For some of you this will seem like a worthless post but I have several friends that are unfamiliar with formal educational system. So I am going to do a quick run down for those of you who have asked on how to register for college, request financial aid, and start getting your education. Now I have to admit it was not until after my semester at school that I knew the difference between an associates and bachelors degree. I come from a family of farmers and carpenters. School is not something we took very seriously. That however is starting to change. College is at least 10 X better than high school. So do not worry about if you liked high school or not. College is what you make it. Another note is that I have only registered at Dixie state college and Southern Utah University. Bother are small regional schools with low bars for acceptance. This process will be different at different schools and more complicated the nicer the school is you want to enter.

Terminology

Major- the area of study you decide to focus in for example: nursing, business, psychology, medicine ect..

Minor- a secondary area of study. So you could major in business management and have a minor in computer networking. This means you are mostly trained in management but you also have quite a bit of study in networking and are capable in that area as well.

Associates degree- two year degree composed of mostly general education courses. Its a lot like an extension of high school, only more options, more in your control, and more expensive.

Bachelor's degree- four year degree of more focused study in an area of your choosing. There will be some broad knowledge classes but they will be much more related to your major.

Masters degree- six year degree more specialized still.

PHD- this one I still don't get completely but its like a 8-10 year degree that is highly focused. You get to be called doctor (not a medicine doctor), write books, and teach. Other than that I am still not clear on why you would take the time to do this.

Grant- Money given to you from the government or a business or something to go to school that does not have to be repaid ever. There are usually strings attached such as maintaining a minimum GPA, or taking a certain number of classes each semester.

Scholorship- Money awarded to you for something like athletics, smarts, race, demographics ect. This money is given to you to help pay for school and does not have to be repaid. There are usually strings attached such as maintaining a minimum GPA, or taking a certain number of classes each semester.

Subsidized loans- Student loans the government pays the interest on until you graduate. This means no interest will accrue until you graduate and you will only owe what you borrowed.

Unsubsidized loans- This is like any other loan, the interest begins to accrue as soon as you get the money. The only difference between student loans and other loans is you usually don't have to make payments until you graduate. This is good because you don't have to pay, but terrible because the interest will accrue and compound on itself greatly increasing the amount you pay back.

Step 1

Find a School you want to attend. If you are just getting started I recommend going wherever makes the most sense with living and work conditions. Find a local college that won't require a move or a job change if possible. Those things can be done later, its more important you start now. If you are looking for a change of scenery go for it, I am just trying to emphasize the need to do it now. Where you get your associates really does not matter unless you are going to some high dollar school in the future. If you are reading my blog the odds are kinda low, but if you are, good for you, but you need better advice than mine.

Step 2

Get registered. Go into the registration office or the new students center or whatever there is and tell them you are new and would like to register for classes. They will give you some paperwork and some admissions criteria. Fill it out and get your stuff in order for them.

Don't worry about making a commitment or not being able to get out if you don't get financial aid.

Step 3

Get financial aid if possible. Some of you can get scholarships based on high school gpa and athletics and whatever else. If you can, more power to you, it will help out a lot. This can still apply to you for additional financial aid. If you have no scholarships, go to the finance dept and ask them what possibilities there are. Most will send you first to the FAFSA. This is for federal student aid, it can provide three things. Grants, subsidized loans, and unsubsidized loans. The order of goodness for financial aid is 1. Grants/Scholorships because they don't have to be repaid. 2. Subsidized Loans because the government pays the interest until you graduate, at which point you can hopefully get a better job. 3. Unsubsidized loans or regular student loans because the interest will compound and grow exponentially making what you have to repay much much larger than what you borrowed. Take all the grants and scholarships you can get your hands on, its free money to help you get through school. On the loans I would suggest some serious contemplation and budgeting to see if it is necessary and if you can pay it back before taking any debt on.

As a side note the money given to you for school can be used for living expenses as well.

Step 4

Sign up for classes. If you are just getting started its easy, you have a big list of classes you have to take at some point for your associates such as math, English, and history. You also have options to choose many of your classes to try different things and see what you want to do. You can take a psychology class, a business class, a political science course... see what strikes your fancy. If something catches your eye take another class and see if it really does interest you. If you know exactly what you want to do go straight in. I would suggest talking to a councilor about class sign up. They know the programs when classes are offered, and other ins and outs that can save you time. They are free and helpful why wouldn't you go to one?

Step 5

Buy books. There will be a book store on campus where all of your needed book are sold. They are very expensive though. If you have a scholarship sometimes you money is sent to the bookstore so you have no choice. If not buying books online at amazon.com, half.com, and textbooksrus.com can save you a ton of money. Not only that but you can sell them back to the bookstore at the end of the semester for 1/2 of the bookstores price. I almost always break even or make money since I started buying online and selling to the bookstore. You can sell them online as well.

Step 6

Go to class and study hard. You are paying for this stuff now. Even if you are paying with grants or loans it is coming from you taxes. Don't waste your time and education in college like most of us did in high school. You can get a lot of mileage out of a good professor and learn meaningful things. Take advantage of every opportunity you have.

That is just a quick run down. Let me know if you have any other questions. Feel free to add on anything I missed.

Ebay Selling

I have had a lot of people ask me about selling stuff on Ebay. I should start by telling you I have sold about 35 items on Ebay so I am in no way an expert; However I would be more than happy to share with you what I know. If you already use ebay for purchases go ahead and skip to step 4.



Step 1 You will need to set up an Ebay account. It is fairly simple just got to ebay.com and hit the 'my ebay' tab in the top right corner. You will then be given the option to sign in or register. You want to register. Fill in the required information and just like magic you have an ebay account.



Step 2 Open a paypal account to send and recieve payments on ebay. Paypal is a secure third party who processes payments. Somewhat like an online bank. You will link this to a checking account and if you choose a credit card. As part of the verification process you will have a couple very small deposits placed in your checking account and you will have to report the amounts back to paypal. If you have internet banking this is simple enough, if not just call or stop by your bank. You will recieve an email from Paypal asking you to verify your account, when you do so you have to report these two small deposits.



Step 3 ebay ranks buyers and sellers on 'feedback' scores. Feedback is left by buyers or sellers of yours to let other potential buyers or sellers if you worked well with them. You will start out with a score of zero. This does not inspire confidence in buyers. I would suggest finding some cheap stuff you can buy to get some feedback before you start selling such as some 1 cent cd's or my latest craze has been $0.99 ties with free shipping from Hong Kong. This is not necessary but helps.

Step 5 Find something to sell. I have sold a variety of products. I sold an old broken laptop for parts, some old video games ect. Some of this stuff you can find by cleaning out a closet or addict. I suggest starting with stuff you have to get a feel for it.

Step 6 Setting prices is fairly difficult. I generally look at other similar or identical products on ebay. I check what they are generally selling for, not what they start at. Check the "buy it now" price, and the shipping cost. This is a good time to get familiar with your product, market, and verbage being used to sell your product. Does a $2 product with $4 shipping sell better or a $6 product with free shipping? The answer is that it depends on the product.
You want to sell for a little lower than the other guys, but don't place a minimum bid you are not willing to take. Reserve amounts can be set as a minimum sale price. If the auction does not pass up your reserve price the item does not sell. This is important because it is always possible that only one person bids the minimum and gets whatever you are selling for $0.99.

Step 7 Write your ad. It is important to be honest. If you are selling a broken laptop you need to put in your ad that the laptop does not work. However, it can be presented in a more appealing manner. Instead of saying "broken laptop for sale" describe the laptop and then list the issue. In my case I put something to the affect of "Laptop does not turn on any longer, It could be the battery, switch, something else. I did not take it to a computer repair place and I do not know much about computers. If nothing else it will be great for parts" I think this is better because it is completly honest but leads the buyer to believe that it could be something small and simple. They could get a great deal from this idiot that doesn't know anything about computers.
Be honest, but write your ads in creative ways that catches the eye and gets people interested. Read other ads to get an idea what people are interested in.


Once you have sold a few things and feel like you are getting the basics down move on to finding a product source.

Step 8 There are plenty of product sources out there. You can hit up a second hand store and find products for cheap you can sell for a profit. I bought some decent books from one thrift store and made about a buck on each of them. We went to garage sales, storage unit auctions, and estate sales to pick up large amounts of junk to sell on ebay. In the end we made our money back plus some profit. It takes some time, and you have to deal with shady online people but its easy and can bring in some extra cash.

These are simple quick explanations. If you want more details I am more than happy to share my limited experience with you.