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In an increasingly competitive global market, education is becoming more important. But many families find the cost of education to be outside their grasp. According to a study commissioned by the US Department of Education, from the 2001-02 to the 2010-11 academic year, the cost of attending a 4-year undergraduate in-state school rose by 47.3 percent.

With ever-increasing education expenses, many families are accumulating significant debt, putting students further behind. However, with planning and financial management, students can control their finances. Here are some tips for parents of soon-to-be college students.

Start the conversation. Talk with other parents, teachers and guidance counselors about the cost of education. Make contact with the student financial aid offices of the colleges on your child’s list and get an accurate estimate of the cost of each institute. Most importantly, talk with your child. It is imperative your child learns the budgeting process as they will soon be managing their finances away from home.

Set the budget and stick to it. Once you have a set budget, add wiggle room for other unforeseeable expenses. Make sure you set this budget realistically. Calculating the cost of pens and pencils may seem ludicrous, but if you’re on a tight budget, every expense counts.

Get connected. Tracking your financial spending is easier than ever. From smart phone apps to free financial planning software, you can get an accurate financial report at any time. Research banks to determine which ones offer services to help you can stay on top of your budget. Also, consider linking your banking account with your child’s, to easily transfer funds online.

Make a plan. When taking on debt, it is important to have a plan for paying it off. Calculate the monthly payments and time it will take your child to pay off the debt. Research salary ranges for the field in which your child plans to pursue a career to understand the debt they can realistically carry. Find more information and calculators to help determine payment schedules and interest rates at www.direct.ed.gov.

Do your research. Before taking out a student loan, look to other options, such as financial aid and scholarships. While some scholarships are awarded on academic merit, others are given based upon both academic performance and community service. Foresters, a life insurance provider committed to the well-being of families and their communities, is one organization that provides a competitive scholarship program open to eligible members or their dependent children, including grandchildren, worth up to $8,000.

Recipients can use the scholarship to attend accredited universities, colleges and vocational schools, as long as they are pursuing their first post-secondary degree or diploma. There are up to 350 Foresters Competitive Scholarships available, in the US and Canada including five Ken Peterson Awards for Community Service. These awards are worth up to $11,000.

Learn more about the scholarship opportunities awarded by Foresters at www.foresters.com/membership/scholarships.asp.

Did you know the average human can recognize 10,000 scents? Have you ever considered how directly your sense of smell is connected to cueing your emotions? It’s for this reason, technically coined “associative learning,” that the fragrances around us can impact our mood and performance.

Consider the feelings that just thinking about freshly-laundered towels, pumpkin pie, a crackling campfire, the salty ocean or baby powder evoke in you. For many people these strong scents trigger distinct memories or evoke a sentiment that can linger for hours. The same is true for the strong scent of a clean home.

Smell is different from other senses because it is connected to the olfactory cortex, the part of the brain responsible for emotions and memory. In patients with dementia, schizophrenia or Alzheimer’s, medical experts can measure their sense of smell as one of the earliest indicators of change. As humans we tend to think of smell as one of our weaker senses, but the fact is it is far more connected to our performance than we might imagine.

Boosting Study Time with a Clean Home

A study shows that children who perform better at school almost always identify their homes with scents associated with clean. What is a “clean home” smell? That depends on what era you grew up in. During the 50s most people associated a clean home with a strong bleach scent. In the decades since then there has been a plethora of citrus and floral scented room freshening cleaners on the market. Generally speaking, when many people think of a clean smell, they think of Pine-Sol cleaner.

The study of nearly 5,000 high school students, conducted by Dr. Alan Hirsch and the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, found top performing students (those with grade averages of A and B) overwhelmingly – 84 percent – used words like “lemony, minty or clean” to describe the smell of their childhood homes. More than one-third (34 percent) of lower performing students (average of C or below) associated negative smells – urine, fecal matter or mold – with their homes.

“A clean smelling home is just one component to the overall picture of how parents can provide a healthy and stimulating family environment, and help their children improve self-esteem and have a more positive learning experience,” said Charmaine Hussain, marketing manager for Pine-Sol brand cleaners. “We are excited by this research, as it really shows that there is a higher order need for cleaning. It’s not just about a clean house – it’s about the powerful difference parents can make in the lives of their children.”

“What this study tells me is that there is a strong correlation between the memory of a clean-smelling home and academic success,” added Dr. Hirsch. “If you are in a home that has clean, pleasant aromas, it will promote success by enhancing harmony in the household.” According to Hirsch, the brain makes similar associations about the “smell” of other situations and experiences from your past, and the effect plays out in your mood in the present. Read More

The allure of traveling abroad to study and experience other cultures continues to grow for teens across the country. U.S. student participation in study abroad programs has more than doubled over the last decade, according to the Institute of International Education.

While traveling abroad is an exciting opportunity for students, parents often have concerns over safety.

“As travel safety experts with nearly 50 years of experience, we work diligently to ensure the safety of every student and leader in every program,” said Mike Bowers, Senior Health and Safety Director for People to People Ambassador Programs. “We understand the concerns and we are committed to providing a safe and enjoyable educational experience for all program participants.”

Bowers has reviewed years of travel data to understand the most common safety issues as a leader in travel safety. Learn more at www.peopletopeople.com/safety.

Pack Common Sense

• Ask yourself – would I do this at home? If the answer is no, rethink your actions.

• Get some rest. You can have a good time without staying out too late – the more rested you are, the more likely you are to be aware of and safe in your surroundings.

• Always travel with a buddy – traveling alone can make you a mark for thieves.

Scope Out Your Surroundings

• Be knowledgeable about your destination. Visit Centers for Disease Control travel websites and other online resources before you travel. Check out hotels and inns before you decide to stay there.

• Go ahead, travel like a native, but be cautious when using public transportation. Crowds make it easier for pick-pocketers. Always keep your money and identification on your person in multiple locations.

• If you see the same person three times in different locations it could mean you are being targeted, and you should find a safer place. Read More

Whether you’re a parent, a classroom teacher, or a homeschool instructor, you know that students learn best when they can interact with their subject. It can be fun and inspirational to explore and experience an educational concept first hand.

The sample project featured here comes from a new, free resource that’s helping to inspire an appreciation of botany in elementary-aged students across the country. The educator website MyBotanicPlanet.com is a creative collaboration between TruGreen, the nation’s largest professional lawn, tree and shrub care service provider, and the Memphis Botanic Garden.

U.S. standardized lesson plans in botany and related activities available on MyBotanicPlanet.com were created by professional curriculum developers to help grades K-5 teachers and students explore the diverse plant world. Through online and hands-on experiences, this creative educator resource lets students customize an avatar to explore colorful plant environments and interactive games as they learn. My Botanic Planet visitors can interact with educational guides Flavor Flores on an adventure in the origin of plant flavors, and with Inspector Nectar on a flower mystery investigation.

My Botanic Planet Flower Investigation

There’s no better way for students to investigate the parts of a flower than by dissecting real ones.

What you need

• Enough real flowers for pairs or groups to work together. Alstroemerias and gladiolus work well and are available year round in supermarket floral departments. Azaleas or any member of the lily family could also be used because the parts are well-defined and easy to see.

• Plastic knives and tweezers could be used for dissecting equipment.

• A magnifying glass would allow for closer inspection.

Getting started

• Open up the flower. This is easily done by first locating the base of the flower and slicing or splitting it in half. Use a dissection tool or even a fingernail.

• Next, slice or pinch off the petals. Remind students to be careful with all of the tiny pieces. It’s easy to damage or brush away some of the most important parts.

Review the parts of the flower

• Petal: This is the colorful part of the flower that attracts the attention of birds, bees and butterflies, letting them know that there is food inside the flower. Have students record how many petals their flower has and what they look like.

• Stamen: This is where the pollen is made. For older students, you could also point out that the top part that holds the pollen is the anther and the stem part is called the filament. Students should record how many stamens their flower has. If it has six petals, it will also have six stamens. If they have an extra piece, then one should look a little bit different, and is actually part of the pistil. Read More

For parents with young children, it’s often hard to know when to start reading to your child, or teaching them colors and numbers. But the act of reading to even very young children can soothe them and lead them to love story time and enjoy reading for themselves as they grow.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), reading to children in the home sets kids up for success in school and in life. Providing a wide-range of reading materials they love, reading with your child and speaking with them about stories they’re enjoying all build excitement around reading.

Learning to love reading is so important to a child’s success in life that VTech, a leader in electronic learning products for kids, has joined with First Book, a global social enterprise that provides books to parents who can’t afford them, by donating more than 4,000 new books to Head Start programs across the country.

Kyle Zimmer, First Book’s founder and CEO, says reading at home makes a real difference, in a lot of ways. “It provides the bonding little ones will need to feel confident in school, as well as an affinity for reading on their own throughout their lives,” she says.

Meanwhile here are some ways to get your young child to love reading:

• Snuggle up. Kids love the attention and snuggle factor while reading a good book. The feeling of connection helps them calm down before nap or bedtime, and creates a sense of security that will help them build healthy relationships with others later in life.

• Choose wisely. Bright colors and big pictures can be alluring for toddlers and children beginning to comprehend letters and numbers, so look for books with plenty of illustrations or photos.

• Use voices. If you take on character voices while reading, you’re more likely to get a few giggles and further engage your child. Encourage them to repeat what you have said and participate in the story telling.

• Remember to play. For children who have an especially difficult time sitting still during reading time, begin to incorporate storylines into playtime. This will likely result in the child’s excitement to learn more of the plot during the next story time and will lead to a fondness for classic story characters.

• Get creative. You can also follow your child’s creative play and help them write their own stories, using your child as the protagonist. Turn everyday activities into adventures and incorporate friends and family into the plotline. Allow them to draw illustrations to include in the book.

• Engage your child. Go beyond just the copy on the page. Ask your child to find certain animals, plants, etc. Also ask them to identify colors, or to count the number of people on each page. Building these skills early will help your child think critically later.

• Embrace technology. Another way to engage your child during story time is to look to new tech-savvy reading trends. Electronic readers, such as the V.Reader by VTech, have interactive stories that help kids love learning to read. Color touch screens with animated stories and spelling games bring books to life and let kids engage with reading in a whole new way.

Books help children succeed in life – every child. So if you’d like to join in helping kids read through First Book, you can make a donation or get books for your reading program at www.firstbook.org. And to find out about the latest learning tools to help kids love learning to read visit www.vtechkids.com.

High school seniors who excel in the classroom, on the field and in the community – who start their day off right with nutrient-rich milk – could be eligible to win college scholarship money.

The National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign, in partnership with USA TODAY, is calling for entries in the 15th annual Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year (SAMMY) Award program. The SAMMY Awards recognize 25 outstanding high school senior student athletes who represent excellence in academics, athletics, community service and leadership who make the most of their days by grabbing nutrient-rich milk with breakfast.

The scholarship helps educate teens and families on the value of making smart choices – like starting their day with a nutrient rich breakfast, drinking lowfat milk, and maximizing their potential to achieving great things both on and off the sports field.

Twenty-five accomplished teens will receive a $7,500 college scholarship, attend an awards ceremony with celebrity guests at Disney World, and be pictured in a special Milk Mustache ad in USA TODAY.

“Students who start every morning with milk truly reap the rewards all day long,” said Vivien Godfrey, chief executive officer of the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” campaign. “That’s why we are excited to reward these students for their successes in academics, athletics and community service. Breakfast with milk helps set the tone for the day and is a healthy habit that provides much needed nutrients.”

This year’s winners will be selected by a celebrity panel of Milk Mustache role models, including Dara Torres, Chauncey Billups and other Milk Mustache alumni.

“As a judge I’m looking for exceptional students that have formed healthy habits to help fuel their successes. Starting the day with milk is one healthy habit I know I can count on,” said mother, Milk Mustache athlete and gold-medal winner Dara Torres. “Whether it’s a glass of white milk to nourish at breakfast or chocolate milk to help refuel their bodies after a tough workout, no other beverage plays so many roles.”

To date, the National Milk Mustache “got milk?” Campaign has supported 350 talented high school seniors with nearly $2.5 million in scholarships over the program’s 15 year history.

High school seniors who are interested in applying for the 2012 SAMMY Awards program should visit www.facebook.com/MilkMustache. All applicants are asked to describe in 250 words or less how milk with breakfast helps them reach their fullest potential in academics, athletics, community service and leadership. Entries must be submitted no later than March 9, 2012.

After a long day at work, one of the last things a working parent wants to come home to is a pile of homework. Kids certainly aren’t the only ones who dread it. In fact, a recent LifeCare® poll found that 99 percent of working parents feel some level of stress when trying to help their children with homework–and 49 percent of them rate the stress they feel as “high.” Many parents report that their children don’t even begin to tackle assignments while they are in after-care or home alone. When this occurs, they then have a full load of homework to complete in addition to dinner, chores, and sports. More than ever, a working parent must have a few tricks up his or her sleeve to get it all done.

Consider these ideas:

Use After-Care to Your Advantage

Talk with the after-care director or teacher responsible for your child. Ask him or her to have your child complete the easiest homework assignment before leaving for the day. Many children either cannot focus or do not want to do homework in after-care, but they are capable of completing a simple task. By the time your child arrives home, at least one piece of work should be out of the way.

Plan Time While Home Alone

If you are unable to be at home when your child comes in off the bus, arrange to either call home at a specified time or have your child call you upon arrival. During this conversation, ask your child to share his prioritized homework list, again, ranking work from easy to hard. This way, the simple work is completed early on and you can assist with the more difficult assignments as needed. In addition, encourage your child to check off work he has finished so that you will be able to see quickly and easily what has been accomplished and what is left to do.

If your son’s or daughter’s list seems unusually short on a regular basis, ask him or her to print out a list of homework assignments from the school’s online portal so that you can verify the homework load when you return home.

Find a Study Buddy

Many elementary classrooms already distribute a list of contact information for classmates. Have your child identify three students he feels comfortable contacting in case he has any questions regarding homework. Keep their contact information in your child’s homework area. If your student is older, encourage him to choose several trusted peers or one peer from each class, to call with any questions.

Use Weekends Constructively

The weekend provides a wonderful opportunity for working parents to be active supporters of their children’s homework. And many times, weekends are needed to catch up and get ahead.

Schedule a Sunday Planning Session

On a weekly basis (Sunday evenings usually work well), set aside a half hour to plan for the upcoming week. During this time, talk to your child about any extra-curricular activities that might be scheduled and, most importantly, any long-term assignments. Often, it’s what’s not due the next day that can throw even the most seasoned parent for a loop. Create a plan for upcoming projects, book reports, and studying for tests.  Help your child to break them down and write the smaller tasks in their assignment notebook. By previewing the week ahead, everyone is less stressed and more organized and not confronted with last minute surprises that don’t bring out the best in anyone.

By anticipating trouble spots and careful planning, even the busiest parent can ensure smooth sailing ahead.

Ann K. Dolin, M.Ed., is the founder and president of Educational Connections, Inc., a comprehensive provider of educational services in Fairfax, VA and Bethesda, MD. In her award-winning book, “Homework Made Simple: Tips, Tools and Solutions for Stress-Free Homework,” Dolin offers proven solutions to help the six key types of students who struggle with homework. Numerous examples and easy-to-implement, fun tips will help make homework less of a chore for the whole family. Learn more at anndolin.com or ectutoring.com.

College is expensive! For example, tuition, room and board at Harvard College cost $52,652 in 2011-12. Add books and other expenses and four years can top a quarter of a million dollars, and Harvard doesn’t even make it onto the top ten of Forbes’ list of the most expensive colleges in the US. Few will go to Harvard, but the cost of attending more modestly priced institutions can cripple the budget of many American families. Fortunately, you can take steps to mitigate the damage.

Focus on Academic Performance in High School – Bill put a lot of time, effort and money into helping Bill, Jr. become a better youth baseball player. He expects that a baseball scholarship will pay for his son’s college. In the same way, Bill’s preparation for retirement consists of the semiweekly purchase of lottery tickets. The probability of a happy conclusion with either strategy is small.

Less than 2 percent of high school athletes will earn athletic scholarships. Yet, at many schools, more than 50 percent of students earn financial aid based, at least in part, on academic ability. Students and their parents hoping to defray college costs through scholarships should focus on academics not athletics.

Most colleges consider academic ability when determining financial aid packages. They will look at things like high school GPA, class rank, and SAT scores. Other factors include the academic rigor of the high school and the caliber of the courses attempted (an “A” in calculus means more than an “A” in interpretive dance).

Our best advice is to focus on academic performance. If there is a choice, attend the best high school possible. Take academically rigorous classes―advanced placement or college-prep courses. Put effort into your studies rather than learning to hit a curveball. Money invested in a math tutor will yield a higher ROI than money spent on a private pitching coach.

Pass on Your Stretch School – All colleges are not equal. A student who receives significant merit-based aid at one school may receive much less from another. Often, students have “stretch” schools (where they are a marginal admit) and “safe” schools (where they are reasonably sure to get in). A stretch school is often a dream for the student. Unfortunately, if the school is truly a stretch, he or she will probably be at the bottom of the academic pecking order and will receive little or no merit-based aid.

Conversely, the same student could be much more attractive to the safe school. This might mean significant merit-based aid. It’s always difficult to pass on your dream school, but doing so could be worth tens of thousands of dollars over four years.

Maximize Need Based Aid – Think you won’t qualify for need-based aid―you may be pleasantly surprised. Think Ahead, LLC reports that, depending on the school’s sticker price and how many people in your household are in college, even families with incomes that exceed $300,000 annually may qualify for some need-based aid. It’s worth spending a couple of hours to complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The Federal Government will calculate your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) based on this submission. The sticker price of your school less your EFC is your demonstrated need. Schools are not always able to meet 100 percent of demonstrated need, but it’s worth a try.

Prior to completing the FAFSA, you can lower your EFC. For example, pay off credit card debt, prepay your mortgage, or accelerate necessary expenses such as buying a new car to reduce available cash. Maximize contributions to your retirement account. You can borrow for college, but you can’t borrow for retirement. If Mom plans to pursue an Executive MBA, doing so while the children are in college will increase demonstrated need. FinAid.org lists several tips to maximize your ability to qualify for need-based aid. Read More

We’ve all seen the headlines, “The Cost of College is Increasing at Twice the Rate of Inflation!” There have even been books written on the topic. Headlines decrying massive increases in the cost of college are sensational. They are attention grabbing. They are also unequivocally wrong!

Oh, it’s true that published tuition and fees have been going up significantly faster than inflation. According to The College Board, from 2005-06 to 2010-11 the sticker price at private, non-profit, four-year colleges has gone up 16.4% more than inflation. Over the same five-year period public, four-year schools have seen the sticker price increase 24.3% beyond inflation.

Statistics like these are fodder for the sensational headlines we are used to seeing. However, they are also an oversimplification that obscures the truth. The problem with such headlines is that the vast majority of students don’t pay the sticker price. Instead, they pay an amount that is reduced by grants and scholarships that are awarded by the school (also called institutional aid). The amount of money that schools actually receive from students is called net tuition and fees―the sticker price less institutional aid. Because institutional aid has been growing rapidly, net tuition revenue has not been increasing as much as sticker prices.

In fact, The College Board reports that, adjusted for inflation, net tuition and fees at private, non-profit, four-year colleges have fallen from $13,380 in 2005-06 to $13,120 in 2010-11, a 1.9% reduction. Over the same five-year period public, four-year schools have seen inflation adjusted net tuition and fees fall 6.4%. While real net tuition and fees have been up in some years and down in others, the truth is that the money collected by colleges and universities has grown at about the rate of inflation for many years. Think about it. All else equal, if net tuition and fees had been going up at twice the rate of inflation for decades, professors would be rich and schools would be awash in cash. Trust us, most aren’t.

At the same time, student loan debt has been increasing rapidly. According to The Project on Student Debt, the average debt for graduating seniors with loans in 1996 was $12,750. By 2008 that number swelled to $23,200. That’s an annual increase of just over 5%, or roughly twice the rate of inflation. Further, the percentage of graduating students that have debt is increasing as well, now eclipsing two-thirds of graduates.

If the real cost of college has been roughly flat, how can the average debt that students take on be increasing at twice the rate of inflation? There are a number of contributing factors.

More People are Going to College – According to the US Department of Education in 1972, 49% of high school graduates immediately enrolled in college. By 1997, the number had grown to 67%. The percentage has fluctuated in a tight range since then. The fact is that a lot more people are going to college these days. One of the reasons is that college loans have become much more available. In days gone by, if your family didn’t have the money to send you to school, you went to work. That’s not the case today. Many more people have access to higher education, but that access requires borrowing.

Mom is Already Working – When Doug graduated from high school in 1976, his mother went to work to pay his college expenses. These days most families don’t have that option. Mom is already working and her income is necessary to pay the family’s bills. In 1975, 47% of mothers worked outside of the home. Recently, this number peaked at 73%. Students like Doug are left to borrow. Read More

The thought of a math test can make even the most confident student stressed out, but for some, the feelings associated with math go far beyond garden-variety stress. For these students, a feeling of intense anxiety develops to the point where they are no longer able to think clearly. Are these emotions a real problem or just an excuse to avoid an uncomfortable academic subject?

Dr. Sian Beilock, author of “Choke,” a 2010 book on brain responses, says that, “People are very happy to say that they don’t like math, but no one walks around bragging that they can’t read. It’s perfectly socially acceptable to say you don’t like math.”

The Latest Research

Studies show that when students solve math problems, they first process information through the amygdala, the brain’s emotion center. Within a millisecond, another section of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex, takes over allowing the student to juggle data and think critically. In highly anxious students, the amygdala is far too active, leaving the pre-frontal cortex underutilized.

What Causes Such Stress Over Math?

Is this reaction learned or biological? The answer is two-fold. First, brain scans reveal that young children who are quick and accurate show a very low level of stress. Those who are slow and less accurate demonstrate a high level of stress in the brain. These early difficulties, even when minor in nature, cause frustration and difficulty later on.

It is also true that math anxiety can be a learned behavior. Dr. Beilock found first and second grade female teachers unconsciously passed on their negative attitudes about math to their female students (males did not seem to be affected). This trend doesn’t just exist in classrooms. Parents can also pass down their own negative perceptions to their children, both male and female.

What to Do If Your Child Experiences Math Anxiety

It is important to recognize that the problem will not go away by encouraging your child to “try harder” or “stop worrying”. Instead, use the following strategies:

• Don’t Let It Slide – Math is the sole subject that is nearly 100% cumulative. Students must have a strong foundation or they will fall behind, lose confidence, and grow to dislike the subject. When you see your child struggling, intervene right away by assisting with homework. You may find that the older your child gets, the less willing he is to work with you. Seek after-school help from the teacher or hire a tutor who can patiently break down concepts, fill in any gaps, and instill confidence. Read More