Sat Test

In my last blog post I talked about a unique way to pay for your college education. I’ve found other ways to help save money for school.

Government Series EE savings bonds are a safe and inexpensive way to save money for college. The interest on the bonds are tax free for low and middle income families and the interest on the bonds is not due until the bonds are cashed in.

UGTAs and UGMAs are the Uniform Gifts to Minors Act and the uniform transfers to Minors Accounts. This allows mom and dad to transfer small to medium investments to their children free of tax. This money can be used for educational purposes.

Grandma and Grandpa are also an excellent resource for educational funding if they are financially able to do so.

There are other ways to pay for college and there are ways to reduce your college costs. Perhaps you can’t afford to go to the Ivy League university of your dreams. You could begin your college career at a much less expensive community college and then transfer to the university after a couple of years. You’ve saved on tuition, yet you still will be able to graduate from a big name university.

Another way is to work your way through college. Many students do this, with help from Pell Grants and perhaps a little help from mom and dad along the way. It’s not always easy to work and go to school at the same time, but it can be done if you are determined.

As always, apply for all the scholarships that you find. Search out the data bases of available scholarships and apply for every single one. Each school has scholarships unique to their school and you can talk to the financial aid office for more information.

If you need more help, there are always student loans to help you in paying for your education. Just remember to use them judiciously. If you can make the interest payments on them while you’re in school, you’ll be saving money on the loans in the long run.

It’s best to start early in your financial preparation for college but if you’re just not starting you can still make it. Explore all avenues and if you desire a college degree, you’ll achieve one.

Let’s say you’ve made it to the top of the food chain in high school and are now a senior. Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? Have you thought about your future? What college do you want to go to? Do you have any idea how you’re going to pay for college?

If you’re reading this blog and you’re not yet a high school senior, then yeah! You still have some time to make plans and decisions.

One of the things that changes about a college education is the cost. It keeps going up and up and up. That’s a given in this world. Hopefully your parents have been thoughtful planners and when you were born they began a college fund for your education. If they did, then that’s wonderful.

However, some parents are barely able to keep the bills paid and put food on the table while the kids are growing up, much less be able to squirrel away extra money for college educations. If your parents haven’t been able to save for your future education, don’t worry. There are various ways to pay for your degree.

If you’re in high school right now, then you might want to look into a plan that most states offer parents of prospective college students. It’s a way for parents to put money into an educational account now and be able to use that money later for their child’s college education. This program has a built-in advantage to save your parents money on your future because they are locking in the college tuition prices of today for your education tomorrow. This means that if your parents opened the account in 1999 and you aren’t going to college until 2017, you will not pay 2017 tuition prices. You will be allowed to pay 1999 tuition prices.

Tuition prices in 2003-2004 rose from between 2 and 24% at universities around the nation. So as you can see, this program has the capability to save you and your parents thousands of dollars in education money.

For more information on this program in the state of Washington, check out Get WA at http://www.get.wa.gov/ It’s a prepaid college fund set up by the Washington State legislature. Your state may have the same program.

It’s not always easy to pay for a college education and for some it means a great deal of sacrifice. In my next blog I’ll discuss other ways to help you pay for an expensive college education.

In my last blog I talked about effective study habits of successful students. If you’re going to succeed on the SAT so that you can get into a great university or college, then you’re going to need to develop a strategy for maintain your grade point average and prepare for the big exam.

Make a schedule, stick to it. Study in a place where there are little or no distractions and make studying a priority.

If you want to find more creative ways to study, then you may want to look up books on how to study at your local library, or on the Internet. You can purchase ebooks on how to make your study habits more effective. Some websites on study habits give you free study ideas and others charge you for their information.

I’ll give you a list of websites that are a mixture of both in order to let you see how many resources there are out there for you to use.

The Brute Force Study Guide http://bruteforcestudyguide.com/page4.html?gclid=CKPgqJrV8Y0CFQRDYQodd2EpLg

This is a guide that you have to pay for, but he does give you some free pointers on this website before he asks you to purchase his ebook.

Study Pointers from Dr. Bob Kizlik.
http://www.adprima.com/studyout.htm

He is a teacher who has developed some ideas for successful students. His advice in this website is free and his advice is excellent.

A Study Skills Resource Site

http://www.how-to-study.com/

This website has a list of study skills, study tips and study strategies for you to use, all free of charge. It has some excellent ideas for students to use in order to improve their grades.

Effective Study Habits in Five Easy Steps

http://www.amelox.com/study.htm

This website talks about memory and how best to use it in order to improve your study time. This site is free and has good ideas on how to better use your study time.

Lesson Tutor
http://www.lessontutor.com/studygeneralhome.html

Is a website that has dozens of articles about how to study, what to do about test anxiety and the SAT. This is a good resource for parents who have children who might not be doing as well as they could be doing in school. If you think your child isn’t being successful, then you’re going to want to take a more active role in helping with homework and study habits.

If something leads you to be a better student and a more successful studier, then make the most of it. Work your hardest and you will be successful in your SAT preparations.

When you think about studying, how does it make you feel? Your answer might just depend on what the subject matter to be studied is all about. If it’s studying for a class that you enjoy, that you’re interested in, then studying probably won’t be that much of a burden for you. However, if the class you must study for is a on a subject that doesn’t interest you, then it might be a little bit more difficult for you to dredge up enough interest in hauling out the books and notes and class material to study.

I’ve mentioned before that no two people study the same. A few years back I was hired to test students who were having trouble learning. The tests, both verbal and written, were created in order to find out what kind of learners they were so that I could create a personalized study method for each student. Some were visual learners, others learned best when they listened to the material that they needed to memorize. As I said before, everyone is different and nobody learns in the exact same way.

If you’ve had difficulty studying in the past, then you might want to consider finding out what your best learning style is so that you can make the most of your SAT preparations.

There are various tests you can take to find your learning style, but what is most important is to first make a schedule. If you don’t schedule your study time, no studying will happen. Make it a priority in your life. Study time is valuable time. You can revise your schedule if you need to, but make one.

Write in your schedule the blocks of time where you have classes, or work or perhaps music lessons. Any place you have to be at a certain time, mark on your schedule. Write in where you have time for sleep and what’s left is a rough idea of the time you have available for studying. Make certain that you allocate time to study for each class you’re taking. It’s easy to avoid study time. There are so many things vying for your attention between school, sports, friends, the internet, music, etc. It would be very simple to blow off your valuable study time and waste it doing something else. There are times when you won’t be able to stick to your schedule, but successful students stay with their scheduled study habits more than not.

When you are preparing to take the SAT you’re going to have to set aside time outside of your regular study times to put towards studying SAT vocabulary, sentences, essay prep and math.

When should you study? You should be well rested and alert when you’re studying. If you wait until the last minute to study, then you’re not really studying you’re cramming. Cramming might work in the short term, but it hasn’t proved effective as a long term study habit.

Where should you study? It’s a good idea to pick a place that doesn’t have many distractions. A public or school library is an excellent place to spend time studying. If you’re taking a bus, you can study on the ride. Close the door to your bedroom to close out distractions in your house or apartment. I know some students who study best when they have their Ipod earbuds in their ears and have the music going. If that works for you, then go for it. However, if music distracts you then turn off the mp3 players and the televisions. Wherever you study, make sure it’s the best place for you to learn.