Thought I'd continue along the same theme as last post with the importance of investing in our future. Now that Obama has taken office, our economy is tanking and jobs are being cut, I wanted to share a little more bleak news...and give some hope and optimism along the way.
By the way, the photos are a couple that I have of my dad teaching. The top one is of him early in his teaching career. When he retired from the Air Force, he took a position in New Iberia, LA as a Jr ROTC Squadron Commander. I was entering the 9th grade and to all my friends, he was Colonel Hester...or The Colonel. Many kids wouldn't want their dad teaching at the same school, but all my friends and I really liked having him around. The bottom one , I believe is when he was in Roswell, New Mexico working on the Atlas Missile Project. It really shows how much he enjoyed kids. This project was critical at the time due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. With Russian missiles pointed in our direction, their team was responsible for getting the systems on-line and ready. They were able to accomplish this on time, but it was a tense period for all involved.
I read a couple articles this last week or so that painted a stark picture of college financial aids availability during this economic crunch.
One from Yahoo, ( College Financial Aid System Facing Stiff Test ), outlines the challenges kids and families are going to be facing in the near future. Not only are loans and grants going to be more difficult to get, but the number of people needing the aid is rising. Obviously cash strapped government agencies and private foundations and businesses are finding it difficult to find the money for this aid, but according to the article, there is more than a 10% increase in requests. Private student loans have been hit as well. Last year there were 60 companies offering these. 39 have stopped lending to students.
There is some good news, or at least it's not as bad as it could be. There is money out there and the government is broadening federal loans and looking at more increase next year. Check out
Collegeboard.com for more info and direction. Here in North Carolina, all high school students and parents should look at www.cfnc.org/ The College Foundation of North Carolina. You can check out, compare, and apply to all 110 colleges in North Carolina, including Community Colleges.
The other article covers the importance of funding education and how our country depends on our investment toward it.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2008/12/3/the-rising-cost-of-college-is-a-good-reason-to-spread-the-wealth.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP
In my opinion, it is absolutely on the mark. Politics aside, we are not a nation that due to our bloodlines, have a intellectual edge over the rest of the world. No offense to my parents or grandparents, but it's not just their status as Americans, but it was their education that made us a great, productive, creative and driven country. But today, our success isn't a sure thing. The article provides some short and concise reasons for investing in our future through education. Please read and tell me what you think. As the author writes, "their young uns are getting smarter than our young uns" Accordingly, the author also quotes Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican in similar economic times, who believed that the wealthy had an obligation to state because he benefited from the state. "The American way is to favor new blood-not old money." My hope is that we can raise enough to fund some new blood for our future.
By the way, the photos are a couple that I have of my dad teaching. The top one is of him early in his teaching career. When he retired from the Air Force, he took a position in New Iberia, LA as a Jr ROTC Squadron Commander. I was entering the 9th grade and to all my friends, he was Colonel Hester...or The Colonel. Many kids wouldn't want their dad teaching at the same school, but all my friends and I really liked having him around. The bottom one , I believe is when he was in Roswell, New Mexico working on the Atlas Missile Project. It really shows how much he enjoyed kids. This project was critical at the time due to the Cuban Missile Crisis. With Russian missiles pointed in our direction, their team was responsible for getting the systems on-line and ready. They were able to accomplish this on time, but it was a tense period for all involved.
I read a couple articles this last week or so that painted a stark picture of college financial aids availability during this economic crunch.
One from Yahoo, ( College Financial Aid System Facing Stiff Test ), outlines the challenges kids and families are going to be facing in the near future. Not only are loans and grants going to be more difficult to get, but the number of people needing the aid is rising. Obviously cash strapped government agencies and private foundations and businesses are finding it difficult to find the money for this aid, but according to the article, there is more than a 10% increase in requests. Private student loans have been hit as well. Last year there were 60 companies offering these. 39 have stopped lending to students.
There is some good news, or at least it's not as bad as it could be. There is money out there and the government is broadening federal loans and looking at more increase next year. Check out
Collegeboard.com for more info and direction. Here in North Carolina, all high school students and parents should look at www.cfnc.org/ The College Foundation of North Carolina. You can check out, compare, and apply to all 110 colleges in North Carolina, including Community Colleges.
The other article covers the importance of funding education and how our country depends on our investment toward it.
http://www.usnews.com/blogs/john-farrell/2008/12/3/the-rising-cost-of-college-is-a-good-reason-to-spread-the-wealth.html?s_cid=related-links:TOP
In my opinion, it is absolutely on the mark. Politics aside, we are not a nation that due to our bloodlines, have a intellectual edge over the rest of the world. No offense to my parents or grandparents, but it's not just their status as Americans, but it was their education that made us a great, productive, creative and driven country. But today, our success isn't a sure thing. The article provides some short and concise reasons for investing in our future through education. Please read and tell me what you think. As the author writes, "their young uns are getting smarter than our young uns" Accordingly, the author also quotes Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican in similar economic times, who believed that the wealthy had an obligation to state because he benefited from the state. "The American way is to favor new blood-not old money." My hope is that we can raise enough to fund some new blood for our future.
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