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From The Grio

Thousands of students couldn’t afford to go to college this school year because the U.S. Department of Education made changes to a popular loan program.

The agency is putting more scrutiny on the PLUS loan program as part of an effort to more closely align government lending programs with industry standards and decrease default rates.

Read more at TheGrio.com.

http://madamenoire.com/

Welcome to the beginning of the peak intern season, where hopeful college students and graduates suck up their pride and take on for-credit, paid and sometimes unpaid internships to get a foot in the door of their desired industry. Don’t be fooled by how easy an internship might look or sound. Taking on an internship is like running a marathon; there are no shortcuts, it should not be taken lightly and it will not last forever.

There’s really no way to prep for an internship except to be open-minded and ready for any type of task that might come your way. Interns are not just coffee pushers or copy makers, but they help fill a temporary void in the office that might eventually make way for a permanent position. So, don’t take your internship lightly; this might very well be your next job!

While you have that significant time as an intern with a company, make the best of it and turn it into a career by keeping these simple steps in mind:

It’s that time of year again when “Pomp and Circumstance” is being filtered through the ears of graduates and their proud families. After four long years, sometimes even longer for some in college, the day has come for that diploma to be placed in one’s eager hands to show off. As Etta James belted out, it’s a good feeling. Damn the Rick Santorum’s of the world who would shame you into believing you’re a snob for this moment of glory. You earned the right to revel in this moment of triumph.

It’s a beautiful moment, but one that is no longer translating into good paying jobs to help cover the cost of that degree. It certainly didn’t come free. The pomp is soon gone and circumstances set in.

Parents send their children off to institutions of higher learning so that they can better themselves. However, it’s becoming an all too familiar reality that young adults are graduating college only to move back home and sit on their parents couch for an infinite amount of time. This growing trend has begged the question of whether or not college has become like VHS: irrelevant.

Recent statistics have shown that one in two college students are either jobless or unemployed. The market is at one of its weakest points and the debtors give you only six months to get a job and repay your loans before the non-stop calls begin. One can ask for a deferment, but putting off the inevitable only amplifies the central issue: there are no jobs.

Disillusionment has set in for many college grads who have been unable to get jobs in their chosen fields. They studied, wrote papers and subjected themselves to the whims of internships and it seems to have been in vain. It’s particularly unnerving to see someone who crossed college off the to-do list winning because of a sex tape, acting ratchet on a reality TV show or finding the right pro athlete to get pregnant by. There used to be a time when relying on one’s look, reliable weaves and becoming a stereotype were frowned upon, but it’s the new norm. You no longer necessarily need the right degree, but rather a marketable personality for the masses; dumbing one’s self down may be a blow to the pride, but it has it certain perks these days in comparison to contributing to $1 trillion in loans.

Did college grads really survive on crackers and noodles to make Sallie Mae rich? College is meant to be an investment on the individual’s future, but generation X and Y are shackled to debt before they even walk across the stage. Joe Clark wasn’t wrong. There is a system in place to keep those who can’t afford college without financial assistance  in a permanent underclass. Tuition’s are rising, the debt is ballooning and there doesn’t seem to be much relief in sight.

Unfortunately, until the game is changed, you just need to learn the rules, play and hope for a win. It used to be that you only needed a high school diploma or a G.E.D. to qualify for the most basic job. The bare minimum is now a Bachelor’s degree to get an interview, and those who have a Master’s have the advantage. A person needs two or three degrees for an edge. You need one just to get in the game and make a good impression. So while it might seem like a gamble to see if a degree will actually bring you a job in your field, college degrees aren’t irrelevant. Especially not when you need one a majority of the time just to get your foot in the door.

A college degree is like having sex. Protect yourself.

What do you think?

Stephanie Guerilus is a journalist and author. Follow her @qsteph

By Charlotte Young

After doing time in prison, many former inmates find themselves wondering where they will be able to find a job upon release. But the Prison Entrepreneurship Program teaches its graduates that finding a job isn’t necessary when you can start your own company.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, each year the program picks inmates from 60 correctional institutions throughout Texas. Once chosen, the inmates are transferred to Cleveland’s 506-bed facility for a five month program where they experience top of the line business education from executive volunteers, MBA students and business professionals. Only about one out of 10 applicants are accepted every year.

Once accepted, PEP’s students are immersed in business learning from income statements to marketing and profit margins. For their final exam, they must present a 30-minute oral business plan in front of a judging panel of CEOs from across the nation.

Portfolio reports that Cedric Hombuckle was one of PEP’s successful students. After serving eight of 12 years for drug distribution, he was accepted into the program with less than a year before his parole.

Now that he’s graduated from the program, he’s been able to start and grow Moved by Love, his moving company based in Houston.

PEP’s guidance extends to the former inmates even after they graduate. They are given access to programs that help with housing, clothing, transportation and medical care. Graduates can also use PEP’s business center in Houston.With the help of PEP’s tight knit support system, Hombuckle was able to get a $5800 loan and bought his first moving truck. He now has three trucks and has hired other PEP graduates.

Not all of PEP’s graduates share the same story of triumph. PEP’s chief development officer Ralph Wheeler discloses that about 90 of the 700 graduates have started a successful business. Out of those businesses, 84 percent are in operation two years later.

But PEP’s graduates still have a strong track record for outside employment as well as a low rate of repeat offenses. Wheeler says that this is what also makes the program a success. Wheeler shares that giving business knowledge to convicted felons isn’t such a hard or radical task as many already “know about the distribution of product, managing people, inventory and pricing.”

Many were entrepreneurs from the start. The program is now simply helping them to use their skills for the good of the community.

(New York Times) — For young adults, the prospects in the workplace, even for the college-educated, have rarely been so bleak. Apart from the 14 percent who are unemployed and seeking work, as Scott Nicholson is, 23 percent are not even seeking a job, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The total, 37 percent, is the highest in more than three decades and a rate reminiscent of the 1930s.

Read More…

(Entrepreneur) — Congratulations to the graduates of the class of 2010. You have degree in hand and are excited and ready to face the many opportunities that lay ahead of you. Undoubtedly, many of you harbor the desire to fulfill the true American dream and successfully build your own business. True, the current economic climate is tumultuous, but down markets are actually a fantastic time to take risks, as long as they are calculated. But if entrepreneurship were easy, everybody would be doing it, right?

Read More…

(Entrepreneur) — Congratulations to the graduates of the class of 2010. You have degree in hand and are excited and ready to face the many opportunities that lay ahead of you. Undoubtedly, many of you harbor the desire to fulfill the true American dream and successfully build your own business. True, the current economic climate is tumultuous, but down markets are actually a fantastic time to take risks, as long as they are calculated. But if entrepreneurship were easy, everybody would be doing it, right?

Read More…