Study in the Snow!

Remember when you told your parents you wished you could ski and snowboard for the rest of your life, or that your dream job would be to work at a ski resort? Believe it or not there are about a handful of unique college degree programs that could earn you a career you always dreamed of.

Pro snowboarder or Olympic skier might be out of the question, but if you’ve never considered the other wish-list careers that exist in the ski industry, here are a few to chew on:

• Ski resort managers and operators
• Adaptive ski instructors
• Ski and Snowboard teachers and coaches
• Safety specialists
• Resort and slope designers

Ski Resort Management

Ski Area Management or Ski Resort Operations degrees are on an upward trajectory. These hybrids span the gap between the specialized needs of the ski industry and the rest of the general recreation industry and hospitality and management degrees. So far I’ve tracked down 4 schools in the U.S. that offer degrees in ski area management:

• University of Maine-Farmington, Ski Industries Certificate Program
• Recreation Resource & Ski Resort Management, Lyndon State, Vermont, B.S. degree
• Ski Area Management Program, Gogebic Community College, Michigan, Associates degree.
• Colorado Mountain College, Ski Area Operations.

Winter Sports Management

The University of Maine at Fort Kent announced last week that beginning in the fall of 2008 it would offer the only major in Winter Sports Management available in the country. The difference between this and programs aimed at ski resort management, like those I listed above, is that UMFK is aiming its sights on smaller, non-profit winter sports venues (not big resorts) that it says have unique business and management needs.

Is this your classroom?

Most of these programs dedicate a big piece of their curriculum to field trips. You’ll find that the schools that offer ski industry majors are also located in prime skiing regions: Colorado and the West, the Northeast and even Canada. You learn on-site every gear and cog that makes a big time ski resort tick, from staffing (human resources) to slope and lift design and even the mechanics of slope grooming.

Ski and Snowboard Instructors

Your best bets for a college major that could land you as an instructor or coach on a ski or snowboard slope include first the University of Maine – Farmington’s Ski Industries Program. Students pursuing a Bachelors degree in any major may add on one of these dream-job specializations: Adaptive Ski Teaching or Professional Ski Coaching and Teaching. There may be no other formal college degree program quite like this.

The next best option is to look for programs that focus on outdoor or adventure sports education. Outdoor Education majors at Idaho State University have the option to load their major with courses that focus on winter sports education, like Avalanche and Winter Sports Safety, Winter Survival, and Snowboard, Ski, and Adaptive Ski Instructor Training courses.

Tips for Enjoying the Time Off this Holiday Season

Feeling uneasy about going home for a few weeks? You’re not alone.

Many students find it difficult to leave their day-to-day college routine and go back home for the holidays. There may not be any fun stuff to do in town or your college friends may all be in other cities.

Don’t get the wrong idea. We’re not saying that spending time with family is a bad experience, only that it can leave a student feeling homesick from their new home, college. Spending the whole time at the family house can be depressing compared to the exciting, fast-paced, and social college atmosphere.

Catch up with your family first. Tell them all the great things you’ve been doing while at school, then use these tips when you start feeling cramped inside the house:

1. Earn money: Work while you’re home on break. You have a set schedule, you’re out of the house and you earn money doing it. Here are some in-demand places to work:

• Bars, restaurants and caterers
• Bakeries and coffee shops
• Florists, garden centers and Christmas tree farms
• Ski resorts
• Boutiques and chain stores (pretty much all retail)
• Pet-sitting—you can work for yourself or for a business.

2. Volunteer locally or overseas: Why not help others with your spare time? Local and international short-term volunteer opportunities are available. These provide a win-win situation for you and for others in need. Consider these volunteer situations for the holidays:

• Take a spot with an international volunteer organization: participate in a short-term volunteer program outside the U.S.
• Hospital-visit with patients, especially children that are hospital bound for the holidays.
• Nursing home
• Animal shelter
• Mission or homeless shelter
• Meals on Wheels or Toys for Tots are in dire need of volunteers at Christmas
• Ask your church pastor, minister, preacher, rabbi, or priest for any volunteer opps available.

3. Hang out using your spare change: Relax, watch the time pass, and strike up conversations at some low to no-cost venues:

• Public library
• Bookstore (Barnes and Noble, Borders)
• The mall (window shopping only)
• Coffee shop
• Public park

4. Consider alternatives to going “home”: For some students, home is not an inviting place at all for a variety of reasons. Guess what? You’re an adult and can make your own choice about where you’re willing to spend your hard-earned time off. Here are some alternatives:

• Stay on campus and do your own thing.
• Stay with a favorite family relative if you have one—an aunt or grandparent, an independent sibling, a parent that lives outside the home.
• Go home for the holidays with a friend from school if you’ve been invited.

Worried About Finals This Year?

With some exams accounting for around 50 percent of your final grade, the pressure to make the grade may lower your level of performance. You don’t have to suffer this year. There are solutions.

We researched the fields of proper study habits, nutrition and health, and psychology to compile this list of the most important and often overlooked study tips. We present these to you in no particular order:

1.) Stay Away from Stimulant Drugs!

These include caffeine, ephedrine, cocaine, ect…

Many stimulants may be part of your everyday diet, and it’s ok to use your normal amount. The problem arises when you use stimulants to stay awake studying for long periods of time. You may have trouble digesting the information you need to absorb. The worst case scenario is that you stay up so long that you finally crash during the test and give a crappy performance.

If you generally rely on stimulants to stay awake or be more alert, try to change a few daily activities and get a natural boost. Exercise, stay away from saturated fats and sugar, and get a full night of rest each day.

2.) Carefully Choose Your Study “Setting”

Your setting will be the location of your cram sessions. Everyone has unique study preferences. Some prefer music while others enjoy total silence. Do you like to lie around, or is a large desk necessary? Take all of your considerations into account before going to your location. You don’t want to be stuck in an unaccommodating setting when your grades are on the line.

3.) Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Stop stressing. Think positive. Visualize taking the exam while confident and relaxed. KNOW that you have the mental ability to do well. All this is easy to say, but hard to do. If you have trouble, talk to a trusted friend for reassurance. Mothers tend to be pretty good giving you positive feedback when asked.

4.) Get Your Priorities in Order

You have a certain amount of time, and a big load to study.

Do you know what classes are most important? And what information in the class should be focused on? Make a list of your studying priorities and stick to it.

5.) Time for Time Management

You’ve got your list of priorities, but limited time. Create a schedule of where you will be located and what you’ll be studying. Be sure to work in some short breaks to stretch your muscles and stay alert.

Stick to the schedule. Make no sudden emotional changes to the schedule since this will likely cause a loss of valuable time.

6.) Don’t Study with Your Crush

I know studying for an important test is a great excuse to spend time with that person you find really attractive.

However, don’t use it when cramming, no matter what. I know it’s even harder if they ask YOU to study.

Just DON’T DO IT! You have enough distractions in your life right now as it is.

What We Can Learn From Suze Orman

The other night I had television on, just on, background noise. At some point in the evening the Suze Orman Show came on. I paid relatively little attention until one of her guest callers asked her opinion on student loans: Her daughter was in the process of choosing colleges. She was down to a choice between a private, four-year college and a state university. Did Suze think the value of the private college matched the increased expense or should she encourage her daughter to choose the more affordable state university? And would the education at the state university offer comparable value?

Two separate college issues were addressed in that call:

• Value between types of colleges
• Expense of high tuition costs

Lesson One from Suze: The additional cost associated with the four-year college would most likely have to be financed via private student loans. According to her, an absolute no-no.

Lesson Two from Suze: She attended a state university and look where she is right now.

Private Student Loans: The Bottom Line Revealed

Private student loans, or alternative student loans, have generated colossal business for lenders—really the meat and potatoes—in the last few years. The startling statistics (College Board): Since 2001 private student loan borrowing has increased 27 percent annually and is fattened enough to monopolize 20 percent of the student loan market. Just a decade ago, private student loans constituted a mere sliver–7 percent–of the same market. Regionally the behavior may be even worse; one source reports that private student loan borrowing among Maryland students has increased by 600 percent since 2000.

As I speak there are some alarmists extolling the evils of the private student loan market—bloated beyond belief, they say, could cause another market debacle not unlike the recent mortgage fiasco. But how did the alternative student loan market get so heady? The advertising message is: don’t worry if your federal student loans don’t cover the cost of your education; with a private loan you can carry enough credit to cover everything, in some cases even add on auxiliary expenses such as textbooks, transportation, and computers.

No Limits and Interest Rates as High as Your Worst Credit Card

Suze’s message was, of course, right: private student loan interest rates are all over the place and lenders may hike them at will, much like those attached to credit cards. Also, most have no limit. Borrow as much as you’d like—no problem…. Lenders sell them as easy, as quick and simple as opening a checking account. You can be approved and paid overnight, so the perception is that these loans are no big deal. It’s usually thousands and thousands of dollars worth of a deal.

Private Loan Gluttons

Some in the education industry have commented that the gluttony in private loans is due in large part to the leaner Pell Grants. Hmmmm. Pell Grants certainly fail to cover the same costs they did when they were first established, but the statistics I’ve seen suggest that it may not be the Pell Grant crowd gobbling up the private loans—it’s middle to upper income students! A sample of student loan data (ECMC Group) from 1992-3 and then again in 1999-2000, reveals absolutely no increase in the number of low-income students borrowing with student loans. BUT—here’s the dope: middle income borrowing increased “from 32 to 45 percent” and upper income borrowing “from 15 to 31 percent.”¹

Where’s the Steering Wheel for this Fancy Sports Car?

Stories emerge that illustrate how ignorant college borrowers really are when choosing private loans. The sad reality is that for many college grads there is little latitude following graduation for traditional rites of passage, such as hiking across Europe or volunteering with the Peace Corps. Those times are gone. Better find a damn good job because loan repayment is knocking on your door and it’s a pretty big payment for a pretty long time–and it doesn’t come with a high performance engine or a steering wheel.

Cultural Barriers to Incurring Debt, ECMC Group Foundation, March 2003, accessed September 6, 2007, http://www.ecmcfoundation.org/documents/CulturalBarriersExecSummary.pdf.