Tag Archives: FAFSA

The Pay As Your Earn Calculator for Student Loans

pay as you earn

Towards the end of 2012, President Obama introduced a new student loan repayment program called: Pay as You Earn. It was activated on December 21, 2012, for all eligible borrowers.

Here is the information on the repayment plan according to the Department of Education:

[box type=”info”] To qualify for Pay As You Earn, you must have a partial financial hardship. You have a partial financial hardship if the monthly amount you would be required to pay on your eligible federal student loans under a 10-year Standard Repayment Plan is higher than the monthly amount you would be required to repay under Pay As You Earn.

For this purpose, your eligible student loans include all of your William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program loans that are eligible for Pay As You Earn, as well as certain types of Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program loans. Although your FFEL Program loans cannot be repaid under Pay As You Earn, the following types of FFEL Program loans are counted in determining whether you have a partial financial hardship: Subsidized and Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loans Federal PLUS Loans made to graduate or professional students Federal Consolidation Loans that did not repay any PLUS loans for parents

You also must be a new borrower as of Oct. 1, 2007, and must have received a disbursement of a Direct Loan on or after Oct. 1, 2011. You are a new borrower if you had no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan as of Oct. 1, 2007, or had no outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or FFEL Program loan when you received a new loan on or after Oct. 1, 2007. Your payment amount may increase or decrease each year based on your income and family size. Once you’ve initially qualified for Pay As You Earn, you may continue to make payments under the plan even if you no longer have a partial financial hardship. [/box]

Under this plan your monthly payments will be capped at 10% of your discretionary income. What is discretionary income? As defined by ED: “Your income minus the poverty guidelines for your family size.”

Here is an example if you are a family of 4 and your income is $50,000 annually. You would take $50,000, subtract the poverty level for your family size, which is $23,550, and your remaining “discretionary income” is $26,450. $26,450 divided by 12 months is $2,204. So under the “Pay As You Earn” scenario your monthly loan payments would be capped at 10% of this discretionary income or $220 per month.

Another advantage of this plan is that if you make 20 years of consecutive on time monthly payments under this program, the remaining amount of your student loans will be forgiven.

20 years is a long time…

The Bottom Line

This new repayment program only scratches the surface of the real problem with student loans: high college costs and students having zero financial sense.

It does however, give some respite for families who are struggling under the burden of student loan repayment. It may not help you pay off your student loans any faster, but it may help ease your monthly budget. Especially if you have a large family size, as your discretionary income fluctuates based on the poverty guidelines for family size.

If you are wavering on whether to switch to this new repayment plan or not, you can use the handy calculator at the Department of Education’s website, and it will tell you if this new repayment plan will save you any money or not.

Do you think this is worth a try? Or this just another government bailout is disguise?

Photo credit

Sequester Cuts Military Tuition Assistance Program – Then Brings it Back

military tuition assistance

When the dreaded “Sequester” deadline was passed on March 1st, we all thought the financial world might implode. Many politicians painted a dreary picture for the future state of our economy, and government frustration was at an all time high. Then the fallout of the sequester began to take shape.

One of the worst impacts of the sequester was the elimination of the Tuition Assistant (TA) Program for the United States Military. Separate from the G.I. Bill, the TA program provided up to $4,500 per year for active duty soldiers to take classes. Over 870,000 courses were taken last year by soldiers in this very popular program.

Needless to say the outcry was quick, and powerful.

The military was in a fury over this, and the general public was also rightly outraged. How are we showing support to our military if we cut the funding necessary for them to further their education?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Not even 3 full weeks later, and Sen. Kay Hagan from North Carolina passed a continuing resolution through the Senate that reinstated the Tuition Assistant program for active duty military under the Department of Defense.

So the program is back on, and soldiers can continue taking their courses.

What can we learn from all of this?

  • It’s best to have a back up plan! 
  • Diversification is key
  • Financial Aid can be fickle

How New College Graduates Can Avoid Debt

For the majority of college students around the country Graduation just happened. At the school I work at, we just released 2600 newly minted students to the world to seek their fortunes. This is a scary time for most graduates. Entering the work force in the current economic climate is daunting, and they are faced with odds that are already stacked against them. And unfortunately, not a single one of those college classes taught them how to get out of debt.

Fortunately, there are specific steps that new college graduates can take to avoid falling into the consumer debt trap that so many of their fellow students find themselves in.

Continue your college lifestyle for as long as possible!

There is no shame in this, and the stigma of living on ramien noodles and single ply toilet paper is rapidly receding. In fact, I would say that adults who are long removed from their college years are increasingly moving back towards their “college spending” days to save money and avoid falling further into debt.

In college, you don’t need “stuff” because you have friends and real human relationships to occupy your time as opposed to china patterns and big screen tv’s. By avoiding the trap of lifestyle inflation as soon as you get a job, you will be able to establish a firm foundation, start paying off your student loans, establish an emergency fund, and even set aside money for your future (spouse, marriage, kids, house, new car, travel). Setting a plan, and understanding the downside of falling into lifestyle inflation will help you avoid these common mistakes.

Make a Savings/Spending Plan

One of the best pieces of financial advice my parents ever gave me was to set a strict budget and keep to it. Having a firm grasp of your budget and income needs will tell you very quickly the lifestyle you can expect to have.

In fact, if you have a Stafford Student Loan, you will be required to complete exit loan counseling when you graduate, and you will have the opportunity to create your first sample budget in that counseling session.

Understanding that a high income is got a right granted upon graduation will help you face reality, and plan accordingly. Sticking to your savings and spending plan, will help you keep that vision in check.

Scholarship of the Day: Healthy Lifestyles Scholarship

Scholarship of the Day

 

Award: $5000 

 

Deadline: May 30, 2012

The Healthy Lifestyles Scholarship is open to high school seniors and first-year college students. You must be a citizen of the U.S. or Canada and be under 25 years of age to be eligible for this award. You must also submit a maximum 1000-word essay on the following topic: “Why is a healthy lifestyle important in school?”; and in under 500 words, describe your career plans, goals, and personal ambitions.

Read here to learn How to Apply for Scholarships Effectively.

[button link=”http://www.fitnessexercises.tv/scholarships.php” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

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How to Apply:

There is no Formal Scholarship Application. To apply for the Healthy Lifestyles Scholarship, please write your scholarship essay in Microsoft Word or, if you do not have Microsoft Word, in Google office, the latter is free to use on the Internet. After you are finished the writing process, please attach it to an email and send it to: studentaward@fitnessexercises.tv. If you have any questions or concerns, please forward them to Linda Wells (linda.wells@fitnessexercises.tv ).

Previous Winners:
April 2011 – Carmelo Vargas – Texas
December 2010 – Shifang (Stephan) Cheong – California
May 2010 – Elizabeth Maalihan – Florida
December 2009 – Michael Striker – Minnesota

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Awards Available: 1

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Eligibility:

 As of May 30th, 2012, be under 25 years of age.
 Be currently a senior in high school or in your first year of college/university
 Be a resident of the United States or Canada
 Answer the following essay questions:
1) In under 1,000 words: “Why is a healthy lifestyle important in school?”
2) In under 500 words: Describe your career plans, goals, and personal ambitions

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Website: http://www.fitnessexercises.tv/scholarships.php

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Additional Information:

The $5000 award will be presented to the student who provides the most comprehensive answers to the two questions.

You could also win an additional scholarship.Win $1000 by taking part in Thepensters Writing Contest for college students.

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[button link=”http://www.fitnessexercises.tv/scholarships.php” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

Scholarship of the Day: Copyright Awareness Scholarship

Scholarship of the Day

 

Award: $5000 , $3000, and $2000

 

Deadline: May 1, 2012

The Copyright Awareness Scholarship is available to students between the ages of 13 and 25. To be considered, you must creatively present your viewpoint on the importance of intellectual property and copyright law. Entries must include a multi-media component, which can be one or all of the following: audio, video, or PowerPoint files. All audio, video, PDFs, and PowerPoint files must be saved to a CD or DVD and mailed in with the entry form. Audio and video projects should be under five minutes in length.

[button link=”http://www.mpa.org/content/2012-copyright-awareness-scholarship” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

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How to Apply:

HOW TO ENTER: To enter, beginning December 1, 2011, go to www.mpa.org or www.nafme.org and follow the instructions for completing the Application and uploading your Submission. Applications must be submitted by Tuesday, May 1 no later than 11:59 PM EST.

Limit one (1) Application and Submission per person.  Written, pictorial, audio or video responses that are obscene, pornographic, defamatory or otherwise objectionable will be disqualified. All Applications and Submissions become the property of the Sponsor and will not be returned. Sponsor assumes no responsibility for lost, late, misdirected, or unintelligible entries. By submitting an Application and Submission, you fully and unconditionally accept and agree to these Official Rules and the decisions of the Sponsor, which are final and binding.

NAFME is looking for students to creatively present their viewpoints, in VIDEO format, on The Importance of Intellectual Property and Copyright Law. All submissions must consist primarily of original material. If a submission contains copyrighted material (e.g., a song, a video clip) owned by another party, please submit evidence of permission to use that material. Submissions that contain copyrighted material but which do not include such evidence of permission to use that material will be automatically disqualified.

Videos should be in .mp4, .m4v, mov, or .wmv formats. Other formats will not be accepted. Videos should be between thirty (30) seconds and three (3) minutes. Per the application form, videos should be 20MB or less. NOTE: the online application form will not allow any file larger than 20MB.

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Awards Available: 3

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Eligibility:

The NAfME Copyright Awareness Scholarship Program Sponsored by the MPA for 2012 (the “Scholarship Program”) is open only to those legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia and individuals currently studying in one of the fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia pursuant to a valid F-1 Student Visa who are between thirteen (13) and twenty-five (25) years of age at the time of application and who are currently enrolled in an accredited secondary school or post-secondary institution of higher learning (college, university or trade school). Students must supply contact of school official so that enrollment can be confirmed.

Current employees, officers, directors and agents of Sponsor and their immediate family members (defined as spouse, domestic partner, parents, siblings and children) are not eligible to win.

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Website: http://www.mpa.org/content/2012-copyright-awareness-scholarship

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Additional Information:

SELECTION OF POTENTIAL WINNERS: Sponsor is looking for Submissions that are well-constructed and clearly and creatively address the topic. On or about May 15, 2012, a qualified panel of judges will select three (3) potential winners. All applicants will be notified of their status via email.

4. PUBLICITY: By submitting an Application and Submission, Applicant (or, if a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) agrees that Sponsor may, without any limitation or further compensation or notice, use his or her name, voice and/or likeness in any and all media, worldwide, for the purpose of advertising and promoting the Website, the Sponsor, the Scholarship Program, or any other promotion, contest or sweepstakes of the Sponsor.

5. OWNERSHIP: By submitting an Application and Submission, Applicant (or, if a minor, his/her parent or legal guardian) assigns to Sponsor the material submitted, including the worldwide copyright and any extensions, renewals, revivals, reversions and restorations thereof.  Applicant agrees that Sponsor and its designees may exploit, edit, modify, and distribute the Submission and all elements of it in any and all media now known or not currently known, throughout the world in perpetuity without compensation, permission or notification to Applicant or any third party.

6. REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES/INDEMNIFICATION: Each person who enters this Scholarship Program represents and warrants to Sponsor as follows: (i) the Application and Submission, including any written, pictorial, audio and/or video content are the Applicant’s own original, previously unpublished, and previously unproduced work (except for any copyrighted material owned by third parties as to which all necessary permission to use such material has been obtained) and, as of the date of submission, are not the subject of any actual or threatened litigation or claim; (ii) the Application and Submission, including any written, pictorial, audio and/or video content, neither infringes upon nor violates the intellectual property rights or other rights of any other person or entity; (iii) the Application and Submission, including any written, pictorial, audio, and/or video content, does not and will not violate any applicable laws, and meets the Official Rules set forth herein. Each Applicant hereby agrees to indemnify and hold the Sponsor harmless from and against any and all third party claims, actions or proceedings of any kind and from any and all damages, liabilities, costs and expenses relating to or arising out of any breach or alleged breach of any of the warranties, representations or agreements of Applicant hereunder.

7. NO OBLIGATION TO USE: Sponsor shall have no obligation (express or implied) to use any winning Submission, or to otherwise exploit a winning Submission or continue the development, production, distribution or exploitation thereof, and Sponsor may at any time abandon the use of the winning Submission for any reason, with or without legal justification or excuse, and the Scholarship prize recipients shall not be entitled to any damages or other relief by reason thereof.

8. LIST OF SCHOLARSHIP PRIZE RECIPIENTS: The names of the Scholarship prize recipients and their winning Submissions may be posted on Sponsor’s Websites.

9. SPONSOR: The NAFME Copyright Awareness Scholarship is sponsored by The Music Publishers Association of the United States and the National Association for Music Education (NAFME).

Questions regarding the Scholarship may be directed to scholarship@mpa.org.

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[button link=”http://www.mpa.org/content/2012-copyright-awareness-scholarship” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

Money for College Project Weekly Roundup: March Madness

For all of my fellow college basketball fans, we are entering our favorite time of the year: March Madness!

I love nothing more than sitting in front of the tv for hours on end watching all of the drama and suspense unfold. Who needs reality tv!

Unfortunately, my Alma Mater won’t make it into the big dance this year, but I still plan to watch as much of the tournament as possible. I’m a little jealous of Jeff at Sustainable Life; I believe he is actually going to watch some games live this year! Maybe some day…

Even if you are not a big college basketball fan, I think there is still some awesome information that can be learned from the following articles. Here is what went on at Money for College Project as well as with my Yakezie friends. Enjoy!

Money for College Project

 

[button link=”https://www.moneyforcollegeproject.com/2012/03/05/my-family-financial-fitness-day/” color=”red”] Family Financial Fitness Day[/button]

 

 

[button link=”https://www.moneyforcollegeproject.com/2012/03/06/how-higher-education-helps-the-economy/” color=”red”] Higher Ed Helps the Economy[/button]

 

 

[button link=”https://www.moneyforcollegeproject.com/2012/03/07/scholarship-of-the-day-odenza-marketing-scholarship/” color=”red”] Odenza Marketing Scholarship[/button]

 

 

 

Yakezie Friends

 

[button link=”http://sustainablelifeblog.com/2012/03/07/tenets-of-sustainability-reuse/” color=”green”] Sustainable Life – Tenets of Sustainability[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://www.stocktrendinvesting.com/blog/get-stock-investing-information-your-mobile” color=”green”] Stock Trend Investing – Mobile Stock Investing[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://www.pennypinchingprofessional.com/2012/02/drowning-in-sea-of-thesis-edits.html” color=”green”] Penny Pinching Pro – Thesis Edits[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://www.fiscalphoenix.com/fundamentals-put-the-fun-in-investing/” color=”green”]Fiscal Phoenix –  Fun in Investing[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://www.mightybargainhunter.com/2012/03/09/why-credit-elect-tax-refund/” color=”green”] Mighty Bargain Hunter  – Uncle Sam Keeps Refunds?[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://moneycactus.com/hyperbolic-discounting/” color=”green”] Money Cactus – Hyperbolic Discounting[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://www.roshawnwatson.com/are-there-any-safe-investments-anymore/” color=”green”] Roshawn Watson – Safe investments?[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://brokeprofessionals.com/2012/03/05/our-house-on-the-market-month-one/” color=”green”] Broke Professionals – House on the Market[/button]

 

 

[button link=”http://erinshanendoah.com/dogatemywallet/?p=474″ color=”green”] Dog Ate my Wallet – Budgets…[/button]

 

 

How Higher Education Helps the Economy

How Higher Education Helps the Economy

Another great infographic from our friends over at Online Universities Resource.

The main metric in this infographic is Return on Investment or ROI. They used a recent study by PayScale to determine which colleges had the best ROI. This means that based on the amount you would have to pay for tuition, your ROI is the amount of financial reward that you would receive in return for your education. Translation? How good of a job you can get and keep over the course of your career!

We’ve talked before about how your job prospects and the ability to earn a competitive wage are the new standard for colleges and universities. When you sink $100,000 into your college education and then end up with no job prospects and student loan bills that you cannot pay, you not only hurt yourself but you become a drain on society and our government. Avoiding this at all cost should be your goal. You can do this by spending as little as possible on your college education, by finding the best job possible, or by doing both and keeping all of your options open.

The chart at the bottom is also very interesting. It looks at the current unemployment rates in America and the corresponding majors that those unemployed folks pursued while in college. Architecture and the Arts have taken a beating in recent years. Always good to think about these things before deciding what your major in college will be!

My Family Financial Fitness Day

financial ftness day

This past Saturday was my annual Financial Fitness Day.

I started doing this a few years ago on a recommendation from a family friend who said that he had been doing this for the last 30 years. The concept makes perfect sense to me: a day set aside for nothing but taking care of updating, rebalancing, changing, analyzing all of your financial data and positions.

The finances of one family can become very complicated very quickly. When you factor in insurance, mortgage (or rent) payments, retirement, savings, utility bills, college savings, and taxes, it quickly becomes apparent that you could use a virtual assistant to help you keep track of your finances.

Rather than hiring someone else to handle my finances for my family, I take one day out of the year where I completely devote myself to optimizing our finances. My wife is happy to let me go for one day to focus 100% on getting our finances in order for the next year. Here are a few things that I was able to accomplish in the most recent addition of my finncial fitness day.

Researching Our Insurance Premiums

We pay a lot of money in insurance every year. We pay insurance on our cars, on our home (we used to even pay insurance on our mortgage, but thankfully that is done), on ourselves, on our life, on our business liability and equipment, and even a special jewelry policy for my wife’s engagement ring.

My task with all of the various insurance policies that we have is to research quotes and compare coverages for every policy. This ensures that we are getting the most coverage for the best price. In some areas, we are willing to pay less of a premium for less coverage 9pr a higher deductible) and in other instances, we need to pay a higher premium and have a lower deductible.

The main change that I made this year is to research how our health insurance will change when we bring our adopted child home. I had to contact my insurance provider to ensure I understood the process for adding a child to our policy, and to ensure that I completed the forms within their deadlines to ensure our baby’s medical bills were covered in the hospital.

That was the only major change in insurance that I made this year.

Rebalancing Our Portfolio

This task this year was fun. In the past, this has not been so fun. Reason being? It’s no fun to rebalance a portfolio when that portfolio lost money. This year however, we managed a 9$ increase over the previous year. Our retirement portfolio is roughly 70% in a 2055 target date index fund, and 30% in a small cap business fund. The small cap fund had growth of about 18% this past year, so I took a portion of those funds and moved them over to the target date fund to get back down to our 70% – 30% split.

Rebalancing does not have to be difficult. We have used index funds for years now, and I have enjoyed their ease of use, and their low cost. I highly recommend them.

Updating my Credit Card on Auto-Billpay

My credit card expired in February, and I had to go through and update every auto-billpay account that I use to ensure that all of the payments went through. All but 2 of our monthly bills route through our credit card so this makes it very easy to pay bills every month, but quite a headache to update the credit card on every account. This took me about 3 hours, since I had to remember the login and password for every single bill (and most of them had expired!!).

Projected Taxes for 2012

The last major task that I accomplished in my family financial fitness day was to project our taxes for 2012. We just received our taxes back from our CPA for 2011, and I needed to evaluate what changes we could make this year to lower the amount of taxes we paid. This was the first year we had a business (my wife’s photography business) so our taxes were a bit more complicated than usual.

I also worked on updating our profit and loss statement for our business and our expense report for our business tax purposes. Making this a priority now will help us be much more organized come tax time again next year.

Do you have a family financial fitness day?

What tasks do you accomplish on a day like this ?

Photo Credit

Scholarship of the Day: Big Dig Scholarship

Scholarship of the Day

 

Award: $3,000

 

Deadline: June 01, 2012

 

The Big Dig Scholarship is available to high school seniors, and college freshmen and sophomores. To be considered, you must submit an essay between 500 and 1000 words that addresses the following issue: “In 200 years, one of your relatives is going to be digging in what is now your backyard. They are going to find something that you buried in 2012, and it is going to put any financial worries they have to rest. Your job today is to decide what to bury. Your goal is to find something that will have immense value in the future.”

[button link=”http://www.antiquetrader.tv/studentscholarship.php” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

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How to Apply:

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Awards Available: 1

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Eligibility:


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Website: http://www.antiquetrader.tv/studentscholarship.php

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Additional Information:

Please include on the top of your Scholarship Essay the following:

Name:
High School:
High School or College/University* Mailing Address:

*Note College/University students need to provide the mailing address to the financial aid or admissions office. The information provided will not be shared with any third party. Please review our Privacy Policy for more information.

Scholarship Award Selection:

The winner will be selected and notified by July 15, 2012. The award will be mailed directly to the students high school or college/university.

Scholarship Questions:

Please direct any questions concerning the scholarship to Henry at: henryk@antiquetrader.tv.

June 1, 2011 Winner: Steven Garcia of Houston, Texas

December 3, 2010 Winner: Calvin Cheung of Anaheim, California

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[button link=”http://www.antiquetrader.tv/studentscholarship.php” type=”big” color=”orange” newwindow=”yes”] Apply Now[/button]

student loan collections

Top 23 Gifts for College Students

College students are generally some of the most difficult people to shop for. You are not around them all the time, so you don’t know what they could really use on a daily basis. In fact, you may not know what they need unless they ask for it. Here is a list that will help you be proactive. Whether it is a birthday, Christmas, graduation, or other special event. any gift on this list is sure to make you a huge hit with your college student!

 

No. 1 – Amazon Kindle Fire – $199

The Amazon Kindle Fire has been tagged as the iPad killer. It does allow you to browse the internet with Amazon’s Silk browser, you can download and watch movies, read books, download apps, and even connect to the Amazon Cloud storage. I’d buy one!

 

No .2 – Timex Ironman Road Trainer Heart Rate Monitor Watch – $71.60

If your college student is a runner, an athlete, or just wants to avoid the Freshman fifteen, then this heart rate monitor will do the trick. You can even view calories burned!

 

No 3 – Osprey Daylite Pack – $41.89

Having a quality pack to carry around campus is one of the best ways to promote back health, and foot health. For students who do a lot of walking, they are prone to back and foot strain because of the weight they carry. The Osprey Daylite pack prevents both of those with an ergonomic light design. And, it is super stylish!

 

No 4. – Camelback Stainless Steel Bottle – $10.95

Staying hydrated, and always having water, coffee, tea, or your other beverage of choice on hand, can be a life saver. You gift can promote health, and is virtually indestructible!

 

No 5. – NorthFace TriClimate Jacket – $278.00

In most places around the country, winter time on a college campus can be dreary. The skies are gray, exams are right around the corner, and it is just downright depressing at some times. To top it all off, it is cold, windy, rainy, and possibly snowy. That is where the North Face TriClimate jacket comes in. It is a 3 piece jacket that can be a fleece, a rain jacket shell, or a combined fleece/shell for the ultimate protection. Guaranteed to keep your college student safe from the elements on their college campus.

 

No. 6 – Bose QuietComfort 15 Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones – $299.95

Studying can be tough. A rowdy library, or busy college campus can distract even the most diligent of students. With the Bose noise cancelling headphones, your student can shut out their surroundings and focus on their studies. This fact alone could justify the investment in their future!

 

No. 7 – iRobot Roomba 532 – $296.99

 

This gift will save you the peace of mind in knowing that your student’s apartment is clean. What is easier than turning on the Roomba and letting it vacuum? Another gift that has dual benefits!

No. 8 – Subscription to Netflix – $7.99 per Month

 

 

 

This might not sound like the best idea for a college student, but it is one that they will thank you for. There is nothing more thrilling than watching a great movie after a hard exam, or catching the latest thriller with your friends. Your student will thank you.

 

No. 9 – Western Digital My Passport Portable Hard Drive – $149.99

This handy device has replaced the thumb drive. It allows a student to store up to 1TB of data (that is a lot), and they can plug and play anywhere they go on campus.

 

No. 10 – Southern Tide Apparel – Varied

 

 

Some of the trendiest clothing on college campuses, this is sure to impress.

 

No. 10 – TOMS Shoes – $39.90

Some of the trendiest shoes on a college campus. Plus every pair you purchase, means that a little kid will get a pair of shoes. A gift and a donation…the best of both worlds!

 

No. 12 – Apple iPhone 4s – $669

Hopefully this does not surprise anyone that this made the list. It’s only the latest version of the most popular phone in history! Might be cheaper to go through your cell phone provider, but it’s a sweet phone regardless!

 

No. 13 – Keurig Coffee Machine Signature Brewer – $169

Coffee is an essential part of every college student’s morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The Keurig makes it simple to brew, and low maintenance. Both qualities a college student can appreciate. Oh, and it makes great coffee too!

 

No. 14 – Canon EOS Rebel T3 – $488

It shoots amazing pictures, it shoots 1080p video, and it is simple to use, yet packed with features. If your college student is a budding photographer or wants quality pics, then this is the camera to buy them.

 

No. 15 – Apple MacBook Pro – $1099

The ultimate laptop for your college student. Whether they are a fine arts major, or a math major, their world will be revolutionized with this machine. Make them the coolest kid on the block this year!

 

No. 16 – Xbox 360 – $199

Give the gamer in your life, the ultimate gaming machine. Time management skills sold separately.

 

No. 17 – Vupoint Magic Wand Portable Scanner – $94

College students can scan important documents on the fly, and even connect to their laptops via bluetooth wireless.

 

No. 18 – Magellan Roadmate GPS – $92

Your college student will never get lost, and they can even find there way home once or twice a semester. It’s another win- win for all involved.

 

No. 19 – Livescribe Smartpen – $99

This ingenious gadget is an actual pen, but it is also a voice recorder. So you can take notes and record a lecture at the same time, with the same device!

 

No. 20 – Sony Dash Personal Internet Viewer – $99

Get information and entertainment in your bedroom, kitchen, or office, without being tethered to your PC. It’s also an alarm clock, which is an essential for every college student. Once missed exam can cause a lot of grief.

 

No. 21 – Moleskine Leather Notebook – $11

The classic leather notebook, for a classy college student. Perfect match with their Livescribe Smartpen!

 

No. 22 – Contigo AUTOSEAL Stainless Steel Travel Mug – $22

Most college students drink coffee. If they don’t drink coffee they drink tea, or some other hot beverage. This travel mug will let them carry around their hot liquids and it is 100% guaranteed spill proof. Meaning they can throw it in their cars or in their backpacks and not have to worry about it leaking on their Final papers.

No. 23 – iBeats Headphones by Dr. Dre – $99

If you want to be cool on a college campus, you need headphones. Music is an integral part of college life, and listening to music between classes or while studying is the best expression of that. iBeats headphones by Dr. Dre take in-ear headphones to a new level. Guarantees that your college student will thank you for these!