Everyone knows that college costs too much now days and President Obama is doing something about it. Proposing his Race To The Top program for colleges, he spoke on the campus of the University of Michigan to a packed house.

If colleges want to continue to get top level funding for aid programs, they would have to demonstrate that they provide an affordable education system that includes good value. Colleges wouldn’t be able to just keep raising their rates anymore without a subsequent reduction of grants and aids coming from the taxpayers.

Perkins loans would be increased from $1 billion to $8 billion under Obama’s proposal and there would be some grant competitions as well that aim to increase the incentive for colleges to keep their tuition down. Obama grants in the amount of $1 billion  and 55 million would be up for grabs in such a competition that would be similar to his Race For The Top program for the lower grades.

Another good thing he outlined was a requirement that all colleges offer a clearer picture of their costs and financial aid packages. One thing that is very difficult today for both students and their parents is how to accurately determine just how much each college would cost and the benefits of each. When you have a state college costing x amount of dollars and another costing double that, it is very hard to figure out what you get for your money. Obama’s new “shopping sheet” proposal will help make things clearer.

One bad thing is that all of President Obama’s education plans he laid out today must be approved by Congress. With the record Congress has of passing the President’s legislation, that makes it unclear whether they will go along and pass these important, long overdue changes.

Today’s colleges must start putting the students first and that means a return to the days when a higher education was affordable. If our future is going to be bright, we need to make sure college prices hold steady or start going down so that more students can get the education they need to be productive adults. Obama recognizes this and hopes his new vision will be shared by Congress so that these measures can be enacted.

The unemployment rate just went back up to 9% today and times continue to be tough for everyone economically. As long as the economy is down and people are struggling, they are going to be looking for relief from the government. A lot of people look for debt relief but even more are looking for help to return to college.

The Internet is the first place many go to do their research but that may not be a good thing. There are so many websites and advertisements that are misleading or untruthful and it is difficult to determine what is real. Often times people might be searching for things that they hope are real but really don’t exist. An example of that would be all the searches that are made for grants for moms, back to school grants, and free stimulus grants for school.

If you look for any of those types of grants or programs online, most likely you will be met with a maze of confusing articles, links, and advertisements that are full of double speak that leaves you shaking your head. Where can you go to get real information about school grants and scholarships all in one place?

You can buy The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2011 for just over $16 and this is a good source of information about scholarships, grants, and prizes all in one place. You can read the user reviews and while they are all not totally positive, you can get a good idea of whether this book might be able to help you track down grants and money you would otherwise never know exists.

Also included in this book is information about how to obtain grant and scholarship applications and how to complete them. With this guide you will be able to locate the ones you are eligible for and find out where to go to learn more.

While the things in this book may be available online somewhere for free, it is probably not all in one place. This type of information about the hundreds of education grants and scholarships is extremely time consuming to find and you would have to track down many different websites to find it. If you try to do this yourself, you risk the danger of being mislead and fooled by people that are trying to get your business and will charge you for things.

Remember, you need to be careful when you are looking for debt relief, stimulus grants, or school grants information online because there is a lot of incorrect things floating around that are designed to lead you in the wrong direction and get your money.

There is a lot of spam on the Internet as well as information that is not official or accurate. If you are looking for information on school grants or grants for moms going back to school, you might have noticed that it is hard to find any real information online. Most of the websites you click on when you do a Google search will give you the run around and you won’t be able to learn anything.

You need to find the official government websites and those always have end in “.gov”. Any website that has the URL that ends with .gov is an official government website and the information on it can be trusted. For instance, for school grants and federal student aid you can go to http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ where you can apply for the FAFSA.

If you want to learn anything about Pell grants or any other type of federal school program or aid, you should go to the department of education website that can be found at http://www.ed.gov/. Notice again that the link to that website shows it ending with “.gov” and that means it is an official government website and all the information on it should be trustworthy.

There are other websites that can be official that DON’T end in .gov such as https://www.salliemae.com/ for student loans. Not every website having to do with grants, school loans, or other government information has to end with .gov but it is a good thing to look out for and know that if the site you are on does end with .gov, it is the real thing.

President Obama on October 5, 2010 had the first community college White House summit. The President met with over one hundred college presidents and teachers to discuss how community colleges can play a bigger part in our education system. The Obama school grants program is for community colleges as well but you don’t hear too much about community colleges in the news. It turns out they are a great choice for many Americans and will become more important for several reasons.

First of all, community colleges are much less expensive than going to state or private schools and you can get a degree in 2 years. For students that can’t afford the more expensive tuition at a four year college, going to a community college is a great alternative. It is much better to have a degree from a community college than no degree at all in the eyes of employers.

Students who graduate from community colleges can then apply to traditional 4 year universities and finish their final two years there. The degree they get will be from the more prestigious 4 year college and  no one will ever know that the first two years of your degree were completed at a community college.

In the coming years there will be a lot more jobs that require a two year degree so community colleges need to do well and be supported. America has to embrace our community colleges and fund them so that our workers can be educated and get jobs.

President Obama last year announced a 10 year plan costing 12 billion dollars in grants that will help foster partnerships between colleges and businesses as well as do many other things to help keep community colleges strong. These Obama community college grants would improve education programs, update existing learning programs, develop new learning programs, and also modernize some of the existing facilities. President Obama said he is committed to helping the community college in our country because of the greater role he sees them playing in the future.

Right now, community colleges are packed and hard to get into. Much of this is because regular 4 year colleges cost so much and have tuitions that continue to go up. Many students can only afford 2 year schools and these Obama community college grants will help the whole system. The charitable foundation of Bill and Melinda gates has also announced it’s own 35 million dollar community college grants program that will pay for students to finish their degrees in the nine states that need the help the most.

There is lots of news about the November midterm elections about how Republicans and conservatives are angry and there might be changes to the Senate and the House of Representatives. Right now, Democrats control everything: the Presidency, the Senate, and the House.

If angry voters come out and vote for Republicans, can that hurt the changes that have been made such as the Obama stimulus grants? Will there be less money going out from the government to the people who need it?

The answer is that even if Republicans win enough votes to take over both houses of Congress (unlikely) or just one section, there will probably be very few changes that you will notice. President Obama will still be the president for two more years and he will most likely veto anything they try to do.

Republicans and conservatives want to stop the government spending that they say is out of control. So, they will say no to any of President Obama’s ideas that require spending. But the 2009 stimulus bill has long been passed and nothing will change. The Obama student loans bill went through and that is not something that they would likely try to change either.

If conservatives win in November (big or small), it will just be a minor setback for Obama as he will still be in charge. He can block anything they try to do because they won’t have enough votes to override his veto. So, if you are looking for Obama grants for moms, back to school grants, Obama small business grants, or any other type of grants or financial aid from the government, it is likely that nothing will have changed after the November elections no matter who wins.

The important thing to remember is that President Obama will be in office for at least two more years and he could get elected for four more years after that. So, nothing drastic is going to change during that time. There will still be the stimulus grants money that is available and President Obama will most likely continue to try to pass government programs that are designed to help the people in need.

I have to admit, I am really confused. With any president there is hype. Some of it is generated from within the administration and some from the media. It just goes with the territory.

This last year I have heard alot of talk about President Obama and how he is committed to education. I have of course heard about the Obama student loans bill that passed and will  take the loan process out of the private sector. I have heard about Obama Pell grants and I get emails all the time about Obama college grants and where to go to get them. I have also heard about the Obama moms back to school grants and other such things. All together, I have heard a lot of hype about this president and his desire for us as a country to be better educated.  

Where have I heard about all these things? I have heard about them on television, on radio, in newspapers, in magazines, in advertisements on the Internet, in my email box, and by word of mouth. With all this publicity, I had assumed that he had at least initiated something new for students or substantially increased the aid available to them.

An that is why I am confused. After looking into government Pell grants here at the ED.gov website, it seems that there really isn’t much new to talk about. The maximum amount you can get for an “Obama Pell grant” in the 2010-11 year has been raised from $5,350 to $5,550. That it? A $200 increase is all they have gone up? Does that even come close to keeping up with the amount tuition’s have gone up in a year?

From what I can tell, there is no new special Obama education grant of any kind and there is nothing set aside just for Moms, single parents, or women. Returning to school is admirable but all you will get this year is an additional $200 over last year and that is only if you are able to qualify for the whole amount.

If I am wrong about this please leave a comment and let me know. Point me in the right direction where I can find out more. It’s just that with all the hype, I had expected more.

I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately with headers that look just like the one above (without the “not”). Usually they are in my spam folder but occasionally one slips through into the real folder. They seem to lead to different online colleges or some other college placement type website.

Is it true that you can really get $10,000 from Obama or an Obama school grant? Or are these emails just more of the same over the top advertising to get your attention and mislead you? I clicked a link that said “financial aid packages” on one of the sites and this is what I got:

I don’t know where they are coming up with the 10K number…perhaps it just sounds good. The numbers above ($5,350 and $2500) don’t even add up to $10,000.

Obama school turnaround grants have been in the news lately but those are grants that are going to be given to the schools that are successful in well, turning themselves around. They are not grants for individual people like moms who want to go back to school.

Advertisers continue to feed off of and use the public’s perception that there are real and new Obama debt relief grants, Obama back to school grants, Obama grants for moms, and any other kind of Obama government stimulus grants that they are now entitled to and can get. The truth is that there is very little out there for the average person that wasn’t there before Obama got elected.

There are new amounts available for Pell Grants but it is not that much more than before and it hardly keeps pace with inflation. Certainly the increase doesn’t match how much college tuition is going up across the country. Anyone can apply for these school grants and may even be lucky enough to get one. But is Obama just giving away $10,000 for anyone to go back to school like these ads want you to believe? Nope, not even close.

The price of a four year college is rapidly climbing beyond the means of normal Americans. Yesterday there were rallies around the country at college campuses by angry students who were protesting the ever rising cost of an education along with more and more cuts. You can read about it here.

The cost of a college degree is simply not worth what it costs today and one can only wonder what it will cost in the future. There are Obama school grants that the President has proposed to the tune of 900 million, most of which would go as an incentive for high schools to get their acts together. In order to get any part of that grant money, schools would have to show that they are making a turn around in many different ways including sometimes firing the current staff. You can read about that story here.

Why is it that even with the help of stimulus money from the federal government, more and more high schools and colleges are having to cut back and increase classroom sizes? Our children are not getting the best education they could be and the price keeps going up! What has happened to our education system? Private colleges can charge what they want but there are hundreds of state schools that the government could lower the cost so that average people can pay.

The Obama stimulus grants that are being given out seem to be going just to big businesses to bail them out. Shouldn’t our education system be getting a shot in the arm as well? Every President seems to act like they are big on education but it keeps on getting worse and worse all the while becoming more expensive at the same time!

No wonder there is great interest for Obama back to school grants for moms and anyone else that can get them. Right now, you have to be rich to go to a good college or you will end up deep in debt. We can’t have all our college graduates be in debt from student loans for the rest of their lives and the Obama student loans proposal will not help very much if it is passed. While lower interest rates for student loans would be nice, what we need desperately right now is lower tuition for everyone!

Most everyone has heard by now there was a big election in Massachusetts Tuesday night that didn’t go so well for the Democrats and the Obama administration. Republican Scott Brown won Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat and with it he took away the Democrat’s super majority that they were going to use to push Obama health care through.

That election has sent everyone in the news trying to figure out how things will change now that the Republicans can block most anything they want if they really feel like doing so. Many say that there will be no health care reform now or at least it will be much different than it was going to be.

The President has many things on his agenda such as his Obama student loans proposal that would shift college loans away from private institutions and into the domain of government control. Regardless of whether you think this would be a good or bad thing, one has to wonder how this change in Senate seats numbers will affect what he chooses to move forward with and what he chooses to abandon.

The Massachusetts election has shown first hand how people are upset with how things are going in this country. Some people think Obama is doing too much and others think he is doing too little. Many voted for him to end the war and to put money in people’s hands and get them back to work. None of those things have happened and so they are angry. Other people voted for him to push through health care, gay marriages, and other such things which haven’t happened yet either.

If you are looking for Obama school grants, Obama debt relief, or some other form of assistance from the government, you might be confused where to get it. Obama made it sound during the election that he was going to help the poor and the people who needed help but unemployment is now around 10% which is very high. People need school loans and debt relief to pay off bills and they are suffering badly. New jobs are needed desperately but they don’t seem to be coming and nothing seems to be being done about it.  

With the just completed election, one has to wonder what the President is going to choose to tackle in 2010 and whether Obama government grants and Obama money will ever be available to those who need it like single mothers. Will he try to get another stimulus bill out to the people or will he decide to take a different course of action? Are we going to see real change and real help from the government in 2010?

After seeing so much being advertised about the Obama moms return to school grant, I decided to see if it was real. What I found is that there is no specific program or special grant that is just for moms and there is no Obama return to school program. If you want free money from a college grant, you might sign up for the free drawing at Scholarships4Moms as you will have a better chance there of getting money than you will of getting a nonexistent Obama grant for moms.

Why then, is there so much hype about this and how have women come to believe there is special school grant money set aside just for them? It turns out that President Obama did make a speech a while back where he emphasised the importance of moms going back to school. It was all part of his push to encourage students to study hard and do their best. In that speech he said many things and among them were encouraging words to women to return to school and complete their education. All presidents make speeches like this to appear as though they are pro education and to get good publicity.

Somewhere along the way, that speech Obama gave about moms returning to school has gotten twisted around to read that there are new Obama back to school grants for moms. Perhaps this has been perpetrated by advertisers or it has just happened because so many women want it to be true. Either way, we now have many moms and women going online searching for something that they have been lead to believe exists but doesn’t.

This does not mean that there is nothing out there if you want to get money to return to school. It just means that there is no specific Obama school grants program that is new. What is available are the usual Pell Grants and the amount these grants give has been raised. Pell grants though, are rarely enough to pay the full price of tuition that colleges charge nowadays.

There are other grants and school loans that women, men, moms, and dads can apply for and many of them have gone up to match inflation. Going back to school is always a good idea if you can find a way to afford the tuition so you shouldn’t be discouraged from trying. Unfortunately though, there is no new grants for moms returning to school from Obama like you might have thought there was.