Stocks shake off early doubt to make small gains.
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الأربعاء، 22 مارس 2017
Think You’re Saving by Shopping on Amazon? Watchdog Group Says That’s a Lie
Amazon’s got some explaining to do.
If you’ve ever purchased anything on Amazon, you have probably seen what the retail giant calls the product’s “list price.” It is the crossed-out small, gray number that lets you know exactly how much you would pay if you were silly enough to shop anywhere other than Amazon.
To the left of the list price is another number. This one is smaller in value but twice as big and bold. It tells you how much you’ll save — and essentially tells you how smart and awesome you are for being such a savvy shopper.
Those numbers play a big role in convincing you to buy.
But a Consumer Watchdog study found that, more often than not, that list price is overinflated, which means if the study’s findings are true, Amazon’s purported savings are often a flat-out lie.
The Study’s Shocking Findings
To gather data for the study, the nonprofit advocacy group looked at 4,000 products on Amazon. Of the products included in the study, Consumer Watchdog found that 25% of them had a crossed-out higher list price.
According to the study, 40% of the time Amazon decides to add a list price, it is higher than the highest retail price at any of its competitors. What’s more, Amazon’s average list prices are about 20% higher than the median market price for any single item, the report claims.
“The majority of these crossed-out prices exceeded — sometimes by large margins — any plausible definition of the ‘plausible market price,’” John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s privacy project director, wrote in a petition filed Monday with the California Department of Justice.
The petition asks the state’s attorney general to investigate Amazon’s practices.
“The reference prices were an entirely bogus notional price that created the false impression that consumers were getting a deal when they were not,” Simpson wrote. “When correcting the inflated list prices, the fictitious discounts often vanished.”
Amazon Defends its List Prices
So what did Amazon have to say about all this?
It said the study — not its list prices — is what’s misleading.
“Manufacturers, vendors and sellers provide list prices, but our customers care about how the price they are paying compares to other retailers,” the company said in a statement sent to the Los Angeles Times. “We validate list prices against actual prices recently found across Amazon and other retailers, and we eliminate List Price when we believe it isn’t relevant to our customers.”
But Consumer Watchdog says the numbers tell a different story.
This Isn’t Amazon’s First Snafu Surrounding List Prices
This isn’t the first time the online retailer has been accused of using shady pricing tactics to get more customers to buy. In January, Amazon Canada agreed to pay CA$1 million (about $751,000) to Canada’s Competition Bureau after a two-year investigation found the company exaggerated customer savings.
From here, it will be up to the state of California to decide if Amazon has done anything wrong and, if so, whether it will have to pay up for its sins.
Your Turn: Will the questionable list prices on Amazon cause you to shop elsewhere?
Desiree Stennett is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She doesn’t really shop online so she feels like she won this battle of Amazon vs. the world.
The post Think You’re Saving by Shopping on Amazon? Watchdog Group Says That’s a Lie appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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These Benefits Might Make You Want to Quit Your Job and Work for Nielsen
The first 2016 U.S. Presidential debate ended up attracting 84 million viewers.
That’s a record number.
Compare that to Super Bowl 50, which glued 111.9 million viewers to the TV. (That was the Carolina Panthers versus the Denver Broncos one.) The reunion episodes of “The Real Housewives of New York” averaged some 2 million viewers.
How am I, the queen of mathematical anxiety, pulling these numbers?
The Nielsen Company, of course.
You’ve heard of Nielsen. It’s the company that’s been tracking what people watch, listen to and buy since 1923.
Nearly 100 years later, the company’s still thriving — and, even better, it’s hiring tons of field representatives across the U.S.
This isn’t your typical work-from-your-home-office gig. As a Nielsen field service representative, you’ll visit and manage Nielsen households near you.
Become a Field Service Representative for The Nielsen Company
Basically, Nielsen pays panel members to be tracked. But it’s not that creepy. The company just wants to know what your consumer behavior is like — what TV shows you watch, what’s in your fridge and what apps you use on your phone.
That’s how the company manages to pop out ratings.
This is where field service representatives come in. You don’t have to be tracked, but you do have to work with the families and households who are.
As a field service rep, you’ll make home visits to install, maintain, troubleshoot and demonstrate the equipment.
Be nice, because you’ll need to build relationships and collect and report demographics and audience analytics. You should be comfortable chatting it up — maybe even sometimes turning into an impromptu salesperson when needed.
Why Work for The Nielsen Company?
The perks are pretty sweet. You’ll be required to spend three weeks training in Tampa, Florida (of five weeks total).
But wait, you naysayers. The training is paid, and housing and transportation (flights, too!) are provided.
Once that’s over, you’ll return home, where you don’t have to report to an office, and you’ll work flexible hours — including evening hours and weekends. You’ll also get a company car (totally feeling like Oprah right now) with insurance, gas and maintenance included.
Even more: Your comprehensive benefits package goes into effect your first day and includes medical, dental and vision insurance — plus a 401(k).
You’ll also get a laptop and mobile phone and all the required techy things. Oh, and compensation starts at $36,400 with monthly bonuses if you’re doing a good job.
Am I Qualified to Get This Job — and Those Insane Benefits?
You’ll need some past experience in market research, social services or commissioned sales positions.
A bachelor’s degree — in anything — is preferred but not required, though a high school diploma is. You should also have a valid driver’s license.
For all the qualifications and more details on the position, you can find all the job listings on The Nielsen Company’s career page. Just search “field service representative.”
Want more flexible job opportunities? Visit our Facebook jobs page.
Your Turn: Have you ever had your TV watching habits tracked by the Nielsen Company?
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
The post These Benefits Might Make You Want to Quit Your Job and Work for Nielsen appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Which Content Marketing Strategies Have the Biggest Impact on Keyword Rankings?
The term “content marketing” is a wide umbrella.
It encompasses a plethora of different strategies and techniques.
But at the end of the day, one of your primary goals is to create content that ranks as highly as possible on search engine results pages (SERPs).
This is important because organic traffic is the number one means of generating traffic for many companies.
A study from The Bright Edge even “found that organic search drives 51 percent of all visitors to B2B and B2C websites trumping all other non-organic channels.”
This means one thing.
You need to figure out the relationship between content marketing strategies and keyword rankings.
This is instrumental in fine-tuning your content marketing campaign and finding the right areas to focus on.
In this post, I analyze data from multiple studies and draw on my own knowledge and experience to give you a clear idea of the content strategies demanding the most attention.
So, let’s see which strategies have the biggest impact on keyword rankings.
Rich content
I won’t waste your time telling you about the importance of creating quality content.
You already know that.
But I’d like to share with you this statistic from an infographic on Quick Sprout:
That’s a lot of links!
And I’m sure you know the integral role links play in SEO.
This graph from Moz illustrates the importance of links and their influence on Google’s algorithm:
Let’s put this information together.
When you create rich content, it gets you more links.
These links improve your overall SEO, which improves your rankings.
So, being diligent about achieving and maintaining rigorous quality standards should be of the utmost concern.
Long-form content
Here’s the deal with long-form content.
It’s hot right now. Scorching hot.
I remember a few years ago when your average blog post was only somewhere around 500 words.
But if you look at the vast majority of content that ranks on page one of Google SERPs today, it’s rare that you’ll find anything under 1,000 words.
To prove just how important long-form has become, I would like to show you a couple of graphs.
The first is from a fairly old (September 2012) article I wrote on Quick Sprout.
I got the data from research performed by SerpIQ:
As you can see, every single piece of content that ranked on the first page had at least 2,000 words.
More specifically,
The first result typically has 2,416 words and the 10th result has 2,032 words.
Newer research (September 2016) from Brian Dean of Backlinko shows a similar pattern:
According to his research,
The average word count of a Google first page result is 1,890.
That’s over 500 words fewer than the original research from SerpIQ indicated back in 2012…526 to be exact.
But it still shows us long-form content is a key element in achieving solid rankings.
Why is this so?
The way I look at it, there are two main reasons for this phenomenon.
First, people have a tendency to scan through content these days.
Few actually sit down and read a 2,000-word piece word for word in its entirety.
Instead, they scan through and look at the sub-headers that grab their attention and may read little snippets of text from there.
Long-form content facilitates this new method of reading.
Second, a longer word count tends to translate into more links.
And this makes sense.
The more content you provide, the more opportunities for it to be linked to.
Put all this together, and you can see that long-form content means higher rankings.
Who knows, the whole “long-form content bubble” may pop in a few years.
But it’s stronger than ever at the moment.
However, it appears that the ideal word count has been reduced considerably, and you should aim for just south of 2,000 words.
How do you create 2,000-word content?
- Decide on a specific and narrow topic.
- Create a compelling title.
- Discuss the issue from every angle.
- Provide as much detail as possible.
- If possible, provide step-by-step instructions on how to do something.
You should never stuff your articles with words just for the sake of hitting a word count.
But you should strive for detail, depth, clarity, and mastery of a subject matter.
Here’s what I’ve discovered about long-form content. When you truly make an effort to provide value in your content, it expands in length.
That’s not to say that you can’t provide value with a 400-word article.
But the level of value created in a 2,000-word article is usually much greater.
Content with “topical relevance”
But the plot thickens.
The same Backlinko article also points out that
content rated as “topically relevant” significantly outperformed content that didn’t cover a topic in-depth. Therefore, publishing focused content that covers a single topic may help with rankings.
Topical relevance basically combines my first two points of creating rich content and long-form content.
It simply means that Google values content that’s comprehensive and that thoroughly covers a topic.
This means it’s best to focus on a single topic for each piece of content you create.
Rather than bouncing around from subject to subject, you’re better off going all in on a single topic and leaving no stone unturned.
Does this mean you can’t discuss other topics?
No. In fact, you should touch on as many relevant topics as possible! But your focus should be on a single topic.
If you feel you need to cover a topic you weren’t able to get around to in the post, create a separate piece of content and cover it in-depth as well.
Using long-tail keywords
This strategy has been in existence seemingly since the dawn of SEO—back when SEO was in its primordial soup stage.
One of the main ways small-scale marketers have been competing with the big dogs is by using long-tail keywords.
And why wouldn’t they? It freaking works.
In fact, I’ve been using this strategy for years.
I even used it to grow my search traffic by 51% in just three months!
And guess what? It still works brilliantly.
An infographic from Adept states that “pages optimized for long-tail keywords move up 11 positions on average, compared to just 5 positions for head keywords.”
It’s really not rocket science.
Using long-tail keywords means less competition, which means a greater likelihood of achieving a favorable ranking.
The awesome thing is that long-tail searches account for roughly 70 percent of searches:
This means there’s plenty of opportunity out there.
Of course, you won’t get the same volume of traffic that you would for a head keyword or broad keyword, but you can still generate some sizable traffic if you do your keyword research and choose a phrase that receives a reasonable number of searches.
Check out this post from NeilPatel.com for a step-by-step walkthrough of integrating long-tail keywords into your blog posts.
The process is fairly straightforward:
- Do your typical keyword research (using Google AdWords Keyword Planner or your preferred tool)
- Select the long-tail keywords from the list (3 words or more)
- Use these keywords in your content.
Image-rich content
If you haven’t heard, people respond positively to images.
It’s true.
And although I think the whole visual-centric discussion has been done to death, I would like to reference one more point from the Backlinko article I mentioned earlier.
According to Brian Dean,
Industry studies have found that image-rich pages tend to generate more total views and social shares.
But here’s the interesting thing.
Using at least one image is much better than not using any images at all.
However, they couldn’t find a correlation between the total number of images and rankings.
That means there’s no proof that using a lot of images will improve your rankings any further.
In other words, using just one image would in theory have the same effect as using 10 or more images.
The key takeaway is this:
Using a single image is clearly better than zero images. Including lots of images doesn’t seem to have an impact on search engine rankings.
When it comes to my posts, this information isn’t going to stop me from sprinkling plenty of images throughout my content.
In fact, you probably know that many of my posts are jam-packed with images.
I think my audience enjoys the “eye candy,” and graphs in particular are excellent for explaining fairly complex concepts.
But keep this in mind when creating your next piece of content: going nuts with images probably isn’t necessary.
Direct answers
If you’re not sure what I mean by “direct answers,” it’s simple.
Google is now starting to show direct answers when you use a “how to,” “what is,” “who is,” etc. type of search.
Here’s an example:
The first thing that pops up at the top of the page is a clip from the top ranking site.
It’s a way to streamline the process and offer searchers direct information without them having to actually click on the link.
Of course, oftentimes they’ll still click on the link to find more in-depth information.
I know I often do.
So, here’s the deal.
Providing a direct answer can be beneficial and a viable strategy for killing it on SERPs.
If you can provide a quick, logical, and direct answer, especially for a long-tail keyword phrase, there’s a good chance you can get your content featured at the top.
Just be sure your direct answer transitions smoothly into the rest of your content.
Here’s how I typically use this strategy:
- Identify a question marketers are asking.
- Create an article answering this question.
- Provide a step-by-step solution to the issue.
When I follow this three-step process, the articles I write on those topics usually rank on page one for the associated keyword within five days or less.
This is the primary technique I’m currently using on NeilPatel.com, and it’s earned me over 800,000 unique monthly visitors.
Conclusion
I value objectivity when determining the approach of my content marketing strategy.
I find that examining the cold hard facts clears most biases and preconceived notions I might have.
This is important because this gives me the clearest path to achieving my goals.
While there are countless factors that contribute to keyword rankings, the ones I listed here appear to have the biggest impact pound-for-pound.
Putting your attention on these key areas should ensure that your content marketing is heading in the right direction while giving you the best chance of climbing in the SERPs.
What do you think the most important content marketing strategy for improving your rankings is?
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Looking for New Work? Five Key Things You Can Do Beyond Sending Out Resumes and Applications
It’s an almost automatic response. You need a job, or you’re unhappy at your current job. What do you do? You start applying elsewhere. You look up online job listings. You fill out applications. You send out resumes and cover letters.
While that’s definitely a key step in the process, you’re often just tossing your resume or application into a pile with a lot of other resumes and applications. The question isn’t whether you apply, but how exactly you’re going to rise to the top of that pile.
The truth is that most of the time, it is the factors beyond the resume or application that causes yours to rise to the top of the stack. The factors that set people apart and line them up for interviews comes from the extra steps that people take.
If you want to get a new job beyond an entry-level position, you have to bring something more to the table. Here are five additional things you should be doing to bring that “something extra” into the mix.
#1 – Go to meetups and trade shows
If there are any meetings or shows related to your career in your area, go to them. Go to all of them. If you don’t even know where to start looking, a great place to start is to use Meetup and go to anything that is related to what you want to be doing next in your career.
The goal of these meetings is threefold. First, you can actually learn some things about your career path that can prove useful, both at your current job and where you might be going next. Second, regular participation in a group related to your career can make for a good entry on your resume.
The third reason is perhaps the most valuable one, though: it provides you with an opportunity to meet people in your area in your professional field. Meetups and trade shows are loaded with people in overlapping careers from a wide variety of employers. It’s those people – and those potential relationships – that will help you find an open door to the next step in your career.
#2 – Join a trade association related to your career
If your career path offers a trade association of any kind, become a member of that association. Usually, this will give you access to a publication, meetings for that association, and perhaps most useful, a job board.
Those benefits provide most of the advantages of going to meetups and trade shows in your area, as discussed above, and trade association membership is definitely worth a resume mention.
Trade association job boards might not directly lead you to a job, but they often provide a place to find jobs that aren’t posted on all of the normal job outlets. Often, they’re looking for people who have a trade association membership as a prerequisite, one that you meet, so the membership is directly giving you a path to additional job options.
#3 – Do volunteer work
There are few better ways to meet a wide cross section of big-hearted people in your community than through volunteer work. You’ll meet and get to know people from a wide variety of career paths and backgrounds and they’re all predisposed to think positively of each other because you’re all spending time doing charitable things.
Such civic-minded groups are often full of people who want to build a better community for everyone – and they’re also full of people who do want to connect with each other as part of building that community. A community is made of people, after all, and those groups are often the backbone of it. You’ll find yourself building great resume material, building connections with pillars of your community, learning new skills, and making a ton of good personal and professional connections, all while doing something great for your community. Civic groups and volunteer groups are wonderful tools for anyone wanting to build a lasting career or business in a local community.
You can get started by joining a volunteer or civic group in your area. Look at groups like Habitat for Humanity for starters, and also take a look at the civic groups mentioned on your community’s website, such as the Lion’s Club.
#4 – Get active in social media in a professional way
Many career paths offer thriving online communities where people are constantly exchanging ideas and discussion topics in an effort to improve themselves, build strong professional relationships, and carve out a name for themselves. It’s incredibly worthwhile for you to get involved in those groups.
On social media, your ideas rule. It’s a fast-flowing exchange of information and ideas, and when you can contribute in a useful way by answering questions and contributing value to discussions, you tend to raise your profile and build followers and connections. Jump on there, look for professional conversations you can add to, and dive in. Take note of people you see frequently sharing good ideas and build up a connection with those people.
Twitter and LinkedIn are great places to start. Twitter is best for conversation and sharing ideas with a broader audience, while LinkedIn is useful for finding connecting with people you may somehow already be associated with.
#5 – Follow up with the people you meet
The first four steps in this process are going to introduce you to a lot of people who are in your field or in related fields. Those people are often going to be the difference maker when it comes to getting a good job.
When you meet someone who seems interesting at a meetup or a trade show or a volunteer activity or on social media, follow up with that person. Exchange contact information with them, then jot down a reminder of why you should follow up with that person.
Then follow up. Send that person a message related to the reason you intended to follow up with, then keep that exchange going. Don’t be afraid to ask this person, after a few exchanges, whether or not they know of any job openings that you might fit well.
Final Thoughts
You can have all of the skills in the world, but in the end it’s relationships that often make the difference in terms of getting your resume noticed. The key to getting a great job, then, isn’t just sending out your resume (though that’s important) and it isn’t just having a great resume (though that’s vital, too), but it’s having lots of relationships that can help you get your foot in the door.
Every career step I’ve taken has been aided by a professional relationship of some kind. My academic advisor in college got me my first job that had anything to do with my career path. My supervisor at that job essentially took me with him when he switched jobs. My mentor at that job ended up hiring me himself, and then when that contract was about to run out, I was hired by another group that I had built a relationship with while working for my earlier mentor.
Yes, at each step, I had the skills I needed for the next step in my journey, but without strong professional relationships, I would have never been able to progress in my career path. It is those relationships that make all the difference when you’re taking a step forward in your career. Those relationships will push your resume to the top of the stack. Those relationships will open doors for you.
It’s up to you to step through it.
The post Looking for New Work? Five Key Things You Can Do Beyond Sending Out Resumes and Applications appeared first on The Simple Dollar.
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OPENING BELL: US stocks waver in early trading
Sears Holdings plunged 9 percent in early trading Wednesday after the struggling retailer said it was doubtful it would be able to keep operating.
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Source Business - poconorecord.com http://ift.tt/2nJvHSJ
We’re in Love with This Old Navy Hack That Helped Us Score a Free Shirt
Clothes never last.
No matter how careful I am with my laundry, I’ve had shirts transform into crop tops after washing on cold — and not even drying them.
I’ve had sandals break after tripping on a crack in the sidewalk (that’s happened more than I’d like to admit…).
And I’ve had pants wrinkle up to capris.
That’s why I’m resolving to not spend a lot of money on clothes anymore. My go-to shopping destination has become Old Navy and this deal just made that decision even better. (If you have any other store recommendations, hit your girl up!)
How to Snag a Free Shirt From Old Navy Before Summer Swings In
Right now, if you spend $5 or more at Old Navy, you can get $5 back. That means if you somehow find something for $5, you basically get it for free.
Here’s how to get in on this deal:
- Go to TopCashback, sign up with your email, and create a password. It takes approximately five seconds. Click “Join.”
- Verify your account through your email.
- Click “Get Offer Now,” and you’ll be redirected to Old Navy. TopCashBack can still track your purchase, though!
- Find what you want. I spy a staple black cami on sale for $16, perfect for summer nights out or with a sweater at work. Swimwear is also 50% off right now. There’s a whole maternity section, too.
Stripes are my weakness, and a striped T-shirt is $5. If I don’t want to spend any money at all, this is perfect. I’m getting a stripe tee for free! (And it rhymes.)
- Go about your normal shopping and check out when you’re ready.
- Within 14 days, $5 will pop into your TopCashback account.
It’s way too easy not to do, in my opinion. But the offer lasts until April 13!
Your Turn: I already asked, but, really, I need to know… Where do you buy cute, affordable clothing that isn’t paper thin these days?!
Carson Kohler (@CarsonKohler) is a junior writer at The Penny Hoarder. She’s a recovering shopaholic.
The post We’re in Love with This Old Navy Hack That Helped Us Score a Free Shirt appeared first on The Penny Hoarder.
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Cheque clearing to fall from six days to one
Cheques will soon clear by the following weekday, down from the current six weekday waiting time.
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Eight savings accounts to beat 2.3% inflation
Savers are facing a new battle as the UK’s rate of inflation is now higher than the interest rate offered by all easily accessible savings accounts.
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Plusnet fined £880,000 for billing ex-customers
Plusnet has today been fined £880,000 by Ofcom for continuing to bill more than a thousand ex-customers.
The telecoms regulator found that Plusnet, which is owned by BT, had an error with its billing system that meant it continued to charge some customers for their landline or broadband after they’d cancelled their service.
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Three Big Mistakes Students Make When Accepting Financial Aid
I graduated college with $145,000 in student loans. The worst part about it? I was willfully ignorant about the amount I borrowed. It would all be paid off by Future Me, right? Besides, not once during my economics courses was there a discussion about the adverse effects of high student debt. How bad could it be?
In a word: devastating.
A recent study from the nonprofit group American Student Assistance recently took a look at the effects of student loan debt on young adults. The results are troubling. Among those with student loan debt:
- 56% worry about repaying their loan either all the time (26%) or often (30%);
- 40% report that worrying about their student loans has impacted their health;
- 61% have considered getting a second job to help pay off their student loans; and
- 54% of young workers report that right now, paying off student loans comes first, and they will put off saving for retirement until later.
So, how do high school students make smart choices about college that won’t leave them struggling under a large debt burden? Maybe a better way to think about it is in terms of what not to do. I spoke with Kevin Fudge, director of consumer advocacy and ombudsman at ASA’s Center for Consumer Advocacy, about three big mistakes that college-bound students make when it comes to accepting financial aid.
Mistake #1: Accepting Too Much Financial Aid
Accepting too much help might seem like an oxymoron at first. Why wouldn’t you accept every penny of aid that a school offers?
Because, Fudge says, “Even with a so called ‘full ride’ scholarship, you can still be eligible for up to $5,700 in aid per year. If you take the max every year, you’re going to end up almost $23,000 in debt,” despite going to school for free.
It comes down to the huge difference between scholarships and loans. Colleges can be somewhat cagey with this concept, because all the money they offer is lumped under the generic catch-all category of “aid.”
As Fudge bluntly puts it, “Aid is a bit of a misnomer. Keep in mind that you’re on the hook for every single penny you take out that is not a scholarship or grant.”
This may be a new concept for some college hopefuls; I know I had never considered it. I thought if you got a full ride, you were guaranteed to graduate debt-free. It’s critical for students to understand the nuances of their aid packages.
Imagine this scenario: You’re considering two comparable schools that cost $30,000 per year.
- School A offers you a yearly aid package of $25,000.
- School B offers you a yearly aid package of $15,000.
At first glance, School A seems like the better choice. But, you might dig deeper and discover that School A offers only $5,000 in scholarships and grants, while $20,000 of the aid package is comprised of loans. School B, on the other hand, is offering $12,000 in scholarships and grants, plus $3,000 in loans.
So, while you’re not receiving as much “aid” from School B, you are actually being offered substantially more in total scholarship money, which don’t have to be paid back. Assuming the schools offer a comparable education, it would make more sense to select the smaller aid package.
These sorts of distinctions are why it’s so critical to understand the nuances of your financial aid package.
Furthermore, when extra aid is offered to low-income families, it creates a particularly tricky conundrum. On the one hand, a college degree can open up a lifetime of higher pay. At the same time, low-income students may feel like they need to stretch themselves even further to earn one, and risk ending up deep in debt with no degree to show for it. “The student has zero ability to pay, but has the option of taking out $20,000-plus in loans,” Fudge says. “It’s a flaw in the system.”
So, how do you mitigate the risks of taking out too many loans? It comes down to treating your college choice the same way you would any other large purchase: You have to try to take the emotion out of it.
“Have a budget in mind, the same way you would if you were shopping for a house,” Fudge says. “You don’t want to get emotionally attached to marble countertops and overpay for them when house shopping. Similarly, you don’t want to overpay for a school because it has pretty brick buildings. Stay true to your principles and don’t get swayed.”
The psychological hurdles are huge, but not insurmountable. As with budgeting for anything else, it’s important to set realistic goals and stick to them.
Mistake #2: Underestimating the Total Cost of Your Loans
“Students always need to consider the overall investment in their higher education, not just the first-year costs,” says Fudge.
A common mistake is to calculate what sort of financial aid package you’ll be receiving your freshman year, and then to extrapolate those numbers going forward. This can lead to misunderstandings in figuring out what your payments will be on a yearly basis.
For one thing, prices can go up while you’re in school. Let’s say you plan on paying for $10,000 a year yourself, and taking out loans to cover the rest. If first-year tuition is $20,000, and you take out $10,000 in loans, don’t assume you’ll be taking out a total of $40,000 in loans over four years. By your third or fourth year, tuition could be up to $25,000 a year or more, leaving you on the hook for thousands more dollars a year.
What’s more, it’s important to consider the cost of interest on your student loans. As expensive as the sticker price of college already is, you’ll be paying even more than that if you end up taking years or decades to pay it all off.
Finally, remember that scholarships will often list their total award amount, rather than their yearly amount. That means a $10,000 scholarship might not pay you $10,000 per year, but actually $2,500 per year spread out over four years. “Unless you thoroughly understand your financial aid offering, yearly costs can be easy to miscalculate. Also, remember that scholarships can be both one-time and renewable,” Fudge says.
Calculating total costs is made more difficult by the fact that there is no uniformity when it comes to college aid letters. Often a “President’s Scholarship” will mean different things from different schools, for example, and carry a different award amount.
It can’t be stated too many times: Read and digest the entire student aid package from each and every school you are considering.
Mistake #3: Putting Too Much Faith in a School’s Financial Aid Office
The people working in a university financial aid office are supposed to be your go-to resource for figuring out how to pay for college – and often, they can be helpful to that end. Unfortunately, their advice can sometimes be influenced by their more primary goal: increasing enrollment, even if it means saddling students with a lot of debt.
Rather than blindly take the financial aid office at its word, Fudge advises a more holistic approach to figuring out how much aid you can take on.
“The most important part is having a budget and sticking with it,” he says. “Beyond that, talk to current college students and recent graduates about their experience. Parents who talk to other parents, or students who talk to recent alumni, are the best equipped to make these tough decisions.”
Furthermore, there are tons of free resources available to help students make student loan decisions; a good first step is to start with your state board of higher education. Regardless, Fudge recommends seeking help from a neutral third party. “Sometimes, both your high school and your prospective college won’t be working with your best interests in mind,” Fudge says.
As with any other financial decision, the only person who will always have your best interests in mind is you.
Summing Up
Thoroughly read your financial aid documents, consult with independent experts, and talk to people who have been down the same road. If you take the time to do those three things, you’ll be well prepared to avoid financial aid pitfalls.
Remember: Once you get into debt, it’s ugly. Student loan debt is a giant gorilla that jumps on your back the moment you graduate. It can weigh you down, demand constant attention, and grow bigger the more you ignore it.
Once you know what’s coming, you can fortify yourself by becoming strong enough to bear the burden while simultaneously ensuring you have less weight to carry. You want your hard earned money going toward your retirement, not toward feeding a hungry, angry ape.
Related Articles:
- What I Wish I Knew Before Accepting Student Loans
- Four Strategies to Stay Sane While Battling a Student Debt
- Best Student Loans in 2017
- College Decision Time: How to Compare Financial Aid Packages and Pick the Right School
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