Financial Aid News

Lowest financing costs since 2005

Rising yields and the lowest amount the government pays to service its record deficit is the reason for the lowest financing costs since 2005. “It is an inflection point when the interest costs on the government’s debt starts to rise because the amount of debt is so high,” said Phillip Swagel, professor at Georgetown University and assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury in 2007 and 2008. “Rates are still reasonably low. But at some point increasing interest costs is going to be what forces more action on this issue.”

In the fiscal year ending September 30th, interest costs rose 8 percent from $383.4 billion to $414 billion. On the same note last week benchmark 10-year Treasury note yields increased by the most since August 2009.

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Thank you Europe - Greece will survive

Greek’s disastrous economic state is about to experience help from the European Union and its member countries. Worries about Greece and how to minimize the negative effect it has on the Euro and the rest of Europe are decreasing. The solution is financial aid and major changes in the way the government runs the country.

The financial aid plan was developed and settled with officials of the European Union, the I.M.F. and the European Central Bank. Greek officials state that the deal will include approximately 130 billion Euros in aid over the next three years at reasonable interest rates. In return, the I.M.F. asked Greece to cut public sector spending by 8 billion Euros in the 14 months after the plan was adopted. Economists called that provision crucial because past reform programs by the government have relied too much on overly optimistic assumptions about the collection of unpaid taxes.

Amongst other plans Greece will open up parts of the economy, they will cut workers’ salaries, public sector jobs, raise its value-added tax to 25% as well as raise taxes on fuel, tobacco and alcohol. Taking these steps requires high urgency as Prime Minister George Papandreou emphasizes. “Today, the top priority is the survival of the nation. This is the red line.”

Even though Greece has large financial issues it is not alone in Europe. Almost all the countries that are giving support are also in debt, which does not seem to faze the Greek, who insisted that fears of economic collapse were exaggerated anyway.

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Financial Aid - How to deal with rising tuition costs

Today most decent jobs require a Bachelors degree. A Bachelors degree can be earned in four years at a college by taking fifteen credits each semester. This sounds like a majority of citizens has to take this path in order to get a job, support the economy and raise the overall standard of living. Why then is school getting more expensive year by year? Looking at an international market and at Europe in particular where taxes might be higher but tuition for one year will only range around 1,000 Euros it is difficult to find reasons to justify average annual tuitions between $12,000 and $30,000.  "Even with the scholarships they were offering, tuition was way out of reach for us," a student at Bemidji State University says.

In the past five years, the average cost of in-state tuition and fees at public colleges has jumped 35% — after adjustment for inflation — according to the College Board. In the past 25 years, the average cost of tuition and fees has risen faster than personal income, consumer prices and even health insurance.

The only way to afford college for some students is to get financial aid, loans or scholarships. But today these tend to become more difficult to get as well and demanding increases in federal aid are not seen as the solution. Many conservatives argue that increasing federal aid will just encourage colleges to raise tuition even more. "When colleges know if they keep raising tuition, the government is going to keep sending them more aid, they don't have a reason to stop raising it," says Leslie Carbone, an adjunct scholar at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va.

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Financial aid for the Sesame Street

In the field of education grants and financial aid are generally associated with college students or direct funding of schools in order to improve classroom education. The Education Department has started to approach a much earlier stage of education through a so to say – non-traditional outlet, as in educational television programming and other public media. Ayesha D. Edwards has been part of the Ready To Learn program since 2007 and is focusing on making sure that children amongst the age of two through eight gain the literacy skills they need in order to improve or stay on top of what they learn in kindergarten, at home and at school. “At the end of the day, these grants help ensure kids receive an equitable education and improve schools and school districts.”

On October 18th 2010, this mission became more tangible than before, raising awareness and pushing for an improvement in many children’s education. The Education Department announced that the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, Inc., in partnership with Callaway Digital Arts and the Michael Cohen Group LLC, were awarded a $30 million Ready to Learn grant for the project LAMP, Learning Apps Media Partnership. This project is going to specifically target and support low-income families, as they are able to use this source of information without any additional costs. Listed below are an indepth description of the program and a personal statement of HITN CEO Jose Rogdriguez.

The 2010 Ready to Learn grants include outreach monies in addition to program funding. Project LAMP outreach activities will leverage wireless network technology, social media, and community-based organizations to engage children, parents, caregivers, and teachers in New York, Connecticut, and Texas the first year alone. Over the life of the grant, Project LAMP will partner for exchange of ideas, opinions, and results with: 1) persistently low achieving schools, 2) a media production program at an accredited postsecondary institution, and 3) a teacher preparation program at an accredited postsecondary institution focused on early childhood education.

"Our goal is to help close the achievement gap. As a former educator, I know it's important to create quality content that helps childcare providers, parents, grandparents, and teachers prepare kids for kindergarten and reinforce reading and math through elementary school," said HITN President and CEO Jose Luis Rodriguez. "Many kids are already reading and watching stories about Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends and Nova the Robot. Now they can interact, direct the story, and learn via a variety of platforms. I am also excited about producing a new product specifically for ELL.  This will be student-centered learning and family support at its best."

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Using Art to Promote Properties

1. Since Picasso was used as a feature for commercial buildings, art has been a vital part in creating a contemporary and distinguishing image. Edward Larabee Barnes, an architect with a modernist style designed the Madison Ave tower in New York, which looks like three distinct pieces put together. A triangular chunk is at the base of the tower and creates a courtyard overlooking the streets from eight stories above ground level. Even though the building can be classified as different and unique it is aging making the building less attractive which lead to fears of the Park Tower Group that occupancy rates might decline. To prevent this from happening they hired a new architect to update 535 Madison, including the lobby and courtyard. Just as Barnes, this architect used creativity and art as a solution.

Madison Ave tower now does not only have a modernized inside but it is also surrounded by a sculpture garden which shows rotating exhibits all year around. According to Alfred Bradshaw, the executive vice president of Park Tower Group, it is a "popular amenity for our building tenants, tourists, art enthusiasts and passersby who stop to appreciate the space and the unique feature of the rotating artwork." Art seems to have a certain effect on people that creates a larger appreciation for buildings and properties, which otherwise could simply be considered as another skyscraper.

This concept is not only used by architects who understand what inspires and appeals to people, but also by executives in the real estate industry. "People want to feel they own something that has a personality and a story," said Michael Shvo in an interview with Fast Company Magazine. Michael Shvo, CEO of the real-estate company SHVO uses art and fashion to create images for properties that people can identify with and that set one building apart from the other.

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IGY Adds Puerto Ricos Palmas del Mar Yacht Club to their Growing Fleet of Marinas

Andrew Farkas, Chariman of Island Global Yachting (IGY,) announces the expanding of Palmas del Mar Yacht Club. The Club is located in Puerto Rico's southeastern coast (45 minutes from San Juan). The Palmas del Mar Yacht Club is a state-of-the-art megayacht marina in the Caribbean and is linked to a 2,700 acres resort community. The community has lavish homes, two championship golf courses, a massive tennis center, hotel, casino and a bilingual K-12 school. The community also has16 restaurants, shops, marketplace, art and design galleries, full service bank, equestrian center and an exclusive Beach and Country Club.

There are over 150 slips for yachts up to 175 feet at the marina with professionally trained staff and dock hands, Wi-Fi internet, marine suppplies, charters, boatyard and much more.

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Fed plans to buy $600 billion in U.S. Treasury bonds

Last week the Fed announced it was going to buy $600 billion in U.S Treasury bonds. Since then it has gained support from an unexpected direction – India but received criticism from officials in Germany, Brazil and China, who said the United States was trying to depreciate the dollar. Barak Obama and Manmohan Singh, an economist by training, disagree with the criticism and are trying to justify the Fed’s action by stating that the improvement of the U.S. economy will help the prosperity of the world as a whole.

Obama stated “the worst thing that could happen to the world economy — not just ours, but the entire world’s economy — is if we end up being stuck with no growth or very limited growth. I think that’s the Fed’s concern and that’s my concern, as well.” In addition to the world’s economy he is taking U.S.’s current state into consideration as well as the unemployment rate is at a high of 9.6% screaming for help.

“A strong, robust, fast-growing United States is in the interests of the world,” Mr. Singh said. “And therefore anything that would stimulate the underlying growth and policies of entrepreneurship in the United States would help the cause of global prosperity.” Mr. Singh’s support could help the United States deflect criticism of Washington’s economic policies at the G-20 summit meeting in Seoul this week.

 

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Financial Aid As Part Of Glassboro’s Budget

The Glassboro District has published its new budget. Part of it is a state grant of $547,000 in federal education jobs funding and $339,810 in state aid. Following attempts to further keep costs down and to make most of the financial aid given to the district Glassboro Public Schools decided to enter a partnership with energy conservation company Energy Education Inc. early on in the year. Since the beginning of the contract Energy Education Inc. helped the district save close to $112,000 in this year’s budget.

In addition to energy saving programs Glassboro’s Board of Education has decided to reconsider positions and to raise its tax rate by 2 percent. This tax increase will contribute to the district’s budget of $33.5 million. Even though this sounds like and action that will have a negative impact on property owners and tax payers, the district acted ethically because they chose to increase it by a low amount and stay below the state-mandated 2 percent cap. Business Administrator Walt Pudelko expressed the board’s thought process and decision by keeping the well being of the people in mind. “While the state would allow us to increase the budget by an additional $856,309, we could not in good conscience pass these costs on to the taxpayers of Glassboro," he said.

Click here to view the original article on Glassboro and Energy Education Inc.