FAP411: Your personal financial health checkup, PS3, College Republicans at BU, Jeopardy, Scholarship eBook, Tracey Saxby

Student Financial Aid News
+ Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano says she did not know that some of her closest political allies headed the Arizona Higher Education Loan Authority when she granted it the power to oversee state-authorized student loans two years ago.
+ Napolitano said she was also unaware they ran the agency four months later when she vetoed a bill that would have allowed competition from other local authorities.
+ Brown and Wesleyan are in a spam war
+ The financial companies that manage state college-savings plans for families are reducing their fees, in part because of increased regulatory scrutiny, USA Today reported. The article noted fee drops by American Century, Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard. Regulators have been scrutinizing 529 fees as assets in these plans have surged to $97.3 billion in September. The NASD has cautioned savers to compare different plans because, "Expenses vary greatly, even among plans offered within the same state." College savings 529 plans, sponsored by individual states, allow parents to sock away up to $12,000 a year for their children's college education and later withdraw this money â free of federal tax â for qualified expenses such as tuition and books. States may offer their own tax breaks to encourage residents to save for college. The plans are not limited to residents of that state, so savers can pick whichever state's plan most appeals to them.
+ The College Republicans at Boston University are protesting minority scholarships by offering the $250 Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship, CBS4 reported. The scholarship, being criticized by some on campus as insensitive, is restricted to those who are at least one-fourth white and who write two essays â one on their background and one on âwhat it means to you to be a Caucasian-American today.â
+ Secretary of Education Margarent Spellings appeared on celebrity Jeopardy on Tuesday, and finished second, behind actor Michael McKean.
+ Time is running out to consolidate your federal student loans! Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com or 877-328-1565
+ When Cure(at)PLAYSTATION 3 is launched, PS3 owners can register their machines with Stanford, download specially designed software and leave their machines online to process data when they're not playing.

Scholarship Update
+ Scholarship Search Secrets 3.0 released
+ Kenneth Jernigan Scholarship â Given by the American Action Fund for Blind Children and Adults
+ Kenneth Jernigan is viewed by our field as the most important figure in the 20th century in the lives of blind people. The Action Fund wishes to keep fresh and current in the 21st century the understandings he brought to the field and thus has endowed this scholarship dedicated to his memory and to the continuation of the work he began.
+ All applicants for these scholarships must be (1) legally blind and (2) pursuing or planning to pursue a full-time, postsecondary course of study in a degree program at a United Statesâ institution in the fall of 2007
+ Deadline March 31, 2007
+ Details at our free scholarship search web site

Financial Hacks
+ The personal finance checkup, via About.com
+ Identify Your Goals
+ Evaluate Changes in Your Personal Situation
+ Protect Your Assets
+ Prepare for the Unexpected
+ Evaluate Your Investment Performance
+ Evaluate Your Debts
+ Reduce Your Income Taxes
+ Review Your Retirement Plans
+ Key tips: figure out whether you should itemize or not
+ Having financial goals will help guide your decisions - otherwise, you risk just drifting through life
+ If you should, the IRS may be getting rid of the $500 undocumented charitable deductions
+ The time to donate is now, before the end of the tax year
+ Offload bad investments if you have any
+ Student loan interest is deductible - even if you consolidated your student loans, your previous lenders may send IRS forms next year - don't throw them out! You'll need them to take a student loan interest deduction on your taxes

Podsafe Music
+ Tracey Saxby, Life is Beautiful
+ Music via the Podsafe Music Network
+ Stop by our MySpace page!

Reminders
+ Private student loans available at any time - visit AlternativeStudentLoan.com
+ Stafford federal student loans at StaffordLoan.com
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA form online filing at FAFSAonline.com
+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidPodcast.com.
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? Email me at financialaidpodcast {at} gmail {dot} com, visit http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com, or call 877-328-1565 x529 or 206-350-1208. AIM: FinAidPodcast Add me to your iTunes by visiting http://www.FinancialAidPodcast.com/subscribe/

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