Regardless of where you are in your life, choosing a college can be one of the most significant decisions in your life. The right college can provide you the tools and foundation to begin a career in the field that you want. Unfortunately, on the other side of the coin, choosing the wrong college can lead you toward a path of heavy debt and regret. This is why we recommend that you take some time and do your homework before deciding on a college. Here are some practical ideas that you might try. Make a decision about what type of degree or trade you are interested in pursuing. Identify and try to talk to people who are actually working in that field. Call a supervisor at a company you’re interested in working for one day. Some people are surprisingly open to providing guidance if they are simply asked. They might give you really valuable information,…Read More
Buying life insurance is one of those tasks a person may not like to think about but knows it is important to do. It’s not always easy to ponder the end of your life, but the positive side is that you are considering the good of your family. However, your insurance agent may have mentioned that, for the next couple of years, you are in a “contestability period,” and you may not be sure what that means. Insurance companies are businesses, and, like any business, they want to make more money than they pay out. In order to protect themselves from people who try to commit fraud by being less than truthful on their applications, insurance companies institute contestability periods. The problems arise when you are the loser of the contest. Honesty Yields The Best Policy For a period of time after you take out a life insurance policy – usually two years – you…Read More
With more than 5,000 employees let go and $185 million levied against them in fines, Wells Fargo is facing a dilemma. After it was revealed that the San Francisco-based bank fraudulently established more than 2 million customer accounts – and, in many cases, charged customers maintenance fees for those accounts – the public has lost faith in the institution. The question remains: What, if anything, can Wells Fargo do to make it up to consumers and regain their trust? Can A Bank With “Gutless” Leadership Be Gutted? In the wake of the scandal, the bank and its top brass have withstood a great deal of public scrutiny and criticism. On Capitol Hill, Senator Elizabeth Warren called Wells Fargo’s CEO, John Stumpf, a “gutless” leader. She urged him to resign and pay back the money he made from these illegal accounts. Stumpf, for his part, has signaled that he will do “whatever it takes” to make…Read More
If you are typically generous and trusting, you may also be susceptible to the most common types of consumer fraud. However, even people who are naturally cautious or even suspicious may fall victim to a scam. Because some people feel embarrassed at their vulnerability, they don’t always report cases of fraud to authorities. That’s why it is difficult for federal agencies and consumer protection groups to accurately report how many people are defrauded each year. However, if you have recently been victimized by a consumer scam, you are in the company of thousands. Playing To Your Human Nature Common scams involve fake charities and lotteries. These are highly lucrative because they appeal to your generosity and your desire to be successful. Lotteries often begin with a person contacting you about an award you have won. The person then requests money to pay the taxes on the prize. After you send funds, the person may demand…Read More
The typical homeowners insurance policy has numerous types of coverage in it. One type of coverage that is common in such policies is additional living expense coverage. ALE coverage covers certain living-expense-related costs (such as lodging costs) when a person has to vacate their home for a time because of certain events. One such event can be a forced/mandatory evacuation ordered due to a disaster, such as a wildfire. So, when a disaster strikes in the area a person’s home is in, what damage was done to the home is not the only thing that can have impacts on whether the person has grounds for a claim on their insurance policy. Another is if any evacuation orders were issued in relation to the disaster. Now, homeowners insurance policies can vary significantly in the kinds of coverage they have and the specific terms related to the particular types of coverage included in the policy. So, when…Read More
Veterans who serve our country with honor do not deserve to get ripped off. Unfortunately, since World War II, there has been a disturbing trend in for-profit colleges seeing uniformed service members as a source of easy money. This is because the G.I. Bill, created after the second World War, was established to provide tuition to veterans so they can get a college education. For-profit colleges have a special incentive to target veterans due to a loophole in the law, referred to as the 90/10 rule, which allows them to get significantly more Federal money per veteran student than they do for non-military students. Some proposed laws in Congress are being considered to protect our veterans. Protecting Veterans From School Closures Act Inspired by the closure of massive for-profit college ITT, Congressman Luke Messer has offered House Bill 1216, titled the Protecting Veterans from School Closures Act. When ITT closed, it left over 7,000 veterans…Read More
Laureate Education played hardball when trying to sell off the historic College of Santa Fe, to the point of forcing the college to shut down in the midst of an academic year, students claim in a lawsuit. They also claim Laureate should have acted more honorably, considering it is a public benefit corporation. They’re suing the private college operator for breach of contract bad faith, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, unfair trade, and unjust enrichment. Laureate operates more than 70 for-profit colleges and universities, as reported by the Courthouse News Service. Its flagship is Walden University, which grew from 2,082 students in 2001 to over 46,000 in 2010. According to the lawsuit, Laureate hoped to do the same for the College of Santa Fe, which it bought in 2009 and renamed the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. Historically, the college has maintained a very limited enrollment. Far beyond merely having a doomed plan for astronomic…Read More
Vacations are part of the American experience. If you think about it, we start getting vacations in daycare, in elementary school, and through our entire educational experience. So the concept is engrained in the structure of our lives. So when we enter the workforce, we consider it a given that vacation will be a part of the equation. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for everyone. Vacation time, or Paid Time Off (PTO) is not actually a legal requirement of employers. In other words, with all of the protections afforded employees in California, employers are under no legal obligation to offer PTO. Despite this, many companies do offer PTO, because it would be difficult to stay competitive and attract talented employees without some sort of vacation policy. If an employer has a PTO policy for its employees, it then becomes subject to certain labor laws governing how it treats and pays vacation time. Some significant regulations…Read More
During the Obama administration, for-profit colleges faced heightened regulation and oversight. The Department of Education was essentially targeting these colleges to determine whether they were inflating or misrepresenting their job placement and earnings statistics in order to induce students into enrolling in their programs. The reason for this is that for-profit colleges receive a disproportionate amount of their revenues from federal student loans and from military members. Making this worse is that their students default at a higher rate than students in public colleges. In fact, for-profit colleges have shouldered much of the blame for the current student loan crisis. Disproportionately High Tuition For-profit colleges charge much higher tuition rates than public colleges. In fact, a recent study found the following discrepancies in tuition: A four-year public college charges an average of $325, while a four year for-profit college charges $647 per hour. That means for-profit college students are paying nearly $40,000 more in base…Read More
During President Obama’s administration, for-profit colleges saw a dramatic decline in students and increasing scrutiny from the Department of Education. The Department of Education had concerns about for-profit colleges taking advantage of students with false promises, poor job placement results, and pushing loans that students could not afford. The combination of increased regulation and declining enrollment resulted in giant for-profit colleges like ITT and Corinthian College abruptly shutting down. In the wake of all of this, there has been a surge in positive press and legislative support regarding community colleges. Here are some of the reasons why. Open enrollment. Community colleges are not exclusive and provide everyone access to a college education. In fact, more than forty percent of all undergraduate students are community college students. In addition, a disproportionate number of students at community colleges are low income. Higher salary. Unlike with for-profit colleges, many of which have been sued for inflating their job…Read More
