Identity theft scams are on the rise! Scholarships & Financial Aid will never contact you and ask you to provide your full social security number or passwords to accounts. Always use caution when conducting business over the phone or email. Utilize the secure Financial Aid Portal through howdy.tamu.edu to get information on your financial aid account, whenever possible.

If you are contacted about your personal information regarding financial aid and you are in doubt, don't answer any questions! Hang up and call our office directly at 979.845.3236 or email us at financialaid@tamu.edu.
 

In our last post, we talked about the phenomenon of summer melt, where up to 1/3 of the students who graduate high school with plans to go to college never make it to a college campus.  We discussed what the student’s support team could do to help keep the student on track—but there’s also plenty the student can do to make sure their college plans don’t get derailed.

To view the full article, visit How Students Can Avoid Summer Melt.

When it comes to financial aid for higher education, even "free" sources of money could leave you owing the IRS.

Scholarships, fellowship grants and teaching assistantships are instrumental in helping families pay for college.

But those free sources of financial aid may come with an unexpected price tag in the form of income tax.

To read the full article, visit https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/23/heres-why-that-scholarship-might-not-be-free-after-all.html.

If you just graduated, congrats! You’ve officially made it to the “real world” everyone’s always talking about. And that means you suddenly have a lot more responsibility. You may be looking for your first job, moving back in with your parents or starting off in a new place on your own. It’s a lot to take on, but don’t let your finances fall to the bottom of your priority list.

Here are five money mistakes to avoid when you’re first starting out.

To read the full article, visit https://finance.yahoo.com/news/5-biggest-money-mistakes-new-grads-make-194757801.html.

“What is a mutual fund?” Sam Rogers asked his financial literacy class.

Tessa Sabin, an 11th grader at Riverton High School, offered a guess: “Isn’t it where you invest in something that’s invested in multiple things? So that if one of them tanks, it doesn’t affect you overall because your investment is spread around.”

Rogers throws a lollipop to her for answering correctly. This kind of question is normal in Utah high schools, where financial literacy is a core requirement to graduate. Five states in the U.S. earn an A grade from Champlain College’s Center for Financial Literacy when it comes to teaching personal finance in high school, but only Utah has gotten an A+.

To view the full article, visit https://finance.yahoo.com/news/one-state-gets-teaching-students-money-161046576.html.

April is Financial Literacy Month, and whether you're a money guru or just someone who wants to know more, you can get involved.

Financial knowledge is important. Just 57 percent of American adults are financially literate, according to the 2015 S&P Global Financial Literacy Survey. That ranks 14th in the world – far behind such nations as Denmark (71 percent), Canada (68 percent), Israel (68 percent), Germany (66 percent) and Australia (64 percent). Clearly, Americans can do better, and we should.

How can you help? Here are a few ways you can make a difference during Financial Literacy Month.

To view the full article, visit https://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/my-money/articles/2017-04-10/3-ways-to-take-action-during-financial-literacy-month

"The scholarship provided to me by The Association of Former Students through your generous support has not only been an immense gift for me, but for my family as well. When I first received word of the scholarship, it gave me hope that achieving a college education was a possibility. You have provided me with the opportunity to achieve my dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer in hopes of providing a better future for my current and future family. I hope to one day be able to give back to the university that has given so much to me. Thank you so much."

-Jose Godoy '19

To view the full article, visit https://www.aggienetwork.com/spotlight/.

Millennials have to endure many stereotypes. They are often labeled lazy, entitled and even narcissistic.

Zach Swartz, an older millennial himself and portfolio manager with BKD Wealth Advisors in Springfield, Missouri, isn't sure the generation really deserves to be singled out in that way. "Sometimes millennials can be painted as very different from other generations when they're not," he says.

Case in point: the money management mistakes commonly made by millennials. The following six mistakes aren't so different from the financial gaffes made by older adults.

To view the full article, visit https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/family-finance/articles/2018-03-02/6-money-management-mistakes-millennials-often-make

"Jamie McKnight, 35, a mother of two, filed her federal tax return in late January, expecting to get a roughly $9,700 refund that would help her pay for rent, health care expenses and other bills," USA Today reports. "What the Kingston, N.Y., resident didn't anticipate was that nothing would show up in her bank account."

"McKnight soon discovered that the government had seized the money to apply to her overdue student loans, which she said total roughly $20,000. She says she didn't know the loans were in default, or that the feds could repay the debt with her refund.

'I waited for it to hit my account, and nothing happened,' she said. 'It's frustrating because this was supposed to be our safety net.'

To view the full article, visit https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/14941/Tax_Refund_Got_You_Excited_Don_t_Count_On_it_If_Your_Student_Loans_Are_in_Default

April is Financial Literacy Month. You might suspect there is a problem with financial literacy in America, if an entire month is dedicated to it! And you would be right.

April is an opportune time to look at three efforts that may have a chance to combat financial illiteracy. These are chosen because of their scalability and capacity to make a real difference for financial literacy in America.

To view the full article, visit https://www.forbes.com/sites/pensionresearchcouncil/2016/04/01/happy-financial-literacy-month/#76bcb852e213