SMB College Life Blog

New Blog Address

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 05:21:00 +0000

I've recently moved the SMB College Life blog to my own server. The design has been changed to increase readability. The new blog address is www.smbcollegelife.com/blog. If you've linked to our blog or use our RSS feeds to quickly view new posts please update them to the new address.

New Blog Address: http://www.smbcollegelife.com/blog

New RSS Feed location: http://www.smbcollegelife.com/blog/feed

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

Student loans affected by economic decline

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 04:29:00 +0000

I couldn't help but use this picture to aid my discussion tonight. We all know that Bush loves oil and continues to get richer everyday from soaring gas prices. He continues to give away billions of dollars to third world countries who don't even want our help so that he can potentially add another zero to his bank account. Meanwhile our own country, the country Bush is supposed to be looking out for first, is in the midst of the biggest economic decline in years. The decline is so bad that many financial institutions are backing out of the student loan sector.

What this means for all of us struggling college students is that we may not be able to finance our continuing education, all because of one man's greed. That $90 billion that was spent in Iraq this year could have gone to helping the next generation become strong enough through education to be able to take on the weight of America. College students are the future of this country and yet we might find ourselves flipping burgers or serving drinks next semester because we could not get the funding to pay tuition.

College students need answers now! I can't sit back watch our country's economy continue to decline while I try to decide whether I should schedule next semester's classes. I need to know that I'll have the funding I need to finish my final year in college. The media states that federal funding will still be available to students who qualify, but what if you don't qualify? Just because my parents aren't living in a cardboard box doesn't mean they have the money to fund my education.

Education is the real future of this country! Not some pointless war in a country who would rather have America mind our own business. If we stayed out of other people's business we might be able to fix the damage to our country now before it gets too late. Hopefully the next president will be able to fix the ruins that Bush intends to leave behind.

Spring Break 08'

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:05:00 +0000

The week back from spring break can be one of the hardest weeks in college life. Harder than the week before and even harder than finals week. The week after spring break we have to leave the place we've grown to love, the place we've had fun in the sun all week, the place were unforgettable memories were made and friendships made stronger, only to come back to our college town and continue on with the grueling semester. I found that this week is so hard for me because I cannot get back into the swing of doing work. Not only have I suffered from jet lag, but I've also been reluctant to begin new assignments or even make it to early morning classes.

These actions and feelings will soon pass as we are faced with more due dates, projects, and tests. For some, spring break can be a reminder of a few important things. It can remind us of exactly where we want to be in life and is a great indicator of why we are working so hard now. If we work hard now to achieve the things we want then we can play hard in the near future. Most people cannot see past the present, but for those who can, let spring break be a reminder of the things you want or the lifestyle you are working so hard to achieve.

Thanks for using SMB College Life.

Education and Finances by Guest Writer Tisha Kulak

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 16:36:00 +0000

Education and Finances: Two Top Priorities of a College Student

The first years in college are where the seeds of a financial foundation are planted. While many students can still rely on their parents for financial assistance while still in school, many young adults will take on this responsibility on their own. Some may get a job to support themselves financially during the years of school. Others may find work as a means of socialization and extra spending money.

One common roadblock for a lot of first time college students is a lack of credit starting out. Students who want to become more financially independent of their families or those who are planning early for a life after college, are interested in building their credit the right way.

A good place to start is at the bank. Approach the bank where you currently have an open account and speak to a manager about applying for a credit card or a line of credit. If you find you are not yet eligible for the card, ask about the steps you need to start taking to be in the right position. Once you do qualify for a credit card of your own, take the time to understand everything involved with credit card responsibility. Initially, your credit limit will be low – perhaps a few hundred dollars. As you begin to use the card and all of your bills are paid on time and in full, you will see your credit limit begin to increase. This does not mean you have to spend more. The credit limit increases also raises your levels of responsibility. By continually making on time payments for the require amounts, you are steadily improving your credit history and credit score.

As a college student, you may not yet realize the importance of good credit in the time after college. Without good credit, you may find it difficult, if not impossible, to rent an apartment, buy a car, and in some cases, find a job. If you ruin your credit early in life, it is a good bet you will spend a large portion of your life trying to build it back up again. Students have a lot to focus on during the college years. In addition to education, financial stability ad good credit should be the most important things students should focus on if they wish to remain ahead in the game of life after graduation.

* * * *

Tisha Kulak is a writer for www.creditorweb.com, where she writes about student credit cards and responsible credit card use.

Thanks Tisha for this great article! As college students we must all carefully control or finances so that we do not tarnish our credit history. If we get off to a good start now, we will be able to build a solid credit history that can help us with purchases in the future.

Be My Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 01:10:00 +0000

Valentine's Day is here again. It's time to show that special someone just how much you appreciate them. For most people, Valentine's Day may bring some headaches while trying to figure out how you are going to "one-up" yourself from last year. You can't do the same thing as last year; no that would be too dull. You have to figure out how you can do something better than last year.

Most people buy flowers, candy, chocolate, and teddy bears, while others make dinner reservations and plan elaborate occasions. One of the challenges that we are faced with as college students is how we can make the little money we have stretch into something big enough to show our valentine just how much we love them. How can we spend as little money as possible to awe our significant other? Not having a significant other is the cheapest way to go, but for those who do you have to be creative.

You don't have to spend a fortune to show someone just how much you appreciate them. Try using your talents or skills to make something that shows your valentine just how special he/she is to you. If you are an artist you can make a drawing. A musician can write a song. If you like to read or write use words in a love letter to express your feelings. If you are good at math or science, well, you're probably screwed....just kidding. Use science to come up with the perfect equation that will always equal your significant other. You want to capture the idea that he/she is the only one in your universe but you want to do it in a cost effective way.

The best way to shock and awe is to do the unexpected. Go out of your way to do something that you normally wouldn't do to surprise that special someone.

Newton's Third Law States:
Every action creates and equal and opposite reaction

Use the laws of physics to create a great reaction from your significant other without spending a lot of money this Valentine's Day. After all, they say the best things in life are free! Be creative, think outside of the box, go the extra mile, and your Valentine will know that you truly appreciate them!

Happy Valentine's Day and good luck from SMB College Life!

FAFSA SCAMS

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:34:00 +0000

An interesting article was brought to my attention today and I wanted to share it with everybody. The article discusses a particular case where a mother searched the internet to fill out the FAFSA form, found what she thought was the FAFSA web site, but was charge $79.99 to fill out the "free" FAFSA form.

"It's been 11 years since I graduated from college, and I just assumed they started charging a fee," said Moyes, a York mother of four.

One of the things that I emphasis on the College Cost page of SMB College Life is that there are many web sites out there who claim to be the official FAFSA web site and actually scam people into paying to fill out the complete FAFSA form. Who knows what else these web sites could be doing with your information. Please, if you are planning on filling out the FAFSA form, be very weary of where you go to fill it out. The REAL FAFSA web site can be found at fafsa.ed.gov, which is a government run agency who will collect and PROTECT your sensitive credit information. The Daily Collegian at Penn State University covered the story where Mrs. Moyes had a lot to say about web sites who are scamming hundreds of uninformed parents into paying to fill out the free FAFSA form:

"It's a scam. They charge you money for something you could do for free," Moyes said.
"I don't understand ... What is the government doing?" Moyes said. "It's the federal government that's getting screwed."
"Everything from my e-mail address to the adjusted gross income -- everything I put in [at FAFSA.com] -- was either blank or needed a correction," Moyes said.

A spokesman of PHEAA, Short for Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, made a very important statement that should be heard by all:

"They should see a red flag whenever there's a cost associated with the FAFSA," Reiber said. "There's free help available, so they don't have to pay that $80 or a couple hundred dollars to have help completing that form."

Parents and students: Please read the article about the FAFSA scam, which is located at http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2008/01/31/applicants_confused_by_fafsa_s.aspx

Also, please be informed, and make wise decisions when it comes to planning, applying and financing a college education! It's easy to fall into being scammed into paying for things that should be free, not receiving proper financial assistance for college, and paying ridiculously high interest rates on student loans. At SMB College Life we provide you with all the information that you need to successfully plan, apply, and finance your college education and we frown upon the many people out there who try to take advantage of the uninformed parents and students.

Thanks for being informed by SMB College Life!

Live your dreams, don't just dream them.

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:03:00 +0000

I've been trying to get back in the swing of things for the new semester so it has been a few days since I've posted. I really wanted to take some time tonight to share this new video which I've picked to be the video of the week in the Entertainment section of SMB College Life. I personally think this video is great, the song has a great message and we can forget to just let things go sometimes. I first heard this song when I watched "Meet The Robinson's," the new Disney movie. It might not seem like the typical movie that a college kid would watch, but I guess I'm not a typical college kid.

For those who have not seen the movie I highly recommend renting, no buying because I think you will like it so much that you will want to watch it again. The first time I saw it I liked it so much that I played it a second time. I guess I really relate to the story line and feel as though it's me they are talking about sometimes.

As a kid I've always had crazy ideas and have always been interested in fixing things, making things better, or figuring out how stuff works. As I grew older I found myself always thinking and trying new things. I love inventing things, making things better and trying new business ventures. Unfortunately I've always felt as though people, or things were holding me back from a lot of the things that I wanted to create.

College was probably the best thing that happened to me because it lets me work at my true potential. College has also opened multiple doors in my life and helped me to find passions that I never knew I could have. My college education has provided me with the knowledge, resources, and desire to accomplish the things that I've always wanted to do. One of the things that college helped me to accomplish is the creation of SMB College Life. I've wanted to create and operate my own website since I was about 12 years old, and have finally be able to accomplish it thanks to my college education.

Through the creation of SMB College Life I found a real passion for helping people. The main idea, the core or foundation of SMB College Life is the fact that I want to help students plan for their college education, pay less for their education, and save money on everyday things that they may need. The drive to get this website published was that I had a very hard time planning for college and paying for college. Basically my parents wouldn't or couldn't help me with college so I was on my own. I had to go through the process entirely on my own, without guidance, cosigners, scholarships or anything. I felt abandoned, and still do, but realized that I could do something about it by trying to help other students who may be in similar situations.

So basically, through the creation of something that I've always wanted I was also able to find a way to help others, and I feel great doing it. People always ask me why I spend so much time on the website and my answer is simple; I want to make a college education easier and less expensive to achieve. I don't want to see people have to struggle through the process or pay as much for their education as I have. The website is only one of the many opportunities that my college life has made possible to me.

My college life and education has been the break that I needed in life. It has allowed me to liberate myself from the things that held me back, provided the knowledge and resources that I needed to achieve some of my dreams, and opened the doors to endless possibilities in my life. Through my college life I was able to create something great, something that helps me feel better about myself, and helps other students achieve their college education.

My point here is the same as the song, and the movie. Let things go, don't stop fighting to achieve your dreams, and create something...no matter how big or small it is. I'm always thinking of new ideas and have created a lot of things in the past few years. I have failed more times than I can count and have succeeded only a handful of times. No matter how many times you fail, you have to get back up and try again.

Start taking action and turning your ideas into creations. You may succeed, or you may fail but at least you will be able to say that you tried; that you took action and accomplished something that you believed in. Most people can't get past thinking or wishing they could create something and never take action. That will not make your life fulfilling! Taking action on your ideas and creating something will make your life richer than you could ever imagine. In some cases this could mean money rich, but I'm talking about FEELING rich inside. I can wake up most mornings and feel absolutely amazing because I've been able to take action through my college life and create something. It just so happened that my creation is one that helps hundred and hopefully thousands of students just like me. You creation could do this too but you have to take action.

Listen to the video and watch "Meet The Robinson's" and my message might become a lot clearer.

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

PSU Thon 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 04:53:00 +0000

So to follow up from yesterday's post I want to present the Target Ten Challenge being held by Nittany Nation. What they are trying to do is get 10,000 student to show up for the basketball game, where Penn State will face Ohio State on January 29th. I just found out about this tonight through a Facebook invitation. If you are a member of Facebook you can also check out the group that has been started to get students involved. Check out this link: TARGET TEN CHALLENGE. This is the perfect opportunity to grab a couple of friends to do something new by going to see a basketball game.

The tickets are only $5 dollars and if we get 10,000 students to attend then ALL of the proceeds from the ticket sales will be donated to Thon! That's $50,000 towards helping children with cancer. Guys, honestly, this isn't much to ask at all. The basketball games normally last two hours; I hope this isn't too much time to ask for helping a good cause.

Ok, so maybe you don't have the time to go but if you still by a student ticket it counts! Spending $5.00 for a ticket, which gets donated towards a good cause will probably be the best $5.00 you've ever spent. If you think about it, you could pay one less cover charge at a bar in State College, which goes to the rich bar owner anyway, and that money could be used for the student ticket. It's a great cause and a great opportunity for us, as students, to come together and support something other than ourselves this semester.

You don't even have to be a student to by a ticket that will count towards the Target Ten Challenge. I checked it out earlier today, and you can actually purchase a student ticket through Ticketmaster without a student ID. It's the same price, and it counts towards the 10,000 tickets they are trying to sell. This is the exact page that I used earlier to test this:
Student Tickets to Benefit Thon

I hope you decide to come out, and I hope you decide to bring all of your friends. I know I'll be there, or if I can't make it, I've at least put out the $5.00 that will help children with cancer. Honestly, what better way can you think of to spend $5.00?

Thanks for your support and thanks for using SMB College Life!

PSU Thon 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:52:00 +0000

Not only do we provide a lot of useful information for college students at SMB College Life we also would like to encourage students to get involved in some sort of cause, by volunteering, donating, or making some sort of contribution. There are many organizations that you can get involved with on a collegiate level to help in the greater good of others. To find an organization all you have to do is look around. Almost all colleges and universities have some sort of campus groups or organizations to support different causes. The easiest way to find a cause to support is to look close to home.

From personal experience I was able to find an organization in which I support called Thon. For those who don't know Thon is an organization which helps collect money for children with cancer. The money they collect through various fund raisers and activities goes to helping children with cancer and research and development of a cure for cancer.

In the past year I've been a lot more interested in Thon due to a family member being diagnosed. I'm pretty sure that a lot of universities have Thon and it is a great organization to support so please ask around your university or check out Thon.org for more information. The Pennsylvania State University will be holding their annual "Dance Marathon" where students, faculty, staff, athletes, and community members gather to show their support in a 48 hour event. Last year Penn State Thon raised over $5,000,000 to donate towards helping children with cancer. The event will be held between February 22-24 so if you are around or near State College Pennsylvania please stop by!

This video shows a student a Berkley who is helping to support Breast Cancer. Her cause was found after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then she has been doing her part to get involved and show her support for the fight against breast cancer.

It's too often that we say we will get involved in something great, or help some great cause, but fall short of acting. We have hopes of one day donating to support a cause but never do. We only have one question:

Why Not Today?

We want to know what is stopping you, or holding you back from getting involved in the fight for a better cause. Maybe you think that you don't have the money, but even donating one dollar will help to find a cure for cancer, or help support any other cause you may have. Don't wait until your family is affected before you decide to get involved. They need you now! Please pass this message onto someone else as a minimal effort to get involved.

Thanks for listening, and thanks for using SMB College Life!

Back To School

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 17:11:00 +0000

A new semester has finally arrived and now is the time to prepare, organize and stock up on school supplies. It's also time for high school seniors to begin filling out the proper paperwork to make the transition from high school to college. Whether you are in college, a high school senior, or a parent of a student you should always be concerned with financing college and saving money on everyday items that you may need. Fortunately, we not only provide great information about the details of preparing for college, we also provide savings through integrated partnerships to help everyone save money.

If it's school or office supplies that you need you should check out our savings page for different products, sales and coupons offered through various merchants. Visit http://smbcollegelife.com/OfficeSupplies.html for a list of merchants who offer savings on things like ink cartridges, printer paper, notebooks, backpacks and much more through SMB College Life. Below is short list of a few merchants that have current coupons or sale running:

For the full list of merchants please visit the Office Supplies page.

Textbook are another large semester expense...or is it? If you search various resources properly then you will be able to potentially save hundreds on textbooks this semester, and perhaps make a few hundreds on old textbooks. To get the best prices on old textbooks and save hundreds on new textbooks check out SMB's Textbook page which is dedicated to helping students find and sell textbooks. Some people are more comfortable using one source for textbook sales and purchasing, but we have found through experience that it is best practice to expand your horizons to using multiple sources. This yields higher returns on selling textbooks, and higher savings on buying textbooks, but, as our mission statement states; "It's your choice to decide the best products and services."

For parents and high school seniors:
You're probably looking for any information you can find on college planning; particularly college costs, scholarships, college applications and more. You don't need to worry about this anymore as wee cover a lot of the information that you will need to make the successful transition from high school to college. Click over to our College Planning section for more information, downloads, and links that will aid your college preparation this year.

As always, if there is anything that you need; any information that we do not provide on the site, more links or more details on certain topics, or guided direction please email contact@smbcollegelife.com and our team will try to answer your questions as quickly as possible.

One last thing. Please be sure to check out our college cost calculator which was newly integrated into the site. It is part of our College Cost page, where you will find valuable information and answers to common misconceptions about the costs involved in going to college.

Thanks for using SMB College Life for all your college needs!

Winter Break

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 03:06:00 +0000

One of the most enjoyable things of college life can be taking a break after a long semester. I have to say that as much as I love studying engineering it tends to wear me down and there's nothing I need more than taking a break sometimes. I decided to get away from the cold weather to spend my break relaxing by the beach. The past two weeks I've spent my winter break sleeping late, playing guitar, starring blankly into the horizon, and, of course, collecting information for SMB College Life. I've been taking this well deserved time off from my college studies to catch up on the things that I miss out on throughout the semester.

I don't have much time throughout the semester to do anything other than homework and studying so I've been spending my winter break doing the things I normally don't have time for. I've realized something today while blankly starring at the horizon today and wanted to share my thoughts. Today it hit me that I'm always "on the go" so to speak throughout my college life and am forced to think ALL the time. Not many people outside of engineering really understand how much time and effort we have to put into or education. As an engineering student I'm always working on something; whether it be homework, projects, or studying for exams. I rarely find the time to stop and let my brain relax; with the exception of my occasional 5 minute bus ride across campus. Even then I spend that 5 minutes planning for the rest of my day, or week, and trying to fit everything in.

I normally give up things like playing guitar, drawing, reading about business.....basically all my hobbies when the semester rolls around because I just don't have the time to fit them in. That leaves little to cut out of my schedule when the work begins to pile on. Eating is the first thing to get cut from my college life in order to make more time for my workload. The next thing to go, unfortunately, is sleep. This past fall semester I found myself spending at least one night a week without sleep due to the various projects, homework and studying that I needed to do for all my classes. Some Friday's I found myself so worn out that I'd end up crashing after my last class and sleeping through Saturday morning. So how did I make it through the semester? Caffeine....A LOT of Caffeine!

I think I've made Starbucks rich this past semester with my multiple daily trips to get coffee to keep my brain functioning. At this point I'm thinking they should sponsor me to walk around campus in my normal sleepless haze, carrying their branded cups. They should honestly consider making me an offer before I switch to the new Dunkin' Donuts that just opened up down the street from them. They have a lot better coffee anyway!

The whole point of me ranting on about last semester is that I cherish this break from my college life. We should all take this time to not only recoop from our very hectic college lives, we should also catch up on the things that we miss out on thorough the semester. You know my grandfather laughed at me the other day saying that I've been sleeping half of my days away, and THAT IS EXACTLY what I intended to do after the many sleepless nights throughout the semester.

I also used a lot of this break to let my mind rest. Like I said before I never stop thinking, solving or planning throughout the semester; I never have time to let my brain rest. Because of that I've been using this time to rest my brain by doing a lot of nothing. Granted, I have spent a few days in the bookstore reading a ton of information and gathering even more resources to provide to you through SMB College Life, but to me, that's relaxing. It's also very rewarding as I feel that the information I provide will help parents and student to not only plan and prepare for college, but also to save money on various products you may need through SMB College Life partnerships. If I can help one person then my efforts have been a success, and I am very satisfied.

I hope that everyone is enjoying, or has enjoyed their winter break and I encourage all who are still on break to make sure you spend it the way you want. Do the things that make you happy, the things that define you, and the things that you may have to give up in only a few more days to survive another college semester.

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

SMB College Life Updates

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:56:00 +0000

We've been working very hard to bring you as much information to our website as possible, in an attempt to satisfy everyone. One of the most recent additions to the site has been our featured music video which will appear on the Entertainment page each week courtesy of AOL Music. This video will be updated weekly and previous videos will be store in an archive which will become our new music video section.

Development has also taken place in our Shopping section as we continue to find new place and things to save you money on. The most sub-sections of our Shopping section is our Office Supplies section where you can find a lot of great coupons, discounts, and saving on school or office supplies this semester.

Recent development has also taken place in our Guys shopping section, where we've been working on clothing savings, sports savings, entertainment savings, and more. Be sure to check out these sections as we will be updating them later today. I previously discussed updating the Guys section as a whole once development was entirely complete but I now believe that this information and savings we have is very important to you guys out there so we will also be uploading our progress later today.

I want to thank you all again for your great support throughout the past few months as development of SMB College Life may not have been as prompt as it could have due to our college course work, final exams, etc. Unlike some developers of great websites we intend to stay in school throughout the development of SMB College Life because we believe education comes first. This decision may slow development at times but we assure you that this will not affect the quality of our site.

We know that our website has become important to many users now as our web rankings have climbed from over 9 million to just above 1 million in the past month alone according to Alexa. We believe this is due to the rapid development that has taken place in the past month and we plan to continue this development while we enjoy winter break. We want our site to be as helpful as possible as we hope to impact a lot more college lives in the spring semester. We also know that high school seniors will be graduating soon so we want to provide as much information as we can to make their college transition as smooth as possible.

Thanks for all your help and continued support of us delivering important information and great savings to college students and thanks for using SMB College Life.

College Finances

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 01:58:00 +0000

One of the most discouraging things about college can be finding useful information about college. One of the biggest things that happened to me, which lit a fire under me was when I was accepted into college and NEEDED help with financial aid, scholarships, grants, etc. The person I turned to was the financial aid adviser of the university which accepted me and I was soon frustrated as I felt I received little or no help with financing my college education. I turned to the financial aid office feeling very scared and alone after receiving my acceptance letter thinking I would receive answers about how to finance my college education. Because my parents could not help me financially with college I was left to financing my education on my own. I figured that if I could turn to anyone it would be the financial aid adviser who was being paid by the university I planned to attend.

I was absolutely clueless about how the college process worked and thought that I would be able to receive help when it came to financing my education because I was left to do it on my own. It seemed as though the more questions I asked my financial aid adviser, the more aggravated she got, and she began treating me as though I should already know the answers to the questions I asked. The only reason I was there was to find out how I would be able to finance college, and as a paid professional of a university I assumed she would do everything in her power to find a solution for me. When I asked about grants and scholarships she simply said that I didn't qualify for anything and quickly tried turning my attention toward student loans to fund my education.

Leaving her office I felt smaller than I've ever felt before as I receive no help funding my college education. I was forced to turn to student loans to fund my education as my tuition bill deadline closed in. Basically the information that I'd spent a year researching had failed me and only led to dead ends when it came to receiving aid to finance my college education. Because my parents weren't willing or able to cosign my student loans I was subject to many student loan rejections, followed by finally being accepted for qualification subject to inflated interest rates. My student loans continue to haunt me to this day because of the amount needed to fund my education and the outrageous interest rates.

The goal of SMB College Life is to inform students about college life as much as possible by providing pertinent information about college searching, planning, funding, and so much more all in one place. I do not want you to feel as clueless or as helpless as I felt after graduating high school nor do I want you to spend more money than you need to fund you college education, especially if your parents cannot or will not help you. This is what drives the research and development which goes into building SMB College Life. At SMB College Life you will not get turned down, you will not find information leading to dead ends, and I will not make you feel as though you should already know this very important information. SMB College Life thrives on helping college students find the information that they need to succeed in college.

I would like to talk about some recent additions to SMB College Life that should greatly help you in your college life journey. Recently added to SMB College Life is our Grants page which will provide you with all the information you will need to search, find, and receive grants to fund your education. We also offer additional resources to turn to which list most, if not all of the available education grants in the United States, which you can use to help fund you college education. Our Apply To College Section offers all of the information that you will need to apply to college as well as PDF college applications which you can download and fill out for free. We also provide additional tips to help waive the cost of traditional college applications. We have added music videos to our entertainment page which will be updated weekly and will grow into a database which you can use to view your favorite music videos.

As our partnerships grow we continue to work on our shopping section behind the scenes. We are currently compiling a list of partners as well as coupons presented to us to offer directly to you for savings on things that you may need throughout you college life. Not only do we want to pay as little as possible for tuition, we also want to save you money on the products you may need throughout your college life. Once we have a good, solid shopping section we will update it all at once for you to receive the maximum savings through merchants, distributors and retailers which you are accustomed to.

The one section that we are having trouble bringing together is our scholarship page and our student loan page. What we need is CREDIBLE information that we can offer to you. Our research is turning up very little CREDIBLE information to offer you so we are asking for professional help. We need the help of financial advisers, professional experts, and government officials to collect the most CREDIBLE information to our users about scholarships and student loans.

If you are one of the people mentioned above, know someone mentioned above, or have any CREDIBLE information that you would like to share with thousands of other college students then please contact us at contact@smbcollegelife.com and tell us more. We are currently working setting up appointments with financial advisers in our area as well as government officials but could use your help in developing these pages.

Thanks for your help and thanks for using SMB College Life!

Merry Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:19:00 +0000

Christmas comes only once a year. It is time for us to get together and spend quality time with family and friends. Christmas is a very special time for college student because not only do we have get a break from the sleepless nights of homework and projects, cramming for exams, and ultimately busy schedule of college life, we also have the wonderful opportunity to spend some time with the ones we love the most.

I wanted to take some time today to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and I hope that you are all enjoying time away from school and work to be with your loved ones. I want to keep this short and sweet because I would like to get back to spending time with my family but Merry Christmas everybody and thanks for accepting the launch of SMB College Life as well as the Official SMB College Life Blog. I appreciate the individuals who have taken the time to visit the site and the people who continue to return for information, entertainment, savings and more. Since the official launch of the SMB College Life website and Blog you guys have been very supportive and responsive to all of the information that I've provided. If all goes as planned I intend to continue providing new information, resources and savings in an attempt to lower the debt of most college students in America.

This Christmas season I found myself thinking about all the people that have been important to me throughout my college life. I can't begin to express my gratitude for the friends and family members that have stuck by me through thick and thin this year. My college life has taken its toll on many relationships of mine simply because of my work ethic, focus and dedication which is required of me through my major. This Christmas I am thankful for all the friends and family members who have continually supported any and all of my actions and shortcomings this year. I realize that there will be people in life who let us down and claim to be there through thick and thin and tend to fall short of their claim. This is life and Christmas provides us college students with a great opportunity to be thankful and to acknowledge the people who stick to their claim and have stayed by our side through the good times and the bad this academic year.

Today I send out a special Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family who were there for me and stuck by me this year! I recommend we all take this time off of our hectic college lives to acknowledge our true friends and family members. Thanks to all the family and friends who have been so supportive through our college lives this year!

Thanks for using SMB College Life.

Scholarships??

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 09:26:00 +0000

A big question comes to mind early this morning as the search continues for credible scholarship information to provide to you on SMB College Life. In my previous post I offered the 2008-09 Student Financial Aid packet which is a publication from the US Department of Education. My relationship with the US Department of Education is fairly new when it comes to finding credible information to provide to you, but has been a long, and very expensive relationship when it comes to money provided by them for my college education. The thing that really perplexed me when researching the US Department of Education is that they will provide exceptional information about tax credits, government grants,receiving student loans, managing college finances and so much more, but I have yet to find any scholarship information provided by them. The big question that comes to mind as I sort through pages of information provided by the US Department of Education is why they don't give any information about scholarships. Searching through their database I cannot seem to find anything about scholarships provided to students to help them pay for college.

You can see for yourself by going to their Web site and clicking on Apply For Scholarships & Loans under the Find & Pay For College section. In this section they provide links to receiving government student loans for college as well as information about paying for these loans, financing college through federal student loans, federal student consolidation information for student loans, but nothing about scholarships.

What really puzzles me is that this is THE government paid and controlled agency for United States Education, yet they do not provide information about receiving free money for college. Instead they direct you through links which take you to information about receiving loans through them, paying for your loans, and consolidation your loans through government consolidation programs. All of these things are making the government MORE money!

There are two logical explanations that I can think of which could be reasons for this lack of information. One reason is that there are too many scholarships available that they do not have enough time to dedicate to organizing and providing them on one of the most used college resources ON THE INTERNET (currently ranked #3,788 out of hundreds of million, if not billions of websites on the internet today).

From this idea comes my second justification for the US Department of Education not providing scholarship information in their college information database. Could it be because they want to make as much money as possible from college students by making us think that government loans are the only way to finance our college educations? Why else would they only provide information on every possible way for students to finance college, in which the government profits from?

One would think that they US Department of Education would capitalize on their internet rankings and help millions of student reduce their debt substantially by providing information about receiving free money through scholarships to finance college. I guess by doing this it would reduce their ability to profit from the millions of college students who use federal student loans to pay for college.

Through SMB College Life I want to offer as much useful information as possible that will benefit college students financially. The idea of SMB College Life is that the average financial debt for college students is ridiculously high and we will focus our efforts on finding information to help college students reduce this debt. There are few resources available which offer free information that will financially benefit millions of college students. We hope to fill the need of information about grants, scholarships, and other forms of free money, as well as savings on your college life needs through our corporate sponsorships and partnerships. We need to help each other save money, because it seems as though the ones who are trusted to do so aren't delivering the most beneficial results that they could. So who is left to turn to??

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

Financial Aid

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:06:00 +0000

The US Department of Education has recently released its student financial aid packet for 2008-09. This packet will be helpful to graduating high school seniors this year as it just about everything you need to know about the financial aspect of preparing for college. This 58 page powerful resource provides information that students should know before they apply to college, tips on reducing the cost of your education, federal grants available, and so much more. Parents can find important information about income eligibilities and special tax credits that you and your soon to be college student will receive for 2008-09 school year. If your are graduating from high school this year and are looking into a college education than you must read this free guide provided by the US Department of Education. There is a ton of information that this booklet covers and is too much to list here. The table of contents alone is four pages! Be sure to grab this guide from any of the following pages at SMB College Life:

I hope this helps you in your search for college life answers!
Thanks for using SMB College Life!

Student Loans to be ELIMINATED!

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:14:00 +0000

Some great news has come to my attention and I needed to alert all college students as soon as I possibly could. The news is that top private schools have devised a program that will allow them to eliminate, yes ELIMINATE!, student loans for college students with families with a combined income of less than $100,000 per year. With this program they will also decrease the need for student loans for the ladder college students by 10%. These top private schools plan to replace student loans by offering grants in their place. So what does all this mean?

It means that the students and parents no longer have to worry about the price of tuition when they are searching for colleges. Average families can now have the opportunity to receive the highest level of education that used to seem like it was only offered to the wealthy. The new program initiated by top private schools offers students the chance to break free from the chains that financial giants used to hold college students back and allows college students to now focus solely on their education. Most financial institutions were "striking gold" so to speak as they were enjoying yachts, high rise suites, and beach front mansions paid for by poor college students who needed student loans to pay for college. They may now be forced to give a piece of the pie back as they will loose earnings from the high interest rates they once charged college students.

This program will be in full affect in September 2009 by top private schools such as U Penn, MIT, and Harvard to name a few. What does this mean for other universities and state schools that aren't private schools? Well, most universities strive for excellence and do what it takes to get their name as close to the top private schools as possible. This means that it may only be a matter of time before they adapt their own version of the Student Loan Elimination Program.

Thanks to top private school like U Penn, MIT, and Harvard, which have initiated the move forward, tens of thousands of students will now be able to afford better education through college. This will also lift the burden off hundreds of thousands of college students who's education and college life will continue through the year 2009. As most college students know, one of the biggest stresses in college comes from our financial situation, and particularly our growing debt due to student loans. This new plan will alleviate much of this stress for the majority of college students, allowing us to perform at a whole new level. Imagine the possibilities of the future that could come into play because of this simple act of eliminating student loans.

Make sure you pass this big news onto your friends, family, brothers and sisters and anyone else who could benefit from it! News like this can't go to waste!

For more information on the story check out the following sources:
NBC News
The UPenn Financial Aid Fact Sheet
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

Does a letter really define me?

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:35:00 +0000

Finals week is usually the most stressful time in our college lives. Not only do we have to worry about studying for an examination that covers the entire semester worth of material, we also have to worry about finishing final projects, homeworks, and make sure we tie all the loose ends together. For some people, their scholarships depend on receiving good grades in order to keep their current financial status and this can also be a huge stress. It's funny how something as small as a letter can have that much power over your college life. What's really odd about the whole grading system is that society continues to accept this ridiculous form of human judgment. I know that there needs to be some sort of system in which students are judged, or classified if you will, but one can't help but think why, out of all the brilliant people in the world why hasn't someone come up with a true system of judgment for students.

Lets look at the Pennsylvania SAT's for example. Studies over the years have shown that the SAT's were a poor judgment of high school student's knowledge; basically the tested were flawed so the director of such things decided to change the tests around to better scale a high school student's smartness. What's really ridiculous about the whole SAT thing is that the minute you sit down with a financial aid adviser and you ask them how much financial help you can receive for college the turn directly to your SAT scores. This is a huge problem for me.

Now I'm not the smartest person in the world, but I do like to think that I am knowledgeable. I also happen to have completed 3 years of engineering studies in a very good university so I'd like to think that I use my brain a little. With all that aside I'd like to go back to the time in my history when I was taking my SAT's how they have helped me through my college life.......they didn't! When I took the SAT's I scored much lower than a lot of the kids I knew, yet most of these kids we drinking everyday after school, staying out late every night, getting in trouble with the law, and never once opening a book to study. It was obvious that these kids we not smarter than me, until we took the SAT's.

A little time comparison shows that some of these same kids who scored much higher than me on the SAT's are now flipping burgers, working in coffee shops, and well, doing a whole lot of nothing (sorry guys and girls). Here I am, the stupid one (according to the SAT's) finishing a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering, running a respectable website, which happens to provide ground zero information about college life (try getting that from the old farts who run some of the other college websites!), and completely paying my own way. The SAT's did a great job at judging me! In fact, I'm so glad that they judged me the way they did because when it was my time to talk to financial aid they said "Sorry kid, no help for you. Here's a pamphlet though on the lenders that pay us off to advertise for them. They can lend you ALL the money you need to pay for college, and they'll pay for the Mercedes that I've got sitting in the parking lot." That's a little exaggeration, but you get the point.

Here I am, a kid straight out of high school, screaming at the lady that I AM smart and that I NEED help because my parents can't provide financial help for me and what does she tell me? "If you manage to keep your grades up this year we can talk about a scholarship for next year." WHAT!?!? Just like that I was brushed to the side as the stupid kid who scored low on his SAT's. For the high school students out there, especially my brother, I hope that the new SAT system does a better job of testing a student's true abilities. If it were up to me, everyone would receive a scholarship in the beginning and would have to prove why they shouldn't receive one, not the other way around.

By the way, I did receive a scholarship my second year in college. For my entire first year in college I decided to prove myself and did so by maintaining a 4.0 GPA....yeah, me, the stupid kid (according to the SAT's). You know what I received for that? $500.00............

Divided over 2 semesters..............Don't get me wrong, I was very grateful for the money I received, but I literally gave up my life for an entire year, just so that I could study ALL the time, only to receive $500.00 (I do have witnesses that can vouch for this). I'm sorry that I'd not scored higher on the SAT's, and I'm sorry that I also lost interest in college pretty quick, but I still love what I'm studying and I like to think that I'm smart, regardless of what other people say or how insignificant pieces of paper like to judge me. I know my abilities and that's all that matters to me anymore. Can I get A's on every final this semester? Probably, but will I give up my life for another slap on the wrist? I don't think so. I'll try my best but I'm no longer bending over for a system that doesn't return the favor.

What have I gotten out of SAT scores? Nothing. What have I gotten out of college grades? Very little. I like to think that I am very smart kid, and have been told so by many people including people owning or working for very large corporations. These people have rewarded me for a job well done and for that I will perform miracles.

This brings me to the conclusion of my late night college life story......what am I doing with SMB College Life. Well, I decided that I wanted to help the students out there, who have faced similar situations and need some help with college. What I can do for now is provide the best information that I know is available and hope that students choose to use it. With SMB College Life I can provide a medium, a common ground if you will, where students can find all the information that I was once in search of. I can provide you with everything I know and maybe, just maybe help one student get through college a little easier that me. Maybe the help provided by SMB College Life will help you to stay motivated to achieve the better grade with which people will judge you. If I achieve that than my efforts were a success. Through SMB College Life I strive for greatness and hope to be able to provide thousands of student with financial aid and advice each and every semester. Can I do it? You tell me........

Thanks for choosing SMB College Life!

College Life Multi-Tasking

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 06:30:00 +0000

One of the group projects that I've been working on for the past few weeks is almost finally over. Pictured to the left is one of the preliminary sketches for a water powered generator that would create enough voltage to power a cellphone. The requirement was that it must produce at least 1.8 volts of electricity. A little information was provided for us pertaining to turbines and generator power, but overall we were required to make all the proper design calculations and complete a WORKING prototype as the final product.

This was the first design project that I have done from start to finish (performing design calculations, designing a system, and building a prototype) so I was very excited to take on the challenge at first. Around the same time of this project being assigned I also received two other projects from different professors. My hopes were that I would be able to put as much work as needed into this project in order to design the best system possible, but soon found myself juggling my time between all three projects and just trying to make them all work.

The only downfall of all these projects at one time is that I did not have enough time to solely focus on one individual project, and always found myself running from group to group and switching gears for different projects. I'm a strong believer that multi-tasking simply does not work and that it should be avoided whenever possible. I believe that focusing all your efforts on one task yields 10 times better results than spreading yourself thin over a number of different tasks. Professors try to say that multi-tasking is a standard in the industry and that people usually work on many projects at one time. I beg to differ. I'm sure their are companies who believe in multi-tasking, and that may work well for some. I like to focus on the companies who steer clear of multi-tasking to achieve great success.

Google.com

Google is a great example of a company that's success has been achieved solely by small teams that focus on one individual project. By doing so they have not only become a multi-billion dollar company, but they have become a leader in software development in only a few short years. They Have become so large that they can virtually give away free software and still make billions of dollars each and every day! Can anyone come close to Google? If you don't believe in multi-tasking you might have a shot.....

Apple Inc

Apple has become a leader in the hardware and software industry in the past couple of years. It seemed like they had fallen off the map about 5 years ago but have recently taken the media marketplace by storm. It started with their introduction of the computer media interface iTunes, followed by the first hand held MP3 player(Touch comes to iPod. Introducing iPod touch. 8GB and 16GB models from $299. Free Shipping.), which were and still are a huge hit by the way, then their innovative new computer designs, not only desktop but also laptop(Meet the New, Faster MacBook Pro at Apple Store Canada), and finally......their latest attempt to take over the cellphone industry with the iPhone.

So how did Apple manage to do it? They employ teams of designers, engineers, software specialists, artists, and more and allow them to focus on one small part of a larger design. By doing this they achieve greatness by getting every single aspect of each of their products almost perfect. They have enough teams to focus on every detail of a design and never spread themselves to thin to produce anything less than perfection. Focusing all their efforts on one thing at a time has led them to be a leader in the industry, exploding past their opponent which is ummmmm.....oh, almost forgot....Microsoft.

These two companies are only two of the greatest examples that I could think of where steering clear of multi-tasking has led to leading their specific industries and technological greatness. If you can find a company that has huge success due to multi-tasking then by all means comment about them here, and if multi-tasking works for you then congratulations on being the ladder. I like to take advice and follow the footsteps of the people who have achieved remarkable things, and in my book, multi-tasking is NOT the way to go.

Because of this I will strive for greatness from SMB College Life by not multi-tasking in order to provide the best college information network that I possibly can to you. Excellence does not emerge overnight; just look at Apple or Google's timeline. Look for much more to come at www.SMBCollegeLife.com

Thanks for using the site!

What are you working for?

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 02:29:00 +0000

One of the reasons we decided to come to college in the first place is because we wanted to work towards a career that will allow us the freedoms and lifestyle that we want for ourselves. Whether your hopes and dreams include someone else or not you should always remember then and try to think of them when times get hard in your college life. Your dreams, no matter how big or small, will drive you to succeed as a college student. Some people wish to have the freedom to travel, some wish to by nice cars, and yet others wish to land the job of their dreams. Dreaming of obtaining all of these things is thinking big, but definitely not too big.

You should never limit your dreams or goals for success because this will limit your ability to produce and perform at your maximum achievable level. For example, Thomas Edison set out to do what everyone before him had failed to do. His dream was to produce a device that could convert electricity to ambient light(light bulb) and to mass produce them for use in every household in American. Edison achieve his dreams within 2 year time, when others before took nearly 40 years of experimenting and calculating to fail.

With the right determination in life anyone can achieve anything that they want to. Surrounding yourself with winners is so important to achieving your dreams. If you surround yourself with negative influences throughout your college life then you will not succeed to your maximum ability and will only be wasting your time, as well as your professor's time. Learn to love what you do and give you best at it each and everyday. It is your life and you can make it anything you want.

College life can get hard at times, especially at the end of the semester. When the work starts to pile on, the projects seem to become never ending, and finals seem near impossible just remember your dreams. Think of that dream car that you've always wanted and how great it would be to drive it to work someday. Better yet, think of that exact moment, when it's clear that all your hard work has paid off and your heart pounds as the salesman finally places the keys in your hand.

How great would it feel to drive that car for the first time? It would probably be an amazing feeling, but might not be as great as walking through the doors of your dream job everyday and remembering exactly how hard it was to get there. That dream job can very well be a reality, but you have to want it. You have to want it so bad that you are willing to do anything for it; even if that means staying up all night to finish a homework assignment, or giving all of your free time to making a project the best it can possibly be before turning it in.

Remember your dream job when you're so swamped with work that you feel you'll never finish or when you're the last one studying in the library before finals. Think of the job that you want when you graduate and remember that your efforts today will make the difference tomorrow. If you give it all you've got each and every day in college your dreams WILL come true. Don't just dream about it.....DO IT! That's what your college life is meant for. Making the difference today will mean living your dreams tomorrow.

Thanks for using www.SMBCollegeLife.com

Professionalism in College

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 17:35:00 +0000

I received an email from a professor late in the week concerning a late homework assignment and I thought it would be a great things to share with all college students. The story behind the email was that I completely missed a deadline on a homework assignment due to all the other things that were going on in my college life. I had to write a 1 page paper and email it to my professor by Wednesday, which I was under the assumption that it was due on Friday so I hadn't completed it. Luckily my professor sent me an email saying that I hadn't submitted the paper and that I should get it in a soon as possible. The first time I sat in front of my computer was Thursday morning, when I realized that the assignment was due on Wednesday instead of Friday. I wrote the assignment and submitted it that morning and went on with my day. When I submitted the assignment I clarified in the email that I understood that it was late and that if he did not accept it I was fine with that.

He accepted the late submission and replied to my email with some interesting advice. He basically stated that this late submission might be acceptable in college but will not be acceptable in the real world, while working the industry. He also stated that I should begin to practice my professionalism now because "late assignments and incorrect due dates will be a big problem in the real world." I was a little shocked at first by this email but as it sank in I began to understand where he was coming from.

The reason I am sharing this is because I believe it is great advice for all college students. The reason we are in college is to not only learn the things that we need to know to be successful in our fields but also to practice professionalism that we will use one day in the workforce. College is the time when we need to really focus on improving ourselves by becoming more organized, learning proper communication skills, being prompt and on time, and most importantly time management. These are only a few things that we need to improve within ourselves through our college lives. By taking our time in college seriously and making our faults better we can mold ourselves into professionals that will be very attractive to businesses and corporations when it comes time to search for a job.

This is the college life advice that I have for today. Because of my professor's email I was able to analyze some of the things that I still need to work on to make the transition from a student to a profession. Thanks doctor for your words of wisdom, and I hope that by passing them on they will help other college students to evaluate themselves to improve their professionalism. After all, that is why we chose to come to college in the first place!

Thanks for using SMB College Life!

SMB College Life updates

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Sat, 08 Dec 2007 06:13:00 +0000

I haven't been able to post in a few days because things have been so hectic in my college life. I've been skipping sleep to finish homework, lab reports, and different group projects this week so I haven't had time to post, or to update the site with new ideas. This is one of the things that happens towards the end of the semester as work piles on top of normal work and deadlines close in.

I finally got the chance to build some of my ideas and designs into SMB College Life and I'd like to take this time to explain a few new things. First I've received some graphics that allowed me to change the overall appearance of the site, which should fit in perfectly with our everyday college lives. I've made bookmarking and sharing the information and the things you like about SMB College Life on many of the large software platforms running the internet by the click of a button. Our Bookmark and Share button is located at the top right of each page on the SMB College Life site and is located at the bottom left of each post right here on the official SMB College Life Blog.

To use this button simply rest your mouse over it and a drop-down menu will appear that will give you the option to bookmark that page, or share it on sites like iGoogle, Digg, Facebook, and so many more. This will allow you to acquire our information much easier and efficient with the click of a button. You can also help you friends or family by sharing our information with them.

Other exciting updates happened by request from different users pertaining to the expansion of different sections of SMB College Life. We have added new comedians to the Entertainment section by request from several users. We have also changed the About page so that more information pertaining to SMB College Life can be found more easily. There has also been a recent problem with the links and images that we have provided on our Link To Us page. Apparently they were showing up with a highlighted border around them when copied and pasted directly from the site. We have fixed the links so that they will no longer show up with the highlighted border. If you were having problems with these images and links before then try the new code that we have provided and you shouldn't have any problems.

This is the extent of the updates I accomplished tonight. I apologize for not having more time this week to share my thoughts, ideas, and especially my partner deals with you. With it being so close to Christmas I'm getting daily emails on deals and specials which I will be sharing with you here on the blog. I will try to add them as they come so that I can provide you with the information and savings as quickly as possible. Be sure to check back often for coupons, rebates, and other savings for you Christmas shopping this year.

Thanks for using the site!

Entertainment

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:40:00 +0000

One of the things we need as college students is some time to unwind after a long day or week. It is very exhausting to have to switch from one project to another, or one homework assignment to another without any time in between to let your mind relax. I think it's very important to give yourself some "down time" so that you don't burn yourself our with all of your college work. This is why we created the Entertainment section of SMB College Life. We wanted to provide college students with the opportunity to out your mind at ease after a long day of classes, homework, studying, projects and lab reports.

Through our Entertainment section we were able to do just that. We have added some great features that should help you to take a break after a long day. We've added a video player that shows you movies previews and allows you to rent or buy movies directly through SMB College Life. The movies are updated almost daily and the newest releases always show up first. There is no obligation to purchase anything, but the option is there if you find a movie that you like. We've also added some news clips, updated daily that from CBS and The Associated Press that should help you stay current with news around the world. We also provide a link which will be very useful for college student following Big Ten Sports.

If comedy is your thing we have integrated some great comedian videos directly into our entertainment section, where new videos are added weekly to keep you laughing your head off. One of the comedians that we feature here is Jeff Dunham who happens to be one of the funniest comedians today. He just did a new stand up on Comedy Central tonight and we hope to have those videos for you to view within the next few days.

We plan to add so much more functionality to this page to help you relax after a long day, maybe before you do some shopping or research on SMB College Life.com. Because we will be adding new functionality and some exciting new features in the next few weeks you should check back with us often. We hope that our entertainment section helps becomes another part of your everyday college life. If you would like to request something for our entertainment section you can comment on this post or send us an email.

Thanks for using www.SMBCollegeLife.com!

Studying, Projects, Homework.........

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 07:43:00 +0000

The end of the semester usually means that professors love to pile the work on college students. It almost seems as though the think we don't have 5 other classes, with 5 other professors, assigning us with 5 other "final projects." It gets hard keeping up with all the projects, homework, and not to mention trying to study for tests.

Sometimes it seems like we don't have enough time in one week to finish all of the things that we need to accomplish as college students. A great example of this is my day today: I woke up at 9:00 AM this morning, after staying up until 2:AM to finish homework, and ran to campus to work on some homework before my lab class at 11:AM. Time flew and I soon found myself running to my lab class, spending three hours watching water boil, literally, and went to get some expert advice from a professor on 1 of the 3 projects I'm currently juggling. By the way, we never got the water to boil; after 3 hours on a hot plate we could only get it to evaporate a little but could not reach the boiling point!

After my lab I spent an hour with my professor. Leaving his office I looked at my watch to see that it was 3:PM. I had a group meeting in 1 hour for a project and I needed to reference a textbook which I left at my apartment so I ran home, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and ran back to campus. I thought that my group meeting would only last a few hours but I soon realized that we had so much work to still complete that I would probably be up all night.

We began working on our group project around 4:PM and finally decided to quit around 12:AM. Here's the best part. We all had to stop working on our group project to complete a homework assignment for a different professor, which was due at 9:AM. We hadn't procrastinated with our homework assignment because all of us worked on it all week; it's just that our professor loves to give homework that takes forever to finish. I finally arrived back at my apartment at 2:30AM, after going none stop all day. The best part is, I get to wake up in 5 hours and do the exact same thing tomorrow.

This is normally how the end of the semester is. Sometimes homework assignments don't get done, projects get thrown together at the last minute, and college students quickly become sleep deprived and usually don't eat right. Professors like to blame poor work, bad test grades, and low class attendance on poor planning by college students.

I speak for all the college students reading this now as I reveal the real truth behind all these things: there's physically not enough time in a day, let alone a week to finish all of the things that college professors pile on us towards the end of each semester! Maybe if college students' world wide didn't sleep, didn't eat, and spent no time trying to recover their sanity then maybe, just maybe we could live up to all of our college professors' end of the semesters expectations.

Thanks for using www.SMBCollegeLife.com

Christmas savings for college students and parents

noreply@blogger.com (Shawn @ SMB College Life) — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:08:00 +0000

As the semester quickly comes to an end a new one begins to approach us. More importantly, as this semester ends that means that Christmas is only a few short weeks away. We have tried to make Christmas shopping quick and easy for college students and parents this year by integrating many products, coupons, and savings directly into the site. We know that college students have to stretch their finances at the end of the semester to try and get gifts for their family, so we've tried to find and offer the best deals on the internet to college students this holiday season.

You don't have to fight the crowds at the stores this year because you can shop and save through SMB College Life. By partnering with different companies and retailer we are able to bring you great savings through our site, usually at better prices than your local store, where you could purchase the same item for more. A lot of our partners also offer you free shipping so you don't have to worry about added costs when shopping for great holiday gifts this year.

College students should have their student ID's ready when purchasing from our Apple & iTunes Store because you can receive a student discount on almost any product that you purchase! This also applies to employees of colleges and universities. We have also added our Amazon Store that should help you find a lot of the things you are looking for directly on our site, at some spectacular prices. For all the products we offer please check out our shopping section.

This section is not completely finished, but it's functional enough for you to shop and save on thousands of great products this holiday season. Be sure to check back with our shopping page frequently during the next few weeks as we are determined to add as many great deals and savings as possible to optimize your holiday savings.

Because a new semester is right around the corner you should also check out our textbook page, where we promise that you will save money on purchasing textbooks for next semester AND you can receive the most money for selling back your old textbooks. By partnering with companies like Phat Campus , TextbookX.com, and many more we can essential broaden the college students' horizon in the textbook exchange without being bias. We have found some great resources that you've probably never heard of, but that offer more textbooks and cheaper prices than the campus bookstores!

Thanks for using www.SMBCollegeLife.com!