Tuesday 15 May 2012
Josh Hamilton's Bat Headed for the Hall of Fame
national policy and same-sex marriage
national policy and same-sex marriage, House Assistant Minority Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said Monday that he believes same-sex marriage should be legal — and the No. 3 House Democrat appeared to go further than President Obama in suggesting that a national policy, rather than a state-by-state one, is needed on the issue.
Sarah Hyland: Had a Kidney Transplant
Sarah Hyland: Had a Kidney Transplant, “Modern Family’s” Haley Dunphy, reveals in the new issue of Seventeen magazine that she received a kidney from her father last month. The 21-year-old starlet opened up about her life-saving surgery. “You know that family is always going to be there for you, no matter what. My dad gave me a freakin’ kidney!” Sarah told the maggie. “I have a second chance at life, not a lot of people get that.”
Monday 14 May 2012
10 Quick Fixes for a Bad Hair Day
10 Quick Fixes for a Bad Hair Day
Student loans -- for kindergarten?
Student loans -- for kindergarten?
It used to be that families first signed up for education loans when their children enrolled in college, but a growing number of parents are seeking tuition assistance as soon as kindergarten. Though data are scarce, private-school experts and the small number of lenders who provide loans for kindergarten through 12th grade say pre-college loans are becoming more popular. Your Tuition Solution, one of the largest lenders in this space, says demand for the upcoming year is already up. This month, the total dollar amount of loans families requested rose 10% compared with a year ago; at that pace, the company expects its total funding to rise to $20 million for 2012-13. Separately, First Marblehead, which exited the market in 2008, re-entered last year as demand for loans began to risMuch of this demand is coming from high-income families. Roughly 20% of families that applied for aid to pay for their children's kindergarten through 12th grade private school education had incomes of $150,000 or more, according to 2010-11 data, the latest from the National Association of Independent Schools. That's up from just 6% in 2002-03. Those who don't get approved for free aid, like grants, increasingly turn to loans, experts say.
For parents who sign up for pre-college loans, the risks can be significant. To begin with, they could be repaying the loans for a long time. Sallie Mae's and Your Tuition Solution's pre-college loans have repayment periods of up to three and seven years, respectively. Loans at the Hawken School in Chesterland, Ohio, don't have to be repaid until after the child graduates college. That means parents could be on the hook to repay K-12 and college loans simultaneously. Already, about one in six parents of college graduates have loans, and they're projected to owe nearly $34,000 on average this year, according to FinAid.org. Taking on loans before college leaves parents at risk of owing larger debts, experts say.
Schools are offering their own financing options as well. The Blake School in Hopkins, Minn., says 132 of its families signed up for its 10-month payment plan this year -- which charges an 8.5% fixed rate -- up 19% from the previous academic year. The Hawken School says it provides a small number of loans with a 6% rate. "These loans aren't as taboo as they once were -- there are a lot more schools that are much more willing now to present a loan program as an affordability option," says Kristen Power, the northeast regional director for the NAIS' School and Student Services, which processes families' financial aid applications to private schools.The rise in private school loans coincides with a rise in tuition. The average cost of private school is nearly $22,000 a year, up 4% from a year ago and up 26% from 2006-07, according to the NAIS. While schools increased their financial aid budgets, the gap between free aid and tuition costs is getting bigger for many parents. As a result, enrollment is dropping as fewer families can afford to pay. Total private school enrollment is projected at around 5.3 million this year, down 11% from 2007, according to the Department of Education.
The loans can also be expensive. The interest rates -- which can be fixed or variable -- range from around 4% to roughly 20%. (Lower rates are given to parents with higher credit scores.) And the loans can be large: The average loan given by Your Tuition Solution is $14,000. First Marblehead loans out up to $30,000 a year. At the Lake Trust Credit Union that's headquartered in Lansing, Mich., borrowers can have up to $40,000 outstanding in so-called K-12 education loans.
For those parents who are set on giving their children a private education, the hunt for an alternative way to fill the gap has intensified, says Brian Fisher, a partner at AdmissionsQuest, which provides consulting to families whose children attend private boarding schools. In most cases, parents are informed of these loans from the schools' admissions and financial aid offices, says Power.
The schools say they provide parents information on the loans but don't go out of their way to encourage the practice. Jose Baltier of Midland, Texas, says he was stumped about how to pay for his son's education at a selective boarding school in Massachusetts until he received the school's acceptance package, which included a brochure for the lender Your Tuition Solution. He says he contacted the company and a day later was approved for a loan.To be sure, lenders say the loans are less risky than they were before the recession. Qualifying is harder and in most cases is restricted to borrowers in good credit standing and who submit income documentation. The repayment periods -- which previously stretched up to 20 years -- are shorter now, and the loan sizes lenders provide are smaller, says Power. Lenders also say they encourage parents who sign up for their loans to choose the shortest repayment period possible and to explore more affordable alternatives, like a tuition payment plan that allows parents to split up tuition costs typically over 10 months and doesn't charge interest.
Despite the risks, experts say many parents are intent on making private education a reality for their children no matter the cost. Robin Aronow, an independent educational consultant to families in New York City, says parents believe that private schools will give their children a higher quality of education and will help them get into a better college, which is why they're willing to stretch.
That's the case for Dunham, who says he and his wife haven't saved for college for their two children. Instead, he says, they're trying to give them the best education now in the hopes that it'll open doors to better colleges. "We'll figure out how to pay for it then, or with any luck they'll get scholarships," he says. "Right or wrong, we're hoping our experiment works."
Saturday 12 May 2012
The Sexiest Cars of All Time
The Sexiest Cars of All Time
Queen Mothers of the Animal Kingdom
Queen Mothers of the Animal Kingdom
Four newly hatched cygnets follow their mother swan into the lake at Crossgates Country Club near Millersville, Pennsylvania, on April 30.
A baby one-day-old American Bison and his mother nuzzle each other in the zoo de Servion, in Servion, Switzerland on April 27.
Baby elephant 'Assam' explores his enclosure with his mother at the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, on April 27.
Gorilla Chelewa holds her baby born the day before at Cabarceno Nature Park in Cantabria, northern Spain, on April 25.
An infant mongoose lemur is shown nestled in the fur of its mother at Busch Gardens in Tamp, Florida, April 25.
A white stork brings a branch in its nest, near Biebesheim, western Germany, on April 25.
10-year-old Sumatran orangutan Cahaya cuddles her 6-day-old male cub Malou at the zoo in Zurich, Switzerland, on April 12.
A newborn South American female tapir baby lies next to her mother at the Debrecen Zoo in Hungary on April 16.
A 1-month old albino Bennett tree-kangaroo rests in his mother's pouch at the 'Garden of Nature' zoo in Hungary on April 21.
Two storks care for their chicks on April 23 at the wildlife park in Eekholt, Germany.
A golden takes care of her 1-day-old offspring in Liberec Zoo on April 13. The Liberec Zoo, in the Czech Republic is the only one in Europe which breeds the species, a goat-antelope from Asia, in captivity, according to a spokesperson from the zoo.
A baby baboon is seen in his mother's arms at the Hagenbeck Zoo on April 18 in Hamburg, Germany.
A 1-day-old Asian elephant baby keeps close to her mother, Lai Sinh, in their enclosure in the Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg, Germany, on April 13.
Kiazi, a rare Eastern Bongo, stands beside his first-time mother, Djembe, on April 2 at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia. His name means sweet potato.
An American bald eagle feeds its young at Gray's Lake Park in Des Moines, Iowa, on April 9.
Mother Orsa and her three young bears roam around their open-air enclosure at a wildlife park on April 10 in Germany.
Polar bear mother, Vilma, cuddles with her cub, Anori, at a zoo in Germany on March 29. Anori was born on January 4 and has the same father as polar bear Knut, who died in 2011.
Orangutan infant, Aurora, rests on top of her surrogate mother, Cheyenne's, head after eating breakfast at the Houston Zoo on March 29. Born at the zoo in March 2011, Aurora was abandoned by her mother and hand raised by volunteers for nine months before being adopted by Cheyenne.
A mother polar bear plays with two of her three cubs born last November at the Moscow Zoo, on March 22.
A female giraffe calf born this month at the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx Zoo stays close to her mother in New York on March 22.
Wira, a newborn male baby Sulawesi crested macaque, is held by his mother, Wino, at ZSL London Zoo on March 14.
Two Asiatic lion cubs that were born in November, venture outdoors for the first time accompanied by their mother at Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on February 22.
2-year-old Henry rides the back of his mother Kuchi inside a Western lowland gorilla habitat at Zoo Atlanta in Atlanta, on March 9.
A 3-day-old Lechwe antelope stands next to its mother at the zoo in Berlin on February 10.
A baby baboon only a few days old, stands next to its mother in an enclosure at the "ZOOM" Zoo in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, on March 12.
Maggie, a baby giraffe, is nuzzled at the Oakland Zoo on February 2 in Oakland, California. Weighing in at 80 pounds and 72 inches, Maggie is the first female giraffe born at the zoo in nearly a decade.
Rhinoceros offspring, Mala, lies next to its mother, Mana, in their compound at the zoo in Magdeburg, Germany, on January 28.
Western Lowland gorilla mother Bana holds her new baby born on November 16, 2011.
Four baby capybaras are accompanied by their mother as they explore their enclosure on November 3, at the zoo in Schwerin, Germany.
Sumatran tiger Jumilah is seen with her cubs at Taronga Zoo on October 25, in Sydney, Australia.
Torsten Blackwood
Chimp hug
A chimpanzee cuddles her infant at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, on September 30.
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