FAFSA filings down 15.5%; Interactives to Nudge Students to File the FAFSA
FAFSA filings are down 15.5% on year over year basis. We all know the consequences of students failing to file a FAFSA and the importance of filing early. Some awards have limited resources, and those who wait until the last minute to file could be out of luck as funding dries up.
Here are three interactives you can use to nudge your students to file a FAFSA now.
FAFSA Tracker - The #FormYourFuture FAFSA Tracker is an interactive data dashboard that tracks and ranks states’ progress...
Question of the Day (Updated): What's the average student loan debt for Americans over 60?
Answer: $33,800
Questions:
Did you expect people over 60 to still have student debt? Why or why not?
What do you think causes someone to still have student debt at age 60?
How do you think having student debt impacts their lifestyle?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.
Behind the numbers (Wall Street Journal):
"On average, student loan borrowers in their 60s owed $33,800 in 2017, up 44% from 2010,...
Question of the Day (Updated): What undergraduate college major provides graduates with the highest median mid-CAREER salary?
Answer: Petroleum Engineering with a mid-career median pay at $176,900
Questions:
Have you given much thought to a college major? If so, do any of the majors in the chart interest you?
How would you describe the majors that rank highest in terms of median career earnings? What similarities do they have?
These mid-career salaries are based on a person’s bachelor’s degree. Do you think it is important to continue education before moving into a career? (ex. Graduate...
NEW! NGPF On-Demand deepens teacher content knowledge anytime, anywhere
Note: This pilot period of NGPF On-Demand has closed.
Your schedule has never been busier this fall. Your desire to deepen your content knowledge has never been greater. You've raised your expectations for what PD should be. You want to be highly engaged, you want curated resources to be of high quality and you want lots of learning packed into a short time period. While you love live PD, you are also looking for opportunities to learn anytime, anywhere and at your own pace. Oh, of...
Question of the Day (Updated): What factors are most important to students in picking a college [during Covid]?
Answer: Cost of Attendance and Distance from Home
[these factors caused students to alter their first-choice university the most]
Here are some great follow-up questions to ask your students about this resource:
Were any of these reasons on the list surprising to you? Why or why not?
Are there any reasons you think are missing from this list?
If a friend was deciding where to go to college, what would be some of the reasons you would tell them? Why would you emphasize these particular points?...
3 Interactives: The Rising Cost of College
The cost of college has skyrocketed over the past fifty years significantly outpacing CPI (see chart on the right). There is no singular reason why, unfortunately, it was a perfect storm of problems that have coalesced to arguably one of the greatest challenges we face as a country.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of consumer goods and services. In other words, the inflation rate. In our...
Reading List for October 16-18
By Beth Tallman
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Oct 16, 2020
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Current Events, Economics, Investing, Paying for College, Budgeting, Insurance, Retirement
Economics
Retail sales up 1.9% in September. (CNBC)
The unexpectedly big gain in spending comes after months of historically high savings as consumers retrenched due to the Covid-19 scare. The personal savings rate peaked at 33.6% in April and remained at 14.1% in August, the highest pre-pandemic rate since June 1975.
(Ed Yardeni) took a closer look at the recovery by sector of the economy in his blog post dated October 9.
First-time unemployment claims of 898,000 back on the rise this...
Question of the Day (Update): What was the average amount of student debt for 2019 college graduates?
Answer: $28,950
Click for interactive map
Questions:
Does the number “$28,950” seem like high average amount of debt? Why or why not?
Given that the average new car loan is over $30,000, would you think of student debt differently from a car loan in terms of what you are receiving for the debt?
Explain how and why you are concerned about student debt. What can you do to minimize your debt when you graduate?
Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question...
Reading List for October 9-11
Economy
Jobless claims over 800,000 last week. (Yahoo Finance) (Graph below)
“Last hired, first fired? Employment losses across age groups.” It is not a pretty picture for young workers. (FRED)
If you ever wanted to live in NY, it hasn’t been this cheap to rent an apartment in Manhattan since 2013! (Bloomberg)
On the other hand, Denver is a hot real estate market. (CNBC)
Investing
On one hand: Warren Buffet values dividends. (USA Today)
And on the other hand: Investor...
Question of the Day (Updated): How many seniors in your high school completed the FAFSA last year?
Starting October 1st, the 2021-22 FAFSA form became available. This QoD can get that conversation started.
Answers wil vary.
You can find this answer by clicking on this link here and searching for your school. Use the "Applications Complete" figure for August 31, 2020.
Questions:
Why is the FAFSA important when it comes to paying for college?
What percent of seniors in your high school completed the FAFSA? Hint: Take the number of completed FAFSAs and divide by number of 2020...
Reading List for October 2-4
Economics
How the pandemic is hurting working mothers disproportionately. (Knowledge@Wharton)
Weekly jobless claims came in at 837,000 last week. Over 25 million are still collecting benefits, and household income declined last month by 2.7%.(AP NEWS)
September employment report: 661,000 jobs added and 7.9% unemployment---definitely slowing, and these numbers don’t reflect upcoming layoffs at American, United, Goldman Sachs, Disney, etc. and business closures expected in...
EdPuzzle Thursday: College Majors & Tuition
EdPuzzle is a great platform to test for knowledge while students watch a video and learn remotely. We will be releasing new EdPuzzle videos here on the blog each week so that your students can answer questions that are directly embedded within engaging videos.
This week we have two EdPuzzle videos both focusing on paying for college.
The first EdPuzzle video titled "How To Save On Tuition" discusses ways to pay for college costs through free money, your money, and borrowed...
Reading List for September 25-27
Economics
Housing
Unlike 2008, housing is holding up the economy during this recession. (CNN)
U.S. new home sales rise to near 14-year high last month (CNBC)
But the pandemic has driven demand up and supply down in many markets, pushing home prices out of reach of many. (CNBC2) (WSJ-subscription)
Unemployment/Pandemic
New unemployment claims last week were 870,000, still at historically high levels as states struggle with backlogs and identifying fraudulent claims. Continuing claims...
EdPuzzle Thursday: Financial Aid
EdPuzzle is a great platform to test for knowledge while students watch a video and learn remotely. We will be releasing new EdPuzzle videos here on the blog each week so that your students can answer questions that are directly embedded within engaging videos.
This week's EdPuzzle video "What Every Student Needs to Know About Financial Aid" reviews the importance of the FAFSA and the types of financial aid available to pay for college.
Interested in more...
Reading List for September 11-13
Economics
A majority of young adults (52%) live with parents for the first time since the Great Depression (graph at bottom of post). (Pew Research)
Real Estate: “Booming” Zoom towns and “Gloomy” urban rental markets. The statistic above may explain some of the “gloom.” You will find some interesting statistics in this one. (NPR)
Unemployment: New jobless claims settle down at a still, unprecedented rate of 884,000. And 839,000 applied for the Pandemic...
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