FAP642: Sallie Mae, Learn to Cook, 25K Scholarship, Guardian Mind Mix

October 9, 2007 from admin

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Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Sallie Mae (ticker: SLM) has upped the ante in its dispute with the buyers′ group that has called off its $25-billion merger agreement with the student-loan giant. The company announced today that it had filed a lawsuit in a state court in Delaware seeking, among other things, a declaration that the buyers have repudiated the contract and that Sallie Mae may now terminate the agreement and collect damages of $900-million.
+ The takeover price, set in April, amounts to $60 a share. But the buyers′ group, which is led by the private-equity firm J.C. Flowers & Company and also includes JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, has argued that the price should be lower because Congress recently cut federal subsidies to student-loan providers more deeply than had been expected. That action, the Flowers group says, constitutes a “material adverse effect” that gives it the right to break the contract.
+ But Sallie Mae asserts in its lawsuit that no material adverse effect has occurred. Its chairman, Albert L. Lord, said in a written statement that “Sallie Mae has honored its obligations under the merger agreement. We ask only that the buyer group do the same.”
+ What does this mean for you? Again, the impetus for loan providers is to generate profitability, and if the current environment doesn’t allow profitability from existing revenue sources, they’ll need to derive it from other ones
+ Be VERY careful, especially with products like student loan consolidation, because once you consolidate, you cannot change lenders - you’re stuck for life.
+ For student loan consolidation, call us at 877-328-1565

Scholarship Update
+ The International Air Cargo Association (TIACA) is pleased to announce that the Walter H. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Award 2008, a $25,000 scholarship, is open for nominations. The scholarship was initiated in memory of Walter H. Johnson, Jr. a former TIACA President and Chairman of the Association’s Education Committee who sadly passed away. The scholarship will be awarded to a PhD candidate in logistics, aviation management, transportation, international business, law or related fields whose dissertation focus is on air commerce. The student receiving the award will be expected to complete the PhD requirements of the University making the nomination. The award is to be used for research, and other expenses related to the completion of the proposed topic.
+ Deadline March 30, 2008
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site
+ Special thanks to scholarship hunter Russ Ain - check out his student credit card blog

Financial Hacks
+ A recent story on the AP newswires highlights skyrocketing food prices. Prices for corn have nearly doubled. Ukrainian wheat crop failures have pushed wheat 90% higher. Milk doubles in price in just three years. Soybeans up 40%. Eggs, 35%.
+ What do you do? First, examine your college’s meal plan if you’re on one. Check out how much it costs per meal, factoring in the convenience of having food made for you
+ Whether it tastes good or not does actually matter, because it’ll determine how little or much you use the plan
+ The cost of dining out has been going up pretty spectacularly as well
+ Learn to cook! It’s not that hard, and it can even be fun. There’s a style of cooking for virtually every mindset, from the analytical to the artist.
+ There are LOTS of free, GOOD cooking podcasts out there
+ StartCooking.com
+ Simply Ming with Ming Tsai
+ Culinary Podcast Network
+ Spices of Life with Nina Simonds
+ Consider looking at a partial vegetarian diet, because source materials are cheaper than secondary materials - the more packaging, processing, and preparation for a food, the more it will cost
+ Meat is especially expensive because animals consume a lot more resources
+ Kill off discretionary expenses like Starbucks, too