Posts Tagged ‘sharenotes.com’

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The Results of Black Friday

Tuesday, December 1st, 2009

Those of us on sharenotes.com are probably watching the economy a lot closer than a college student probably should. But our future livelihoods depend on it. After the number have been crunched from the big sales weekend it seems as though things turned out okay.

I will say this, at least we did not crash and burn. I would have put money in Vegas on the fact that people just aren’t going to spend, but as it turns out, Black Friday just about broke even. People we’re out in droves… I was out there too so I know first hand but it seems as though people avoided impulse buys that often happen in a strong economy. They did however come out for the deals, which were a plenty. I personally bought a whole bunch of super cheap BluRay discs which is just about all I could afford to spend. It also doesn’t help that they were all for me and I still have a xmas list to fill.

Better news however was that “Cyber Monday” the newly founded tradition of online sales the Monday following Thanksgiving was pretty strong. The sales were up about 20% from last years sales. The economy shows signs of life. Much of the online sales are driven by the tech savvy college aged group who often favor buying online to fighting the crowds. Akamai a internet monitoring site, watched 270 retail sites and reported 4.3 million visitors per minute at on point during the day! I think in the coming years Cyber Monday is going to continue to grow under the clicking right hands of college students.

Hopefully this uptick in online sales is an indicator that our economy might be able to survive this holiday season. Free shipping and blow out deals with major retailers helps, but the shear fact that Americans are still willing to get out there and spend money at all is encouraging. So how about you sharenotes.com, did you get out there and hit the stores? Did you hit the online sales? Did you put what little money you have into some drinks to drown your sorrows? We want to hear form you! Leave your comments below and share you tales of mall crowds or killer deals!

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Posted in College Note Sharing | 2 Comments »

Does Your School Still Have Cafeteria Trays?

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

I know it’s an odd question, but i was reading a report today that states that many schools are getting rid of their cafeteria trays. Most likely there are some schools on sharenotes.com that have been effected by this trend. The schools have given different reasoning behind the decision, all of them surrounding the trimming down of costs and waste.

Some schools have cited a need to reduce the desire to reduce water consumption (both a green and financial decision) by reducing the strain on dish washing. Other schools have suggested that the lack of trays reduces the amount of wasted food. Still others have suggested that going trayless causes students to eat only what they need to fill themselves up, versus simply eating as much as possible. A healthier student body could be the result?

Whatever the reason I can say my personal opinion is that it seems silly. I can see some benefit coming from not having trays. Getting green and conserving is not necessarily a bad thing. But where does it end? How about we get rid of cups too and only drink what we can hold in our hands?

Reportedly, effected students are reduced to balancing their meals like Vegas entertainers or using their folders as substitute trays. Or for the very hungry student, multiple trips may be necessary. Luckily for me I haven’t really had to eat in the cafeteria too often so I wouldn’t have really noticed the lack of trays. But I know that many of you do eat on campus, so I’m wondering if you’ve noticed anything odd at your school?

I’m all for conservation and I feel like if colleges can reduce waste and unnecessary costs that would be a good thing in this economy. I’m certain all of us on sharenotes.com have seen efforts to reduce costs, waste etc… on our campuses, but I think there must be a better way? This one just seems silly to me. What are you thoughts? Leave your comments below with your opinions or experiences and join the discussion.

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Posted in College Note Sharing | 1 Comment »

UC Schools rocked by tuition hike

Friday, November 20th, 2009

This increase will effect quite a number of students on sharenotes.com. The Board of Regents, the governing body of the UC system of public schools in California voted today to allow a 32% tuition hike which will go into effect next year. The Board has in tense discussions over the past 2 days on the UCLA campus, where many students have shown up to protest the proposed hikes.

Police in riot gear were on hand tp keep the peace while student participated in a peaceful demonstration, blocking the path for members of the Board of Regents as they left. The board defends its position stating that they simply have no money. After years of cut backs they feel as though they have no other place to look for money except the student body.

According to the board, students from households with sub 70,000 dollar incomes will be shielded from the increase and assured that financial aid would be available to bridge the gap. This however comes as little consolation to many students who are wondering if they can still afford their schools.

This is going to make life that is tough, already tougher for a great many of us. Some of us simply will not qualify for anymore loans to cover the difference. And quite frankly even if we do, do we really want to come out of college in THIS economy, with more debt? I feel for the UC student, tuition hikes seems to be effecting many students across the nation. I personally do understand the Boards decision, they are working with the money they have allocated to them. Given the situation of California and the deficit the government has been grappling with, it seem very unlikely that anything will get any better. At least not anytime soon.

How has this news effected your plans? We’d like to hear form the UC students out there on sharenotes.com who want to share their stories. Are you going to stick it out? Being forced to think about community college agin? Leave your comments below and share your thoughts with us.

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Good News for Scrabble Players

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Those of you avid gamers our there may appreciate this… avid board gamers that is. The Oxford Dictionary has decided that social media and it’s lexicon is more than a passing fad. Good news for scrabble players as you now have one more word in your arsenal. I think everyone on sharenotes.com is familiar with the term “unfriend”, we’ve all done it or perhaps had it done to us. If you’ve been living in suspended animation for the past few years I’ll enlighten you. Unfriending is simply the action by which you remove a so called “friend” from your friends list on any given social media site. The site du jour right now is of course, Facebook, but it’s applicable to any social media site.

The New Oxford American dictionary has deemed this term it’s “word of the year” beating out such contenders as the salacious “sexting” and the less exciting but none less used “netbook” for top honors. The term, a verb (exe: she made me mad so I unfriended her!) is probably one of the most used terms on college campuses, so some congratulations should go to us for bringing the term into the mainstream.

Most likely due to the rampant popularity of social sites these days, unfriend should have some major legs. While it’s not nearly as exciting as sexting it should be around to stay. In past years the focus on the word of the year was more oriented on a greener Earth, with terms like Hypermilers (people who squeeze obscene mileage out of their vehicles with modifications and driving techniques) and carbon-neutral (offsetting your carbon footprint). What the word will be next year is really anyone’s guess at this point. There’s a good bet though that the life styles of those of us on sharenotes.com will absolutely have some impact on where it may come from.

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Credit Cards Rates / Fees Climbing

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Watch you wallets sharenotes.com your cards might be taking a bigger chunk out of your funds now more than ever. I’ve posted more than a few time on here warning about the dangers of getting in too deep with credit cards. I’ve also mentioned that in many ways they are a necessary evil, you do need to build / have credit.

The Obama admin passed legislation this year (may) that is aiming to reduce the amount of rate / fee hikes and tricky contracts the credit card companies use, however it does not go into effect until Feb of next year. Since the bills passing, many cards have hiked dramatically. Credit issuers relay that in this hard economy, even they are struggling and as they take on higher risk customers they must react in turn. Their version of reacting is to hike rates across the board.

You may want to watch your statements closely if you are a credit user because the younger / higher risk crowds such as college students are the most likely targets. You may be surprised to find out that your rates have increased and you didn’t even realize it. Cards that were once 4% can now be 15% or in some cases as high as 30%!! Yeow!

So if it happens what can you do? Well if you have a good credit score and you notice rates and or fees being hiked on your account, pick up the phone and call the issuer. More than likely they will see that you are a excellent customer whom they do not want to lose. If they are unwilling to reduce their fees, you can always do a card balance to a card that has 0% interest or at least a lower rate.

If you have have a lower score you can still haggle some and at the very least reduce your useage if it comes to it. I know that’s hard however you’ll want to live you life without credit as you crutch so better to break it off now before it gets really ugly. You don’t necessarily want to completely cancel a long standing account as doing so can sometimes effect your credit score further. If you can reduce the usage its certainly a start.

As everyone on sharenotes.com knows, we students are already heading into a world of debt and repayment with our student loans, anything you can do now to watch out for yourself will help ten fold down the road. I know it’s a chore but if you’ve got cards, break out those statements and look them over closely, you just might be surprised at what you find!

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