HBCSF 2014 Scholarship Opportunity

HBCSF 2014 Scholarship Opportunity

We welcome qualified high school seniors and current college students who will be attending college in the Fall of 2014 to apply to the Hispanic Business Council Scholarship Foundation 2014 Scholarship Opportunity.  We will be granting up to $75,000 in scholarships and school stipends in 2014.

Please go to www.hbcsf.org for additional information and for the link to the online application process or go directly to the online application to start the process: 

https://hbcsf.fluidreview.com/

Students can register and start the application process now.  All application material (essay, tax returns, school transcript, letter of recommendation) MUST BE SUBMITTED online by 11:59pm EST on March 16, 2014
 
Eligibility Requirements:

• Must be of Hispanic heritage
• Must be a New Jersey resident
• Must plan to enroll as a full-time student for the 2014-2015 academic year at an accredited college, university, community college or technical school somewhere in the United States
• Must have a minimum cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale

 
About HBCSF:
 

• After granting scholarships every year since 1993 under the auspices of the Bergen County Hispanic-American Chamber of Commerce, the 501 (c) (3) non-profit status was finally approved in 1998 and the Scholarship Foundation of the BCHACC was born. The name was legally changed in 2004 to the Hispanic Business Council Scholarship Foundation of New Jersey, Inc. (HBCSF), to reflect the Foundation's expanded reach to high school seniors and current college students, who are residents in every county in the state of New Jersey, not just northern New Jersey. 

• During the course of 20 years, from 1993 through 2013, the HBCSF has granted $415,000 to approximately 160 students. The foundation started by granting a one-time $1,000 award to each student. Since students are eligible to apply every year, as long as they meet the scholarship criteria, the foundation has granted up to $8,000 to several students.  

 

Student Loan Interest Rates - Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013

The following table applies to all loans disbursed on or after 7/1/13 and before 7/1/14 as well as consolidation applications received on or after 7/1/13.

Loan Type	Student Grade Level	Index Rate	Add-On	2013-2014 Fixed Interest Rate	Interest Rate Cap
		10-Year Treasury Note Index
Direct Subsidized Loans	Undergraduate Students	1.81%	2.05%	3.86%	8.25%
Direct Unsubsidized Loans	Undergraduate Students	1.81%	2.05%	3.86%	8.25%
Direct Unsubsidized Loans	Graduate/Professional Students	1.81%	3.60%	5.41%	9.50%
Direct PLUS Loans	Parents of Dependent Undergraduate Students and Graduate/Professional Students	1.81%	4.60%	6.41%	10.50%
Direct Consolidation Loans	N/A	Interest rate remains the weighted average of the interest rates of the loans included in the consolidation, rounded up to the next higher one-eighth of one percent.  New law removes the 8.25% cap.

New Student Loan Deal Good, And Bad, For Borrowers

President Barack Obama is expected to sign new student loan legislation this week, making market-based interest rates the law of the land for federal student loans and immediately lowering rates for borrowers," according to U.S. News & World Report. "While the compromise reversed the interest rate hike on subsidized loans, which jumped from 3.4 to 6.8 percent on July 1, experts say the deal is a mixed bag for students. Here is a rundown of the benefits and drawbacks of the new student loan legislation. 

The Good: 

• Stability: Prior tweaks to student loan interest rates were temporary and agreements to extend or reauthorize the adjustments often led to political showdowns. 'The past couple of years we've been in these situations where students haven't known up until the last minute what their interest rate was going to be, because we were waiting for Congress to act,' says Megan McClean, director of policy and federal relations at the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

• Universal: Last year Congress extended an interest rate reduction, but only for subsidized Stafford loans, which are issued to students with financial need. The new market-based plan lowers rates for all federal loans, which stood at 6.8 percent for unsubsidized Stafford loans and 7.9 percent for PLUS loans. Any student enrolled at least half-time in a degree-granting program is eligible for unsubsidized loans, and PLUS loans are available to parents, graduate students and those pursuing a professional degree. 'This is a deal that benefits all borrowers,' says McClean, who points out that 80 percent of students who take out subsidized loans also borrow unsubsidized funds. 

The Bad

 • Fluctuation: Market-based interest rates are not static. As the economy improves, they will rise, and experts predict that will happen quickly.

Senate passes Student Loan Interest Rate Bill

Attention students! Important information regarding your student loans! It has been all over the news how interest rates doubled this past July 1st. from 3.4% to 6.8%. Now there is some good news in the works...

A bill has been passed by the Senate, which would be retroactively effective July 1, 2013, establishing student loan interest rates equal to the 10-year Treasury bill rate plus 2.05% for subsidized and unsubsidized loans  and 4.6% for PLUS loans. The resulting interest rates for loans taken out this year, after July 1, 2013, would be 3.86% percent for subsidized and unsubsidized loans for undergraduate students and 6.41% on PLUS loans for parents and graduate students. Additionally, this bill imposes a cap to ensure interest rates never exceed 8.25% for undergraduate students and 10.5% for PLUS borrowers. Loans would be “variable-fixed,” meaning students would receive a new rate with each new loan, but then that rate would be fixed for the life of the loan. Students with outstanding loans will keep the same interest rates; only loans taken out after July 1, 2013 will take on the new rates.

The bill will still undergo congressional vote but is expected to pass. As we know how important these issues are for our students, there will be more updates from Berkeley College to follow!

FAFSA FAQs

Who needs to file the FAFSA? 

All students who wish to receive federal or state Financial Aid for the academic year beginning July 1, 2013 and ending June 30, 2014 MUST submit a FAFSA (Free Applications for Federal Student Aid).

When is the deadline? 

Berkeley College’s deadline to complete your FAFSA is May 1, 2013.

What do I need?

• Your FAFSA pin from http://pin.ed.gov. If you are a dependent student, your parents will also need their FAFSA pin.
• Your Social Security Number
• Your Driver's License
• If you are not a U.S. Citizen, your alien registration or permanent resident card (green card)
• Your (and your spouse's, if you are married) 2012 Federal Tax Return. If you are a dependent student, you will also need your parents' 2012 Federal Tax Return. (Note: We highly recommend that you e-file your tax returns)
• Your (and your spouse's, if you are married) 2012 untaxed income records. If you are a dependent student, you will also need your parents' 2012 untaxed income records.
• Asset information which includes values of :
• • Cash savings and checking accounts
  • Properties
  • Businesses
  • Retirement accounts

How do I complete my FAFSA?

1. Before you begin the process, make sure that you (and your parents, if you are a dependent student) have a valid FAFSA PIN. You can go online at http://pin.ed.gov to check the status of your PIN. If you have forgotten your PIN, you may request a duplicate PIN here.
   
   
2. Once you have your PIN (and your parents' if you are a dependent student), visit http://fafsa.ed.gov and click on Start A New FAFSA.
   
   
3. Enter the requested personal information and continue.
   • Note: If you are a continuing student, we highly recommend that you select Start a Renewal FAFSA. This will prefill most of the information on your new FAFSA based on last year's information. Please review all information for updates and/or changes.
     
     
4. Remember to enter Berkeley College's school code in the appropriate section:

• New Jersey: 007502
• New York: 008556

5. On the financial portion of the FAFSA, we highly recommend that you make use of the IRS Data Retrieval Tool. Please note that the feature is not immediately available. Please refer to the IRS Data Retrieval Timeline at the Appendix of this document. This feature will prefill some of your Financial Aid information based on your Federal Tax Return. Another benefit is that if you are selected for verification, you will no longer need to supply tax return information. This speeds up your award processing.
   
   
6. If you are unable to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool, you may input the information from your Federal Tax Return. However, please note that if you are selected for Federal Verification, your award processing will be put on hold until you either:

• Log back in and use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool or
• Request an IRS Tax Return Transcript and submit it to the Financial Aid Office

7. Important: You will only be able to access this on the confirmation page. Once you reach the confirmation page of the FAFSA application, make sure that you click on the link to complete your State Grant application. You can find this under “Optional Feature – Start your state application” by clicking on the word here.

Need Help?

• Reach out to and or visit your location's Financial Aid Department. 
• Watch Berkeley College's FATV Video on completing your FAFSA.
• You may also access FAFSA on the Web's Help Page here.
   

Appendix

IRS Data Retrieval Tool Timeline