With so much uncertainty, there’s perhaps no more
important time to get money-smart. That’s why the Illinois Student
Assistance Commission (ISAC), is pleased to offer free workshops
during the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s annual Money Smart
Week®, April 22-29. In addition to in-person workshops, ISAC also
offers online tools and resources to help students and families
manage student loans, learn how to budget, and make smarter
financial choices.
“Particularly with the delay in funding for the
Monetary Award Program (MAP) and the other state grant programs ISAC
administers, we are hearing from more and more students who are
running up credit card debt, taking on more student loans, and
finding that they have to choose between paying rent and eating or
paying for college tuition,” said Eric Zarnikow, executive director
of ISAC.
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“In this environment, students unfortunately have to make
increasingly difficult financial choices, so being more
informed—both about options and about the consequences of their
decisions—is more important than ever,” Zarnikow continued.
“Becoming more financially literate won’t solve the problem of lack
of funding, but it can help students better limit long term debt and
better manage their money to address expenses that may have
temporarily increased during the budget delay.”
The ISACorps, a group of recent college graduates who act as
near-peer mentors to help high school students and returning adults
with the college-going and financial aid process, will hold several
Money Smart Week events, in addition to other ongoing free financial
aid and college planning events across the state. Visit ISAC’s
Outreach Calendar to learn more about these events.
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For Money Smart Week, ISAC has created a special
Financial Literacy page on its Student Portal where students can
find easy-to-use online tools to help them better manage their money
and limit student loan debt:
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Learn about
everything from credit cards to budgeting to making smart
choices about student loans with the tools available through
ISAC’s partner, SALT™ Money. SALT also offers a Repayment
Navigator tool to track student loans and compare repayment
plans.
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As financial aid
award letters arrive from colleges this month, use ISAC’s online
Financial Aid Comparison Worksheet to compare them.
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Play the online
FinAid game to see how much you know about financial aid.
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Sign up for ISAC
College Q&A, a free text messaging service that allows you to
text questions about the college-going and/or financial aid
process, and get answers from ISAC counselors sent directly to
your phone.
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Need to find work
or an internship over the summer? Visit ISAC’s Internship/Summer
Job Board where you will find over 3000 Illinois job listings,
updated daily.
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Get in-person
assistance with financial aid and college questions by
contacting the ISACorps member in your area.
For more information on Money Smart Week events and
resources on just about every aspect of personal finances, visit
www.moneysmartweek.org.
To find one of ISAC’s free college or financial aid workshops in
your area, or to contact a local ISACorps member, visit
www.isac.org/isacorps.
[Illinois Student Assistance
Commission] |