Financial aid can be a God-send, enabling many students the opportunity to get a college education and brighter future. These days, there are few opportunities for students who do not pursue higher education and the nation’s job market has become more competitive than ever. Yet, the dark side of student financial aid is that a number of students fail to realize that college loans are not “free money” and they must be repaid eventually. Often times loan providers give students way more money than they’ll need to cover tuition, board, fees and books, which encourages students to use the remaining money to fund shopping sprees, spring break vacations, parties and their wildest dreams. Unfortunately, graduation day will come and these students will be expected to pay for their luxurious lifestyle; starting their new lives in thousands of dollars in debt. Therefore, it’s important that students consider all options on the table, including forms of aid that do not need to be paid back.

FAFSA is one of the most common types of student financial aid. According to the US Department of Education, nearly 70% of this financial aid comes from their programs, like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. By filling out an application form, students can receive one of the following; Federal Stafford Loans, Federal PLUS Loans, Federal Direct Loans or Federal Perkins Loans. The awards of this program are based on demonstrated financial need. Students should apply for these loans well ahead of the semester. If approved, they will receive an award letter stating how much they’ll get and when. They then submit the check to their school office to cover tuition fees and dorm expenses and the rest of the money is returned to them in cash. For most loans, students will be expected to pay this money back gradually upon graduation.

Scholarships for college are another source of financial aid. Unlike student loans, this money does not need to be paid back. It is simply free money given to students based on academic achievement or excellence. Some are based on grades, but even average students can win scholarships if they excel in one particular subject, if they are star athletes, or if they have a track record of community service. One of the largest free databases to search is www.edu.fastweb.com, which has 1.5 million scholarships that dole out more than $3.4 billion in aid. Other free sites to look for free money include www.apps.collegeboard.com, www.scholarships.com, www.studentscholarshipsearch.com and www.collegenet.com/mach25/app.

A student internship can be seen as a form of financial aid in some cases. While nearly half of all internships are unpaid, certain career paths offer many paid internship opportunities. For instance, accounting firms like Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte & Touche pay over $20/hour for their student interns. Manufacturers like Raytheon, General Electric, Lockheed Martin and Boeing also pay over $15/hour, while providing students with valuable on-the-job training. Interns majoring in retail/consumer goods, hospitality, communications/technology, consulting/insurance and pharmaceutical fields can also find well-paying internships. For more information, check out www.bwnt.businessweek.com/interactive_reports/best_internships_07.

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If you’re looking for the internship opportunity of your dreams, then you won’t have to go very far. Many students start on the Internet, perusing the “top internship programs” listings in magazines like Business Week or Campus Grotto. Finding a good internship program match is very important, particularly in the upper level years because it’s very likely you’ll be offered a position if you apply yourself and work diligently. For many employers, the internship process is a way to groom prospective employees and weave them into the fabric of the company. Choosing an internship that suits your personality, interests and strengths will help with job placement tremendously when you graduate. Here is a list of the best programs in the nation.

Gen-Y has arrived in the workplace with a new set of demands that are much different than their parents’. While mom and dad may have asked for health care benefits, golden retirement packages and steady pay raises, the next generation wants to enjoy every minute of their workplace. They want casual dress codes, fitness centers, swimming pools, games rooms, company lunches and rock climbing walls. Luckily, the Google internship program has all of these things and more! Google is one of those companies that, if you don’t score a summer internship with them, you can pretty much forget about securing one of the limited 2,200 entry level jobs (out of over a million applicants) for outsiders. Most employees are hired from within their internship pool. As a student intern studying psychology, art history, finance, marketing, sales, technology or computer science, you’ll be able to work as an IT Field Technician, Software Engineer or Operational Sales and Management intern, gaining real experience and job skills along the way.

For the creative filmmaker/animator minds, nothing beats the internship program at Pixar. You’ll have to spend your first two years assembling a demo reel to submit to the company, but in your junior year of college you’ll be eligible to apply for the internship opportunity to assist in the production of a feature film! Pixar’s interns work with technical directors and contribute as full members of their technical team! Students work in developing programs, modeling sets and props, shading and illustrating, manipulating lighting effects, dressing sets, storyboard layout, rigging characters for animation and rendering the final digital shots to scan onto film. Interested applicants must have some experience using Linux or UNIX, programming languages like C, C++ or scripting languages like Tcl, Sh, Python or Perl. They should have some familiarity using 3D graphic programs like Maya, XSI or Lightwave and education in computer science, math, engineering and art. If you make the cut, Pixar has an unforgettable and meaningful job internship for you.

Nike offers another excellent internship program with great perks. You’ll head to Beaverton, Oregon (near Portland) from June 19th to August 24th. If you “work hard and play hard,” you’ll fit right in here. Your paid internship will also give you access to world-class athletic facilities, merchandise discounts and free leadership programs. To apply, you must be a full-time college student in your junior or senior year of college (or a grad student) and you must have an overall GPA of 3.3 or higher. Your major must be in Business Disciplines, Engineering, Computer Science, Polymer Science, Design, Apparel or Liberal Arts. Interns will work on designing apparel, graphic design, footwear design, color design or materials design in a creative, fun and fast-paced environment. Nothing beats an internship opportunity like that!

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Once upon a time, you applied for afterschool/weekend jobs at McDonald’s or the local Cinema and filled out an easy one-page sheet of past job addresses, references and dates. Times have changed! Now you are expected to fill in your roles, responsibilities and achievements at your past jobs. You’ll need to explain any absences or lapses in work. You need to pick and choose which stories to tell, worry about formatting, spell everything flawlessly and come up with a winning cover letter that best states your desires and your talents. Resume writing can be daunting, but you will need this skill when you apply for internship programs and entry level jobs. Here are some of the biggest pet peeves human resources managers have when it comes to resumes. If you avoid them and follow these great tips, you’ll be on your way to career path success!

John Logan is a human resources manager for the ZS Associates management-consulting firm in Princeton, N.J. and he shares some resume writing tips to help job seekers stand out from the pack. “I find that most resumes do not provide enough details for me to understand the scope of the candidate’s work,” Logan complains. He says that a good resume will detail specifics, such as the number of people supervised, the size of a project budget, sales figures or the estimated cost savings. “Anytime you can quantify your accomplishments, you give them more credibility,” explains Brian Howell from The QWorks Group. Some estimates say that at least 40% of your bullet points should have measurable metrics in them. Think in terms of comparative sales volume, the number of people you hired or led, the amount of money you saved, your success in completing projects based on goals, revenue-generating initiatives, process improvement and cost containment.

Human resources personnel come across all kinds of resume writing nightmares, they say. Some resumes arrive without a cover letter, which is immediate cause for dismissal for many recruiters. Other resumes and cover letters appear to be obviously generic. Perhaps all the bullet points have the exact same job description or the cover letter doesn’t speak to the position being advertised. “Resumes are auditions without the benefit of you being around. I will decide if you are a match for my job/client within 20 seconds,” says Lisa De Benedittis, president of Elite Staffing Services. “Your resume will speak volumes about your communication skills. Do you use words to demonstrate your value or is it boilerplate? Did you put thought and effort into this audition?”

Students can receive college assistance with their resume writing long before they’ve left the academic environment. Free services can be sought at student career centers. Peer mentors will go over your resume with you and point out areas that need improvement. Some people meet with former employers or student intern bosses to discuss how they might reword their job accomplishments and descriptions to grab attention from future employers. Some communities also offer resume skill building programs to help local individuals shine. Since there is so much competition in the job world, seeking help from as many sources as possible is wise.

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College financial assistance comes in many forms, such as college loans, state loans, federal loans, paid internships, work study programs, grants, fellowships, athletic scholarships, academic student scholarships and more. A student’s first recourse should be to find college scholarships and grants, which do not need to be repaid. Next, if further financial assistance is required, they can apply for a loan. Statistics from the National Center for Education Statistics report that 66% of students received some form of financial aid during the 2007/2008 school year, so the likelihood of getting approved is probable if one applies.

In your scholarship search, you will come across several types of college scholarships offered by your school of choice. Academic awards, doled out through the financial aid department, are based upon academic achievement. You needn’t be one of the top 5 performers in your class, but you will need a well-rounded mix of after-school activities, community service, athletics and grades. Sometimes all you need is an interest in a particular field of study, though. Departmental awards are given out to students in all sorts of fields, whether it’s engineering and technology or business and communication. Scholarships in athletics are very competitive, but they offer well-rounded students and top players the opportunity to compete at the college level, while getting a full ride to particular division colleges that are recruiting.

A college scholarship can also be given out by a private organization, some of which offer from $50 to $20,000 to aspiring students. A scholarship can come from a corporation who wants to attract new employees and support their community. Businesses like Best Buy, Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Intel, Wegmans, Sunoco, Target, Dell, Toyota, General Motors and Sallie Mae offer awards to local students. A good place to start your scholarship search is with your own employer or your parents’ employers. The Chamber of Commerce will also have details on community players with scholarships for local students. Indirectly, students may also seek paid internship opportunities, which provide real world experience and training in exchange for a decent wage. The best fields for internships are accounting, hospitality, manufacturing, engineering, consulting, insurance and consumer goods. Some of these jobs pay as much as $25/hour and typically 80 to 100% of all interns are offered full-time jobs after their intern session is over.

According to www.usmilitary.com, the American military is one of the biggest sources of college scholarships. Whether you are on active duty, in the reserves, if you’ve retired or have veteran status, or if you’re a dependent or spouse of a military member, there are scholarships for you. The military can pay up to full college tuition plus a stipend for books, in return for a tour of duty. You will need to make some sacrifices to fulfill your contractual obligations, of course, but if this fits in line with your goals, then serving your country for a college education might be a great way to pay for school.

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“I can’t put enough emphasis on the advantage of experience,” says Mary Mahoney, assistant director of Career Services at the University of Tennessee. “It really gives the student a competitive edge.” Internships are an essential tool for student to gain that ever-important “real world experience” that will make them viable employees, despite fierce competition in an economic downturn. Entry level jobs are seeing hundreds of applicants like never before and it takes the truly motivated to get out there and prove they have the interest, the commitment and the desire to move ahead in their careers.

There are many different kinds of internships for those who will work for free, but some wonder if the paying types have gone extinct. “We used to pay, but we’re not doing that anymore,” explained Tom Triozzi, senior VP of BellAtlantic. “We ask them to work for free for a great work experience.” In this economy, even the competition for unpaid student intern positions has become so fierce that the NY Times reported some students are actually paying for their unpaid internship positions! “It’s kind of crazy,” said David Gaston, director of the University of Kansas career center. “The demand for internships in the past 5, 10 years has opened up this huge market.” One student’s parents paid $8,000 to get him an unpaid internship at Ford Models this summer, which was an opportunity, his parents say, he wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

The company they used is called “University of Dreams,” which specializes in making students’ intern dreams come true. “Students don’t have problems finding internships, students have problems getting internships,” explained Eric Normington, the company’s chief marketing officer. “We can secure those exclusive positions.” The $8,000 program promises guaranteed internship placement for the summer, eight weeks of housing, five meals a week, New York City tours and seminars. This year, the company placed 1,600 student interns in 13 cities world-wide. The student intern program is beneficial for employers because they get qualified prospects who show up ready to give the job their best shot because they’ve invested in the opportunity.

In addition to unpaid internships, there are still paid internship opportunities available. The most exclusive paid opportunities include the New York Times, NASA, the White House, Google, Microsoft, Nike, St. Jude Medical Hospital, Walt Disney, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Teach For America. Students can expect to work like dogs and fight off fierce competition for these positions, however. Yet given the increased importance in assembling “real world experience” prior to graduation, sitting around all summer long just simply isn’t wise.

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