Creating a List of Colleges We Could Afford

HomeApplyPlanCreating a Realistic List of Colleges We Could AffordThis page may contain affiliate links.Oct 20, 2019The college process started for us the beginning of junior year. My son had taken the PSAT and a practice ACT and did pretty well. He had always been an A student, with AP and honors classes, so we were shooting fairly high in his choices of colleges. As part of our college visits, we toured a few local schools that he knew he was not interested in but we thought it was a good idea to get an idea of size, location, etc. Fairly quickly, he realized he wanted a small school with a traditional campus that included a tree-lined quad where students gathered to socialize, eat, and even where some professors held classes. Based on this, along with his grades and test scores, his initial college list included Boston College, Villanova, Georgetown, Bucknell, Duke, and Columbia. Finding A Source For Guidance and Advice One day while scrolling through Facebook I found a group called Paying for College 101. I first began by reading through hundreds of posts and a few important steps for finding an affordable college, seemed to stand out to me. Get an idea of what your EFC is and how its calculated. Run the Net Price Calculator (NPC) for each school your student is interested in. Apply to colleges where your student is in at least the top 25% of that schools student profile. Research what merit scholarships are, and if the schools you are interested in offer any. [How To Find Merit Scholarships] We hadn’t considered any of these before! The Reality Of What College Can Cost YOU We ran the FAFSA Forecaster and it spit out that we could contribute $65,000/yr towards college. What!!!! Well, now we were sure we would not receive any need-based aid and based on the NPCs of the schools on my sons list, there was no way we could afford them. Not only were we shocked by the annual cost of these colleges but we also learned my son was probably in the 50% range of the student academic profile and for a few colleges, even below that. Not only was the likelihood of receiving merit scholarships very low in all of the schools on his current list, but there was a question of whether or not he would even be accepted. Making A More Realistic College List We realized we had to adjust the list of colleges he was applying to and do a lot more research on the financial aid and merit scholarship policies of schools before adding them to my sons list. I also had a serious talk with my son because of course, he had fallen in love with Boston College and Villanova University, both schools we had now figured out we couldnt afford. I explained to him that if he were accepted to schools like Villanova or Boston College, the chance of getting any or enough in merit-based scholarships to make it affordable was highly unlikely. I was ready to make the long speech about how such a large amount in student loans would burden him for so many years after he graduated, but (luckily!) he came to his own decision that he did not feel comfortable taking out $100,000+ in student loans. Finding More Ways To Save For College Up until that point we had saved money in a 529 plan from the time our sons were born. We thought we had saved enough but with the cost of college these days, it was just not. With some budgeting and expense cutting we were able to double the amount we could contribute to his 529 college fund. We were also fortunate that through this whole college process, my younger son came to the realization that college is not for him. He would like to work after high school and maybe attend a technical school to learn a trade. So instead of splitting the money between the two of them we would have the bulk of the college fund for my oldest. (I told my son he owes his younger brother big time and he better take care of him when they’re older. ) My son added five private schools to his list where he was in the top 15% of their academic profile and one state school. He applied early action to all the schools that offered it. For the remaining schools, he sent in his applications as soon as possible. Then we waited. The early action schools came in before the end of the year but we had to wait until mid-March to hear from the final school my son was really interested in. Of the original six schools my son had on his list he was waitlisted at Villanova and was not accepted to Duke or Columbia. He was accepted at Boston College and Bucknell University but was not offered any scholarships or financial aid. Of the five private schools we added to his list, he received scholarships from all ranging from $15,000/yr to $25,000/yr. He was also accepted to the state school which would have been the most affordable but he felt the best fit for him was at Fairfield University. The 529 college fund will pay for the first three years and half of the fourth year. The balance of roughly $23,000 in senior year we will pay from our Home Equity Line of Credit. We have a large amount of equity in our home and plan on moving and downsizing in the next 5-6 years anyway. Finding Generous Colleges Helps Avoid Student Loans My son plans on working during the summers to save for spending money and help with the costs of books. If I had not learned these strategies from Paying for College 101 we would have had to take out an enormous amount of loans to pay for Boston College. In the end he had three schools he really liked and one of the best New York state schools to choose from. He does not feel like he is â€Å"settling† and he is so happy that he will graduate debt-free, with no student loans! Knowing where to apply is another important part of the equation. You want schools that are the most likely to give out aid. Looking for help pinpointing those schools? Get our College Free Money Findertoday!

Working With Emotional Intelligence By Daniel Goleman

Until the late 90’s IQ was regarded as the staple measurement for societal excellence and human competency. It wasn t until New York Times sciences reporter Daniel Goleman came across a study from two college professors researching the value of Emotional Intelligence. Emotional Intelligence is the ability of an individual to recognize their own and other people s emotions, to discriminate between different feelings and label them appropriately, and to use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior. After taking the EI Quiz I scored relatively high in all categories, but the categories I identified myself with the most EQ was were social competency, self confidence and empathy. I learned a lot about myself†¦show more content†¦Goleman divides his book into several chapters. At first he examines the attributes of successful people. What is it that sets them apart? How do they do it? He examines the â€Å"soft skills† of several people who exhibit exceptional emotional intelligence and also what others fail to do, which ultimately makes them unsuccessful. He also points out the difference a single individual who possesses these skills can make to an organization. These skills are particularly important in diplomatic service s, but also to the average salesperson. However, he also notes that the higher one climbs on the job ladder, the more important these skills become, and the less important technical skills are. He divides emotional intelligence into five areas. 1. Self-Awareness, which can be subdivided into emotional awareness, accurate self- assessment and self-confidence. 2. Self-Regulation, divided into self-control, trustworthiness, conscientiousness, adaptability and innovation. 3. Motivation, which consists of achievement drive, commitment, initiative and optimism. The preceding attributes are classified as Personal competence, while the next two are classified as social competence. 4. Empathy divided into understanding others, developing others, service orientation, and leveraging diversity and political awareness. 5. Social

Benefits of Lean Operation for the Organization Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Benefit of Lean Operation for the Organization. Answer: The maingoalof organizations is to make profit and the management team does formulate tomake surethat their limited resources are effectively used. Lean management is a new concept that is being incorporated in operation tomake surethat the organizationsmeettheir full potential. According toSwink,Melnyk, Cooper and Hartley 2011, lean management refers to streamlining operations toeliminatewastes andmake sureeffectiveness. There are seven types of wastes that hinder organizations from achieving their full potential which are transport, overproduction, over processing, defects, motion and inventory. Salisad is a company that deals with the manufacture of fertilizer. The company is located in Central Tilba, Australia and has been in operation for 4 years. The management has faced challenges with respect to ensuring their operations are efficient to meet their customers orders. One of the most prominent wastes is inventory, the company has a lot of raw materials in their warehouse lying idle waiting for the manufacturing department to place their order. Having extra raw materials is beneficial to the company since it ensures that they will not halt their production due to lack of resources. Despite this fact, the cons of having a large inventory supersede the benefits that the company accrues from having it. The finances thatare investedin purchasing extra raw materials and security measures for the warehouse couldhave been channelledinto other core operations. Inventory is more of a menace for organization since it doesneedthe company tobuild alarge warehouse that can hold the raw materials and the excess fertilizer. According toLyssonand Farrington 2012, large inventory is anindicationof poor planning by the management. verproduction is the second problem that is facing the company. The company tends to produce more fertilizer anticipating that he marketing done will increase the demand for fertilizer. The marketing done by the organization has helped to increase the demand and their sales but this is not enough. Each fiscal year the company has extra fertilizer that was not purchased in their warehouse. In 2016, the company had to halt their production for 6 months tomake surethat the stock that theyhad beencompletely sold. The step taken by the management had a negative impact on the image of the company. The sales of the companyduring the perioddecreased tremendously forcing the company tocutthe sales of their fertilizer tomake surethat they got rid of the stock they had. The third form of wastage that the company experiences does manifest itself in form of transportation. Transportation in the company takes place often because the warehouseisfar from the company. The warehouse is closer to the town to allow the farmers who place their orders in the company to have easy access to the fertilizer. The company when deciding torelocatethe warehouse closer to the customer it was considering ensuring that customer satisfactionwas guaranteed. The opportunity cost for the company was to make sure that the customers were able to get their orders on time while sacrificing ease of production. The company therefore does incur additional cost in transporting raw materials to the manufacturing point. After manufacturing, the fertilizer still hasto betransported back to the warehouse for the customers to buy them. This aspect does result in the wastage of resources bySalisadCompany. The fourth wastage does manifest itself in motion. Motion refers to movement within the company from one place to another (Lean Manufacturing Tools, 2017). The structure of the offices in the company does make it hard for the employees to resist from moving from one place to another. In addition, common resources like printers, photocopying machines and kitchenareat distinctive places making it difficult for employees to resist moving.The movement fromone place to another does waste time that the employees could have used in doing constructive business work. The fifth type of waste is defects that do manifest itself in the form of poor fertilizer developed when the wrong measuresare mixedin the production offertilizer. Fertilizer requires distinctive ratios toensurethat the will support plant growth when they are used in planting. The use of wrong ratios or components often results in defective fertilizer that does impact negatively the farmers produce. At times the internal quality inspector does detect the mishap before the fertilizers are taken to the customers but at other times the company has to do damage control. The damage control often involves refunding the customers their money or providing them with new fertilizer delivered to their farms directly. In other words, the aspect does not only affectthe reputation ofthe company but also causes them to lose finances in damage management. The sixth waste deals with over processing which is a minimal problem in the company. The over processingis easy to managesince theSalisadCompany has employed modern machinery that ensures that the fertilizersare processedwithin the set time. The machinery reducesthe chance ofover processing the fertilizer which may weaken its effective during planting. Waiting is the last type of waste and it does affect the company on a dismal process. The company has excess stock of fertilizer which ensures that they are able to meet the demand of their customers. In addition, they rarely run out of raw materials since they have their warehouse stocked with raw materials required in the production of fertilizer. After discussing the problems that Salisad Company is dealing with it is important to focus on the solution which involves the application of lean management. As discussed in the introduction lean management does introduce efficiency and effectiveness in the operations of any organization. Lean management has five principles which are elimination of waste, continuous improvement, human value, just in time, quality, and levelled production (Lean-manufacturing-junction.com., 2017) The waste discussed in the paper can easily be eliminated throughthe introduction ofjust in time (JIT) concepts. JIT in the case ofSalisadCompany does focus on delivering the raw materials and the produced fertilizer when and where the manufacturing department needs it.It does work by thepullconcept which evolves the customer stimulating the supply chain process. The customers place their orders and the company does take the requests and order raw materials to produce the fertilizer required by the customers (Just-In-Time., 2017). The principle will make sure that the company reduces their waste in form of inventory. The resources invested in inventorycan beused to strengthen the operations of the company. Furthermore, it also reduces wastes of over production and over processing since the manufacturing department gets a specified amount of raw materials (Just-In-Time., 2017). The materialsare calculatedtoensurethat they are able to meet the needs of the end customer. The second principle deals with levelling production where the production work is constant . The company canachievethis through creating a seamless distribution network with their suppliers and wholesalers. This will make sure that once fertilizer productionis completedwithin the company itis deliveredon time to the end customer. Additionally, the company needs to introduce an enterprise resource planning software (ERP) that willcoordinatethe communication within the company. The ERP system does synchronize communication allowing the departments to have access to common information (ArnheiterandMaleyeff, 2005) The software will enable the sales and marketing department to communicate the number of customer orders. The manufacturing department will use the information to calculate the raw materials required to meet this demand. The information will be communicated to the procurement and logistics department who will source for the suitable suppliers and deliver the materials to the company. The last step is the finance department stepping in to pay the suppliers. The manufacturing of fertilizers is a continuous process that requires constant improvement toensurethat the technology the company is using is up to date. Continuous improvement ensures that the company is able to detect any deviation from the principles set in place and apply corrective actions on time. Continuous improvement through research will make sure that the company improves its production. Better production will then lead to an increase in the sales of the company in the long run (ArnheiterandMaleyeff, 2005). Furthermore, the company should focus on training their staff on the improved ways of managing various processes within the company. It is achievable through encouraging employees to attend regular seminars held by the company or professional bodies in the state. The seminars not onlyprovidethe employees with a chance to broaden their knowledge but also to network hence building useful contacts for the company (Radnor, Walley, Stephens, andBucci, 2006). Additionally, the management should introduce performance review process in the company. The performance reviews will aid the company in setting soundobjectiveswith respect to their goals. The performance reviews will clearly highlight areas thatrequireattention to make sure that the employees and the management team are all working towards achieving the goals of the company. In addition, it willensurethat the reward system employed inSalisadCompany is fair and free from any prejudice (Radnor et al, 2006). Despite the fact that the organization wants to streamline its operations value for humanity comes into play to regulate how they carry out the process. Value for humanity revolves around ensuring that the employees get a fair wage, suitable working conditions, and policy instituted toensurefair treatment at the place of work. Employees are vital in ensuring the internal processes of the organization areeffective. When employees are fairlytreated then they are willing to work to improve not only themselves but also the company.SalisadCompany deals with the manufacture of fertilizer, theyhave tomake surethat they clean their toxic waste before releasing it to the environment. The aspect willensurethat they safeguard the health and the livelihood of the poor living near the company (Radnor et al, 2006). The company also has a social obligation toensurethat they engage in various activities to better the way of life of the people around them. They canprovide them withinternship opportunities, employment,assistin building hospitals and schools among other activities. The last concept in lean management deals with quality improvement. Quality hasto bebuilt-into the processes of the company with respect to the industry standards.SalisadCompany already has an internal quality manager who doesensurethat the fertilizer manufactured meets the set industry standards. In spite of this the company is still lacking in the aspect of quality management. The company needs to carry out an overhaul of their system toinstitutemodern technological system that will enable them to detect defects in production before they occur (Goetschand Davis, 2014).The detection ofthe defect in the ratios being used orcomponentwillreducethe losses the companyhas incurredin production of poor fertilizer. Additionally, it will also improve the efficiency of the company in meeting their customers deadliness. Furthermore,SalisadCompany needs to invest in benchmarking process. Benchmarking refers to comparing the operations of the company with other industry leaders and adopting the best practices to enable the company improve in its operations (Goetschand Davis, 2014).SalisadCompany has not been in the industry for long they have a lot to learn from the industry best performers. An external institution can carry out the benchmarking toeliminateany biasness. In conclusion, based on the discussions in the paperthe importance oflean management to Salisad cannot be down played.The implementation ofthe suggested lean principles will enable the company toeliminateany hurdles that have hindered its progress. In addition, it will enable the company to effectively use their limited resources to meet their businessobjectives. References Arnheiter, E.D. Maleyeff, J., (2005). The integration of lean management and Six Sigma. The TQM magazine, 17(1), pp 5-18 Barney, J. B. (2012). Purchasing, supply chain management and sustained competitive advantage: The relevance of resource?based theory. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 48(2), 3-6. Bhasin, S. (2015). Lean and performance management. In Lean Management Beyond Manufacturing Beyond Manufacturing (pp.11-137). Springer International Publishing Fullerton, RR., Kennedy, F. A. Widener,S.K., (2014). Lean manufacturing and firm performance: The incremental contribution of lean management accounting principles. Journal of Operations Management, 32(7), pp. 414-428 Goetsch, D. L Davis, S. B., (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ:Pearson. Just-In-Time. (2017). Just-In-Time. The Economist. Retrieved 9 April 2017, from https://www.economist.com/node/1396392 Lean Manufacturing Tools. (2017). 7 Wastes of Lean Manufacturing. Retrieved 9 April 2017, from https://www.leanmanufacturingtools.org/77/the-seven-wastes Lean-manufacturing-junction.com. (2017).Lean Manufacturing Principles. Retrieved 9 April 2017, https://www.lean-manufacturing-junction.com/lean-manufacturing-principles.html. Lysons K., Farrington B.,(2012). Purchasing And Supply Chain Management. Eighth Edition. Pearson Education Limited. Martinez-Jurado,P.J., Moyano-Fuentes,J. (2014).Lean management,supply chain management and sustainability. A literature review, Journal of Cleaner Production, 85, 134-150 Murphy, P. Wood, D. (2008). Contemporary Logistics. Ninth Edition. Prentice Hall of India. Nguyen, D.M. (2015). A new application model of lean management in small and medium sized enterprises. Radnor,Z., Walley,P., Stephens, A. Bucci, G., (2006). Evaluation of the lean approach to business management and its use in the public sector. Scottish executive social research, 20 Swink M., Melnyk M., Cooper B., Hartley, J. (2011). Managing Operations across The Supply Chain (International Student Edition), McGraw Hill Tang, C. S., Zimmerman, J. D., Nelson, J. I. (2009, January). Managing new product development and supply chain risks: The Boeing 787 case. In Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal (Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 74-86). Taylor Francis. Vella, D. (2012). Using technology to improve supply chain management. Article on Business process management training and supply chain managemen