Tuition funding Review

While new programs may allow students that typically wouldn't have a chance a way to attend college, concerns about "crowd-soucred" or "social-lending" programs may leave students iffy about trying them out.

Michigan State University Director of financial aid, Rick Shipman said, "The trick is always in the details: what happens to the loan if a student doesn't find employment or finds employment that pays too little to permit a monthly loan payment? Is there a program available for a student in every major or only in certain majors? If there are such restrictions, what happens to the student who is in the 'wrong' major? Does he/she consider changing their path just to get funding? For some students, theses issues might not matter, but what about those for whom it does matter?"

Issues like these may make a student stop at think twice about apply for funding from sites like lumniusa.net and enzi.org.

MSU junior, Armando Vargas said his biggest issue with tuition funding repayments like these is just the longevity of the payments and the percent the company would want to take from his pay check for that amount of time.

Val Meyers, MSU's Associate Director said, "It concerns me that students could get in way over their head and not realize it."

Shipman said, "We would recommend that students look into using the federal loan program first as they accommodate life circumstances such as I've describe above and many more. There are now federal repayment programs that are tied to income and never charge the borrower more than 10 percent of their discretionary net income based on poverty levels. This means that a student just starting out in their career making, lets say, $25,000 might have a monthly payment of $50 or nothing. These federal protections are important for most students."

Tuition Programs Review

With the increase in college tuition and the limited increase in financial aid funding the lure of new tuition funding programs offer students with financial disadvantages a chance and a college degree.

Websites like lumniusa.net and enzi.org allow an innovate way for students to afford a college without the concerns of private loans.

Michigan State University's Director of financial aid Rick Shipman said, "It is clear that the increase in college costs directly relates to increase stressed on students and their families as they look for more resources to meet those increase costs."

Government financial aid funding doesn't always cover the full cost of college tuition.

"The majority of students who apply for financial aid only qualify for federal student loans and those loans have not increased in many years. Freshman can borrow $5,500, sophomores can borrow $6,500, and other undergraduates can borrow $7,500 per year. That means that the gap between available financial aid and college costs keeps getting wider. This is a significant source of stress," Shipman said.

MSU student feel the strain of limited government funding by having to take out private loans, that can have higher interest rates than federal loans.

Armando Vargas, MSU junior and supply chain management major said, "So far, in one year I've taken out $48,000 in student loans, and $28,000 is in private loans."

While the high price of MSU tuition didn't hinder Vargas's choice to attend MSU he said the thought of having to pay that money back does scare him.

"The new student funding program, generally called 'crowd-sourced' or 'social lending' and can be a good funding source for some students," Shipman said.

Letters of Recommendation Review

Stronger relationships with professors allow for strong, more unique letters of recommendation that can lead to an increase in chance of being accepted into graduate school. 

Vicki Harris a professor at Albion college who teaches Economics and Management understands the difficulties students have when trying to build relationships with professors. 

"I always asked my students to come talk to me after class, in office hours, let me know of campus activities I could attend etc..." Harris said. 

While it has been difficult for senior RaeAnn Tourangeau to speak to her professor one-on-one with class sizes of 400 students, she has still managed to ask for a letter of recommendation. 

Tourangeau said she asked her anatomy professor for a letter of recommendation. "I've been going to his help room twice a week and then I just asked him two weeks ago for a letter of recommendation" Tourangeau said. 

Trying to get your professors to remember who you are can be difficult, especially at a university like Michigan State where you're more likely to be know by your PID. 

Helping professors equate a name to a number will be extremely helpful. "Schedule meet times with your professors, talk about goal/plans for graduate school. Give an updated copy of a resume and share the personal statement for grad school. This helps faculty write a letter that's more specific on a per school/per program basis" Harris said. 

Having a relationship with your professors are important and it also helps when your professors know more than just your name and grades. "I think professors can write a letter of recommendation without having a strong relationship with a student BUT having a relationship allows faculty to write about multiple aspects about a students that likely will help differentiate the student from other candidates" Harris said. 

Kailey Shelton, MSU senior said letters of recommendation, "are a huge favor to ask for and so you always want to be one step ahead of your game. And that's why honestly, getting a letter of recommendation that's something that you start two, three years beforehand and it doesn't end when you ask for a letter of recommendation you have to keep following up." 

Letters of Recommendation Preview

Michigan State University students with plans of graduate school understand the importance of building relationships with professors in order to receive strong letters of recommendations. 

With a university currently at almost 50,000 students the challenges of trying to stand out and make personal connects with professors are prevalent. 

MSU Anthropology major, Kailey Shelton said letters of recommendation were very, very, very important for her plans for graduate school. 

Shelton will be attending the University of Central Florida to work on her MA after she graduates. "Going in my junior year knowing this is what I wanted to really study and I needed to go to grad school, I really started working on who I wanted for letters of recommendation and how I was going to get them" Shelton said.

While knowing letters of recommendations are an important part of the application for graduate school asking a professor to write one for you can be difficult. 

Senior and Human biology major, RaeAnn Tourangeau has a biology class with 400 students said it's been very hard getting letters of recommendation. Tourangeau plans on going into medical school after graduation.

"I typically don't have questions, so I kind of feel like an idiot going into office hours and not knowing what to ask so I've never done that and that's why it's been hard for me because all of my classes have been huge" Tourangeau said. 

Making connections with professors can be one of the most important things you do with your time at college.

Shelton said, "I'm in a very small field so everyone knows each other, so getting those one on one experiences with professors and in the field and in the lab. That's what professors write about and that's how they communicate with other professors at other universities."