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What Every College Student Needs to Know About Credit Cards

AZ — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 07:03:34 +0000

During my student life i use to talk around about how to manage finances and don’t spend too much. First thing i hear used to be Do not get credit cards. Well as you all students will agree with me that its not possible at all. And yes whatever you do but end of day you have to deal with credit cards.

However, with credit card stuff one can avoid notorious credit card debts and walk out from student life without getting into much trouble. Here are some tips and videos i am going to share with you guys. And also a video of point of view that Students should not have credit cards.

Also read our other article about keeping student life a fun time not only during studying but also keeping yourself from big debts at end of your student life.

First here are some credit card tips for college students

1 – Manage Credit Score
If you have a large balance that is maintained by only making the minimum payment, you’ll be considered a “credit risk” and your credit score will go down. This affects buying a car (higher financing rates) and even insuring your car (higher financial risk = higher payments). Keep this in mind if you are racking up big bills without the cash to quickly pay them back.

2 – Don’t Carry a Balance
When possible, avoid carrying a balance. As stated above, it’ll keep your credit score lower than average and will also increase the amount of money you ultimately have to pay.

3 – Watch Your Interest Rate
The higher this is, the more your balance will increase each month. If you can begin with a 0% rate or transfer to a credit card that will offer a similar low rate, it is certainly recommended. Just be careful of what that low rate becomes, once the initial offer vanishes.

4 – Consider Rewards Cards
For those who do pay their bills, it’s worth looking into cards that provide cash back, miles, hotel points, or a similar bonus for using your credit card on a regular basis. Just be wary of annual fees, as they can offset any bonuses you may earn.

5 – Prepaid Cards Aren’t Ideal
If you think you’ll have a lot of difficulty paying off your balance, a prepaid card provides you with plastic, similar to a gift card you may get at a retail store. However, it doesn’t improve your credit, it won’t do much for you in emergencies, and there are very rarely options for rewards.

6 – Always Carry Some Cash
Studies have shown that consumers spend less when they are using cash instead of plastic. So, you may wish to leave your Visa at home when you hit the mall.

7 – Debit Cards Aren’t Always Best
The nice part about debit cards is that there is no balance, and your money is pulled directly from your bank account. The negatives are that it doesn’t allow you to improve your credit and if it gets stolen, thieves have direct access to your money – even though card companies say there is no liability.

8 – Use the telephone
Getting hit hard by your APR? Give your card company a ring and ask them if they can lower your rate. Have to make a late payment? Clear it with your card so you won’t incur late fees. Card companies want to keep you as customers and are more than willing to do favors for you, periodically. In turn, they hope that you slowly (but surely) keep your balances with them.

CREDIT CARD TIPS FOR STUDENTS – [VIDEO]

WHAT EVERY COLLEGE STUDENT NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT CREDIT CARDS – [VIDEO]

SHOULD COLLEGE STUDENTS HAVE CREDIT CARDS?

Educational Gap between Rich and Poor Students is increasing in UK

AZ — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:43:27 +0000

The difference in the success of education between rich and poor areas of Britain is increasing, despite the investment of millions of pounds each year, according to research published today.

The day before Mr Mandelson, the Secretary of Universities, outlines the Government’s strategy to increase social mobility through wider access to further and higher education, a report by the University and College Union (UCU) shows that the gap between rich and poor areas in the numbers completing a degree has increased more than four years.

In some constituencies, nearly two thirds of the working age population are graduates, while in others, fewer than one in ten has a degree or equivalent. Across Britain 29 percent now have a degree, but over 12 per cent have no qualifications, the report said.

Tomorrow Mr Mandelson, will give the Confederation of British Industry, a preview of his plans to promote social mobility through a new framework for higher education.

A government working group chaired by Alan Milburn, former Secretary of Health, identified the continuing low participation in higher education for poor families as one of the main obstacles to social mobility. There have been marginal increases in the number of students from lower socioeconomic groups in the past two years, but the report shows that the UCU that many areas have not participated in the trend.

In Sheffield, for example, 60 percent of people living in the constituency represented by Hallam Nick Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader, are graduates – four times the figure for the Brightside constituency represented by about David Blunkett, former Secretary Interior.

In the 20 constituencies with the highest number of college, the proportion of the working age population with a degree level qualification increased from 48.8 percent in 2005 to 57.2 percent in 2008. However, the 20 electoral districts with the lowest level of participation in higher education saw a decline of 12.6 percent to 12.1 percent.

The constituency of Richmond Park, southwest of London, has the highest proportion of graduates in more than 63 percent of the working age population. In North Doncaster and Birmingham Hodge Hill, less than 10 percent have degrees.

The report also shows significant regional variations. Eight of the 20 constituencies with the lowest proportion of ratings are in the West Midlands region. London attracts the largest number of graduates, with 17 of the 25 groups that have the most graduates are in the capital.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: “The present government has rightly given priority to investment in education, but this report shows that the problem is even deeper than previously thought and is a challenge for all parties. Education is the key to improving social mobility, the fight against poverty and expand opportunities for all. ”

Ms. Hunt said the report showed the current gap between rich and poor was growing. When a person lives largely determined the possibilities of educational success

A Vision of a Student Today – [Video]

AZ — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 09:51:35 +0000

A short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today – how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University.

Source:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mwesch

Don’t blame students for ’studentification’

AZ — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:03:38 +0000

Abandoned pint glasses, overgrown gardens, heavily curtained windows and loud kerfuffles at the crack of dawn.

If housing minister Caroline Flint has her way, these hallmarks of undergraduate living could soon vanish to restore suburban order to student-saturated streets.

In some areas, students outnumber local residents. Belfast’s Queen’s University students inhabit more than half of houses in the immediate vicinity of the campus while around two-thirds of the 10,000 residents of Headingley, in Leeds, are students, all packed into 73 streets of terraced houses.

Town-gown relations are notoriously tense during term time in cities such as Leeds, Nottingham and Southampton.

The government’s plan is to halt the “studentification” of university towns by capping the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMO).

Flint wants councils to get together with universities to plan more purpose-built accommodation. She says her main concern is communities left as “ghost towns” when students desert them during the summer months.

But let’s not forget why these ghettos sprung up in the first place.

Thanks in part to the government’s ambitious target to get 50% of young people into higher education, the UK’s student population has swelled to 2.5 million.

Couple this with an average student debt of £17, 500 and you can’t blame students – and landlords for that matter – for searching out the cheapest, most convenient housing, however overcrowded or antisocial this may be for their neighbours.

Flint’s drive to “blend student populations into well-mixed neighbourhoods” seems a seriously delayed reaction to a problem that has been building up for years. And announcing her plans in the middle of a dip in the housing market is unlikely to get landlords on board with changes in legislation.

A spokesman for the housing charity Shelter said: “This seems to be a cheap dig at students, many of whom are forced to live in HMOs because it’s the only way they can afford to attend university.

“Students are often some of the most exploited people in the private rented sector, having to live in poor but expensive accommodation because it’s located near the college or university.

“If the government really wants to tackle the issue, it should be looking at the sector as a whole and not just blame students.”

And Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, fears that “added bureaucracy will discourage landlords from the HMO market”.

The truth is that universities and clusters of their students bring in a substantial income to many towns and cities.

According to Universities UK, higher education institutions generate £45m each year, and for every 100 university employees, a further 99 jobs are created in the wider economy as a knock-on effect.

So, in theory, top marks to Flint for recognising that many UK university towns are swamped with students.

In practice though, with so many millions of young people in full-time higher education, the ghost-town problem is unlikely to disappear.

The growing perception is that Asian students are better in studies

AZ — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 11:37:44 +0000

The growing perception is that Asian students are more likely to excel in studies and it id because education systems in most Asian nations are more academic and exam-orientated. They assume that it is ja cultural thing. Asian teaching typically assumes educational excellence, something that modern Western thought should pick up on.

In UK and most probably in US as well, White Kids get punished for bringing home an F, but making an A was merely recommended as a good idea. In other words, kid is considered a good student as long as he/she wasn’t failing.

There is also another theory in favor of Asian Countries Education System “Its all about a Culture. Asian people tend to teach you to actually excel, while in UK, they just teach a lot of nonsense. Also, in UK, for some reason, it’s cool to be the bad boy that only got prison going for him. In Asia, caring about your life is more cool. You’re cool and cute if u get a D in UK, but you’re an idiot in Asia”.

But i don’t agree with this theory as after all many countries have the same academic ethic.

One of my friend said, “I think it’s because their educational systems are actually teaching them instead of just propagandizing them to be good little drones. The Asian nations have gone whole-hog into education, and are still working to equip their students for something besides the politically correct life.”

Another friend of mine disagree with this whole theory said, “It is not true. We have the best college here in the states but Asian American students always do well in school because they study while we party. and also its family and societal pressure that drives them.”

There is another very interesting figures i discovered on wikipedia that AFRICANS learn English faster than Asians, and are, generally, faster learners. The percentage of African immigrants in the US who have attained a higher education is higher than that of Asian immigrants. Read the article here yourself at Wikipedia

What do you think guys??? please let me have your opinions.

Are university students known for being poor and living on a baked bean diet?

AZ — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:10:45 +0000

That was the impression i had when i was still studying A-levels and went to the Aston University open day. A guy was doing a talk about the life of student living on baked beans.

At my uni campus, a lot of the students don’t look poor. In fact they look like their living the high life wearing expensive looking clothes. They dont really look trampy and poor- the kind of image i was expecting. Perhaps they work.

There is a common Australian joke about Students “The good old 2 minute noodles”

Most of us can’t stand them after we graduate and get a full time job. Can you guys?

From my uni days, I remember students who looked outwardly well-off, but were thousands in debt, and living on noodles and rice.

Student loans are reasonably generous and can easily pay for basic accommodation and food, with money left over for going out and buying luxuries. However, once students come out the other end, with debts in excess of £20k, they wont be feeling so rich!! It can take a lifetime to pay this off for some people.

So yes there is a much higher standard of living thanks to Student loans, but we spend the rest of our lives paying for it.

When i asked from my friends about this. one of my friend said, “Well university students aren’t poor, but they live on a fixed budget. Low on the list of priorities are food. Higher on the list are booze, partying, certain drugs, etc. Typically university students are well off, but that doesn’t mean they have a limited budget. I had a budget of £200 a week for “fun” and that evaporated fast every week.”

Another friend of mine said, “That’s because when the grants come in at the start of the year they feel rich and go out and buy clothes. They still own those clothes later on in the year, but don’t have any money left to eat properly. Plus, many students won’t be poor, depending on what university you are at there may be a high proportion of students whose families have loads of money.”

A very cool friend of mine never been to big parties and she always in great style said. “I am a student at university and I am sorry to say that I do not go out at night and get totally wrecked, and I do not live on baked beans, if you are careful with your grant there should be no need to live on baked beans. I had my grant in September and I have still got quite a lot of it left, this will see me at through christmas and well into the new year when the next payment is due. Some students do work part time to help them meet the bills or travel expenses, I think students being poor and living on baked beans is a myth.”

Anyway, What i have noticed is that its down to the individual student, everyone is different.
I finished uni this year and I ate well, clothing were from christmas and birthday present (expect gladly a primark arrived in jan), got drunk and partied but also worked hard. I worked in the holidays too.

However students are actually all different, I do really hate the negative lazy stereotype their is.

So everyone please feel free to let me have your experiences.

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