Category: Financial Aid
Top Online Universities for Scholarships, Financial Aid, & Grants
Some online universities are particularly good about offering students scholarships, grants and financial aid packages which dramatically lower the costs of attendance. To help you pick the right school for you, we have ranked the top 5 online universities for overall financial aid packages. To request free financial aid and enrollment information from the schools below, simply click the buttons and fill out the request information forms for each school:
Kaplan is one of the most generous online universities, offering a large number of scholarships, grants and financial aid to many of its students.
The most well-known online university is also one of the best for grants and financial aid. Phoenix works with its students to help them obtain the funding they need.
The Christian school with the top online university ranking, Liberty provides a high number of scholarships and grants to their students and are committed to offering excellent financial aid packages.
The most prestigious online university among employers also offers a wide array of scholarships and grants to help working adults get the degree they need to advance their career.
Capella has an excellent reputation for academics, to help attract the best students it offers some of the best complete financial aid packages among online universities.
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20 Creative Tips to Raise College Tuition Money Without Scholarships
The cost of a college education is at an all-time high and is sure to get even more expensive in the future. Student loans can set you up for future debt, while scholarships and grants are often hard to come by. So how exactly is a student supposed to find money to go to school? We’ve detailed 20 creative ways to do just that.
1. Start young: Parents, this is for you. Don’t wait until your child is in high school to start thinking about funding their education. Ask grandparents and other family members to give savings bonds for birthdays and special occasions. 
2. Tutoring: If you’re a good student, find out if your school is looking for tutors. You can also freelance and offer your services to classmates who have trouble with lessons.
3. On campus opportunities: Most colleges offer students a chance to pick up some money through administrative positions at their financial aid and registrar offices. There are also often job openings at the library, cafeteria and laboratories.
4. Use the web: Set up your own website or blog. Promote it and make money using Google’s AdSense program. You can also earn more cash by performing affiliate marketing services for other websites, where you’re paid for redirecting traffic from your site to theirs.
5. Get a job: You can wait tables, work retail, and talk to customers in a call center. These types of jobs often have flexible schedules that work around your classes.
6. Federal work study programs: Find out if your college takes part in the federal work study program that allows graduate, post graduate and professional students the chance to earn tuition money as they go to school.
7. Creative options: If you have a flair for the arts and are good with your computer, you can pay your way through school using the internet. Design websites, create logos, brochures and flyers, and put together presentations for companies that need these services.
8. Drug study programs: Laboratories need healthy test subjects to study their drugs, and college students often fit the bill. Some of these pay really well, but make sure you take part in drug studies that do not affect your health.
9. Conventions: Find out if your town is hosting conventions and secure yourself a temporary help position. Reach agreements with local businesses so that they’ll ask you to fill in when they’re short-staffed or over-worked.
10. Get people to support you: Send out requests to people you know, asking each of them to contribute to your college fund. Every small amount helps when you’re trying to stay out of debt.
11. Find a sponsor: There are people who are willing to pay the cost of your education if you agree to give them a percentage of your income for a fixed amount of time in the future. This is not the same as an
education loan since there’s no interest to pay.
12. Loan forgiveness programs: The government offers various loan forgiveness programs if you agree to work in public service. You can work off all or a percentage of your student loans by fulfilling certain conditions for a few years after you graduate. For more information, visit The National Health Service Corps and the National Association of Public Interest Law.
13. Volunteer organizations: Volunteer organizations like the Peace Corps, Americorps and VISTA offer educational awards up to $4,725 for each year of service.
14. Seek help from community service clubs: Write to your local Lions, Rotary or Elks clubs and ask them for contributions to your college fund. You can also try soliciting businesses where you know senior personnel.
15. Programming skills: If you’ve got good programming skills, create your own software for small business needs and sell them to local businesses. Restaurants and bookstores need accounting, inventory and payroll packages, but may not be able to afford those on the open market.
16. Electronic repairs: Tinker around with broken and faulty electronic goods and computers for money. Being known as the resident handyman could bring in lots of business.
17. Get rid of extras: Ebay and other online auction sites offer you the chance to pick up some extra money by selling things you don’t need anymore.
18. Product promotion: A few companies offer students money to promote their products on location, over the phone or on the Internet. These jobs are usually part-time with flexible working hours.
19. More work: It’s not easy to work when your friends are partying, but if you work
extra shifts during summer, spring and winter breaks, the money you earn will go a long way to ensuring that you have a debt-free future.
20. Get your employer to sponsor you: If you’re studying on a part-time basis as you work, ask your employer to pay for all or part of your college education expenses.
UW Outreach School Awards Grants
– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
An update on the competitive grants announced by the Outreach School of the University of Wyoming (UW) – one each has been awarded to Doris Bollinger and Bruce Cameron. Bollinger, assistant professor of Adult Learning and technology, bagged the research grant for her project, “An Examination of Trends in Faculty Utilization of Course Management Tools in an Online Environment,” while Cameron, associate professor of Family and Consumer Sciences, and his co-workers Kyle L. Kostelecky and Kari Morgan, and department head Karen C. Williams, will use the grant to work on their research topic, “Group Projects: Student Perceptions of the Process and Implications for Distance Courses.”
Bollinger will use the money to analyze and compile data over the past five years from instructional technology courses taught by UW instructors, and present an understanding of how online education tools have changed, and how these changes have affected the behavior of online learners.
Cameron and his team will collect and analyze data from surveys, emails, chat sessions, and threaded discussions to find out how online learners perceived group dynamics in distance education courses.
Back to School – The Inexpensive Way
– By Pushpa Sathish, Staff Writer
There are five frogs sitting on a log. If four decide to jump into the pond, how many are left? The answer is not a simple one as you may have guessed. In fact, there is no definite answer to this question, because the query itself is ambiguous. We are only told that four frogs “decide” to jump; there is no mention of how many actually did so!
Confused? Don’t be. What I’m trying to get across here is that deciding to do something and actually doing it are two entirely different things. Remember your New Year resolutions? Exactly the point I’m trying to make.
So too with the pursuit of an online education. You may yearn to earn a degree, even decide to do so; but the actual act is affected by a number of factors like the time you have to spare, your finances, and your aptitude for the course in question.
If you work at a large or medium organization, at least one of those impediments – the cost aspect – should be resolved amicably. At least 80 percent of all medium and large firms offer compensation for further training or a degree earned while on the company’s payroll, according to Peter Cappelli, director of the Center for Human Resources at the University of Pennsylvania. Research by HR firm Hewitt Associates pegs the amount reimbursed between $400 and $25,000. But the most astonishing fact that emerges from these studies and research? That only 3 percent of employees take advantage of this offer!
Companies are in favor of employees getting extra training simply because it helps in retaining their services for a longer time. Workers who are offered tuition assistance generally tend to be more loyal to their employers as they feel a moral obligation towards them. Another compelling reason for employers is the fact that “Smarter employees make better products,” according to Paul Jackson, spokesman for United Technologies, Connecticut (UTC).
From the point of view of employees, the benefits are more than obvious – promotions, higher pay, better opportunities in the job market, and for employees at UTC, an option worth $10,000 in company stock for an advanced degree and one worth $5,000 for an associate’s degree!
Isn’t that reason enough to go back to school?
Zoom in Financial Aid – Government to Aid More Accredited Online Colleges!
You may be shy and reticent of going to a brick-and-mortar College and is money the only other thing stopping you from education? Are you physically challenged, stay-at-home mom, high school grad, or a struggling first-rung employee? If the answer is yes and if you are also interested in furthering your education but have been unable to do so for want federal financial aid. You have just won an education-jackpot!
Both houses of Congress have voted to alter the “50-50 Rule”. Government financial aid for online students was given to accredited universities only if the online universities offered more than 50 percent of their classes online. So, now all accredited universities can offer financial aid to online students.
You can now start your MBA program from the comforts of your home with government aid paying the university. It’s a win-win situation for most people who have had the time but not enough money to pursue studies online.
It goes without saying that universities (the traditional kind) are happy to offer more classes online and offer education to students from all walks of life. A computer and broadband connection and now financial aid from government and you are set to get your dream education and a better career.
There are concerns that Uncle Sam might be funding diploma mills but financial aid is available for accredited colleges only and all the more reason now to go for an accredited program. So approach your university of choice and start filling up those forms and yes there is some extra paper work to be done now.
Watchdog organization, Sloan Consortium’s 2005 report shows that over 2 million college students are currently enrolled in online courses. We can expect a huge increase in this number with the ‘50-50 rule’ being done away with by congress.
New Paths For Curriculum Pathways
Students of schools in Alabama, North Carolina, and West Virginia will benefit immensely through the use of Curriculum Pathways, an award-winning online learning tool. The tool is being made available to educational institutions in the State by the Alabama Department of Education, at no cost up to July 2007. The software, which comes from the stables of business intelligence solutions provider, SAS, is being offered through the company’s inSchool division to help schools whose operations were thrown out of gear by the storms that wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast. DM Review reports:
Curriculum Pathways covers core disciplines including English, math, history, science and Spanish. Topics map to state and national standards so educators can meet test score goals, differentiate instruction and engage students through higher-order thinking skills. These online-only resources can reach students in class, at home and in community centers.
Financial Aid, Grants, and Scholarships for Online Education
Recent surveys have revealed that online education would surpass the expected 20% estimate in the future if financial aid, scholarships and online education kept pace.
Until recent times, financial aid, scholarships and online education were hard to balance as there were restrictions on the use of grants and loans. Where the content is concerned, distance learning is identical to conventional education but when it comes to financial aid and scholarships, there’s a world of difference. It is mainly the degree mills and bogus institutions to blame for this.
There are three provisions to the 1965 Higher Education Act that ensure availing scholarships or financial aid for distance education is next to impossible.
The first is the 12 hour rule which requires a student applying for financial aid in an online course that requires more than half-time commitment. Each week needs to have at least 12 hours of instruction, examination and preparation for testing.
Secondly the institution imparting the course is only eligible if less than 50% of its student population are distance learners or less than 50% of its courses are on computer, correspondence or video.
The third requirement is that courses should be related to a standard educational timeframe like quarters and semesters. Also less than 30 weeks of instruction per year will not be eligible.
Later after endless debates, the US Department of Education has relaxed these stringent rules to the extent that they are almost at par with the more conventional form of education. Online degrees info reports:
While it is thought that online learning may capture as much as 20% of all higher education enrolments in the future, recent surveys suggest that this number would be higher if financial aid, scholarships and online education were playing by the same rules. Luckily, times are a changing.
Scholarships do not need to be repaid
Scholarships are financial aid in a personalized form meant for students with potential in academic, artistic or athletic fields. Scholarships are also meant to help students from underrepresented groups and those with compelling financial need.
Pell Grants are offered by the federal government for students who meet specific criteria to qualify.
Education loans can broadly be divided into two categories of student loans which include Stafford and Perkins loans, and parent loans or PLUS loans.
There are both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans. Subsidized Stafford loans are offered to students on the basis of their financial needs while for unsubsidized Stafford loans, a student’s financial needs are not considered.
Federally aided Perkins Loans are available in the schools with low interest rates. PLUS loans are given to parents of students who meet the criteria for dependents.
In order to avail of federal financial aid of any kind, the first step involves filling out a free application for federal student aid (FAFSA) form. International students including Canadian may find it more difficult to qualify for financial aid in the USD. However there are financial aid opportunities for them as well. Online degrees info reports:
Scholarships are personalized forms of financial aid. They are usually appropriate for students with particular strengths in academic, artistic, or athletic fields. Students from underrepresented groups or students in financial need may also be eligible to receive scholarships.
Can I Get a Scholarship For My Online Degree Program?
You think you have found an online program for an MBA degree with a prestigious online university. The thought of being awarded an MBA while you continue software work with your company of eight years makes you elated.
You are curious to find out how much the degree is going to cost you. The online price tag attached to the program you realize expects you to cough up close to US $ 14000. A comparison shows there is a saving of US $ 3500 over the regular classroom classes per year.
Considering you have to pay up the 3-year loan for your house and the last few payments for the car and with a new baby coming your way, you know expenses if any are only likely to increase. You wonder if there is a scholarship facility – as with the regular college programs – for online courses.
Searching the net brings you across Better Opportunities through Online Education (BOTOE). BOTOE is a collaborative venture between University of Maryland University College and area community-based organizations.
The university of Maryland offers scholarship for online courses if you have a high school diploma, a part-time or a full time job and a desire to pursue higher education. With the proliferation of the internet and with a number of good online programs being available online, the factors such as geographic borders, distances, time zones or even visa related travel problems no longer stand in the way of a student desirous of acquiring an internationally degree.
Sadly, the lack of funds and that for some reason, online scholarships are a concept that has a lot of catching up to do. While there are a lot of web sites that offer scholarship for courses mostly in the US and few outside in Europe and even Japan, these are mostly for the regular classes. We still have a long way to go before the modalities are worked out and this becomes a reality.
Save Money on Your Educational Expenses
The Lifetime Learning Tax Credit, the Hope Scholarship Tax Credit and the Higher Education Tuition and Fees Deduction, offer some form of financial relief for students overburdened with tuition fees and the high cost of books.
If you earn a single adjusted gross income of less than $52,000, or a joint gross income of less than $105,000, you are eligible for the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. All you need to do is be enrolled for at least one class in any accredited undergraduate or graduate institution. You can obtain a maximum credit of 20 % on the first $10,000 you spend toward educational expenses.
For freshmen and sophomores in at least half time programs in undergraduate institutions, the Hope Scholarship Tax Credit offers a maximum 100 % on the first $1,000 and 50 % on the second $1,000 spent for educational purposes. The income cap prerequisites are the same as for the Lifetime Learning Tax Credit. Those who apply for this credit should be free of any felony convictions involving the possession or distribution of controlled substances.
If you earn a single adjusted gross income between $65,000 and $80,000, or a family income between $130,000 and $160,000, you qualify for the Higher Education Tuition and Fees Deduction, through which you are eligible for a deduction of $2,000.
For all tax credits, you will have to obtain the 1098-T form from your institution at the beginning of each academic year. This document contains information about your educational expenses like tuition fees, payments made, student status, and scholarships won. A copy of the form will also be sent by your institution to the IRS.