Ace Student Resources

  • The Complete Guide to FAFSA

    The Complete Guide to FAFSA

    The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is a college student’s gateway to financial aid, be it grants, work-study programs available at your school, federal student loans, or state and school financial aid awards.  Current and prospective colleges need a completed FAFSA form to determine a student’s eligibility for various forms of financial aid.… Read More

  • What Parents Should Do to Help Students Prepare for the First Year of College

    What Parents Should Do to Help Students Prepare for the First Year of College

    As the school year begins to wind down, high school seniors – and those who care about them – typically have their eyes on two prizes: getting into college and graduating from high school. While both milestones are worthy of celebration, there’s much more that students and parents should do after those two milestones are… Read More

  • What Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness? And How Do I Qualify to Get It?

    What Is Public Service Loan Forgiveness? And How Do I Qualify to Get It?

    The first group of borrowers who tried to get Public Service Loan Forgiveness – a George W. Bush-era program meant to provide relief to those who went into socially valuable but poorly paid public service jobs, such as teachers and social workers – mostly ran into a brick wall. Of the 28,000 public servants who… Read More

  • Universities: Increasingly Stressful Environments Taking Psychological Toll – Here’s What Needs to Change

    Universities: Increasingly Stressful Environments Taking Psychological Toll – Here’s What Needs to Change

    Every year, millions of international students travel to different countries to study at university. This, together with a lack of public funding for universities, has created an increasingly competitive market in which universities work directly against each other to chase students and the money they bring. This shift was heralded by the introduction of a… Read More

  • Everything You Need to Know About the Common App

    Everything You Need to Know About the Common App

    There’s nothing more tedious, repetitive and especially expensive than having to fill out a separate college application with mostly the same information for every college you want to apply. But thank goodness for the Common Application, or the Common App for short. Established in 1975, the Common App is a one-stop shop to build a… Read More

  • Everything You Need to Know to Manage Your Navient Student Loans

    Everything You Need to Know to Manage Your Navient Student Loans

    If you’ve taken out federal student loans to finance your education (like I did) and you have Navient as your loan servicer, make sure that you know where you stand in terms of your Navient student loans and learn about your repayment options. This is critical if you want to put your best “financial” foot… Read More

  • 7 Tips to Stay Safe While Studying Abroad

    7 Tips to Stay Safe While Studying Abroad

    Studying abroad can bring great rewards, but being a visitor in a foreign land also comes with significant risks. “It is important to understand how the risks may be different from home, and to be prepared,” says Shaun Jamieson, an International Risk Analyst at Iowa State University, where I teach Spanish and run the university’s… Read More

  • Everything You Need to Know About the GMAT

    Everything You Need to Know About the GMAT

    The GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is a computer-based only standardized test required for admission to graduate business programs all around the world. Similar to other standardized tests, the GMAT gives schools a common measure to compare thousands of applicants with various backgrounds and experiences. If you’re considering taking the GMAT, here’s what you should… Read More

  • How to Succeed in College with a Disability

    How to Succeed in College with a Disability

    If you’re entering college as a student with a disability, the first thing you should know is that you’re not alone. In a study of approximately 11,000 young adults with disabilities, nearly 20 percent were found to have attended a four-year college or university at some point after high school. And, like all students, you… Read More

  • How to Beat Exam Stress

    Young people around Australia are currently undergoing end of secondary school exams, which can be a very stressful time. Nearly half (47%) of Australian students report they feel very tense when they study, and 67% report feeling very anxious even if they are well prepared for a test. All this stress can have an impact… Read More

  • Everything You Need to Know About the GRE

    Everything You Need to Know About the GRE

    The GRE, short for Graduate Record Examination, is a standardized test required for most graduate schools or graduate business schools in the United States. Among other required documents, such as a personal statement or undergraduate GPA (grade point average), the GRE score is a common measure for schools to compare thousands and thousands of applicants’… Read More

  • Everything You Need to Know About Grad PLUS Loan

    Everything You Need to Know About Grad PLUS Loan

    A Grad PLUS loan is a federal student loan that’s available only to eligible graduate and professional students. It is issued by the U.S. Department of Education through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program (Direct Loan), and is a subset of the Direct PLUS loans. Grad PLUS loans, like other federal student loans,… Read More

  • What is a Stafford Loan?

    What is a Stafford Loan?

    A Stafford Loan is a federal student loan made and guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Education. Named in honor of Vermont Senator Robert Stafford for his contribution to higher education, Stafford Loans are available to eligible undergraduate, graduate and professional students. Stafford loans are currently available only through the William D. Ford Federal Direct… Read More

  • How to Pay for Grad School Without Crippling Debt

    How to Pay for Grad School Without Crippling Debt

    Graduate students pursue a higher degree for many different reasons; higher salary, specific professions requiring a higher degree, or purely academic passion. But to most students, while graduate study generally leads to higher salaries in the future, it does not come cheap. Depending on the degree, graduates with a master’s degree earn between $400,000 and… Read More

  • More American Students Are Studying Abroad, New Data Show

    More American Students Are Studying Abroad, New Data Show

    Kelsey Hrubes knew she had a challenge on her hands when she visited Germany as a study abroad student back in 2015. “I was forced to adapt to cultural norms I had never considered before and try to comprehend everything in a new language,” recalls Hrubes, a software engineer at Microsoft and 2017 Iowa State… Read More

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