Future Success + Financial Constraints = College?

More families, and younger, are asking Creative Marbles about financial aid and paying for college.   Parents are facing difficult choices between supporting multiple kids through 4 years of higher education and saving for retirement, while confronting the challenge of encouraging their children to dream big, yet understanding the realities of financing that educational dream.

Are College Going Attitudes Changing?

Are students’ and their families’ attitudes changing about college?  375 colleges, an increase of 96 institutions from 2011, report still having space available for freshmen and/or transfer students for Fall 2012.     Has the economic uncertainty caught up with families’ choices?  Is the $1 Trillion total student debt and consequences for individual borrowers causing families to…

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Instant Civics Lesson–Memorial Day & California’s Tuesday Primary Election

Learning isn’t only in the classroom and for a grade.  Life presents educational opportunities everyday. Tuesday’s Primary Election can spur conversations about citizenship.  Why is there a Primary election?  Why are voters electing delegates to the party primaries, not the Presidential candidate themselves?  What’s a Proposition?  Why are the voters deciding abut new expenses (i.e.…

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Prudent Fiscal Planning (Part 2): Income’s importance in Fiscal Planning and its Effect on Our Standard of Living

In the first post of the series, I discussed the need for prudent fiscal planning in these difficult economic times. Although it may seem that the economy has turned the corner from the most recent, yet severe economic downturn (recession), there are many storm clouds looming on the global economic horizon that could have a…

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Middle Class Families Concerned about Affording College

Real wages haven’t increased, at the same time as pension values are decreasing, state budgets uncertainties are reducing funding for public universities and children are maturing into college age.  What a perfect confluence for many middle class families and contributing to nervousness that the lifelong dream of a college degree–demonstrated through multiple honors and Advanced…

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Why Teens Don’t Always Apply for Scholarships

Shifts in the views of parents with children aged 16 or younger about when adulthood financial independence should begin coincides with parents concerns about paying for college.    In Creative Marbles experience, parents expect to shoulder the majority of college costs, at the same time expecting children to contribute toward their education.  However, the shift in…

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European History in 3 Minutes…Wait, Don’t Click Away

Ever wonder how history is relevant?  Do you believe history is boring–simply memorization of facts and dates?  Here’s a short 3 minute history of the changes in Europe for the past 1000 years.  Watch and wonder how many people’s lives changed with the shifting borders, how many cultures were exchanged after being conquered and conquering…

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