BJU Press Blog

Simplified Homeschool

You know that organization is the key to a smooth homeschool day. We share tips on planning your time and lessons as well as advice from other homeschool parents. There are also highlights from our Distance Learning daily video-lesson program, which is designed to simplify your homeschool.

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Taking Responsibility for Your College Finances (Part 2)

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This is the third post in our college-planning series. Check out the previous posts—about choosing a major and saving for your college expenses—if you haven’t read them already. And come back next week for the last post in this series.

Got your resources all lined up? The next step for getting your college financial plan laid out is to tally up the total for the program you choose. It goes without saying that majors differ, and you want to move forward without surprises midstream.

Tuition and Fees

A list of tuition and fees per semester or per year appears on most college websites. Record the total tuition and fees for one year, anticipating a slight increase each year following initial enrollment. Take particular note of fees attached to specific programs. This could involve anything from art supplies to music studio rental, the cost of jet fuel (if you’re an aviation major), tutoring, and so on. And don’t forget charges for processing your reservation or taking exams.

Living Quarters—On Campus or Off?

The room-and-board cost listed on the college’s website should cover your living quarters and on-campus meals. Some colleges require freshmen to live on campus their first year. Though convenient, this will definitely impact your total. Estimate the cost of off-campus housing with rental fees, utilities, food, furnishings, housekeeping necessities, and possibly renter’s insurance to see if it will really save you money in the end.

The online option: Many schools offer a wide variety of online courses. This can mean big savings in terms of living expenses. While not possible for all majors and possibly not desirable for every semester of your college experience, distance learning could be a money-saving option for some courses.

Books and Supplies

You will probably want to include an average of at least $350 per semester for textbooks in your cost tally and possibly another $100 for supplies. Once you register for classes and have your book list, you can begin bargain-hunting. With minimal networking effort, you can sniff out used textbooks and sell books you’ve already used. Or check out places like Half.com (an eBay site). If you enter the ISBN of a textbook on DealOz.com, for example, it will search the main competing websites for the lowest prices on that specific book. Renting books is also a great option for books you don’t want to keep.

You’ll find almost anything you study is going to require at least a few specialized tools—anything from tech devices to art supplies and from poster board to special presentation binders—depending on the major, class, and teacher. It all adds up. So you will want to allow for these in your general expenses.

All That Other Stuff

Perhaps the most dangerous budget-buster is the “catch-all” category that expands to accommodate what doesn’t quite fit in other categories. This could include your cell phone bill, campus vehicle registration, auto insurance, gas, car repairs, school-related trips (e.g., debate club, sports teams, orchestra tour), laundry, recreation, greeting cards and gifts, organizing tools and other dorm room furnishings, coffee and snacks, clothes, shoes, and the list goes on! While you may not want to allot this category a huge amount, make sure to list all anticipated costs that aren’t included in your housing category—like cell phone and vehicle registration. Also, don’t forget big-ticket items such as travel expenses for Christmas break.

The Sum Total

Now comes the reckoning! Add up all the figures in each list, and find the difference between your resources (what you added up in the previous post) and your costs. You should now have a good idea of how much one year in college will cost. You can even multiply your cost (before subtracting your resources) by four and have the approximate total for your bachelor’s degree.

Are you surprised? View this information as a catalyst to seek the Lord for His provision. Don’t be discouraged! God provides where He leads. In His will, you will see His gracious hand working out the details you have put on paper.

How have you planned for college expenses?

Taking Responsibility for Your College Finances (Part 1)

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Last week, we focused on how to choose a major. Today’s post is the first of two posts that focus on the financial aspect of a college education. We hope that you enjoy it and that you come back next week for the second part!

As you near high school graduation, hopefully you’re seeking God’s will for your life and are establishing goals for the future. Selecting a college that will help you reach those goals and develop your God-given talents is a big step. Once you make those decisions, you need to lay out a financial plan to get through.

The best place to start? Your sources of income or funding. Most students have four funding options—savings, work, scholarships or grants, and loans.

Savings

It’s never too late to start putting money into a (mostly off-limits) savings account. Saving doesn’t have to be huge chunks from every paycheck—you can start off by saving just 5 percent of every paycheck. However you decide to save, be sure that you are making good choices in how, when, and where you save or spend your resources.

Work

Find out if the college you’re planning to attend has on-campus jobs available. Besides saving on travel expenses, on-campus work provides an environment compatible with academic demands and schedules. To avoid overcommitting and possibly losing out academically, start out with just a few work hours per week. Then add more if you find you can handle it. Any job, on-campus or off, will be a testing ground for your communication skills, ability to work with others, integrity, and work ethic—traits that will certainly impact your future career.

Scholarships and Grants

Scholarships are a gift without any payback requirement, but they take effort to secure. Selection criteria can range from having a certain GPA to planning to pursue a particular field of study or being able to write a good essay. The usual success rate for scholarships is getting only 10 percent of what you apply for. If, for instance, you’re hoping for $25,000 in scholarships, you may have to apply for $250,000 worth.

Grants, like scholarships, do not have to be paid back. They’re normally awarded on the basis of “demonstrable financial need.” Most grants come through the state or national government or possibly the college you choose. As soon as possible, you should fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSASM). Plan on spending as much time finding and filling out applications as you would in a part-time job—with a higher return for your trouble. You might even cover your entire college education this way.

Information about financial assistance should be available on the college website and from their financial aid office. Also, the reference section of your local library should stock a reliable scholarship guide. Be careful to avoid websites that request personal information or charge a fee to get into their database.

Loans

You’re likely aware that a loan is borrowed money that the borrower has to repay over time with interest. Borrowing can result in an ongoing burden after your college days are long past. It should be considered as a last resort and only after you’re thoroughly informed concerning every aspect of the transaction.

A loan consists of two elements—principal and interest. The principal is the total you receive from the lender, and interest is the additional cost you accrue until the loan is paid off. The type of loan determines whether interest is due from the beginning or is deferred. Of course, the longer you take to repay it, the more interest you will end up paying.

Education loans can come from either the government or private sources. Federal loans normally offer the lowest interest rates and the most flexible payment options. Besides that, if you have an adequate FAFSA score, you may be eligible for a subsidy—which means the federal government will pay the interest on your loan until you finish school. Subsidized or unsubsidized, loans are limited to a certain amount per school year. You should avoid borrowing more than you plan to make during the first year in your career. (Warning! A common pitfall for students is losing track of how much they borrow. It will help if you keep your documents and notifications in one file.)

College is a big step toward independent adulthood. How you steward your time and money will determine how well that journey begins. And ultimately . . . how well it ends.

How have you planned for college expenses?

Where to Start When Choosing a Major

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This month we’re focusing on college planning. We will be posting some helpful information and links that you can share with high school seniors. They have a busy school year ahead, and we want to help as much as possible. Check out today’s tips on how to choose a college major and then check back each week in September for more college planning posts!

Choosing a major. For some students, it’s one of the hardest decisions they’ll ever make. So many options are available, and they all sound interesting. (How do you pick just one?) It was hard for me—I switched majors twice before my sophomore year of college.

Some college students aren’t like that. They know what they want and stick with it. But there are others who, like me, aren’t sure what to do with the gifts the Lord has given them. If you are struggling with making this big decision, here are a few questions to help you think through and narrow down the options.

What do you like?

It seems like a no-brainer, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out how what you like to do could be a career. For now, focus on your interests; you can consider related careers later. Also, it might help you to write down your different hobbies so that you can refer to them later. And don’t worry if something sounds silly or weird. This is strictly a brainstorming exercise, so don’t edit your list before you create it.

A few brainstorming prompts

  • Favorite activities/hobbies (including jobs/volunteering)
  • Favorite thing to study/do in school
  • A desire that God has placed on your heart
  • Times when you feel like you’ve accomplished something that you’re proud of

What do you see?

Is there something that you could see yourself doing? It might be something that you daydream about. Or when asked what you’d like to do, this certain image pops into your head. What is it?

What do others see?

It’s helpful to ask others for their advice. They see us in a different light . . . from a different angle, so to speak. Ask people that you respect or look up to. Find out what they see as your strengths and weaknesses. Some of the responses may confirm an ability or interest that you already knew about; others may be surprising revelations.

Don’t be discouraged. It can be hard for some of us to speak our dreams aloud. We may feel that something sounds silly or impossible to accomplish, so we don’t voice that dream. But we should. God made each of us for a purpose, and that dream of yours may be exactly what He wants you to do. Talk with people you trust because you know they will listen and give you good advice. Tell them your impossible dream. Even if you’re not ready for that, then at least write it down and share it with God—He’ll give you the best advice.

What advice would you give to a young person who is deciding on a major?

Never a Bad Gift

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My four-year-old came in the kitchen the other day, clutching a fistful of dandelions she had picked from our yard. “Mommy! Look at the pretty flowers I brought you!” she exclaimed. I did my very best to muster up enthusiasm. I thanked her, gave her a hug for being so sweet and thoughtful, and even found a small vase to display the treasures in. The arrangement was set proudly in the middle of our dining room table and became our centerpiece for the next few days.

Although I did my best to show enthusiasm and gratitude for the gift, I was inwardly groaning. Weeds decorating my table? Couldn’t she have at least picked some of the pretty daffodils or wild daisies that also grow in our yard? But my daughter didn’t know they were weeds. To her, they were beautiful, cheery yellow flowers that she wanted to share with her mom.

 

How many times have I looked at something the Lord has given me and failed to appreciate the beauty of the gift? How many times have I complained? Even when I’m careful not to complain outwardly, I often do so inwardly.

I’m one of those people who needs a clean kitchen floor in order to feel like my house is clean. When my husband and I were expecting our first child, we lived in a rented duplex. I hated the floors. The linoleum in the kitchen was scratched and damaged so that it never looked clean no matter how hard I scrubbed. Instead of thanking the Lord for His good provision for my family, I often inwardly grumbled about that kitchen floor.

The Isrealites did a similar thing. God had miraculously provided them with manna in the wilderness, but they complained about His gift. They were tired of it. It wasn’t as flavorful as the food they ate in Egypt. Their lack of gratitude resulted in God’s judgment.

The Bible assures us in James 1:17 that every gift that the Lord gives us is good and perfect. There’s nothing wrong with the gifts themselves—He only gives us the best things, the things that we need the most—but sometimes there’s a problem within our own hearts. We’re not satisfied with His provision. We covet other things—more stylish clothing, newer furniture, better coffee.

I’m going to take some time this week to think about the good things the Lord has blessed me with. Will you join me? Let’s thank Him for every gift He has given us.

What will you thank Him for today?

Through the Eyes of an Illustrator

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If I’ve learned anything through the years about homeschooling families, I’ve learned that they love books. When they hear that quote by Erasmus about not buying food and clothes until after he bought books, they laugh with everyone else, but they have to think about it first.

One weekend I was privileged to spend time with two homeschooling families. The conversation was frequently punctuated with trips to the bookcase. By the end of the evening, it was hard to find a place on the coffee table to set my teacup. These parents expressed regard for books on multiple levels. The quality of thought was important but so was a book’s spiritual trajectory. They even talked about the covers, the illustrations, and the paper. For them, books were to be received as rational, ethical, and sensory objects. In other words, their view of books reflected their view of man—a view that considers people as receptacles for the classical triad: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. Put another way, we are most human when our thoughts (truth), actions (goodness), and feelings (beauty) speak with one voice.

We often divorce our thinking from our doing and feeling. Secularism tends to pit one against the other. Rationalism, Moralism, and Romanticism all battle with each other like gladiators in an arena. But this is not the Christian view, and it isn’t our view at BJU Press.

 

As an illustrator, I have a professional interest in our continued use of illustration. But let’s be honest: Illustrations are expensive to produce. They drive up printing costs. They delay the production of books. They take up real estate on the page that could be used for textual information. To compound the problem, many who crusade for illustration in education do it in a way that’s embarrassing. “Text is old-fashioned!” they say. “Images are the wave of the future.” These arguments are cringe-worthy and false.  I prefer a more balanced approach, in between the Rationalists and the Romantics, that clarifies why illustration is so important.

Let me explain with a story. When I was in elementary school, my family had an illustrated book about Vikings that included a panoramic illustration of a berserker with an enormous axe charging a group of men with spears. The drama of this image moved me. I looked at it over and over again. The berserker appeared fearless, but the crowd with spears seemed to be very afraid.

I think about this image because I experienced it isolated from the text. At the time I knew nothing about the unsavory motives of Vikings. I only experienced the emotional tingle from the depiction of the energy of a man who loved his cause more than he loved himself. When I later read about men like William Wilberforce, who fought the evils of slavery despite overwhelming odds and constant defeat, I pictured this Viking. When on the news I heard about Christians fighting for virtue despite the general consensus, I pictured this Viking. When I read about people who fought for what was right rather than for what was safe, I thought of this Viking. This image and thousands of others plowed furrows in my brain so that when rational arguments were sown, they had a place to take root and grow.

We want our books to reflect the student’s humanity. Because the student has a mind, our books are written by experts in their fields. Because the student has a conscience, our textbooks integrate a biblical worldview. Because the student has an imagination, we illustrate and design our books to appeal to the senses. Like the homeschooling parents we serve, we at BJU Press aim to do the good work of telling the truth beautifully. This is a worthy goal and one that makes it easy for me to come to work in the morning.

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Zach is an illustrator who lives with his wife and daughters in Greenville, South Carolina. In addition to painting illustrations for BJU Press textbooks (such as English 1, Heritage 6, and Reading 5), Zach has done work for the Weekly Standard, Crossway, Disney-Hyperion, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Marvel. He also teaches classes in digital illustration at Furman University.