Lets’ face it, we’ve all been in one of those situations where we just didn’t know how we would get all of our class work done on time AND have fun. With homework, papers, take home labs, quizzes and tests all stacking up, it can sometimes seem impossible to enjoy the college life without slipping up in class. Talk to any upper classmen or recent grad and you will hear an underlying theme in that the way you handle these situations and the choices that you make under this kind of stress will shape the course of your college career. That may seem like a bit of an overstatement, but honestly they’re just being frank. The question is how the heck this balance between school and fun can be achieved? The short answer is everyone finds a way that works for them and they stick to it. Unfortunately that answer doesn’t really resolve the question for you. We decided to talk to everyone we knew and compile a list of what has worked for them so that you could get some sort of an idea as to how to go about not getting knocked out by college. Here is what other college students have said works best for them.

• Just going to every class. That seems really simple but not many people do it. By attending every class you usually get tips and hints on what to study for the exams and you get the opportunity to get any questions you have cleared up. All of this results in less time spent studying and more free time when you want it.

• Avoiding the easiest temptation in college, procrastinating. If you just do your work right when it’s assigned you could no joke save yourself hours of extra studying and stress. Just think, when you start writing that paper the night before its due and it just so happens to be a friend’s birthday or the night of an exciting event, you will be stuck writing that stupid paper you procrastinated on. (This was the number one tip given to us from our survey! DON’T PROCRASTINATE.)

• -“I didn’t have class until 11:30am every morning and I was lucky to get up by 11:20am just to make it to class on time.” Quoted from Jarred- “Sleeping in everyday adds up to a ton of lost hours. It’s so easy just to hit the snooze and sleep as long as possible. By waking up at 9-10am everyday it gave me enough time to get all of my homework done before the weekend. Now I usually just do some studying Sunday night but that’s it, Friday night and Saturday are mine.”

• If you’re spending more time playing hard than working hard it’s destined for failure. Finding the perfect balance is key, but what seems to work best is five days devoted to class and two for fun. Realistically this just prepares us for the real world anyway. Sticking to this plan will give you better balance in your college career that’s almost guaranteed.

The list could go on and on describing all of the ways college kids find helpful for balancing school and fun, but this at least gives you an idea. It’s important to find something that works for you and just stick to it. There is no easy way around it, you will have to study and spend time on homework frequently. The goal is to not let college sucker punch you every Sunday afternoon when you wake up. If you can manage to stay on top of things and follow your plan you are in for some great college experiences with a lot less stress. Will you dodge the punch and win with a 1 2 KO?

If you are not aware President Obama has introduced some new terms for Federal student loans. These changes will affect anyone who has taken out a Federal loan after 2008 and any new borrowers. You probably fall into one of these categories so you should know what the terms are. First, and probably most important, the new program will cap monthly payments to 15% of the borrower’s income. If you can make all of your payments under this plan on time and pay promptly for 25 years, the remaining balance of your loan debt will be forgiven. Yea, that means you will no longer owe anything to the government. Your loan balance at that point would be taken care of. Now 25 years is a pretty long time, but Obama has said that he wants that time to be moved down to 20 years and he only wants us to pay 10% of our income each month rather than 15%. This is huge for the millions of us college students across the country. Another feature of this new plan is an option to consolidate your loans into a single loan. The benefits of this are that you could get out of higher interest loans and receive a lower interest rate for your loan balance. Having only one loan would be more manageable during repayment and it would let you make a clear outline as to how to best pay off your debt. Overall this new Federal student loan program offers many benefits to us. You should be on the lookout as to when you can begin taking advantage of the new features. Finally a little break that we all know we need and mostly deserve. Be sure to let your friends know about this so they too can make the appropriate changes in the federal loan accounts.

New Loan Program

The Stock Market can seem intimidating at first. Most of the basic concepts are actually not complicated. It's important to understand these basics so you can make good decisions about your investments in the stock market. Here is a brief stock market guide for beginners.

In simple terms the stock market is the place where you buy and sell stocks and shares. It is where the trading in securities is managed. It has become a major driver to the market economy as it provides business access to investors and their money. You risk your money for the chance of profit based on the

The stock market can seem like a dangerous place to venture into, but investing in the stock market doesn't need to be scary. Understanding the stock market is the key to making great investing decisions. The problem with most people is that they go into the market blind or they let someone give them a "hot tip" that ends up crashing right away.

What our emotions tend to tell us is that when something has done very poorly lately is to sell and when something has done very well lately to buy. People who follow their gut instinct on this end up buying high and selling low over and over again. They likely even think they're making a wise decision each time! Two common phrases that make it obvious that the person who speaks it knows nothing of investing fundamentals are, "the stock market just looks too risky right now because it has fallen so much lately." And, "the stock market looks great right now! Have you seen the soaring stocks lately!!!"

Those emotions will give you so many problems because they serve you well in other areas of life. For example, if a sports team has done well lately, you expect them to continue doing well in the near future. The same is true for a team that has performed poorly lately. Another example would be a friend that keeps letting you down. He or she will likely continue to let you down. While the friend that has been there for you every single time in the past will likely continue to be there for you in the future. In both of these examples, the thought process that would help you view the life situation correctly will lead you astray when thinking about the stock market. Logically, when stocks go down a lot, they become cheaper and less risky. Likewise, when stocks go up a lot they become more expensive and more risky. Our human instincts, and many financial talking heads, tell us the opposite. Don't get fooled!

There is a lot to be said about the stock market but this brief introduction should get the ball rolling for you. An unbelievable resource that we use to keep practicing our trading skills is HowTheMarketWorks.com. This site allows you to freely invest as much or as little “fake” money into the real market. You can enter contests and track your progress throughout time. Currently our portfolio is up 23% for just this month alone. This website is highly recommended and if you want to see the exact trades we make just search for the username “thiskidflies” on howthemarketworks and you can view our stock.

If you take a little time now to start learning the market you will gain a very valuable skill. This skill will help you generate some extra cash from the money you are already saving.

U Promise is an unbelievable new website that is saving thousands of college student’s money by offering many different cash back programs. Basically you make an account at the U Promise website and when you use your credit card on the things you already buy, you get money back. The thing is there are many companies out there that have offered the same kind of deal so what really sets U Promise apart. Not only does U Promise save you money, it also gives you options on what to do with those savings. For instance, instead of cashing in and having a check written out to you at the end of each month, you can chose to have that money invested instead. U Promise offers a high yield savings account that your money can be deposited into without a fee as well as a tax-free 529 plan. Both of these options will guarantee growth of your money and give you a tax write off. The best part of this website is that there are no gimmicks or things you’re required to buy. The account is completely free and takes less than 5 minutes to set up.

This is a perfect way to start saving money and making money without an extra effort. We realize that college takes up so much time and it can be hard to do “extra” things just to save a quick buck. We would like you to know that U Promise requires no extra effort besides signing up. If you spend around $200 a month on food and “extra curricular activities”, you would be looking at making around $20 extra each month. Punch the buttons and that’s an easy $240 a year for just taking 5 minutes to make an account. Hopefully you will be able to spare an extra few minutes and at least check it out. We’re all about saving money and using that saved money to generate more income so U Promise is a perfect place for us to reccomend!

www.Upromise.com