College is not always the best option for everyone. We often hear this, and for most people, it brings to mind someone who will do better learning a trade or skill. However, Taylor Wilson is an exception to this standard. At 18, he has already built a working reactor and plans to build nuclear fusion reactors. Here’s the kicker: he doesn’t plan on going to college and he’s received a $100,000 grant not to do so.

“I’ve got some technology that will really change the world, so college right now is not the best option for me,” Wilson said.

The grant Wilson received is called the Thiel Fellowship, created by Peter Thiel for individuals under 20 years old. Thiel is an investor in Silicon Valley who thinks that students shouldn’t be pursuing an expensive university education, but should instead be learning about and developing breakthrough technologies. Thiel seems to think that by encouraging students not to go to college he will inadvertently also be lowering the unemployment rate and amount of student debt that face many 20-somethings.

“You increasingly have people who are graduating from college, not being able to get good jobs, moving back home with their parents,” he said. “I think there’s a surprising openness to the idea that something’s gone badly wrong and needs to be fixed.” Read the rest of this entry »

When most students start receiving information about the financial costs of a higher education, they are seniors in high school. Up until that point, many are simply told that college is expensive and they should start saving, but that’s about it. Now, a new tool has been designed to help families understand how much a higher education will cost, which allows families to then begin planning on how to pay for it.

This tool is called the Net Price Calculator (NPC) and was created to be in accordance with 2008′s Higher Education Opportunity Act. Under this act, every institute of higher education that allows students to use federal aid to pay for their education must have an NPC on their website so that students can calculate the price of attending that school. Students can put in their own personal data on this NPC and the calculator shows them the net price of attending that school (tuition, room, and board included). Read the rest of this entry »

If you are one of the many college students who needs help paying for college, there’s an important date in your near future: March 1, 2012. Why is this date important? Well, if you want to receive government funds to help pay for you education, you need to have filled out and submitted the FAFSA by this date in order to qualify for the 2012-2013 school year.

What is the FAFSA? FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid and is a federal scholarship for students. Many students qualify for this need-based aid, but you must reapply for it each year in order to receive the money.

In the past, the FAFSA had a reputation for being overtly difficult to complete. Recently, the FAFSA received a makeover, which makes it easier to understand and complete; however, some people still have trouble with it the first time they fill it out.

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When I was in high school, I took a few AP classes in order to earn some college credit. Some of my friends took a few college classes at the local community college. When we graduated high school, we had already earned enough credit to be considered second-semester college freshmen, and we thought we were ahead of the curve. Turns out, when compared to 19 high school students in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, we were way behind.

This year, 19 seniors at Lake Havasu High School will graduate high school will also earning their associate’s degrees. These students all took a test during their sophomore year of high school which allowed them to take dual enrollment classes during their junior and senior years of high school.

“We’ve all had to adapt to teaching ourselves how to study because things have come so easy to us before; so now our teachers expect us to help teach ourselves,” said Savanna Bailey, a senior at the school. “I’ve had a couple of anxiety attacks, but it’s all worth it whenever you really do learn more. You have to bring every single thick textbook home with you and you look, obviously like the nerdiest one in the school carrying all of your books.”

Looking nerdy seems like a small price to pay for two-years worth of free college credit, if you ask me. So how do these students make it through the insane amounts of homework and stress they must encounter while studying for both high school and college classes?

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Have you ever wondered what are the top 10 things that have shaped your life in the past 10 years? Or maybe you have wondered where most college students use their smart phones? Or even if the cost of college is really worth it? You could spend hours conducting your own research on these various subjects, or you can just head on over to eCampus.com and check out their new InfoGraphics section.

In the past, eCampus.com has been known for renting college textbooks online. Now, they are venturing into the more entertaining market of creating infographics for students who are “wondering how your shenanigans will affect your future.” Infographics are a visually-pleasing way to present information and are rapidly gaining popularity as an aid during presentations.

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This is the first post in EDUinReview’s new series, The College Budget Traveler. This series will help students who want to travel to different cities learn how to do so, while still remaining within their college-kid budget. Currently, I am living in Sevilla, Spain, and that’s where this post is about visiting.

Sevilla is in the south of Spain and is the fourth largest city in Spain. As such, it has many historical and cultural offerings, as well as a happening night life. In other words, it is a great destination for anyone to study abroad or visit while they are in Spain.

So, how can you visit the city where Christopher Columbus told the Spanish King and Queen that he found America while still staying within a budget? Here are some tips for the best places for students to stay, eat, and visit in Sevilla, Spain.

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By Cabrone D. Brewer

With only three weeks left in the season, the BCS carnival isn’t close to clearing out yet.

No. 3 Stanford had a chance to make a solid bid for a spot in the national championship game at the end of season, but the No. 6 Oregon Ducks refused to let the Cardinal march towards the title on their watch.

Oregon running back LaMichael James ran for 146 yards and three touchdowns, as the Ducks’ high-powered offense ended the nation’s longest winning streak at 17 games by defeating Standford 53-30.

Early Heisman Trophy favorite Andrew Luck threw for 271 yards and three touchdowns against Oregon, but two interceptions and a costly fumble late in the game placed Luck and his Cardinal teammates in the outer realms of the BCS conversation.

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Studying abroad is one of the best things you can do during college, in my opinion. I studied abroad twice in two different countries and learned a lot more than just the subjects that I studied during my class hours. Studying abroad is a great way to learn a new language or learn another culture and way of life. You can take classes that relate to your major, or you can study something that is completely unrelated to your major. Either way, you are going to learn lessons about yourself and how you relate to other people that I feel are impossible to do while living in your own country.

So, studying abroad is fantastic. It makes you a better person. It’s a life changing opportunity and everyone should take advantage of it during college. Great. But it can also be very expensive, especially if you don’t know some of the tricks to the trade. Luckily for you, I happen to be a pro at this (or at least that’s what I tell myself) and I’m willing to share some tips for studying abroad in some of the hottest study abroad locations in the world.

EDUinReview will be releasing a series of posts this school year that will focus on traveling and living abroad in some of the best locations in the world. This series will provide you with valuable information about living in a foreign country, such as which tourists attractions are really worth your time and money, which restaurants to eat at and which ones to avoid like the plague, and how to really experience the culture of the place you are living in. If you have already decided on a place to study abroad at, these posts will help prepare you for the great adventure you are about to embark on. If you haven’t decided, they can serve as a great resource for you. Either way, it’s going to be a great way to learn how to really study abroad without spending your entire life-savings. Who can say no to that, right?

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If you are like me, one of the worst parts of being a college student is not having enough disposable income to do all of the things that you want to do. For me, the one thing I want to do above all others is travel. However, traveling can be very expensive… unless you know how to do it.

I am currently living in Spain for a year, and while I am here, I plan on visiting many cities while also staying on a limited budget. There are various tricks to the trade that you can use while traveling to help yourself stay within your budget. This post will tell you some of these tricks, while the following posts will focus on specific cities and tips for visiting these cities in particular.

1. Ditch the four-star hotels. When you are traveling, you really aren’t spending too much time in your hotel. So why should you spend a lot of money on it? Obviously, you want to be safe and feel secure where you are staying. However, you can feel safe in a hostel, which will cost much less than a hotel. HostelWorld.com is a respectable website that I have used several times to find lodgings while traveling. If the idea of sleeping in a bunk bed in a room full of other people freaks you out, you can find a hostel that offers private rooms. Most private rooms cost about $20-$30 per night, which is much cheaper than an expensive hotel room will cost.

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Good news for those who live in California: a recent study showed that almost 75 percent of high school graduates go on to pursue a higher education.

This statistic was determined from data collected during the 2008-2009 school year and found that these students were enrolled in a college or university in the USA. The names of students were cross-checked with the National Student Clearinghouse to determine if they were actually enrolled in a higher education establishment. The data can be analyzed by district, county, school, and even by personal demographic categories, such as race and gender. The students are identified in the study by their names, dates of birth, and other factors.

More than half of the students studied attended a school in either California Community College, California State University, or the University of California systems. More than 25 percent of the students who attended these schools earned at least one year’s worth of college credit within their first two years of enrollment.

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