Credit Union College Scholarships: Apply Now

Spring is the season for applying for scholarships and deadlines are rapidly approaching. Here is some info on two credit union scholarships that any credit union member who is a student should consider.

But first a word about taxes. The FAFSA (Free Application For Student Aid) requires tax/income information. So, parents, you should not slack off and wait until the eve of April 15th to do your taxes. Many scholarship applications require a copy of the FAFSA. College financial aid office deadlines for FAFSA applications may be much later, but many scholarships deadlines are in March.

And students, Yes, applying for scholarships is not fun, but it may be the most anyone will ever pay you to write an essay. It won't hurt.

So here are two credit union scholarships for you:

Coors Credit Union Scholarship

Our scholarship program (available to high school seniors and undergraduate students) awards two (2) $1,000 scholarships to student members of the credit union who demonstrate a caring spirit and appreciation for others

Download and Complete the Coors® Credit Union Application

Eligibility Requirements

Scholarship applicant must be:
• A member in good standing with Coors Credit Union.
• A graduating senior or current college student
• Accepted as an incoming freshman or already attending a college, university, trade or craft school.

Deadline To Apply

Application and supporting documents must be received together by March 31, 2010.

Notice of Awards

Winners will be notified by May 14, 2010.

Braymen-Beach Scholarship

Offered by Board of Directors of the Credit Union Foundation of Colorado and Wyoming. One $5,000 scholarship award will be given to a student seeking a business degree from a four-year accredited institution, who is a member of a credit union affiliated with the Credit Union Association of Colorado. The deadline for applications is Tuesday, March 31, 2010.

To download the brochure and application go to: www.colocu.com/brayman-beach

Qualifications

* Must be a U.S. citizen, at least 16 years of age

* Member of a Colorado credit union affiliated with the Credit Union Association of Colorado

* Interest in pursuing a business degree

* Beginning freshman, sophomore, junior or senior at a four-year accredited institution conferring bachelor degrees located in the US

* Scholarship funds must be used by January 31 of the year following award, or the funds will be forfeited

* Submit a complete application with required documents

Application must be post-marked, emailed or faxed by MARCH 31, 2010

Selection Criteria

· * Grades

· * Academic Goals

· * Professional Goals

· * Financial Need

· * Community Service

· * Extracurricular activities

Selection of the recipient is the sole discretion of the Board of Directors of the Credit Union Foundation of Colorado and Wyoming

Winner

· * Will be notified in writing within 60 days of application deadline

· * Funds will be transmitted directly to the institution for credit to the
student's tuition, room, board and fee account.

Why College Students Should Join a Credit Union

Some years back I was working a good job in marketing, but having a frustrating day. So I picked up the paper (yes, it was that long ago--you could actually find jobs in the paper). I found an ad for a marketing job at a financial institution, applied and got the job. I was a bit anxious about going to the stuffy world of money, but figured I could stand to learn something about finances. I had no idea what I was in for.

The job was for a credit unit that was founded at a university and had grown to serve a wider community. My life completely changed. I know that sounds dramatic, but I had never paid any attention to credit unions before and I was surprised to learn that a financial institution could care so much about the people it served. Plus, on the job I learned a lot about money management and got my own finances on track as a result. My only wish is that I had learned all of this earlier.

During my time at that credit union I talked with quite a few students who asked "Why should I open an account at your local credit union when I can have an account at Wells Fargo, they are everywhere?"

Here's my abbreviated answer to this question in bullet points:

• Everybody learns the hard way: Most students don't live away from home for the first time and perfectly manage their money. Most students bounce checks, pay bills late and forget to balance their checkbook. Most students sign up for online banking and forget to login for months. Wells Fargo isn't likely to sit down with you and show you how to straighten out your mess. Most credit unions will. I've seen this at many credit unions, not just the one where I was working. Credit union staff will actually go through your account transaction by transaction, show you how to use online banking, ATMs, overdraft protection and other services to keep track. They also tell you exactly how to reduce your fees.
• Lower Fees: We say this so much in the credit union industry that it seems like a cliche, but it's not. Overdraft fees at credit unions are typically 1/3 lower than banks. And credit unions realize that you're human. You can talk with a credit union. If you are having a rough time or just can't do math they will help you out (see the previous bullet).
• Resource: This again piggybacks off of the first bullet, but credit unions are bursting with information and eager to share.
• Credit Unions Care: For the most part everyone I've ever met that works at a credit union has that not-for-profit spirit of wanting to help others. Credit unions do want you succeed at managing your money. I'm sure banking personnel are terrific people as well, but their business model isn't about you, it's about their shareholders, which leads me to...
• Membership: A handful of people (the shareholders) stand to profit big, big money if the bank does well. Credit unions are not-for-profit cooperatives. Members pool their money together in order to help each other. When the credit union does well all the members benefit by keeping fees and lending rates low, which keeps more money in your pocket instead of fattening some shareholders wallet.
• Volunteer Directors: So, as I've said there isn't a small group of shareholder, however, there is a Board of Directors. This group isn't paid. They are member volunteers who are elected by the membership. They bring guidance to the administration and assist with organizational health and growth. And it's worth repeating that they are volunteers, they do not receive any compensation.

I've talked to countless numbers of parents who were concerned about their son or daughter being on their own. I always tell them, with confidence, that when a student joins a credit union (university based or not) they are not alone. Credit unions are the best place to learn money management.

Learn about Colorado's Small Colleges for a Chance to Win $500

Small colleges really do have a lot to offer students. The classes are usually smaller and more affordable. The academics may be more focused and professors more accessible. Admissions may even be more relaxed. Plus, it's not a bad strategy to take many classes at a small school and transfer to finalize your degree at a big name school.

You can learn about the big benefits of Colorado's small colleges at the Denver Sheraton this Wednesday (September 23) and enter for a chance to win $500 scholarship to one of the following:

Fort Lewis College, Durango

Adams State College, Alamosa

Mesa State College, Grand Junction

Western College, Gunnison

The reception is Wednesday, Sept. 23, 7-8:30 p.m.
at Denver Sheraton, Four Points, 6363 E. Hampden Ave.

Before Deciding on College Look at the State of the State

You’ve got the top party schools, the Ivy Leaguers, best schools for sports, academics, etc. But if you or someone you know is thinking about college anytime soon there is another measurement to consider—state funding.

This year 47 states are looking to trim budgets and narrow spending gaps. We’ve been hearing a lot about California’s problems, mostly because that state’s budget numbers are so high. But 12 other states are facing proportionally equal problems. Some state budget gaps, like Arizona and Nevada, are even higher than California.

Nothing escapes the microscope when it comes to possible cuts. In the east University of Virginia is shutting down its public computer labs. Maryland's community colleges are turning away students by the thousands. George Mason and Virginia Tech. are increasing class sizes. Crowded classrooms and fewer staff is how many public colleges around the country are trying to cope. Virginia and Maryland have also announced reductions in state funded student financial aid.

As Colorado tried to trim $300 million from the budget many feared that educations would take a hit. Colorado’s fiscal year begins in July and for the coming year funding to colleges escaped the budget knife.

If your plans include colleges outside of Colorado be sure to look beyond nice campuses and programs. If the state budget is suffering you could be paying much, much more to sit in stadium seating classrooms.

Congress Allows Extra Changes to 529 Allocations

It's been a rough year for investments everywhere. Okay, duh! But it's sad when those investments hurt kids.

Parents and grandparents who have been investing in their youngsters future through 529 plans got hit just as hard as other investors this year. But Congress is allowing 529 investors an extra change to their allocations to reduce loss. This is the only year Congress has given 529 investors the ability to change up their allocations twice. Normally you can make changes once in a year.

The reason for the modification is that losses among 529's were crazy high. And the reason for that is many investors lost 20-30% through popular age-based plans. These plans use the logical investing strategy of starting out aggressive while the beneficiary (the child) is young and becoming more conservative as the child ages. For a child this is a much shorter spread than an adult would follow. Usually investments will be aggressive for a very young child, about 0-8 years old. From ages 9 to 15 investments might be considered moderate and after that become more conservative. It was those beneficiaries in the aggressive investing years that really got hit hard.

If you have a 529 that falls into that hard-hit group you need to remember that you have two chances this year to save face. If you haven't changed up your allocations yet, now is the time. If you've been using an age-based plan you can change to more a conservative approach. Then when things look up you can take another look, but you may not want to return to the age-based plan. It will depend on the age of your child and the state of the market.

If you want to avoid age-based plans, you might consider managing your own 529 account through either:

• Asset-allocation portfolios, which blend several mutual funds together to achieve a targeted mix of stocks, bonds and money market funds, or
  
• Single-fund options, in which each portfolio is invested in a single mutual fund whether that be a stock fund, bond fund or money market fund.

If you already reviewed and changed your 529 once this year, hold on for your second opportunity. Things have changed much in the investment world so far, but that doesn't mean we won't see an upswing during the last quarter.

We may not see the opportunity to make two allocation changes next year. So, don't pass by your chances this year. Your best bet is to carefully review the performance of your current allocations, take a close look at the funds within your plan to be sure they haven't changed and that you are accomplishing your goals. Consult your financial advisor for assistance with changing allocations.

Should You Use Your Home to Pay for College?

I saw this headline the other day on a bank website, “Home Equity loans have better rates than student loans”. Really? Hey, I think home equity loans and lines of credit are great. They’re useful for all kinds of things, they are usually low-interest and they have nice tax advantages, but I questioned whether home equity rates were really better. I had to check it out, so I paid a visit to SallieMae.

Federal student loan rates dropped in July. Stafford loans—for loans first disbursed July 1, 2009–June 30, 2010, the interest rate is fixed at 5.6%. Plus loans are set at a fixed rate of 8.5%. These rates are adjusted annually and depend on when funds were dispersed. Still, the Stafford loan is not only good, but it's even lower over the next few years.

In comparison to home equity lines of credit (HELOC) the federal rates are not great. Private student loans can be much higher. The Sallie May Smart Option (not federally funded) carries a rate of 11.47%.

But the biggest difference between specific student loans and using your home equity is in the payoff schedule. Home equity loans and lines of credit are paid back monthly as soon as the money is dispersed. You won’t start making payments on student loans until after graduation. That’s also true if you’re a parent and have taken out a Federal Parent Plus loan.

HELOCs also carry tax advantages. Interest on a home equity loan could be fully tax deductible, while interest on student loans allow for a fixed maximum deduction each year on the interest paid. You’ll need to check with a tax expert about your particular situation.

Using a home equity loan or line of credit can be a smart option. Just remember that the reason this loan is lower is because you are using your home as collateral. Be confident that you can pay off the loan or you put your home in jeopardy.

Great Gifts for New Parents

The following is a repeat performance of a post which first ran on August 14,2008.

Babies seem to arrive in waves. There's the spring wave that's usually around April, the July wave and the September wave. I don't have any facts to back this up I just know that these are the times that I seem to get hit with a wave of birthday celebrations. In fact, not one weekend in July was void of a kid's birthday party.

I've also got loads of friends, family members and acquaintances that are getting ready to add to their family either by adoption or birth in the next month. So how does one best welcome in these new people?

Well, we're not making any additions in our house, but experience tells me there are some gifts that while not too cute to unwrap are complete treasures to new parents.

First there's the Will. Okay, you can't exactly give new parents a will, but you should do all you can to encourage it. Did you know that 70% of Americans do not have a will? For anyone with children this is a must. And wills are not just for the wealthy. A will can state who will care for the child(ren) if something should happen to the parents. Without a will children become wards of the State. The State can then determine who will care for the child--not to say that might not work out, but it's better not to leave such things to chance.

Then there's the Coverdell Education account. The nice thing about these accounts is that anyone--family or friends--can contribute. And they don't have to be limited to college expenses. Hey, I love my father in-law and appreciate the bonds he sends the kids, but a Coverdell might offer a better return.

Here's the thing on Savings Bonds vs. the Coverdell. Bonds are secure and safe, but they earn very little. The exact rate depends on the bond, but when interest rates are low, bond return rates tend to be low. A Coverdell is invested in a mixture of stocks and mutual funds that will likely grow your money faster than bonds. If you have EE or I savings bonds already, you can roll them over into Coverdell and perhaps better your results over the long term. The Coverdell is not a simple account. There are loads of rules and clauses--too much to cover in today's post. But you can learn more by clicking here.

Another gift idea is Upromise. Yes, I've blogged on about this before. But this is another hint to friends and grandparents. When you open a Upromise account you can split your rewards between several children. You can even distribute rewards in percentages. So if one child is closer to college age, or you like one better you, can allocate a larger portion to them. You don't have to deposit money in, you just earn a (very) little by shopping and dining. My biggest caveat here would be that Upromise depends on merchants for sustainability and there is always the risk that they may not be around forever.

Hey Mom, Dad, get a Free Education!

Maybe you've always wanted to go back to school to boost or change your career. But in this economy putting out money for college can seem like a risky idea. Just holding on to your current job might be tough enough. Well here are two opportunities that might interest you:

1) Project Working Mom...and Dads too! This is a scholarship program by eLearners.com. The program offers a full scholarship to working moms, and this year dads are also eligible.

"We launched Project Working Mom as a response to staggering statistics indicating that working moms are an underserved population that simply need to overcome the obstacles of time, money and confidence to achieve the education they need to improve their lives," said Helen MacDermott, content director for Project Working Mom. "But in today's economy, we realize there are plenty of dads who are also in desperate need of financial aid and deserve a chance to tell their stories, too."

Scholarship applications are open until April 30, 2009, scholarship recipients will be notified and posted here in May 2009. The fund has over $2 million to offer free-ride online degrees.

2) Women Higher Entrepreneurship Learning Program (HELP) This one is for women only. It is offered by Leeds School of Business and Deming Center of Entrepreneurship at University of Colorado in Boulder. This program is entirely free and entirely online. It is a resource center web site that offers virtual training and regional networking to facilitate and support entrepreneurship and micro enterprise development for women. It is comprised of 6 online courses covering Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Marketing, Bookkeeping & Accounting, Financing New Ventures, Team Building and E-Commerce. While not a degree program recipients who successfully complete will receive certificate from the Deming Center, Leeds School of Business at University of Colorado at Boulder. This is an intense program with assignments and projects.

Education is always a good investment. To make it easier to afford search online or check out this site that has a database of online degrees and scholarships.

Great Gifts for New Parents

Babies seem to arrive in waves. There's the spring wave that's usually around April, the July wave and the September wave. I don't have any facts to back this up I just know that these are the times that I seem to get hit with a wave of birthday celebrations. In fact, not one weekend in July was void of a kid's birthday party.

I've also got loads of friends, family members and acquaintances that are getting ready to add to their family either by adoption or birth in the next month. So how does one best welcome in these new people?

Well, we're not making any additions in our house, but experience tells me there are some gifts that while not too cute to unwrap are complete treasures to new parents.

First there's the Will. Okay, you can't exactly give new parents a will, but you should do all you can to encourage it. Did you know that 70% of Americans do not have a will? For anyone with children this is a must. And wills are not just for the wealthy. A will can state who will care for the child(ren) if something should happen to the parents. Without a will children become wards of the State. The State can then determine who will care for the child--not to say that might not work out, but it's better not to leave such things to chance.

Then there's the Coverdell Education account. The nice thing about these accounts is that anyone--family or friends--can contribute. And they don't have to be limited to college expenses. Hey, I love my father in-law and appreciate the bonds he sends the kids, but a Coverdell might offer a better return.

Here's the thing on Savings Bonds vs. the Coverdell. Bonds are secure and safe, but they earn very little. The exact rate depends on the bond, but when interest rates are low, bond return rates tend to be low. A Coverdell is invested in a mixture of stocks and mutual funds that will likely grow your money faster than bonds. If you have EE or I savings bonds already, you can roll them over into Coverdell and perhaps better your results over the long term. The Coverdell is not a simple account. There are loads of rules and clauses--too much to cover in today's post. But you can learn more by clicking here.

Another gift idea is Upromise. Yes, I've blogged on about this before. But this is another hint to friends and grandparents. When you open a Upromise account you can split your rewards between several children. You can even distribute rewards in percentages. So if one child is closer to college age, or you like one better you, can allocate a larger portion to them. You don't have to deposit money in, you just earn a (very) little by shopping and dining. My biggest caveat here would be that Upromise depends on merchants for sustainability and there is always the risk that they may not be around forever.

Update on Upromise

Awhile back I was complaining that my Upromise account hadn't earned anything in the year since I registered. Reader Kevin, pointed out that his account wasn't pulling either until he put more time into and registered his cards. So I decided to give it another shot.



It's been a month since that post. As of today my balance has gone from $0 to $11.78. Not much I know but it is a great improvement. What made the difference is that I signed up to receive eRewards that pay my Upromise account. Since Upromise partners with eRewards I was kinda confident that they are a legit company. But that's not good enough for me, so I did some Google-ing and found Survey Police. Survey Police aims to provide you, the consumer, with a thorough online survey companies resource; reputations, rankings, directories--that's there line, not mine. Anyway they gave eRewards a fair review of 40%.

Really it takes very little of my time to answer their surveys. Some of the comments regarding eRewards on Survey Police complain about not qualifying for the survey. Sure that's happened to me, but usually after the first or second question. If you do get disqualified further into it they usually give you partial credit.



Upromise only offers one survey tool--that's eRewards so the only real choice I have is to participate or not. Yet, it's clear from Survey Police that some people are quite serious about their surveys and are looking to earn not just cash, but pizza and movies. Do you know anyone who is into this?



I expect that my Upromise account should improve even more since I just added my AmEx to the account. Let's see what next month brings.

I Promise, Do You?

Have you heard about upromise? It's a college savings program that basically a rewards program that sets money into a college savings program based on a percentage of what you spend when you shop. It sounds simple, right?

All you do is register any of your credit cards and the system automatically tracks your "qualified" purchases. Qualified purchases are those that are made with the retailers that they work with.

But here's the trouble: I don't regularly shop at any of these places. And sometimes the purchases must be made online.

I signed up with upromise almost exactly a year ago. In atypical behavior, for me, I didn't check the list of retailers before I signed up. But in typical behavior I only registered one card. I chose the one I used the most (my credit union debit card) and left off the AmEx (my only other card).

To date I have earned my children ZERO dollars and ZERO pennies. Again, I just don't shop at the places upromise contracts with. But, I'm not pulling the plug on upromise. Part of the reason I haven't earned anything is because I need to spend a little more time with it. I need to register my grocery store cards (not credit cards, the other club cards) and possibly add the AmEx. Though I'm not convinced it's worth the time. I probably save more money just by shopping for deals than I would with upromise.

To my kids: I promise I'll help you out with college, just don't count on upromise to fund it.

Click the comment below to read how upromise pays off for a reader.

Scholarships 101

by Luke McIlwee

So you got good grades, were active in your community, played sports and maybe even had a job through high school. That’s awesome. You got accepted to the college of your choice and now your home free right? Wrong. Getting into college is one thing, but paying for it opens up a whole new bag of tricks. Tuition fees at universities have been rising every year, so they are more expensive now then ever. This is especially true if you plan to attend a private university, which will on average cost around $40,000 a year. That’s a lot of dough! The whole financial picture of college can be very intimidating, but there is a way to lessen the load on your family when it comes to paying for your higher education. One word: Scholarships.

Here is something to consider. In the scholarship world, you could spend about two hours writing an essay and make $5,000 just like that. That’s only a mere $2,500 an hour, not too shabby. What other time in your life are you going to be making that kind of money? Considering your probably making minimum wage at your part time job, I would say not for a while. Most general scholarships will range anywhere from $500 to $40,000. As the amount increases, so does the competition, so sometimes quantity is more important than quality. If you get several small scholarships they will start adding up and making a big difference towards your college tuition. The most important thing is that you start applying for them right now, because if you don’t apply you can’t win.

But don’t you have to be the class valedictorian or have discovered a new way to detect brain cancer in order to get a scholarship? The answer is a resounding no. There are actually countless scholarships that you are eligible for right now, you just have to find them. A good place to start would be your schools counseling office which probably have scholarships for students at your school specifically. After talking to your counselor, you can begin your own scholarship search on the internet. I recommend websites like fastweb.com, and scholarships.com which have scholarship search engines that match you with scholarships based on your personal information. How cool is that? The important thing to consider here is that you should use a lot of different scholarship engines because some will have scholarships that others do not.

Staying organized is a big factor that could make or break your scholarship success. If you’re not an organized person, it’s never too late to try something new. You might even enjoy remembering where you leave things. The most important part of scholarships is to keep track of deadlines. So go to office max and get a calendar or a planner that you can use to keep track of when all those bad boys are due. Knowing the deadlines will allow you to prioritize, getting the ones that are due the soonest completed and turned in first.

Most scholarships will require some generic items that can make or break your chances of winning. These include up to three letters of reference, a resume, essays, and financial information. It’s vital that you get three letters of recommendation from both people at your school, and in your community. Usually the best way to go about this is to get one from your academic counselor, a teacher, your employer or a person who knows of your community service. Ask for these well in advance to give them enough time to complete a thorough and complete recommendation. When you ask them, include a resume and some information that you would like included in the letter and a list of the scholarships you intend to use their letter for.

Now its time to get to work on your resume and essays. Most scholarships will have slightly different rubrics for their essays, but most of the time you can have two or three essays you use for all of them. You can simply change the essays as needed in order to fit the topic. This is even truer for your resume, which will remain mostly unchanged for each scholarship. It is a good idea to have a mission or objective statement on your resume, which should be personalized for each individual scholarship. Finally, if you filled out the FAFSA you can log into your account on their website and print off a SAR which summarizes your financial situation and contains your estimated family contribution.

Finding and applying to numerous scholarships can be hectic, but in the long run it will be totally worth it. While your friends might be at the pool or going to a movie, your extra time spent on scholarships might seem a bit dull. But just keep in mind that you are setting yourself up to save a lot of money for yourself. So potentially, while they are broke in college without a car or any food you will be cruising around in your convertible and eating at five star restaurants. So keep at it slugger, good luck!