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Part-time students are a key demographic on college campuses. They often have families and full-time jobs, making it difficult to devote enough time to their studies. However, they are more inclined to help future part-time students by documenting their experiences. In this blog post, we will offer tips on how to succeed as a part-time student. Follow these guidelines, and you will be able to achieve your academic goals!

Tip # One: Make a Plan

One of the most important things that part-time students can do is make a plan. This means setting goals and figuring out when you will be able to study and complete assignments. It is also important to create a schedule that takes into account your work and family obligations. If you can, try to schedule your classes on the same days so that you have more time for studying outside of class.

Tip # Two: Utilize Technology

Technology can be an excellent tool for part-time students. There are many online resources that can help you study, including flashcards and quizzes. You can also use technology to stay in touch with your professors and classmates. For example, many professors use online forums or discussion boards to communicate with students.

Tip # Three: Get Involved on Campus

One of the best ways to succeed as a part-time student is to get involved on campus. This can include joining student organizations or attending campus events. Getting involved can help you make friends and connections, which can be helpful when the time comes to look for a job or internship.

Tip # Four: Ask for Help

If you are struggling, do not be afraid to ask for help. This could include seeking tutoring assistance or talking to your professor. There is no shame in admitting that you need help, and most professors will be happy to offer assistance.

Tip # Five: Take Breaks

It is essential to take breaks when you are a part-time student. This means getting up and moving around every once in a while and taking some time for yourself. This will help you stay focused and motivated when you are studying.

Follow these tips, and you will be able to succeed as a part-time student!

The more active participation you have in your college activities, the more you will be able to take full advantage of your part time education. While making a plan, focusing on your goal, and utilizing technology at its best can improve your rankings as a student, a time-to-time break is equally important as well. At Online Masters Colleges, we proudly promote the culture of a great study-life balance. We provide a complete guide for part time students that helps them to succeed in their college.  Apart from various guides, we also help students by letting them know about various resources and financial aid programs offered by different institutions and governments.

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If you are like most college students, you are probably looking for ways to be more effective in your studies. The good news is that there are certain habits that highly successful college students share. In this blog post, we will discuss eight of these habits and how you can adopt them into your own study routine.

Habit #01: They Set Realistic Goals

One of the most important habits of highly successful college students is that they set realistic goals for themselves. This means that they break down their goals into smaller, more manageable tasks that can be accomplished within a specific timeframe. For example, if they want to get a good grade in a class, they will break this goal down into smaller tasks such as studying for 30 minutes each day and completing homework assignments on time.

Habit #02: They Prioritize Their Time

Successful college students know that they need to prioritize their time to be successful. This means that they use their time effectively by focusing on the most critical tasks. For example, they might study for an hour before going to bed each night, rather than spending that time watching TV.

Habit #03: They Are Organized

Another essential habit of successful college students is that they are organized. This means that they have a system for managing their time, studying, and completing assignments. For example, they might create a study schedule and make sure to keep all their notes and materials organized in a binder for easy access.

Habit #04: They Are Self-Disciplined

Successful college students are also self-disciplined. This means they can stick to their goals and study schedule, even when things get tough. For example, if they have a test the next day, they will make sure to get a good night’s sleep and not party the night before.

Habit #05: They Take Notes

Successful college students know that taking notes is an integral part of the learning process. This means that they take careful notes in class and review them afterward. In addition, they also make sure to take notes when they are studying so that they can check them later.

Habit #06: They Stay Focused in Class

Successful college students stay focused in class by paying attention and taking notes. This means that they are not distracted by their phone or other classmates. In addition, they also ask questions when they do not understand something and participate in class discussions.

Habit #07: They Get Enough Sleep

One of the most essential habits of successful college students is that they get enough sleep. This means that they go to bed and wake up at the same time each day and make sure to get at least eight hours of sleep each night.

Habit #08: They Make Healthy Lifestyle Choices

Perhaps the ultimate habit of successful college students is their voluntary choosing of anything that can help improve their lives and academic performance. These may include eating nutritious foods, part-taking in a recreational activity, pursuing a hobby or passion, connecting with peers and mentors for additional information and help, etc.

Do you want to be a successful college student? If so, make sure to adopt these habits; they will help you stay focused and organized and allow you to achieve your academic goals. Here at Online Masters Colleges, we want to help students whichever way we can to contribute to students’ success. Towards this goal we also compiled many other student resources and financial aid guides.

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Textbooks are an important but often expensive component of the cost of education. Whether or not you are an incoming freshman or are perhaps even returning to school, the dilemma of buying versus renting textbooks may stare you in the face. This decision is not as straightforward as one would think it to be. In this article, we list out the many advantages and disadvantages of both buying and renting, to help you with making that decision.

BUYING

Pros

• Yours forever, to refer to in the future when you are studying further, or in your career.
• You can annotate, highlight, or comment as much as you like, without worrying – because it is your textbook.
• You can sell your textbooks to get some money back on your purchase price.
• For some, owning their own textbooks may provide a sense of pride and satisfaction.
• A few of your textbooks can pass on as ‘hand-me-downs’ to siblings, close relatives, friends, or your juniors at school.

Cons

• Can be expensive to acquire.
• The marginal utility of the book will translate to inefficient use of money.
• Sorting, storing, and maintaining (from insects and humidity) textbooks can be quite a task, occupying time and space.
• Selling your textbooks generally fetches a fraction of the price you would have paid for buying them.
• The whole experience of selling your textbooks may not be a pleasant one and can be time-consuming.

RENTING

Pros

• Is usually, the most affordable option when compared to owning.
• Saves the bother of sorting and storing, requiring substantially less space and time.
• Serves as a trial or preview before actually buying your own copy. If you like it and think it will serve as a reference in the future, you can buy it.
• Can often provide new, updated or revised versions of a textbook, without the expense of having to buy one (again).

Cons

• You cannot (and are not permitted to) make annotations, highlight, or comment in the textbook.
• Quite often, you may have to contend with someone else’s markings and annotations in textbooks.
• Some textbooks may be heavily damaged or may have missing pages and/or supplemental material.
• If you do not return the textbook on time, or if you have damaged it, you are likely to be charged a fine or fee, or even the full price of the textbook.

You can buy or rent textbooks from many websites, including AbeBooks, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CampusBooks, Cheap Textbooks, Chegg Books, eCampus, and TextbookRentals. These sites provide heavy discounts on purchases, cheap rentals, and friendly return policies.

An Alternative

While both buying and renting textbooks are two common options, a third and new option continues to gain popularity – E-Books. Unlike their debuting years when they were afflicted with latency, bugs, and format wars, E-Books today have improved by leaps and bounds in terms of quality, reliability, functionality, and overall usability, making them a compelling alternative for students to consider. Besides, they potentially remove the dilemma of buying vs renting textbooks. Below are some of the benefits and drawbacks of E-Books.

E-BOOKS

Pros

• Some textbooks can be rented for a month and then purchased, helping you decide whether you want to own the book at the full purchase price or not.
• Owning the textbook is simple as a few clicks of the mouse or taps of your finger. No driving to the store, spending time locating your textbook, no queuing up at the cash counter.
• You will not have to lug a bag of heavy textbooks everywhere you go. All your textbooks can be stored on your gadget or computer and be accessed anywhere, to study where you will.
• You can access your textbook on your computer or phone/tablet for reference at any time, for the rest of your life.
• You will likely have access to any online extras that come with the textbook.
• You will be able to copy text and paste it into documents you are working on, with ease, thereby saving time and effort.
• You can sometimes change the size of the font, annotate, highlight, comment, and keep multiple bookmarks, as you like.
• There is nothing to have to try to sell back, once you have finished with your studies.
• There is no storage space and maintenance required.

Cons

• It may not always be possible to rent an e-Book if one does not want to buy one; rental options are generally not very practical or student-friendly.
• E-Books do not offer a tactile feel, and the satisfaction of holding a physical book, which some may enjoy and prefer.
• Extended hours of reading E-Books may cause soreness of the eyes, headaches, as well as cause some long-term health issues.

Conclusion

Before you can decide on buying versus renting textbooks, or for that matter even E-Books, you will do well to factor in the exact requirements of your courses and classes. Buying textbooks is recommended if you think you will need them to refresh your memory during and after your course. On the other hand, buying textbooks for fundamental and easier courses may not be as valuable in the long run; warranting the rental option. Finally, E-Books can be the right choice, if technology is your thing and you see enough merit in the advantages of owning E-Books.

In the end, the choice of what form of the textbook to purchase or rent is dependent upon personal preferences, note-taking styles, academic requirements, future career requirements, and budget. Whatever the choice, ensure that it is academically and financially sound.

Here at Online Masters Colleges (OMC), our goal is to provide students with all aspects of education including buying or renting textbooks. We also provide all other resources for students including financial aid, scholarships and all other types of resources.

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Anxiety is a natural and spontaneous reaction to certain conditions or situations that we may perceive as threats or ones we think we do not have complete control over. Consequently, the release of cortisol, cortisone, adrenaline, and norepinephrine changes how we feel, think, and act, bringing about a lack of concentration, the deep desire to postpone exams, and the yearning to escape, which sometimes makes a student want to drop out of a program.

It is quite normal to be nervous before submitting a paper or taking an exam; it is a part of the student experience and can help sharpen your mind and focus your attention. Exam anxiety, on the other hand, is an almost debilitating fear of failure that can have a far-reaching effect on mind and body and manifest itself with some serious symptoms, including:

• High heart rate and palpitations
• Sweating
• Restlessness
• Poor sleep
• Constant fatigue
• Sweating
• Headaches and migraines
• Trembling and weakness
• Mood swings and irritability
• Shortness of breath and a heavy chest
• Dizziness
• Loss of Appetite

There are several strategies one can deploy to reduce exam anxiety. The following ten best tips should help you with a sensible and practical approach to alleviate exam anxiety and help you ace the next test. They are divided into two continuing sections – the first five tips are more personal, and the remaining five tips have more to do with studying.

1. De-Stress and Relax

Use relaxation techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, yoga, unwind and de-stress, and help you stay calm and confident. You might also want to consider taking a stroll in a park, or closing your eyes and imagining a positive outcome, or listening to some soothing music, or even indulging in a relaxing bath.

2. Exercise to Stay Fit & Reduce anxiety

Stretching your muscles one at a time, regular aerobic exercise, or light to moderate exercising can release tension in your body and reduce anxiety. If you play a sport, avoid playing it competitively, and make sure it does not eat into your study time. Any physical activity is good for the mind and body.

3. Well-Balanced Diet

Eat a well-balanced diet with healthy, wholesome foods that can supply enough fuel to your brain and the rest of your body. Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water or some fresh fruit juices but stay well away from sugary drinks such as soda pop, which can cause your blood sugar to spike and then plummet, leaving you tired and needlessly hungry. Caffeinated beverages such as energy drinks or coffee are known to increase anxiety and are best avoided entirely. Add magnesium, zinc, vitamin-b, and omega-3 rich foods to your diet, along with foods that are rich in antioxidants. Most importantly, eat in decent portions and eat on time.

4. Get Enough Sleep

Lack of sleep can not only give rise to a higher risk of obesity, diabetes, and poor mental health, it is also directly related to academic performance. Getting to sleep at the right time and rising at an early hour is known to make a person feel well-rested and refreshed, ready to take on the rest of the day. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends that teenagers aged 13 to18 years sleep 8 to 10 hours per 24 hours.

5. Get Help

Talk to people you look up to – say a good friend, or a senior family member or your mentor, in whom you can confide in, and share your inhibitions, apprehensions, and fears. Alternatively, you can also connect with a psychotherapist, a psychologist, or other mental health professionals, who can help you sort out and work through your feelings, thoughts, and emotions that cause or worsen anxiety. In all, make sure that you do not think you are alone in your battles, and in thinking so, stay aloof, alienated, and away from others.

6. Start Early

It is always a good idea to start preparing for your exam well ahead of time, instead of cramming your studying all at once, right towards the end. The more you procrastinate, the more your anxiety levels are bound to increase as the exam date approaches. So, know your exam schedule and prepare your study timeline that begins from day 1.

7. Establish a Routine

Based on past experiences and observations, understand and learn what works for you in your studies and establish a routine based on that. Prepare a checklist or a flowchart of action items and dos and don’ts, and follow the same steps each time you prepare to take a test. This will reduce your stress and help you to be well-prepared for any exam.

8. Become Productive

Make every day count. Find out useless things that take up your time and energy and replace them with useful and productive – ones that will help you study better, stay focused and help reduce your anxiety.

9. Study Efficiently

Try and speak with the toppers in your class and ask them for study tips and advice. Explore resources that can help you sharpen your study skills and better your study techniques, along with test-taking strategies. Make a note of your weak areas and key focus areas to prepare a thorough study plan to address them. Overall systematic studying, a practical study schedule, and effective study and practice material will translate to lower anxiety levels.

10. Talk to Teachers

Try to reach out to your teachers to understand what will be on each test and seek their advice and suggestions on how to prepare for it well. Also, let your teacher know that you feel anxious when you have to prepare for a test or have to take one, and obtain their opinions and ideas on dealing with it.

Exam anxiety affects many people, whether or not they are primary or secondary school students, college students, or employees who need to take exams for progress or certification. But through a few changes in your life, along with some positivity and focus, it can be relatively easy to overcome your fears, nervousness, and anxiety when having to prepare for an exam or take one.

At Online Masters Colleges (OMC), we support students in many ways, including providing all information about exams at the graduate level. Apart from these tips, we hope that our financial aid pages and other graduate school resources can reduce anxiety for students.

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Ever since the Covid 19 pandemic hit the US, the government has been trying to provide relief by giving stimulus packages. It started with the first stimulus being rolled out in March of 2020 and the 2nd one in Jan of 2021. In both these stimulus packages, college students were left out of the payments, even though many college students have suffered job losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic while still being expected to pay normal tuition and fees.

After coming to power in Jan of 2021, President Joe Biden has been working on a stimulus package that brings additional relief. And in mid-March, he signed the third stimulus bill into law, and for the first time, adult dependents — college students included — are eligible to receive a stimulus check.

College students can receive up to $1,400

Dependent students were denied previous stimulus checks, but with the new bill, students who are at least 17 years old and are claimed as dependents are eligible to receive up to $1,400. That said, the amount students could receive is based on the adjusted gross income (AGI) of the taxpayer claiming them.

Single filers who earn less than $75,000 a year and married joint filers who earn less than $150,000 a year will qualify for the full stimulus amount. Reduced stimulus payments will go to single filers who earn between $75,000 and $80,000 and married joint filers who earn between $150,000 and $160,000. If you’re a college student and the person claiming you as a dependent earns more than that, you will be ineligible for a check — regardless of how much you earn on your own. Also, keep in mind that college students will not be receiving payments directly. Instead, that extra payment will be sent to the taxpayer, claiming them as a dependent. CNET’s third stimulus calculator can help you predict your family’s potential stimulus check amount using the taxpayer’s filing status, AGI, and the number of qualified dependents claimed.

Students may be able to claim additional funds

Dependents over the age of 17 were previously excluded from stimulus payments but may recoup those checks. “Some college students and other young adults may also be able to claim up to an additional $1,800 from the two prior stimulus programs,” says Ven. This $1,800 amount takes into account the first $1,200 check and the second $600 check. You may be eligible if you aged out of the adult-dependent category or underwent a qualifying life event, like graduating college and entering the workforce. If this is the case, you can file for “Recovery Rebate Credit” when you submit your 2020 tax return. There is no penalty for applying; if you’re unsure if you qualify, the IRS has a page where you can check the recovery rebate requirements. Also, check your records and bank statements in case it was already deposited. The first checks were sent out starting in March of 2020, and the second was sent out starting in December of 2020.

How to claim a stimulus check on your 2020 taxes?

A stimulus check is technically a refundable tax credit called the Recovery Rebate Credit. Both rounds of stimulus payments are combined into one credit. The third stimulus check is treated separately. A tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of your tax bill. A $1,000 credit, for example, cuts your tax bill by $1,000. Some tax credits are refundable, meaning if you don’t have a tax bill large enough to use the full credit, you get the money as a refund. That’s how the recovery rebate credit works. But to get the credit, you have to file a federal tax return, even if your income is too low to be taxable.

Apart from the stimulus, students also stand to gain from the Public service loan forgiveness, already included tax-free student loan cancellation. In contrast, the new stimulus package, the American Rescue Plan of 2021, makes student loan forgiveness through income-driven repayment tax-free through December 31, 2025. Normally, the cancellation of debt is treated like income to the borrower. It is as if someone gave the borrower money to pay off the debt. The borrower received an IRS Form 1099-C to report the canceled debt as income. The canceled debt is subject to income taxes, just like any other income. Certain type of student loan forgiveness is tax-free.

Looking ahead to a brighter future

The past year might have been the worst of our lives, almost everybody’s life has been affected by the pandemic, but we cannot let the pandemic take control of our lives and decide the future of our existence. We have to take control of our lives the most now and not let the difficult times dictate what is in store for us in the future. Though the money might not be too much money, the stimulus you receive can be put to good use if you invest it towards your education and hence a better future. This might be the right start that one might want after the disastrous last year.

Online Masters Colleges (OMC) is one such platform that encourages you to take hold of yourself and invest in education for a brighter future. According to the “Economic Value Of College Majors“, a 2015 study by Georgetown University, college graduates with a bachelor’s degree earn an average annual salary of $61,000 throughout their career, while those with a graduate degree earn $78,000 annually. Hence a master’s degree is always desirable and has a hefty increase in returns on your investment. To help students make the right choices about their master’s degrees, OMC has created the best online master’s program rankings, along with prep guides for GRE, GMAT. Also, in the times that we live in these days, deciding the right way to finance your education is of paramount importance, leading to a significant return on your investment. Hence, here is a link to help you finance your master’s with the best financial aid guide.

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