room.
Selling back textbooks can be a great way to recoup some of the costs of the outrageous prices of textbooks. Unfortunately school bookstores usually...
College News
Dorm rooms, frats and sororities can be a bit crowded, loud and obnoxious. Lets face it, it's not a great place to study.
