How to Turn Time into Money for College

Lots of people are busy, yet not everyone reaches his/her goals. If becoming the ideal college scholarship or grant applicant seems like a good idea, then learning how to manage time is important. When teaching students who would soon become the first in their families to go to college, I knew scholarships were vital.

I used a simple illustration to show them how to use their time wisely to help reach this goal. I had them write down their five year goals. One, of course, was to graduate high school, another to be accepted to the college of their choice, a third was to earn lots of scholarship money. The others varied.

Once they did this, I asked them to write down all the activities they were planning to do over the weekend. Then they looked at each one, and asked themselves, “Will doing this help me reach one of my goals?” If the answer was yes, they put an “A” next to it; if not, they labeled it with a “C”; if they weren’t sure, they used the letter “B”.

The next step was to decide if the items were urgent or not urgent. Was there some sort of time constraint on the activity, like studying for a test to be taken on Monday? They ranked each activity in each category in order of urgency, using numbers 1 through whatever.

Over the weekend, they finished all the activities in category “A” in numerical order. Then they completed category “B” and some of category “C”. This not only helped them pinpoint the important items which were urgent, but kept the urgent, but not important items from distracting them.

When students used their goals as a measuring stick for selecting activities to do, they were less confused, stressed or frustrated. They also moved closer to reaching their goals. This is just one of the strategies my students used to earn Full Ride scholarships to college. Others are in my book, Free College Awareness, coming soon from Griffin Publishing and Watering Seeds.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com

Photo Credit: Google Images

Why is College Tuition so High?

The general public and politicians may believe colleges are flush with cash, but this is not the case. Although the cost of tuition is almost five times as high as it was thirty years ago, college professors are paid far less than they were in the past (when adjusted for inflation). So why is tuition so high?

The answer is simple. Public universities are now receiving far less money from state governments. State funding had dropped over 37% in the last two decades. Although colleges now receive more money from the federal government than the state, the overall amount is much less than in the past. Much of the federal money is in the form of grants to students. It passes from the federal treasury to state institutions and then back to the college through student grants.

We all know every time money changes hands, some of it is used moving it from place to place (employees, computers, building, etc.). Wouldn’t it make more sense if public education covered students from Pre-K through College or Trade Schools? It would be a more efficient way to educate our young, release more cash for actually educating students and unburden families. It would also put more cash into the nation’s economy.

Since this doesn’t look like it’s going to happen in the next decade, families need to find another way to pay for educating children after high school. Scholarships and grants are the only solutions until politicians start thinking long term. 

After realizing all my students were not only going to college, but also receiving scholarships and/or grants, I did a study to learn which strategies worked best. My new book, Free College Awareness, explains what parents and grandparents can do to help their children become ideal college scholarship and grant applicants. No one should be in debt for the rest of their lives in order to earn a college degree. Although I don’t have the authority to make college tuition free, by writing my book, I hope to help students graduate from college debt free.

You are reading from the blog: http://www.roadtofreecollege.com

Photo Credit: Pixabay

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