Now I Regret Not Taking School Loans
I entered college not really knowing what to do with regards to how to manage tuition and school finances. I had the idea that every student didn’t have the ability to pay their own tuition in its entirety and that they would always need grants, scholarships and school loans.
Now that my financial sense has been upgraded, I regret not taking all the subsidized Stafford loans to the maximum amount possible. My first and second years, I borrowed just enough to pay off tuition, including grants and scholarships. This school year, my sister also entered college so I received much more financial aid and thus, didn’t need to take any loans.
Subsidized Stafford loans require repayments half a year after graduation with an interest rate of less than 5%. I checked my college financial aid account and realized that I could have borrowed more than $5000 per year. Even if I didn’t need it for tuition, I regret not taking it so I can put it in my HSBC direct online savings account.
It is much better than taking advantage of 0% Balance transfer credit cards since I do not have to pay every month and I could hold the money for more than a year. So this coming year, I’ll consider taking the full amount of my loans and making some money from high-yield interest savings, despite the falling rates.
FAFSA Complete
I recently completed my FAFSA application and as I said in a previous post, last year’s Estimated Family Contribution number was 50. This year, my EFC was 93… That probably means I’ll be paying a lot for tuition. With an EFC of 50, I didn’t have to borrow any money and I gave less that $100 out of my own pocket.
This coming year, I’ll most likely lose my SMART grant (roughly $3000 for the year). So, I have applied for several scholarships, which I doubt I’ll get, but I’ll continue to write essays for additional scholarships. Hopefully, I’ll be able to cover all the costs.
Ebay Account Reinstated! Time To Make Some Money!
Here is the sequel to my experience with suspension of my eBay account and there was a happy ending to it!
Recently, thanks to getting my first credit card, I was able to provide valid information to reinstate my account. It felt like a grueling and lengthy process just because they rejected all my previous forms of information over the period of one year. Now that I used my credit card information to reinstate the account… everything went quite smoothly. It took around 7 business days to clear me (that is VERY FAST considering how long I’ve been suspended).
If anyone else reading this was suspended, no matter what the reason, here is the link to reinstate your account: http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/reinstfaq.html. Follow the instructions. Oddly, this page is very hard to find!
You’d be very relieved as I am now. Time to make some money…
Photo credit: http://ebayreplay.info
Pinecone Research Ad SITED!!!
I was browsing around GameSpot and found the infamous Pinecone Research Ad and I thought that I’d share it with everyone. To satisfy those who are curious as to where, I saw it by viewing the in-game images for a PSP game (in a pop-up window).
To save the trouble for everyone here is the link to the sign up form.
They are paying $3 per survey and they are most likely looking for males in the age range of 18-mid 20s. Good luck in joining the panel.
By the way, the Pinecone Research Panel is THE BEST SURVEY SITE OUT THERE!
For more information about other available survey sites click here.
Volunteering Instead Of Working
As the end of my undergraduate college education is coming, I’ve seriously started to consider what I would be doing after I graduate. My utmost priority is definitely getting into dental school and that is what I’ll be working on doing.
I’d would love to make money by working on campus but it wouldn’t allow time for extracurricular activity, which every graduate school (no matter what field it is) requires. Therefore, have forfeited any opportunities of job income and devoted myself to my university’s volunteer programs where I’d be helping out in the hospital’s emergency department and in my university’s dental school.
With this experience, it’ll help my chances of getting into graduate school and when I come out from there, money shouldn’t be a problem (though I’d be drowning in debt).
Many people have stressed that a college education is to be considered an investment and this is the perfect example of why everyone should take advantage of any further education available. My estimated annual salary with just the bachelor’s degree would be in the range of $35,000 to $40,000 while coming out of dental school would provide for a salary of no less than $100,000.
Even with the costs of higher education, the intrinsic value of knowledge is priceless. That is why giving up a job for a chance to land a dream job would prove its worth.
Plus, volunteering is a great way to give back to the community!!
