Smaller community grants and scholarship competitions may require applicants to complete additional forms or submit essays.
Complete all forms and follow all instructions carefully. Be sure to return all paperwork as early as possible. Since many grant programs disburse money on a rolling basis, you might disqualify yourself by waiting until the posted deadline to submit your material.
b. In Vietnam
* Grants: are provided by the government for students to do their research, for example, in the National University, if students’ research topic is accepted by the University, they will be granted amount of money.
* Scholarships:
- Merit – based scholarships:
If students get good result and good conduct or behavior, they will be received a scholarship as a reward by their university or some companies.
If students win some kinds of competition such as writing essays competition and eloquence, they will also get scholarships.
- Need – based scholarships:
If students have many efforts in study and their families do not have enough money to pay their expenses in study, they can get scholarships from some funds for poor students.
2. Loans
Loans are student loans that the students and their parents borrow for each academic year and the money must be paid back. The students are not required to accept the loan portion of their aid package, but their family will be responsible for any amount they decline. The loan is applied first toward their billed fees from the College.
a. In U.S:
In America, it has 2 main types of student loan. They are federal loan and private loan.
There are several different federal loans but we can say that it is divided into 2 types: federal loans to students and federal student loans to parents.
* Federal loans to students
Federal loans to student consist of Federal Perkins Loan, Stafford loan, Federal Education Loans, Ford Direct Student Loans, and Federal student loan consolidation.
These loans are available to college and university students via funds disbursed directly to the school and are used to supplement personal and family resources, scholarships, grants, and work-study. They may be subsidized by the U.S. Government or may be unsubsidized depending on the student's financial need. Among them, the Federal Perkins Loan and the Stafford Loan are the main federal loans.
+ Federal Perkins Loan
A Federal Perkins Loan, or Perkins Loan, is a low interest loan for undergraduate and graduate students and is named after Carl D. Perkins, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky.
The U.S. Department of Education provides a programmed amount of funding to the school. In turn, the school determines which students have the greatest need. The school combines federal funds with some of its own funds for loans to qualifying students.
The students’ school will pay their directly (usually by check) or apply their loan to their school charges. They will receive the loan in at least two payments during the academic year.
To borrow the Perkins loan, the students have to satisfy some qualification requirements such as:
• Enrollment in an eligible school at least half-time in a degree program
• U.S. citizenship, permanent residency, or eligible non-citizen status
• Satisfactory academic progress
• No unresolved defaults or overpayments owed on Title IV education loans and grants
• Satisfaction of all Selective Service requirements
Perkins Loans carry a fixed interest rate of 5% for the duration of the ten-year repayment period. The Perkins Loan Program has a nine-month grace period, so that borrowers begin repayment in the tenth month upon graduating, falling below half-time status, or withdrawing from their college or university. Because the Perkins Loan is subsidized by the government, interest does not begin to accrue until the borrower begins to repay the loan. The loan limits for undergraduates are $4,000 per year with a lifetime maximum loan of $20,000. For graduate students, the limit is $6,000 per year with a lifetime limit of $40,000 (including undergraduate loans).
+ Stafford loan
A Stafford Loan is a student loan offered to eligible students enrolled in accredited American institutions of higher education to help finance their education. The terms of the loans are described in Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (with subsequent amendments), which guarantees repayment to the lender if a student defaults.
In 1988, Congress renamed the Federal Guaranteed Student Loan program the Robert T. Stafford Student Loan program, in honor of U.S. Senator Robert Stafford, a Republican from Vermont, for his work on higher education.
Students applying for a Stafford loan or other federal financial aid must first complete a FAFSA. Stafford loans are available to students either directly from the United States Department of Education through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP, also known as Direct) or from a financial intermediary (such as Chase, Sallie Mae or Student Loan Corp.) through the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).
No payments are expected on the loan while the student is enrolled as a full or half time student. This is referred to as in-school deferment. Deferment of repayment continues for six months after the student leaves school either by graduating, dropping below half-time enrollment, or withdrawing. This is referred to as the Grace Period.
Stafford loans are available both as subsidized and unsubsidized loans.
- Subsidized Stafford Loan: This federally subsidized loan has a fixed interest rate. The interest on the loan is subsidized by the federal government while you are in school and does not begin to accrue until you begin repayment six months after you graduate or cease to be enrolled at least half time. When interest begins to accrue, it is at a rate of 6.0%. Middlebury will process a loan from any Stafford lender.
- Unsubsidized Stafford Loan: This loan is similar to the Subsidized Stafford Loan described above, except that the federal government does not subsidize the interest while you are in school. The interest rate on this loan is 6.8%. You may either pay it quarterly or let it accrue while you are in school.
* Federal loans to parents
Federal loans to parents or PLUS loan (formerly standing for "Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students") is a student loan offered to parents of students enrolled at least half time in eligible programs at participating and eligible post-secondary institutions. Unlike loans made to students, parents can borrow much more — usually enough to cover any gap in the cost of education. However, there is no grace period: Payments start immediately.
Parents should be aware that they are responsible for repayment on these loans, not the student. This is not a 'cosigner' loan with the student having equal accountability. The parents have signed the master promissory note to pay and, if they do not do so, it is their credit rating that suffers. Also, parents are advised to consider "year 4" payments, rather than "year 1" payments. What sounds like a "manageable" debt load of $200 a month in freshman year can mushroom to a much more daunting $800 a month by the time four years have been funded through loans. The combination of immediate repayment and the ability to borrow substantial sums can be expensive.
Under new legislation, graduate students are eligible to receive PLUS loans in their own names. These Graduate PLUS loans have the same interest rates and terms of Parent PLUS loans.
Parents should also be aware that legislation raised the interest rate on these loans significantly — to 8.5% on July 1, 2006.
PLUS loans are similar and different from Perkins and Stafford loans in various respects:
Similarities with Stafford and Perkins loans
• Offered under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (with subsequent amendments), and are therefore backed by the full faith of the United States Government
• Available both through the Federal Direct Student Loan Program (FDSLP, also known as Direct) or from a private lender through the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP)
• Can be consolidated through the College Consolidation Loan program
Differences from Stafford and Perkins loans
• Become due for repayment immediately (Ended as of July 1, 2008), and there is only interest rate term
• When taken by a parent, becomes a commitment by the parent, rather than the student
• Are subject to higher interest rates (i.e., 7.9% in Direct and 8.5% in FFELP)
• Can be incurred in amounts that cover up the entire cost of education (including living expenses), less other financial aid
• Offer different repayment plans, though there is no interest rate or accrual relief involved in any of the plans
• Eligibility is based on the parents or graduate students in question not having an adverse credit history
These are loans that are not guaranteed by a government agency and are made to students by banks or finance companies. Advocates of private student loans suggest that they combine the best elements of the different government loans into one: They generally offer higher loan limits than federal student loans, ensuring the student is not left with a budget gap. But unlike federal parent loans, they generally offer a grace period with no payments due until after graduation (this grace period ranges as high as 12 months after graduation, though most private lenders offer six months). However, some higher education advocates are private loan detractors because of the higher interest rates, multiple fees, and lack of borrower protections private loans carry that are not associated with federal loans.
Private loans generally come in two types: school-channel and direct-to-consumer.
* School-channel: School-channel loans offer borrowers lower interest rates but generally take longer to process. School-channel loans are 'certified' by the school, which means the school signs off on the borrowing amount, and the funds for school-channel loans are disbursed directly to the school.
* Direct-to-consumer: Direct-to-consumer private loans are not certified by the school; schools don not interact with a direct-to-consumer private loan at all. The student simply supplies enrollment verification to the lender, and the loan proceeds are disbursed directly to the student. While direct-to-consumer loans generally carry higher interest rates than school-channel loans, they do allow families to get access to funds very quickly — in some cases, in a matter of days. Some argue that this convenience is offset by the risk of student over-borrowing and/or use of funds for inappropriate purposes, since there is no third-party certification that the amount of the loan is appropriate for the education finance needs of the student in question. Direct-to-consumer private loans are the fastest growing segment of education finance and under legislative scrutiny due to the lack of school certification. Loan providers range from large education finance companies to specialty companies that focus exclusively on this niche.
b. In Vietnam
Vietnam Bank for Social Policy (VBSP) is a government financial institution that provides financing programs for the students who can not pay their school fee and living expenses. This is the main source of students’ loans. However, the procedure to make a loan from VBSP is very complicated. There are many students applying for a loan, however, just some of them can get the money. For example, in the second semester in the school year 2005 – 2006, Van Lang University has 248 students applying for loan, but only 71 students can get the money in reality. The amount of money for loan is so little that it is not enough to pay their school fee with a loan of 300000VND pre month for each student.
Students can borrow greater amount of money from some ungoverntmental banks such as Techcombank and VIB bank. They can borrow 200.000.000VND in 48 months. However, it is accepted only for students of some university such as RMIT, CFVG, or South California University.
3. Wages
Wages are also one of the useful kinds of education aids for undergraduate students. Not only getting money from this kind, but also we can achieve many precious experiences from real working environments that we hardly face in our schools.
a. In the U.S
In the US, there is a federal work- study which consists of two kinds of wages – on-campus work and off –campus work. This work-study encourages students to perform community service and work related to their courses of study, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses. The first one is a on-campus work which is usually done for the school. Your salary may start at the federal minimum wage but it could be higher, depending on the type of work and required skills. No federal work-study student may be paid by the commission or fee. Students must be paid by the school directly at least once a month. The jobs could be a tutor, a librarian, a campus resident advisory, a foodservice, etc. When assigning work hours, the employer or financial aid administrator takes your class schedule and academic progress into consideration. As usual, they often allow international students to work within 20 hours per week. The second federal work study is an off-campus work which is only a job for US citizens. It is usually provided by a private nonprofit organization or a public agency, and the nature of the work must be in the public interest. The jobs could be serving Americops, US military service, etc. It is illegal if international students do this kind of job in the US.
b. In Vietnam:
On the contrary, in Vietnam, we do hardly find the on-campus jobs given by our schools. As a matter of fact, we often do off-campus jobs to earn a sum of money for pursuing our studies. The jobs could be a tutor, a receptionist, a waiter/waitress, an interpreter, etc. instead of on-campus ones. Moreover, we do not care more about the restricted times when working off-campus. This is the reason why a large of students cut the class during their studies.
III. CONCLUSION
Grants and scholarships play important roles in students’ study. Thanks to grants and scholarships, students can do their scientific research as well as pursue their studies to higher levels. However, it is a pity that there are not many grants and scholarships for students in Vietnam. Therefore, as undergraduate students, we hope that the government would increase the budget for education. In our opinion, if scholarships, grants and prizes of scientific research are higher, students will be able to make more valuable contribution to science in general, and educational career in particular. It is about the government, and how about our department? We think that our department should appeal to the former students for establishment of scholarship funds for students, and attract the investment of companies and non-governmental organizations.
For students who do not have enough money for their study and can not take the advantage from grants and scholarship, making loans from the government banks or non government banks is an attractive way to have money for school fee. In Vietnam, we have Vietnam Bank for Social Policy. This is a governmental bank and the main source for student loans in Vietnam. However, the procedure of student loans is very complicated and sometimes it also makes confuses. When students want to borrow the money from VBSP, they must complete a form to prove they are students and they really need that money for their study. That form must be certified by their school. However, in some cases, some branch banks do not accept that form and require another form that not accepted by the school. It is not a fix procedure for every branch banks so it is very difficult for students who want to make loans. The government should simplify procedures of student loans and at the same time should increase amount of money. The amount of money for loan is so little that it is not enough to pay their school fee with a loan of 300000VND (maximum is only 800000VND) pre month for each student. We also should learn from the U.S student loans. While we just have VBSP and some non governmental financial companies, they have many different kinds of student loans so that their students can choose easily the most suitable loans for further education.
For non-governmental banks, they should widen the student loans borrower. Because in the present they just only accept students of some limited universities (usually are international universities) making loans.
Wages are also one of the useful kinds of education aids for undergraduate students. However, in Vietnam, to have a part-time job usually makes students cut the class during their studies for their job because we do hardly find the on-campus jobs given by our schools. Hence, in our group opinion, in order to prevent Vietnamese students from that bad habit, the schools themselves should take students’ class fixed schedule into deep consideration. For example, the freshman and the sophomore could study in the morning in a week, the junior and the senior could study in the afternoon. It will help students to arrange their time a lot for working. Besides, students’ faculties themselves create a website not only for the current students but also the graduate students so that they can exchange work experiences as well as part-time jobs each other.
