Help With College Applications at CollegeZapps.com

We've all heard it, the economy is bad, real estate prices are down and parents and their children are having a hard time getting financial assistance for college. The regular fall back loan source like Home Equity and other traditional loans are getting harder to get. That is why people need help in going through all these applications for admission and financial assistance. I saw this press release about a company named College Zapps (www.collegezapps.com) where the CEO, David Kenney, discussed the current situation facing parents and students when applying for student loans. The press release also discussed the recommendations made by CollegeZapps.com on how to apply for colleges. Among the suggestions is to apply to many colleges, increasing the chances of admission and giving you more options for financial aid. They gave a lot of helpful suggestions and tips. If you need assistance in getting financial aids for college, then this company is the perfect fit for you.Learn more about college application assistance at CollegeZapps.com

Press Release:

Student Aid Requests Soar - Families Feel Pinch in Tight Economy

Littleton, CO – August 27, 2008 – Facing a sputtering economy, escalating tuition costs and a rise in college admission applications; would be college students are applying for financial aid in surging numbers. Nationally, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms during the first half of 2008, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period last year.

For decades, the federal student loan program has helped tens of millions of students pay for college. About 47 percent of families borrow money to help get kids through college, according to a study released August 20th by lender Sallie Mae and Gallup. The study affirmed that federal loans are easily the most popular source of borrowing.

“The student loan industry has experienced a volatile year and the impact of this volatility is starting to trickle down to parents and students. Tighter lending standards and falling housing prices have made it harder for parents to tap home-equity loans and lines of credit to pay their kids' education bills,” said David Kenney, CEO of CollegeZapps. It is critical for parents and students to have options. If you don’t apply – you can’t be accepted. If you are not accepted to multiple colleges - you don’t have choices.”

“Each college has a different cost of attendance based on factors such as tuition, fees, room, board, projected expenses and regional costs of living. Parents and students want to weigh their best options of grants, scholarships, loans, and work study,” continued Kenney.

In an interview titled “The Credit Crisis and Student Loans” on the PBS Nightly Business Report, Brian Lee Sang, Financial Aid Director at American University said, “It's creating issues where families are coming to us asking us for institutional help, saying, hey can I get more money any way to try to help get us through the spring semester. But I think more colleges are going to see even more of this and feel the impact of this next year.”

Families are looking for more options.

CollegeZapps www.collegezapps.com has opened a window of options for parents and college applicants by simplifying and streamlining the college application process. With CollegeZapps completing actual college applications is now fast, accurate and professional. Students can spend more time choosing what colleges best fit them, applying to more colleges in less time, and reducing the redundancy that comes with filling out multiple application forms.

CollegeZapps recommends applying to as many as 10 colleges and dividing them up into three groups:

Group one: Apply to colleges where you feel you'll most likely to be accepted. These are usually called "safeties" or "back ups."
Group two: Apply to colleges that are overall good matches, with a high probability that you will be accepted. These are colleges that fit academically and socially.
Group three: Apply to "reach" colleges. These are colleges that present an admissions challenge.

For more information, visit www.collegezapps.com or contact Scot Talcott at (866) 492.7607 or (303) 785.8600.

My Straight A Student

Congratulations to my daughter, she finished the school year with all A's just like the preceeding school year. She also got a Composite national percentile rank of 99 in the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS). This means that she scored higher than 99 percent of third grade students nationally. It said that her overall achievement appears to be high for third grade. I'm thankful that she does not have any problems academically. I hope it will be the same for my son too.

For parents whose son or daughter are having academic problems in school, getting a Tutor might be the answer. Choosing one is not easy, the parents need to be vigilant in getting a tutor that has the right background and attitude. One of the world's largest one-on-one tutoring program is Club Z! Their tutors can help students improve their grades, raise their test scores, learn productive study skills, build their academic self-confidence, and reach their full potential.

Tutors for Your Child

School is almost over and kids are excited that summer vacation is starting soon. Amber did wonderful in 3rd grade, getting straight A+ the whole school year. For students who received less than excellent grades, having a Tutor will do wonders for their academic lives. Every child learns at a different pace and some children needs more personal attention and one-on-one interaction when it comes to studies.

Getting a tutor at ClubZ! Tutoring Services ( http://clubztutoring.com) will help alleviate the child's problem. Their tutors will help the child gain academic confidence in class, improve their grades and learn effective study skills. They can also help if the child has Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or if your child needs help in studying for a test like the SATs. ClubZ! Tutoring Services also offers tutors for in-house schooling.

Elementary School Fundraisers

My daughter goes to a Catholic school and along with the tuition fees we also have to make a yearly 'contribution'. With the way the Catholic Churches' finances are these days, the schools have to rely on fundraising to get money for school improvements. The usual fundraising drive that they have is giving each child a box of candies and snacks which can be sold for $1 each. I usually just pay for the whole box since we don't have a lot of relatives and friends who live nearby. This is better than buying gift-wrappers or some other things that I don't use much. There is a company called Schoolpop, that provides non-traditional fundraisers. They have simple elementary school fundraisers for schools of all sizes. They offer a program where everytime you shop using the Schoolpop Platinum Visa, 1% of every purchase will go towards the school fundraising program. I think this is a great idea since it will be helping the school in earning money to use in purchasing new computer equipments, books and other important educational tools.

Educational Student Travel Tours

In less than a month, my family and I are going on a month-long trip to Europe. In the past couple of months, I've been talking to my daughter about the places that we are going to visit. I want her to get an idea on the historical importance of the Italian cities we will be going to. She already is familiar with Rome and the Vatican City since they studied about it in her religion class in school. My husband and I want our children to be well-versed in history and become seasoned travelers. I remember traveling to Germany and Austria when I was 15 years old and from then on, I got hooked and vowed to see the world.

When my children are independent enough to travel by themselves, I would consider letting them spend their Spring break doing educational travels. Instead of joining the other teens partying in the beach, I would rather see them learning history and visiting places and learn other cultures. One company called Hemisphere Educational Travel has different options for student travel. They have a program called student travel Europe and other educational travels in other parts of the world. The advantage of using their services is you don't have to worry about booking hotel rooms, transportation and other necessities. www.HemisphereTravel.com have different travel programs for students depending on what kind of experience they are looking for, be it historical, cultural or educational travels. Visit their website for more information about these wonderful educational opportunities.