ADVANCED MATHEMATICS - Weebly



Determine the cost of your college education, how long it will take to repay your

student loans, and what scholarships you could possibly apply for to defer some

of the costs of school. Also determine the cost of transportation and housing.

This project will involve the following:

1. Research information on your desired career, college major required, and the cost of

attending your desired college or university for four years.

2. Research various scholarships, for which you would qualify, in order to offset the cost of your education.

3. Research various student loan plans which you could use to get a minimum of 50% funding of your total school costs for public in-state tuition or 30% for private or out-of-state tuition.

4. Research information related to the salary you will make after college according to the city you will be living in.

5. Taking into account income taxes and living expenses (see city information provided), determine the amount per month you could afford to pay towards your loan after you graduate. Then, determine how long it will take you to pay off your loan based on how much you can pay each month.

6. After carefully considering all of the above, decide what kind of automobile and dwelling (house, condo, etc.) will be best for your lifestyle. Research auto loan rates and available mortgage plans to determine what your monthly payments would be.

Additional Requirements:

❑ You will type all information (except calculations) using 12-point font in the template that I will provide for you. Calculations may be either typed or done by hand in black ink or pencil.

❑ Use your own wording. You will need to cite your sources, so keep track of all web pages, etc. from which you obtain information.

Cost for College

Check the official university web site before

Scholarships







Loans





Salary



looking anywhere else

Cost of Living



(look under “neighborhood info” at the top

for specific cities)



- Enter a city and it will give you the breakdown of costs for goods in the area.

UNIVERSITIES/COLLEGES

Peterson’s Planner College -> High School Students -> Find a School/Program

Web U.S. Higher Education

College Search/Admissions Requirements

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT LOANS

Sallie Mae

Sallie Mae is the nation's leading provider of student loans.

SCHOLARSHIP RESOURCES

The GHHS webpage has scholarship information. GHHS -> Students -> Student Central -> Junior &

Senior Links (on right side of page) -> Financial Aid & Scholarship Information.

University/college websites (possibly under Financial Aid) list resources for prospective students.

Additional scholarship information:

College Board

Free scholarship search database to locate scholarships, internships, grants, and loans that match your

education level, talents, and background.

College Toolkit

Database of scholarship opportunities for students to search and also offers online application forms for

select scholarships.

MACH 25 (CollegeNET)

Database claims to contain over 600,000 awards totaling over $1.6 billion. The keyword search gives you

a quick way to narrow down to a particular scholarship or group of scholarships.

Scholarship Help

The goal of this website is to educate students about scholarship access and the necessary requirements

for achieving maximum financial aid. It also provides information free of change to help students avoid

scholarship scam artists and misleading authors who promise "secrets" to what is essentially publicly

available information.

Scholarship Hunter

This website is a free and easy scholarship research source.

SRN Express

This free scholarship search claims to contain a database of over 8,000 programs with a distribution level

of over 150,000 awards for undergraduate and postgraduate students worth a total of more than $35

million.

OCCUPATIONAL OUTLOOK HANDBOOK

The Handbook lists hundreds of different types of jobs and tells you the training and education

needed, earnings expected, job prospects, what workers do on the job, and working conditions.

SALARIES BY CITY

Monster Free Salary Wizard



FINANCE PROJECT:

Details and Requirements Due date: Monday, January 28, 2013

Guidelines:

• Record the sources of all of the information you obtain for this project.

• Type your responses in the template that you will download from my teacher web page.

• Use your own words and complete sentences with correct spelling, grammar, and punctuation.

|I. COLLEGE AND CAREER CHOICE |

|(a) Based on your current interests, select a possible career path and academic major you wish to |

|pursue after high school. Explain why you chose this career. Why do you feel that this career |

|best fits your personality, talents, traits, strengths and background? |

|(b) Decide on one college you would most like to attend. Research the cost of attending this college in order to obtain the required degree for your career |

|choice. Use the price for tuition plus all university fees, including room and board (do not include personal expenses). Using this information, determine the |

|cost to complete this degree based on your desired major and whether graduate school is required. |

|(c) Assume that your parents started saving for your college fund when you were born. In order to save up enough for your total higher education costs, compute |

|the amount of money they would have needed to invest each month at an 8% interest rate. |

|II. COLLEGE FINANCING and BUDGETING |

|Consider your answer to Section I(b). Suppose your parents were unable to make payments |

|that large into your college fund annuity. You find that its future value is insufficient to cover the majority of your higher education costs. Scholarships and |

|student loans are ways to cover these costs. |

|(a) SCHOLARSHIPS: Research a variety of scholarships and find at least two for which you would likely qualify. Scholarships are available for many attributes in|

|addition to academic excellence. Note the amount of money each scholarship would provide, the application deadlines (for the 2013-14 academic year), and any other|

|information available about the scholarships. Be realistic and do not expect scholarships to cover more than 50% of the total cost of obtaining your degree. |

|Subtract your projected scholarship money from the total cost of your higher education. The difference will be covered by student loans in part (c). |

|(b) PROJECTED SALARY AND MONTHLY BUDGET: Assume that you are going to have to take out student loans to supplement any scholarship money that you receive. The |

|more you borrow, the higher your monthly payments will be when you graduate and begin paying off the loans. You’ll now need to create an estimated post-college |

|budget so that you can realistically determine how much you should borrow in student loans. |

|Assume that after you complete your degree you will join the work force. Based on your career choice, determine the average salary range for your desired |

|occupation based on the city in which you will choose to live. For this project, estimate your salary in the lower range since you lack experience. Now compute |

|your actual take-home pay based on income and payroll taxes being 30% of your salary. (This figure varies according to income bracket; 30% was chosen arbitrarily |

|since future tax rates can vary depending on the actions of Congress.) |

|The cost of living varies considerably around the country. Your living expenses will be one factor in determining the amount you will comfortably be able to pay |

|toward your student loans each month. Estimate the cost of living in your desired city. Research average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment. Assume that |

|for now you will be driving the same used car that you had during your college years OR that you will use public transportation (your choice). If you will be |

|driving your car, estimate your monthly fuel cost. If you will use public transportation, estimate the monthly cost for your daily commute. Now consider other |

|necessary monthly expenses such as utilities, auto insurance, food, cell phone, etc. Decide whether you can afford additional optional expenses such as cable |

|TV, internet service, charitable contributions, entertainment, savings, etc. |

|What remains is how much you can afford per month to pay off your student loans. All of the above will be recorded as your future monthly budget in the project |

|template. Round values to the nearest integer. |

|(c) STUDENT LOANS: Research and compare the various types of student loans available and choose two that would likely work well for your college and career |

|aspirations and predicted budgetary conditions. Be sure to compare the stipulations of the loan (interest rate, when you must start making payments, how often |

|interest is compounded, how long you will have to pay off the balance, etc.). In part (a), you determined how much you can afford to pay toward your student |

|loans. Using this amount, determine how long it will take you to pay off your loans. Detail these findings in your project template and state why you would |

|choose one finance plan over the other. |

|Note: You may not skip this section by assuming that scholarships will cover the entire cost of college. |

| |

|III. LIFE AS A THIRTY-SOMETHING . . . |

|(a) Now suppose you have been working in your chosen career for a number years. Re-estimate your salary considering your years of experience and projected |

|salaries in the year when you will be 30 years old. Discuss whether you will have significantly more disposable income, considering factors such as whether you |

|are still paying off your student loans, if you are supporting a family, etc. Include any other factors you deem relevant (explain) for this point in your life |

|and summarize your predicted degree of financial security. This insight should influence your decisions on retirement planning and what kind of automobile and |

|house you can afford. |

|(b) RETIREMENT PLANNING: Assume you wish to retire with 1.2 million dollars at the age of 65. Suppose you will invest in an annuity with a return rate of 7.5%.|

|Calculate how much money you would have to pay into the annuity each month to reach that goal if you started saving at the age of 30. Then compare that with how |

|much you would have to save each month if you waited until you were 40 years old to start investing. Explain your findings and whether the goal of retiring with |

|$1,200,000 at the age of 65 is realistic. If not, discuss how you will adjust. Will you work until the age of 70? Will you be content to retire with less? Etc.|

|(c) TIME FOR A NEW CAR! You’re doing well at your job, but you haven’t been able to save up enough to pay cash for a new car. You have managed to save $3000 |

|for a down payment, however. Decide what kind of car you’d like to buy and determine its price. Research interest rates for 3, 4, and 5-year loans. (You can |

|expect to get a lower interest rate for a shorter-term loan.) Determine monthly payments for each option based on the amount of money you expect to borrow. Now |

|take a realistic look at your findings. Can you really afford that car based on your salary and expenses? If not, what will you do? Explain. |

|(d) HOUSE HUNTING. Still renting that one-bedroom apartment? Time to consider home ownership. |

|Find a home you would like to purchase that you think you can afford and state its price. Decide what your down payment will be. Be realistic based on your career|

|and budget. Strive for a 20% down payment. If you borrow more than 80% of the home’s price, then your lender will require you to purchase private mortgage |

|insurance (PMI). |

|Now investigate your financing options. It is difficult to predict what interest rates will be that far into the future, so use current mortgage interest rates. |

|Calculate the monthly payments for a 15-year mortgage and for a 30-year-mortgage. How much more will you have paid for that house if you take out a 30-year loan |

|instead of a 15-year loan? Discuss which option you will choose or whether you need to find a more affordable home or continue to rent. |

|Bonus (up to 2 points): Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of owning versus renting a home or apartment. What are some additional costs involved with home |

|ownership? |

|IV. CONCLUSION |

|After this assignment, hopefully you will understand the importance of striving for academic excellence. We hope that this assignment will help you think about |

|your future and how to wisely manage your money. Discuss at least three things that you have learned that have had the most impact on how you will make your |

|future academic and financial decisions. |

|V. WORK CITED: List all your sources of information. |

|Important: When using financial formulas, you must show how you got your answers (substitute values for the variables |

|in a formula). You may write these out by hand or type them using Equation Editor. For some portions of this |

|project, you will have to solve equations, not just plug numbers into formulas. You must show your algebraic |

|steps clearly and neatly. |

|Extra Credit |

|4 points if you turn in your project on or before Wednesday, January 23. |

|4 points if you create a visual display representing the components of your project. See me for details. |

|To earn the full 4 points, this must be a high-quality display. |

Questions? As you work through the project, use this space to write down any questions that are not specifically

addressed in the above assignment description.

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Pre-AP Precalculus: Preview of Finance Project

Summative (test) Grade

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