AU Blogspot

I finished my first course today! I have a paper that still needs to be graded, but so far my grade is a 99%!  It will be interesting to see what the other courses are like.

I have to admit, this being an *online* school that isn’t going to ‘break the bank”—I thought the lessons and testing would be on the easier side. Boy was I wrong. The first course, EN110, I found challenging and had to actually take time to finish the papers and make sure they didn’t seem ‘thrown together.’ You actually had to understand the material for the exams as well.

Kudos to the Ashworth people.  This is more challenging than the community college that my job sent me to for specialized training!

With the large amount of apprehension that I had my first week, I have to say that this is going to be a very enjoyable journey and worth every blood, sweat, tear and cent I put into it.

John
Student
Ashworth Business Administration Program

Believe it or not, I temporarily worked as an Admissions Specialist at “AU”. I guess you can say the awe-inspiring stories I heard each day from prospective students had a lot to do with me finally going back to school.

Another reason is a little friendly family competition I’m having with my 18-yr old son who will be attending Georgia Military College this fall. I’m somewhat ahead of him already because his semester tuition is $7000 and mine is $1200.   That doesn’t really matter since I am studying for my Associate Degree in Finance; I’ll be able to put a plan in place for him to pay off his student loans in record time!

My goal is to finish my degree in one year; I made 100% on my first exam today. Yesterday was my birthday and it feels great that I am no longer making excuses about not continuing my education -Thanks Ashworth University!

Melissa
Student
Ashworth University Associate Program in Finance

              Thanks to Steve Evans for permission to use this Photo. 

The Ashworth University Career Center is a free student resource provided through our partnership with Experience.com, the nation’s largest career advancement site focusing exclusively on college students and young professionals.  You can access the Ashworth University Career Center through the Student Portal.  Simply click on the “Career Center” link on the left hand navigation bar after logging into the Student Portal.  Here’s an example of some of the very informative career enhancement articles you have access to within the Career Center:

The ability to plan ahead is a key trait of any good budgeter. Jenny, an Experience alumni, talks about planning for the unknown. “I’m sure I’ve gone over budget when I had my own company because of unforeseen things,” she says. “You end up eating it, and people are upset. But, you get better in time about knowing what things will cost. It’s a matter of experience. You find out what’s realistic.”

Because You Never Know…

“Unforeseen things happen. Say you’re in New York City shooting a sound shot and recording actors on a street corner. In New York, you’re given policemen on sets to help act as liaisons to the community. But, basically, a homeless man could come onto your set and start screaming. And there’s nothing that you can legally do. You can’t arrest the guy. The policeman could ask him to leave, but the man isn’t required to leave. It’s a public street. There’s freedom of speech. So, one person can basically ruin your entire day and cost you $50,000 or more. And there’s nothing that you can do about it.” In the spirit of random screaming homeless men, Jenny advises putting away a little money into your savings each month, just in case something comes up. “

I started to do that in my mid-twenties. I started off putting $50 into one of these automatic investment mutual funds. I didn’t even miss it. Every month I had it automatically withdrawn from my bank account. It’s great, because now I know if I got fired tomorrow, or if I lost my job, or if something happened and I had to take some time off, I have a little money. I know they say you’re supposed to have six months salary in the bank, but that’s a fantasy when you’re 21 years old. If you have at least two months worth, it’s a measure of comfort.”

Copyright © 1996 - 2008 Experience, Inc. - All Rights Reserved 

To read more of this great article, login to the Ashworth University Career Center through the student portal and click here.

Ryan Rode
Interactive Services Manager
Ashworth University

The key to maintaining good credit is to reduce or eliminate credit card debt before it transforms from the ever-ready assistant to the overbearing spouse (hey, don’t a lot of marriages go that way?). It’s that simple, right? Riiiight.

If it really was that simple we wouldn’t have credit clinics, credit rebuilders, and the millions of people that are literally swimming in debt. Unfortunately, that just isn’t the case- instead, credit card debt creeps up on you like a bad dream, catching you when you’re least expecting it to. That new TV you bought six months ago? Yea, you’ll be shocked to see that in six months you’ve paid $200 interest on it alone, nevermind any of the other purchases that you’ve made using your trusty plastic companion. Without getting into the math, if you have a credit card at 19.25% (pretty standard interest rate for most), it would take you years to pay off a $5,000 balance using minimum payments.  Years.

• Step One: Prevent it From Becoming Unmanagable - Curb your credit card spending and reassess your lifestyle. If your debt is already hanging over your head, I’d recommend cutting the cards up completely. Stop using the cards, stop accumulating additional capital by which the credit card company will so gleefully charge you interest on. This step is really quite simple: buck up and do it.

Use cash instead of your credit card. This will force you to live within your means, and while you may find that it takes longer to make big-ticket purchases, you’ll also find a certain amount of relief that exists when you know that you won’t have to pay interest on it or ever see a bill again to pay for it. (more…)

All I want is 20 dollars. Why are you making a big fuss about it? This is a typical statement we hear from teenagers.

Teenagers’ demands are endless. Many parents yield to their demands unable to face their temper tantrums. But this can be detrimental to both parents and children.

When teenagers are still at home, parents should teach money management skills. “Show” more than “say” helps. Every night, during family time (could be dinner or while watching television) it helps to discuss the bills received. Remember the discussion should only be for a few seconds but this should be done on a regular basis. Slowly kids begin to understand that money is precious and needs to be handled carefully. They observe the way we make financial decisions.

Special thanks to Jeff_Keen for permission to use this photo.

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