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Social Networking Keeps Parents In Touch With Students

December 1st, 2011

It’s not uncommon for colleges and universities to welcome freshmen students to campus through orientations about . These offerings provide students with information about campus resources, organizations, activities and more. Many colleges and universities might even offer webcast orientations to help familiarize distance learning students with what they have to offer online and on campus. Students who explore grants for going back to school sources will discover what they need to know to make the most of their education.

It’s back to college for parents, as well. Many adults are returning to school as a means of keeping their jobs, as well as training for new occupations, reports show. Adult enrollments are part of the reason colleges and universities are experiencing record numbers of students.

But there are parents who spend time on college and university campuses for an altogether different reason. In addition to meeting with professors, some parents are sleeping in dorms and eating in dining halls, according to a Fox News report. . These parents are familiarizing themselves with campuses as part of orientations designed especially for them. Ease your college fears by reading on line degrees details to understand everything you need to know.

Parent orientations might encompass two to three days, and many adults apparently participate. The Boston Globe recently published and posted online an article where a representative of Boston’s Northeastern University was among those who provided details about orientation programs. At Northeastern University, the institution’s representative told the Boston Globe, the parents of about 85 to 90 percent of students participate.

While they might involve fees, orientations for parents often include seminars that parents might find helpful. A common seminar focus, particularly for what the Tennessean recently called hovering “helicopter parents” for instance, is on “letting go.” Helicopter parents might include baby boomers used to being in charge, parents sending their first son or daughter off to college and those who, in sending off the youngest of family members, feel the effects of “empty nest syndrome.”

With safety and alcohol-related issues often among the areas discussed during student orientations – some of which parents might be able to participate in – colleges and universities provide a means of addressing some of the issues that might concern parents. A recent article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution also included expert advice for students. The article provided information for parents who enjoy being involved as well.

Parents, as well as students, who have a hard time with the separations that go along with college and university attendance, might also make use of technology as a means of keeping in touch. In addition to mobile telephone calls and text messages, for instance, they might keep in contact and share photographs and videos on social networking programs, such as Facebook or give video call and file transfer offerings such as Skype a try.

Parents who familiarize themselves with info about a college feel more at ease if their children attend institutions that are situated far from where they live. Some students who want to learn from home may want to earn an online degree if they’re not ready to leave the nest or want to save money first. There are degree programs online in many fields of study for students to pursue.

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Use Online Scholarships And Grants To Pay Lower Tuition Costs

November 4th, 2011

College is a wide open world for anyone who wants to become a student – and that isn’t limited to just teenagers anymore. Millions of adults across the nation are currently enrolled in courses, looking to complete their college degree. Many of these adults have one thing in common: 13 percent of them are single parents, trying to support a family while also trying to graduate. What they’re doing is starting with some good scholarships information as they begin to make their education plans.

Paying for college is never easy, and being a single parent often means your paychecks go towards family responsibilities before they can be directed towards tuition. Just because you have family needs doesn’t mean that college is an impossibility, however. Financial aid is available to the tune of billions of dollars, and much of that money is specifically put aside to help single parents pay for scholastic needs.

Single parents may feel overwhelmed by the daunting amount of information available regarding financial aid assistance. There are so many options out there that the feeling is completely justified! Most likely, when searching for financial aid, single parents are going to be trying to find grants – money that is need-based and doesn’t need to be repaid after your graduation.

Many single parents are familiar with late nights spend stressing over bills, trying to stretch one paycheck as far as it can go. Neglecting your own needs is often the easiest solution to make sure your family gets everything they need and want. However, a college degree shouldn’t be a second tier priority – believe it or not, earning a degree is one of the best things you can do for yourself and your family.

The first step in applying for any financial aid is filling out a FAFSA. The FAFSA – which stands for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is a form that covers basic financial information for students and can be filled out online or in person.The Department of Education begins accepting applications January 1st of each year. Federal money is issued on a first come, first served basis, so it’s better to turn your FAFSA in as close to that date as possible. As you will see when looking at college scholarships sources, the FAFSA is a vital part of the college process.

Federal financial aid is one of the largest suppliers of financial aid, offering almost $168 billion to students for just the 2010 – 2011 school year. Federal student aid is often considered the most reliable source of student aid simply because of the large amount of money they have to offer. Federal aid can be offered in the form of grants and scholarships, both of which are typically need-based and therefore appropriate for single parents trying to support a family.

You don’t have to feel limited to applying for federal aid through the FAFSA, however. Both your state and your school will offer grant and scholarship opportunities, often specifically created for single parents because they are such a large part of the student population. Not-for-profit corporations and private companies are also able to offer a number of need-based grants and scholarships for students in situations where it may be difficult for them to afford school otherwise.

There is financial aid for single parents and paying for college is within your ability. Earning online degrees may seem less important than focusing on the family until moms start seeing all the options available. A financial aid office may help ease your worries and help pay for traditional and distance degree programs, a smart investment for yourself and your family.

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How Science And Math Can Get You A Hot New Job

October 29th, 2011

Spend time during summer recess at school without being required to do so? That’s precisely what a group of Boston, Massachusetts, area students were slated to do – skip the beach to instead test local swimming waters for bacteria. To explore how the same nanotechnology that makes iPods possible can be ushered through the body to shut down cancer genes. The teens were expected to participate in an annual, six week research internship program through a Boston university.

At that Boston college, a separate group of high school seniors also participated in a six week research program. Since its 1978 inception, the Research Internship in Science and Engineering Program at that institution has welcomed more than 500 teenagers. One of them, Neel Hajare, in 2007 designed, programmed and built a CAT (Computerized Axial Tomography) scanning robot with Legos, motors, software programs, lasers, and knitting needles.

“It was very different from anything at school,” Hajare is quoted on the program website as saying. “This was all about going out and figuring out how to do something. I had to improvise – it was very intellectually stimulating.”

That’s the idea behind innovative college and university programs in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects: To stimulate interest in young people so that they might more greatly consider moving onto science, technology, engineering and math degrees. As part of the President Barack Obama Administration’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign, schools, organizations and agencies are these days more often partnering to offer progressive programs for students considering or enrolled in STEM degree programs and those with the potential to become future STEM degree students. Those interested will find information for online college helpful as they progress.

Some of the STEM careers that students might land after obtaining varied science, technology, engineering and math degrees are expected to see some of the fastest employment growth of all occupations. That’s in part because these same careers involve the environment, which has been receiving greater attention, and because of areas such as healthcare and technology. Students with certain technology degrees might work to help hospitals and healthcare agencies with computer technologies that can improve efficiency and patient care. Others with specific engineering degrees might help secure drinking water supplies or develop new medical products.

President Barack Obama is among those who have emphasized that STEM careers can help the United remain a leader in the areas of innovation and technology. The National Science Board earlier this year issued a report showing that the number of bachelor’s degrees in the United States, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom has remained relatively flat. Those in China, on the other hand, have increased sharply since 2002, according to the report.

Some of today’s STEM programs are intended for populations in society that have not had the same exposure in science, technology, engineering and math as some of the larger groups. A “Connections” program from that Boston institution, for example, is for female middle and high school students and, at the middle school level, allows students and Girl Scout troops to explore bugs and plants with a microscope, learn how to program a robot using Lego’s Mindstorms software and gain hands-on education in engineering and science by building things. There are also programs for K-12 students and teachers, those who have the ability to capture and keep the interest of students. Through that university’s Project STAMP, for instance, graduate and undergraduate science, engineering, technology and math majors work with area K-12 teachers to develop curricula for their classes. Searching for online college degrees information shouldn’t require much time or energy, and it could prove to be worth the effort.

These efforts are referred to as a “pipeline” for future STEM degree candidates and professionals at an online school. By pursuing a STEM college degree students might find themselves surprised by their abilities and discoveries.

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