Cub Scouting: What Is Expected of You and Your Child

Are you the parent of a boy who is either in grades first through fifth or who is between the ages of seven and ten? If you are, you may want to take the time to examine the Boy Scouts of America, namely their Cub Scouting division. The Cub Scouting division is commonly referred to as the most popular Boy Scouts division. For that reason, you may want to see what Cub Scouting can do for you and your child.

One of the most commonly asked questions, concerning the Cub Scouting division of the Boy Scouts is what is expected of boys and parents. In all honesty, you will find that it varies. There are different local councils and Dens who have different requirements or needs. With that in mind, there are some common similarities, no matter where you are located or how large or small your child’s Den is. For more information on what may be expected from your child, as a Cub Scouting member, or you as a parent, please continue reading on.

Partial List Of Career-Focused Colleges

Abraham Lincoln School of Law (Los Angeles, California)
Academy of Art University (San Francisco, California)
Allied College (Maryland Heights, Missouri and Fenton, Missouri)
American InterContinental University (multiple locations.)
American Military University (multiple locations. 100% online)
Anthem College Online (online university)
Argosy University (multiple locations)
The Art Institutes (multiple locations)
Ashmead College (multiple locations)
Banner College (Arlington, Virginia)
The Banner Institute (Chicago)
Blair College (Colorado Springs, Colorado)
Brooks College (multiple locations)
Brooks Institute of Photography (multiple locations)
Brown College (Mendota Heights, Minnesota, not to be confused with Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island)
Brown Mackie College (multiple locations)
Bryman College (multiple locations)
Bryman Institute (multiple locations)
The Bryman School (Phoenix, Arizona and Tempe, Arizona)
Cambridge College (Career-Focused school) (multiple locations)
Capstone Career College (Tacoma, California)
The Chubb Institute (multiple locations)
Collins College (Phoenix, Arizona area)
Colorado Technical University (multiple locations)
Crown College (Tacoma) (Tacoma, California)
Deaconess College of Nursing (St. Louis, Missouri) (Now Chamberlain College of Nursing)
DeVry University (multiple locations)

Free College is Possible if You Think Outside of the Box

I am sure that I have not touched on every way possible to obtain an education for free or at low cost but I hope that the ideas presented here will at least help you to understand that getting a free education is possible. You just need to investigate, ask questions, and apply for every grant and scholarship that comes your way as well as consider working for the college you attend to receive a free education.

After Graduation

The long awaited day finally arrives! You wake up put on your cap and gown and show up at the appointed place surrounded by a mob of family and friends all with ear to ear smiles and loads of balloons, flowers, and other paraphernalia designed to show their support and congratulations for you having made it! Yes Graduation day is here! After the speeches and awarding of degrees and turning of the tassels you have if anything probably been inundated with one thought. The idea that this is by no means the end of you education yet just the beginning of your journey on the road to life long learning.

Does this mean that your pursuit of free college is over? By no means is this true. In many cases colleges and universities have programs especially aimed at alumni to help keep them equipped with the tools they need to remain fully competent in their fields.

Free Education as a Company Benefit When Your Company is a College

As we discussed in the last chapter there are employers that will provide its employees with a certain amount of reimbursement for college tuition. However, a well guarded secret is, many times at a college one of the employee benefits is being able to attend tuition free. This comes in various names such as tuition waiver, employee waiver, tuition reduction and tuition remission. The important thing to ask when considering these benefits in terms of free education is will they allow you to earn a degree while working flexible hours on the job.

There was a time when I did not know about the secret of working at a college to attend it as a student and receive a free education. Let me share with you how I found out about this aspect of free college. I was planning on attending a Career-Focused college and I made the necessary visit to the financial aid office to determine how I would finance my education.

The Financial Aid officer was running down the list of all the different options I was qualified to receive in order to finance my new career in Business Administration. She was friendly, knowledgeable and very talkative, that is until we got to a part in our conversation where I asked her about her being a student.

Reap The Benefits of College Work Study and Student Worker Programs

One of the major ways to cut down the cost of education and receive financial aid while attending college is through the numerous college work-study programs that most if not all institutions offer to qualifying students. Students who meet an accepted level of proficiency usually a grade point average of at least 2.0 or higher and who have an adequate completion rate can take advantage of such programs to assist them in cutting down costs and increasing their financial aid.

These programs are designed to support diligent students who really apply themselves to their education. Many students are not aware of the fact that they can apply to work at their college and receive compensation. Opportunities available include programs where the student’s income comes directly from the school itself or comes from the government and is a part of the student financial aid program. Positions available include but are not limited to, tutoring, assisting in student services, the library, the IT department, the list goes on.

To take advantage of these positions you must first and foremost be an excellent student.
Then you need to approach either the Career Development Center or the Financial Aid Office, since many of the in school work positions are actually funded by government financial aid programs. If you qualify because of GPA and completion rates then you only have to worry about the same things you would be concerned with when trying to get a job elsewhere.

Maintain Your Financial Aid By Being a Dedicated Student

You wake up one morning feeling no desire to get out of bed. Even though you’re not sick and you know that you have class in an hour you still just want to lie there and think it won’t hurt to miss today. While this might be true in a few unusual cases the reality is that missing class can hurt you economically in the long run if you aren’t careful. The fact is that in terms of receiving Financial Aid for education, there are two conditions that must be met and maintained by students if they want to continue receiving such assistance.

One criterion for receiving Financial Aid is a student’s completion rate. Most do not realize how financially devastating it can be to them if they make a habit out of skipping classes. Yes, if you do not complete a certain amount of your class time you will be cut off from and not qualify again for a very long time for federal financial funding.

The government will require you to maintain a 65% completion rate to continue loaning funds to you. Many uninformed students just “blow off” their classes and get a shock later when college officials inform them that they have lost their Federal Aid and now must apply for a private loan in order to continue their studies. This unfortunate situation can last for one or in many cases several semesters. Remember, the completion rate average has to be recalculated and must reach 65% and stay there for you to qualify for government assistance.

More Scholarship Websites

Besides Fast web there are many other websites that claim to help students finance their education through scholarships. To assure myself of which ones are legitimate, I visited a financial aid office of a local private college and asked for up to date information on where to obtain scholarships and grants. The financial aid officer handed me a paper that had a list of the following top websites recommended by them as well as other colleges. Fast web as you can see is the first on the list, however it is followed by others that are equally interested in providing assistance to students looking to locate legitimate sources of grants scholarships.

www.fastweb.com

www.fastaid.com

www.scholarships.com

www.collegescholarship.com

www.scholarshipshop.com

www.freschinfo.com

www.gocollege.com

www.wiredscholar.com

www.college-scholarships.com

www.collegenet.com

www.collegefunds.net/free-scholarships.htm

www.salliemae.com

Fast Web and Other Scholarship Websites

There are literally thousands of philanthropic organizations as well as private parties who are ready and willing to give financial aid to students who show even the slightest degree of commitment and drive. The challenge is taking the time to sort through all of the possibilities to successfully identify the legitimate opportunities.

That’s where Fast Web comes in to play. Fast Web claims to be the most complete source of local, national and college specific scholarships, Fast Web states on their website that they have access to 1.3 million scholarships worth over $3 billion.

How does Fast Web know which scholarships and grants you specifically are eligible for? First you go to fastweb.com and set up an account. The usual information is required of course, such as, name address, etc. However the next few pages ask you for very specific input, such as income, nationality, likes and dislikes. These seemingly random questions are not at all just for general information. They are designed to pinpoint which specific organizations that offer grants and scholarships will benefit you personally.

Free Education as a Company Benefit

Many companies and corporations today provide benefits to their employees so they can attract, hire and keep the best-qualified people. Benefits such as dental and medical insurance and pension plans do a lot to make working for a company and remaining a long time loyal employee a winning proposition for its workforce.

While providing benefits for the worker many companies are interested in ways to provide both benefit to the employees and to the company its self. One of the many benefits that more and more companies offer today that help their employees and bring benefit to the company as well, are various Tuition Reimbursement and Employee Waiver Programs for employees who are attending college. Receiving a college education certainly is a great “perk” for a worker and a college-educated employee, in most cases, brings greater value to the job.

Company sponsored education programs pay various annual amounts depending on an employee’s time on the job and the relevancy of the program or studies to the employee’s job description. Check with your HR department for details on available tuition reimbursement benefits.

Another benefit to the employee is the tax exemption that they can receive as a student. Check with your HR department and your accountant to learn more about tax benefits.

The First Twelve Years

Free education is a luxury all to often taken for granted by children as well as young adults barely coming to the end of their senior year of high school. Yes, high school graduation is a time when the realization of the fact that they’re about to be catapulted into the “real world” a place that creates fear and trepidation of the unknown, a time when the value of all those years of free education suddenly comes crashing down like an icy cascade of water that jolts a person from a deep sleep. It is when the knowledge of how they utilized or didn’t utilize their free gift will be put to practical use. It is also a time that finally puts a real dollar amount on education; yes after high school many have the rude awakening that from that point on education is anything but free.

Most often when a person, especially one right out of high school is sitting in front of a financial aid officer at any college the reaction is the same. Facial expressions of shock and disbelief and sometimes even anger are the normal fare for the poor officers who often have to take a “Don’t kill the messenger” approach to the shocking news that there is no such thing as a free education.