In Today's Business Podcasts

A telling moment at the South by Southwest Interactive 2010 festival was when Mobile Roadie was one of the winners of the Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator award. Mobile Roadie enables users to build mobile applications and submit them to the iPhone App Store and the Android App Market. Mobile Roadie started by developing [...

Social media guru Mitch Joel joins us to talk about his new book 'Six Pixels Of Separation'. Everyone is connected and Mitch explains what this means and why. Only on the BusinessCast.

If you have a car, gas is a normal expense that would go on your debit card or be paid with cash at each fill-up, so why not use a gas card and kill two birds with one stone?

After several days of anticipation, Congress released substitute language for a budget reconciliation bill that would make significant investments in the Pell Grant and other student aid programs with savings from eliminating the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP). The Health Care Education Affordability Reconciliation Act (H.R.4872) contains several provisions that NASFAA has been advocating for over the last several months.

Unless otherwise indicated, the errata and updates are items that were amended after the initial PDF files were posted to the Web and before the Handbook went to print. For questions about the Handbook contents, you can contact the Schools Publications staff at: fsaschoolspubs@ed.

"College students from poor families who don't have the grades to qualify for the HOPE Scholarship could still get a small grant under legislation proposed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, whose own family could not afford to send him to college," Rome News-Tribune reports. "Students who qualify for a federal Pell Grant could get this new, lottery-funded grant from the state, according to Sen. Jack Hill, sponsor of the bill ...

Tim Ranzetta founded Student Lending Analytics (SLA) in 2007 after doing some research for a nephew and niece who were getting ready for college. SLA provides an independent and analytical approach to provide services to schools and does not rely on funding from student lenders. In this interview, Ranzetta discusses FFELP lenders' ability to make federal loans without ECASLA, complying with new preferred lender list regulations,

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan testified in front of the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Thursday morning to discuss the president's FY 2011 budget proposal. "The fiscal year 2011 budget supports our cradle to career agenda," Duncan told the committee. "The work of the Department of Education is more critical than ever," said subcommittee chairman David Obey (D-WI) at the beginning of the hearing.

This is your last chance to nominate colleagues for 2010 NASFAA awards. Nominations must be submitted by Friday, April 2. The 2010 Awards Committee asks all states and regions to nominate colleagues who have gone above and beyond the call of duty for these awards. NASFAA has a wide range of awards to recognize financial aid professionals for their hard work, leadership, or special projects.

Less than an hour north of Boston is Hollis, New Hampshire, a bedroom community for many commuters who work in Massachusetts but choose to live in tax free New Hampshire. With a population of just over 7000 residents, Hollis is perfectly situated to enjoy all of the best of what living in New England has to offer - the seacoast, the mountains, the Lakes Region and Boston are easily accessible from Hollis.

Shelly Palmer gives you tips and ideas about increasing your productivity with the Google Calendar. Learn more about it at www.shellypalmer.

Without a doubt, graduate school is the most expensive type of schooling you can pay for in the continuum of higher education. Due to the amplified nature of your expenses when pursuing an advanced degree, the government and many private lenders have a variety of programs and relaxed restrictions for graduate borrowers. Did you know you’re [...

I covered the South by Southwest Interactive Festival from a mobile perspective because that is the “hot” area for the social web. I am fascinated by location services and what I think are the conservative predictions by web analysts that half of the web connections will be on a mobile device within 3 years. [...

"A group of private and public college officials in Missouri have agreed the state should provide need-based financial aid to eligible Missouri students attending either private or public schools," News-Leader.com reports.

"A new analysis digs more deeply into the data surrounding Latino graduation rates, and while it confirms the overall reality that Latino students trail their white peers at all types of institutions, no matter how selective, it also reveals wide variation in the relative success of institutions with similar student bodies," Inside Higher Ed reports. "That matters, the authors say, because it shows that the educational practices of institutions matter.

"The D.C. College Access Program ... is a nonprofit organization that helps Washington-area students secure scholarship money and counseling to prepare for college," the Washington Post reports.

"Sen. Ben Nelson could face a particularly thorny vote if Democratic leaders follow through with plans to pair final changes to health care legislation with another bill to overhaul the country's college aid system," the Omaha World-Herald reports.

"Today we released a new analysis of federal financial aid application rates and receipt at the California community colleges (CCCs), where we found that many students who are likely eligible for federal aid are not applying for it," The Institute for College Access and Success reports. "As a result, CCC students are leaving behind as much as half a billion dollars in federal Pell Grant awards that could help pay for many education-related expenses.

"An employer who hires a jobless person won't have to pay the new worker's Social Security taxes for the rest of the year under a bill President Obama is expected to sign today," the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "Employers also get a tax credit worth up to $1,000 on their 2011 tax return if they retain the new worker for at least 52 consecutive weeks. ...

The Dowd and Guild Inc. Scholarship was created to support and assist the private sector by expanding educational opportunities for students in need. Since its inception in 1998 over ninety scholarships have been awarded. To be eligible, the student must be a United States citizen, currently enrolled in or entering a two or four year undergraduate college program, be in good academic standing and a California resident.

You have to admit when something is hot, I mean real hot, like a 65 degree day in March in Minnesota that gets people thinking. They get outside in shorts, they get a jump on their garden, and they start believing that outdoor baseball in the new Twins Stadium (the one without a retractable [...

You’ve heard all the lists of things to do to get social media working for you…but today we have a REAL expert. Kyle Lacy, author of the book Twitter Marketing For Dummies, joins us to give us his two cents on social media. the do’s and don’ts.  This is part two of a three-four part series on Social Media For Sales People. Kyle's Blog:  www.kylelacy.com Website:  www.getbrandswag.

Tom Bedecarré is CEO of AKQA, the digital advertising agency that uses innovative ideas and technology to deliver results for the world's top brands - including Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Nike, Schwab, Visa and Xbox. AKQA has more than 800 employees in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, New York, Shanghai, Washington D.C. and San Francisco where Tom leads the corporate team. In this episode, Tom shares with us how digital advertising has evolved,

South by Southwest a place to see and be seen for sure. It was for music and film the primary focus of the festival for years, and now it is for the world of social interactive media. Any place where you need to be on a list to get into a party will [...

This letter announces additional instructor-led, online training on implementation of the year-round Pell Grant provision. This training was first offered in February 2010. Due to high demand for this information, the Department is offering these webinars again in late March 2010. The Higher Education Opportunity Act authorizes schools to disburse up to two Pell Grants in a single award year, beginning with the 2009-10 Award Year,

The NASFAA Finance and Audit Committee has created a summary of NASFAA's budget and finances so members can see how their membership dues are used to provide NASFAA products, services, and activities. The report summarizes NASFAA's budget process, revenues, and expenses.

"Here is a description of what this means for students," Student Lending Analytics reports. "'Beginning April 17, 2010, we will suspend accepting all new FFELP loan applications for the 2009-10 academic year. This includes applications submitted through the Chase platform and all third-party platforms (e.g., Sallie Mae, Great Lakes, AES, ACS, ASA and HESC). FFELP loan applications received prior to April 17, 2010, will continue to be processed,

"[S]everal members of Congress are expressing concern about why the U.S. Education Department and the Department of Health and Human Services have been unable to reach agreement on the former's use of a database managed by the latter that allows student loan guarantee agencies and others to track student loan borrowers who aren't repaying their debt," Inside Higher Ed reports.

"Heirs to a supermarket fortune will launch a multimillion-dollar scholarship foundation designed to encourage graduate students to pursue government careers in national security, foreign policy and international development," Washington Post reports.

"Throughout the first week of March, college students organized over 120 actions in over thirty states to rally against the historic divestment from higher education," writes United States Student Association President Gregory Cendana in The Hill. "On March 20-23rd,