Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) February 28, 2008 — On March 14, Cleveland-area higher education professionals will have the opportunity to learn from Elliance, Inc. e-marketing experts at the Pine Lake Trout Club. The seminar will explore how leading universities and professional schools have successfully used online strategies to attract more ideal students and drive enrollment with less time and effort.

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The most common is to begin by opening up an educational savings account for your child (under the age of 18). When you open up an educational savings account for your child, you can contribute up to $2,000 per year per child. This is a combined total contribution however and includes the contributions of grandparents, friends, and family in addition to your own personal contributions. The money from these funds can be withdrawn tax-free as long as they are used for educational purposes.

Educational expenses in this case include books, tuition, fees, supplies, and college room and board provided that your child is at least a part-time student. If you do not use all the funds for your child there are options as far as what to do with the remaining funds in the account. The first option would be to leave the funds in the account and allow the account beneficiary to withdraw them up until the age of 30. There is a penalty involved and the beneficiary will be required to pay income tax on those funds. You could also elect to roll those funds over to the next child under the age of 18 who will have educational expenses in the future.

The money you set aside in these accounts to cover the cost of the education of your child or children is not tax-deductible however, it is a great way to begin saving money and investing in the future of your child. If you begin investing the maximum amount $2,000 per year upon birth your child should have a nice nest egg to help cover educational expenses. If your child is fortunate enough to qualify for scholarships and other sources of financial aid you can turn the funds over as a graduation gift or save it for the next college student in your family that comes along. Either way you’ve saved yourself a good part of the worry that goes along with providing for your family by having this fund set up for your children.

You can sign up for programs like Upromise in order to subsidize your contributions with donations from corporate sponsors as their way of thanking you for buying their products or using their services on any credit cards that you, your friends, and your family members have registered to go into your child’s account. Every edge you give yourself when it comes to investing in the education of your children is an edge worth having. College tuition rates are rising at an alarming rate while corporate expectations of college degrees are rising at the same near lightening speed. This means that a college degree is more critical for our children than in any past generations.

Take the time now to check into securing the future of your children by establishing an educational savings account. Let friends and family know that any gifts they are planning to give your children that involve money would be appreciated if they instead invested in the future of your children rather than the now. You can also ask your friends and family to sign up their credit cards with Upromise in order to provide a little bump in donations to your child’s college savings account. These little steps add up to significant savings over the course of 18 years. You just might find that the investment you are making is adequate to cover the costs of your child’s tuition in full.

BBC Jam was closed in March last year by the BBC Trust with the loss of 200 jobs following concerns raised by the European Commission about its commercial impact.

The corporation’s management has spent the past year developing proposals for a replacement online education service.

These proposals would meet the corporation’s educational purpose for children and young people by “enhancing its existing portfolio with some new online educational initiatives which are skills based”, the BBC said.

The BBC Trust said it had not received the full proposals or their costings – but once they had been “developed in more detail” it would submit them to a public value test later this year, which will include a market impact assessment by Ofcom.

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Types of Financial Assistance for Educational Expenses

Scholarships. You will find that scholarships come in many different shapes and sizes and have all kinds of strange requirements in order to qualify to receive them. Some are based on need while others are based on merit. You will also find that there are many community and faith based organizations that offer scholarships in addition to certain corporations that offer scholarships in a gesture of good will to employees and the children of their employees. These are an excellent source of educational funding, as they do not need to be repaid.

Federal Pell Grants. This is another financial aid source that doesn’t require repayment. However, you must qualify based on need in order to receive this particular type of college assistance. You can only obtain a Pell grant if you are an undergraduate college student who has not yet earned a college degree. There is a formula that is used to determine the amount of award for which you are eligible. This depends greatly on your means as a family and how much you can realistically expect to contribute towards the cost of your education.

Loans. This should be used as a last resort when it comes to paying your college expenses, as this is money that must be repaid with interest. There are several types of loans that are available and you should consider carefully and weigh your options before taking out a loan. However, if this is the only method you have for covering the cost of your tuition it will be money well spent once you’ve managed to repay the debt.
1) Student loans. There are three different types of student loans: subsidized, unsubsidized, and Perkins loans.  You must qualify in order to receive an unsubsidized loan, which will put off your interest accumulation until after graduation or you cease to be enrolled the minimum number of hours. You do not however, need to qualify in order to receive an unsubsidized student loan, which will begin accruing interest immediately. If you happen to be in exceptional financial need you can apply through your university for a Perkins loans. These are low interest loans that must be repaid to the university.
2) Parent Loans. These are commonly referred to as PLUS loans (parent loan for undergraduate students). These loans allow parents to borrow the money required to cover the costs of education that are not covered by other means of financial assistance. Repayment on these loans begins 60 days after the funds are transferred and can take up to 10 years.
3) Private loans. These loans are not guaranteed and are solely credit-based loans. They do not however, have the same limited scope that government loans have and in many cases can help bridge the gaps in actual educational expenses and the amount of money that you are allowed to borrow through traditional financial aid opportunities.

Before signing up for any particular sort of financial aid it is a good idea to see a financial aid counselor at the university you are planning to attend. They will have the best information about what steps you need to take in order to apply for financial aid at that specific universities and unique scholarship or grant opportunities that might be available to you through your state or the college. Higher education is a dream that is definitely worth having. Do not allow financial limitations to keep you from your goal if possible but enter into all financial arrangements with great caution and thought.

We live in a world that increasingly demands more of its citizens. We need to have the ability to hold academic conversations on the corporate level that go well beyond the score in last nights basketball games. Companies’ want well-rounded employees that epitomize all the great things that a four-year degree has to offer. For this reason, even those who have labored in order to gain an associate’s degree are getting left behind in favor of those who have a more ‘complete’ education.

If you have already entered the work force there is still the time to increase your earning potential by seeking higher education. Colleges and universities today are offering more options for students wishing to return to college than ever before. In fact we are seeing an increasing number of college students that are classified as non-traditional students. We are seeing many more adults returning for the education they didn’t receive the first time around, which is good news. It also means that more and more options are becoming available at night and on the weekends for those adults.

Even better is the fact that more and more often we are seeing courses being offered online for those who are seeking to complete their education. This allows even more options for those students who are desperately trying to balance careers, family, and education. As more and more opportunities such as these arise we will also see a growing number of graduate studies opportunities being offered in a similar fashion.

If you are thinking of returning to school after years of absence or perhaps attending for the very first time while managing an existing career there is no time like the present in order to do so. Not only will a college education give you greater earning potential in your lifetime it can also qualify you for promotions within the company for which you currently are employed.

The truth of the matter is that you really can’t go wrong when it comes to going back to college and getting or finishing your degree. You can increase your earning potential, your promotion potential, and most importantly your self-image. There is something about having a degree that makes you feel better about yourself and your ability to provide for your family. Even if you never actually use your degree for anything other than a plaque on the wall, you will have the knowledge that you accomplished something that only a small percentage of the population ever gets around to completing.

If nothing else, your college education is worth every penny you will pay in order to have it for the wonderful sense of accomplishment that goes along with getting it. Your college degree won’t make you a better person; just give you a better opinion of yourself as a person in many instances. If you need a confidence booster in your professional and your personal life, getting your college degree is often just the bump of confidence you need in order to accomplish many great things.

If you are one of the many people that feel you have made your choice and are stuck with your undergraduate degree or that a post graduate degree is simply out of your reach, I hope you will read this article with great interest and learn that there options available to you no matter how far away from a university you live or how little time you have to devote to your graduate studies.

A graduate education is a very intensive course of study that is very narrow and specific. In other words, many students find that their graduate coursework is their favorite by far as it gets into the meat of the subject matter of their interest rather than merely hitting the highlights. Only a small percentage of the population at this point in time has a graduate education. Though this does not necessarily guarantee you any employability it can provide you with very specialized knowledge or skills that will help you perform your job better and qualify you for more interesting and specialized positions in your field of study.

If you would like to pursue a graduate education but feel you are too far from the nearest university that offers a comprehensive graduate education in your field, you might be surprised to find that the nearest graduate level curriculum is as far away as your living room or your favorite Internet café. Online courses give new hope to potential graduate students. Many of them will actually allow you to work around your work schedule and at your own pace while trying to achieve your dreams of higher education and life long learning.

Online courses are becoming more widely accepted across the nation and around the world. We live in the information age and it only makes sense that we are taking control of our educations by using services and demanding services like online courses in order to further our educational goals. At the moment there are only limited offerings for graduate studies, most of them centering on educational fields with only a few graduate degrees offered in other fields such as the medical industry. As demand grows so will the availability of graduate courses and degrees that are being offered online.

If you happen to be fortunate enough to live relatively close to a university that offers graduate studies in your field you might want to check with the university and see if they offer weekend graduate classes. This is a new trend that seems to be growing in popularity as a valid option for those who hope to return to college but can’t afford to give up precious work or family time during the week. These courses are much more intense than your average once or twice a week night course but they allow you to pursue your graduate degree in a much quicker manner than traditional programs have allowed and are much more employer and family friendly. Of course you also have the option of taking one or two classes at a time at night in order to achieve your graduate degree as well. Masters degree students only need to take 9 hours a semester in order to be considered full time students and qualify for financial aid.

All in all, you do not need to sacrifice your goals of graduate studies in order to maintain your career or achieve some sort of balance between work, education, and family. Whether you choose online courses, night courses, or weekend courses for your studies you have many opportunities to achieve the degree you desire without sacrificing heavily in order to do so.

Attles, the former Warriors player, coach and longtime team executive, is among a group of current and former Bay Area sports luminaries and a number of leading educators from across the nation who will take part in an all-day Internet event, streaming “Web-a-thon” on Thursday that is aimed at raising funds and awareness for The Arete School of Sports Culture and Wellness.

Appearing with Attles in discussing topics ranging from school reform to the keys to athletic and academic success will be Tony La Russa, Joe Morgan, Dusty Baker, Omar Vizquel, Jennifer Azzi, Brad Gilbert and Earthquakes general manager John Doyle.

“My parents always used to stress education to me,” Attles said, “my wife is a teacher and I got a college degree in education.

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When compared with the community college system the very first and most distinctive disadvantage that comes to mind is the high cost of upper education on the university level. Community colleges are simply more cost effective all around than universities. The costs go well beyond that money that would be spent on room and board making the tuition alone cost prohibitive in many cases. While there are many types of financial aid available to students the vast majority of college students in this country make ends meet through the use of student loans, which must be repaid at quite a hefty interest rate, in order to cover the costs associated with university educations.

Beyond the one obvious disadvantage there are a few other disadvantages that bear mentioning in this particular circumstance. First of all, universities do not have the small intimate classroom settings that literally set community colleges apart. In fact, for lower level course, most universities offer large auditorium classes that are taught by graduate students rather than professors and more often than not the students never get to know those who are charged with their education on more than a nod and smile while passing in the halls basis. This method for learning is considered by many to be exceptionally inferior and the statistics prove that students who go straight into a four-year college environment rather than going through a community college first are far less likely to complete their degrees.

If that isn’t enough of a disadvantage, many people find that the impersonal atmosphere of most universities is quite limiting when it comes to interaction with other students. The smaller classroom environments of community colleges invite interaction between the students in the class. An open line of communication within the classroom is greatly preferred to having so many students that no one gets a voice or the ability to voice their opinions or personal experiences when it comes to certain topics.

Another disadvantage to university life is the sheer size of university campuses. Community colleges tend to be much more compact. This means that students have a fairly decent chance of making it to all classes on time and without the worry of walking 2 miles in ten minutes. While this is great for physical fitness, missing the first ten minutes of class each week can limit the educational process that your university experience should be providing. It seems like such a small thing on one hand but when you are hauling around a day’s worth of textbooks and a laptop–that hike can be the thing that marines seem dubious about accomplishing.

While there are a few distinctive disadvantages to university life, the fact remains that graduation from a university is the single biggest way to increase your earning potential over the course of your lifetime. The amounts are by no means insignificant. I highly recommend whenever possibly that you attend community college for the first two years of your college education. Beyond that, I strongly urge you to consider the value that completing your education and getting a four-year degree can provide.

If you wish to build self-confidence, earning potential, and job security, there is no way of doing so that is superior to getting a four-year degree. It doesn’t matter where you are in life or your career; it is never too late to begin getting your education. There are so many things in the world that a good education will open your eyes to in addition to the doors of opportunity a four-year degree will open.

Money. The first obvious advantage of a university education would be in future earning potential. A four-year degree trumps a two-year degree almost every time. There would have to be exceptional circumstances for someone with a two-year degree to earn more over the course of a lifetime than someone with a four-year degree in the same exact field. While a degree does not guarantee employability, it does improve the odds as well as the income potential that is associated with the field you are entering into. If you have a two-year degree the decision to continue your educational pursuits can be a tough one but it is well worth the effort in the end.

Housing. This is another distinct advantage that universities offer over community colleges. In fact, many universities are now offering housing opportunities to students with families in addition to those students who have no families. Colleges and universities are offering all kinds of value when it comes to housing and meal plans. A great deal of the college experience is missed when you do not live on campus. For this particular reason students wishing to enjoy the experience that dorm life provides often consider universities over community colleges.

Diversity. This is another key component that is often missing at the community college level. International students find no real price breaks between universities and community colleges so they tend to opt for the housing and cultural atmosphere that universities present rather than going with the limiting educational, residential, and cultural experience offered by many community colleges. You will find students of different races, religions, cultures, and nations on the university level-far more than will typically be seen in a community college unless you are attending community college in a very culturally diverse city such as New York.

Culture. This is something that is often lacking on the community college level, as they are largely commuter campuses. You will not see quite the opportunity to experience art, music, the theater, and other wonderful experiences that universities pride themselves in offering to their students. There is nothing quite like the cultural offerings of most large universities and if you get the opportunity I hope you will take the time to stop and experience some of the wonderful things that being in a university community present you with an opportunity to experience.

Research opportunities. On a university level you will have the opportunity to participate in research projects with certain professors if your prove yourself worthy and express an interest. This is something that isn’t as likely on the community college level as most professors in a community college are dedicated to teaching rather than research. You will find that the experience of working on a large-scale research project is unlike anything you are likely to experience again if you ever get the chance.

Confidence. There is nothing quite like a college degree from a university to help you become a more confident person both personally and professionally. This is something that really can’t be achieved on the community college level but can only be experienced by getting a degree from a university. If you lack confidence when dealing with others or in your career, I hope that you will find that your university education is just the thing to help you feel more confidence on all levels of your life.

These are just a small sampling of the many benefits of attending a university over a community college education. I hope you will carefully consider these when making your decision about which is best for your personal education needs.

Four Reasons for a Four-Year Education

Money. The first reason that you should consider a university degree is the fact that it will substantially increase your earning potential. If nothing else appeals to you, this is typically the one reason that most people return to school after years in the work place. If you are in high school and haven’t really had to deal with the bills and burdens that many adults face it’s difficult to explain how important any edge when it comes to earning ability truly is. However, you should be aware that you need to choose your major wisely if money is your sole motivation. Not all careers pay equally when compare to the education required to enter them.

Insurance. This may seem like a strange term to use when discussing why you should get a university education but this is perhaps the best insurance you can find as far as employability goes. Having a university degree gives you a competitive edge over those who do not. In many cases you will find that education is beginning to trump experience as employers are seeking workers with more rounded skills rather than those with very specific skills. The modern university typically requires a brief exposure to all kinds of information and coursework that isn’t necessarily related to your major. This provides graduates with a broader understanding of the world (at least that is the assumption).

Employability. Believe it or not, those with degrees are much more employable than those that do not have them. There was a time when the trend was to employ those who had experience over those who had education. That trend is rapidly evaporating as companies want employees that can fill multiple roles more and more often. The limited exposure to certain ideas or ideals and principles that most people receive as part of their university education makes you a more employable candidate because you should be able to adapt and adjust, as this was required during your educational process.

Confidence. There is nothing quite like believing in yourself. Getting a four-year education is one way to build confidence not only on a personal level but also on a professional level. Whether or not you realize it, this is often the best reason for pursuing a university degree. This reason, as a matter of fact, will actually affect all of the other things I mentioned above. If you have more confidence in your ability you will be more willing to go out there and get the job done. As a result, you will earn more money and you will insure that you are an asset to your company by proving yourself to be just that.

Regardless of your personal reason for pursuing a university degree there are very few wrong reasons to get your degree. Good luck in your educational pursuits. I know they will serve you well.