Category — Education

Here’s info on a nice workshop for those of you in the Philly area. This is the most popular business planning workshop series in the Pennsylvania Small Business Development Center network. The series is comprised of four workshops, which may be taken as individual sessions.  You save $20 by taking the entire series. A key to your success is meeting experienced business counselors in each session.

Business Planning I – Business Plan for Success
Business Planning II – Marketing Your Product, Service and Company
Business Planning III – Financial Management – Projections and Statements
Business Planning IV – Financing the Business and Feasibility Decision

Where: Chester County Library, 450 Exton Square Parkway, Exton, PA, 19341
When: June 4, 11, 18 and 25 (each Thursday), from 6-8:30 p.m.
Cost: $60
Click here for more information about each workshop in the series and to register.

Upromise is holding a video casting call for a $10,000 college scholarship. Create a 30-second video and tell them why you or somebody you know deserves to win. They also have other prizes, so check out the details here. You have until May 5, 2009 to upload your video. There’s three categories to choose from:

• Saving for college
• In college now
• Paying it back

The contest is sponsored by Bank of America, Bed, Bath, & Beyond, and Sallie Mae.

The Kutztown University (in Pennsylvania) Small Business Development Center (KU SBDC) in conjunction with CareerLink is starting a seven-week SEAP to help the unemployed.

This workshop is offered to those individuals who are on unemployment. Contact Berks County CareerLink (BCC) at (610) 988-1300 to determine eligibility. If BCC determines you are eligible please call Tracy Ream at (484) 646-4005 or email her at ream@kutztown.edu for more information and orientation.

This seven-week program is designed to help future and existing entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. This dynamic workshop series runs for three hours each week and offers business ideas, business development topics and one-on-one mentoring support.

Harvard University has very generous financial aid support for all students who qualify on the basis of need. On a very positive note, families with incomes below $60,000 need not contribute to the cost of sending their children to Harvard. Further, families with incomes up to $180,000 with assets typical for the income level need not pay more than 10 percent of their incomes. The hardest part is being accepted. No student should be discouraged from applying to Harvard because of financial concerns.  The Financial Aid Office is always eager to work with talented students to make sure they receive the financial support that will make a Harvard education possible for them.  For more information, please visit the financial aid web site: http://www.fao.fas.harvard.edu/, or call 617 495 1581.

I was also forwarded an email that stated Harvard has a large science endowment for African American (High School Juniors/Seniors) who are interested in majoring in the sciences, Chemistry, Biology, Physics etc. Those interested should contact Professor Gregg Tucci at tucci@fas.harvard.edu or 617-496-4668. Please let me know if this is not true, as I have not vetted this particular information.

Here’s a typical financial aid package for a Scholarship holder in Class of 2012

Click the photo to be taken to the Harvard Financial Aid Fact Page.

I received an email from Upromise regarding their pool of $500,000 in college scholarships. They are giving 200 of them worth $2,500 each to Upromise members. The deadline is February 28, 2009. Check out the specifics here.

Upromise is a program that takes a percentage of certain purchases (groceries, restaurants, online retailers, etc.) and deposits them towards a 529 plan or an existing student loan. There are no out-of-pocket expenses, since the vendor donates the percentage of your purchase, not you. I have all my credit cards, supermarket rewards cards, and family’s rewards cards linked to my student loans. Each quarter after a minimum of $25 in contributions has been reached, it will be credited to my student loan account. Every time I fill up on gas at Exxon, I get $.01 per gallon. That comes out to about $25 a month just from 1 vendor. Invite friends and families to link their accounts and this can rack up quickly. Watch for deals and monthly specials to really jack up the savings and contributions.

A great way to remind you of savings while purchasing online is to install their toolbar. Had I known this a few weeks ago, I could have saved 30% on a subscription I purchased and saved $90+ dollars. Get the toolbar here.

If you would like to help me out with my student loans by adding your supermarket rewards card to my account, I’d be happy to send you a referral link. I do not see any purchases you make, so your privacy is protected. Just post a comment and I will email you right away. Thanks!

Here’s an essay contest sponsored by Mental Floss, Borders, and Merriam-Webster. You could win $10,000 for tuition and books. It is open to those pursuing undergraduate degrees at a 2 or 4 year accredited college or University in the US or Canada. There are also runner-up prizes, so check out their website for all the details. Hurry, the deadline is January 31, 2009.

Tuition Giveaway