Ah, 2004. U.S. unemployment was a mere 6% and the average home price reached $264,540. 2004 was a time when many people lived well and earned more. Well today, many industries are either down and out, or out altogether, and many cities throughout the U.S. still have high unemployment rates. Silicon Valley is an exception.
Communications is a broad field that includes public relations, advertising, journalism, marketing, corporate training, and business management. A bachelor’s degree in communications can lead to a career as a broadcaster, journalist, publicist, editor, advertising manager, technical writer, marketing analyst, producer, or communications director. A master’s in communications can prepare you for a career in management and for director positions.
To obtain a communications studies degree, you should enroll in a bachelor’s degree program at an accredited college. Accredited colleges have the most comprehensive communications programs and most employers prefer to hire applicants with a degree from an accredited college. Keep in mind that the accrediting agency must be recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
The following are just a few of the nations top accrediting agencies:
-The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB)
-The Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP)
-The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)
-The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC)
-National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD)
-Accrediting Commission for Community and Pre-collegiate Arts Schools
The following accrediting agencies offer regional accreditation:
-Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
-New England Association of Schools and Colleges
-North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
-Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
-Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
-Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) accredits a large number of online colleges and online degree programs, so if you are planning to earn your communications degree online, make sure it is accredited by the DETC or other Department of Education recognized agency. Click here to search the U.S. Department of Education database of accredited postsecondary institutions and programs.
After earning your communications studies degree, you can expect to earn anywhere from $25,434 per year on the low end, up to $105,960 per year on the high end, depending on the position. Yearly salaries for communications jobs are as follows:
-Broadcaster – $37,710 (median)
-Journalist – $25,434-36,419 (entry level)
-Publicist – $27,917-$39,992 (entry level)
-Editor – $49,990 (median)
-Advertising Manager – $105,960 (median)
-Technical Writer – $60,140-$71,640 (median)
-Marketing Analyst – $55,570-$77,170 (median)
-Producer – $40,037-$71,109 (median)
To find top communications programs, try Princetonreview.com, Petersons.com, or U.S. News & World Report College Rankings.
More than 57.2 million job seekers visit job placement sites each month, according to a Forbes report about the best ways to find a job. The three most popular sites include CareerBuilder.com, Yahoo! HotJobs, and Monster.com. Although these sites have been around for more than a decade, a number of other sites have cropped up, stealing the market share from the top three.
Other job placement sites such as Simply Hired, Indeed, Snagajob.com, and Beyond.com gather postings from other job sites and reorganize them to make them easier to surf.
“Many corporate companies post job openings on their own corporate Web sites, so aggregators knock out the necessity to go around from site to site targeting specific companies,” says Chuck Schilling, research director at Nielsen.
Certainly the rotten economy is driving demand for more job sites. But there’s a heavy psychological component at work here, too. Newer sites carry “the shiny-and-new syndrome,” says Lorne Epstein, recruiting expert and author of You’re Hired! Interview Skills to Get the Job, so even if another site does the same thing, there is a hope that a newer site will do it better.
Job seekers also use government job sites to search for employment. The two top government websites are USAJOBS.gov and GovernmentJobs.com. These sites attract 2.8 million and 1 million visitors a month, respectively.
Although Taiwan’s gaming market is smaller than China’s, the Island’s industry is worth $42.2 billion, which is up 20 percent over 2009. Growth in the industry has been spurred by ways to consume games from PCs, game consoles and online games, to smartphones and games on social networking sites such as Facebook and more, according to PCWorld. Because growth in Taiwan’s gaming industry is so great, 15 of the islands’ top gaming companies are now looking to fill 50 spots for gamers, programmers, graphic artists, and research and development professionals. PCWorld reports that some jobs even offered the chance to play computer games for a living with a salary of around NT$35,000 (US$1,194) a month, which is about average in Taiwan.
Jamesina Lin, a representative at Chinese Gamer International, one of Taiwan’s biggest online gaming companies said “people hired to play games would be heavily involved in game development.”
Chinese Gamer and other companies teamed with Taiwanese employment website, Job Bank, to host the Taiwan Game Job fair at the same time as Taipei’s biggest gaming show. “We had over 2,000 people apply at the job fair on Saturday and over 2,600 applications in all,” said Charlene Chang, spokesperson for Job Bank, which ran the job fair. Taiwanese gaming companies are serious about their work.
A total of 2,600 people applied for the 50 positions. Two thousand applied at the job fair, which took place Saturday, February 19, 2011 at the Taiwan Game Show at Taipei World Trade Center.
The federal government offers many options for financing your education from Federal Pell Grants and the Monetary Award Program (MAP) to PLUS Loans, Stafford Loans, and Federal Perkins Loans. Pell Grants and MAP awards do not have to be repaid, but student loans do.
Stafford Loans are low-interest student loans guaranteed by the government. Perkins Loans are campus-based loans with a fixed 5% interest rate, and a nine month grace period. Perkins loans are also guaranteed by the federal government. PLUS Loans (Parent Loans for Undergraduate Student) are granted to students based on the parents creditworthiness.
To cover the costs of tuition and education related expenses, most students will have to take out a number of loans from multiple lenders. The amounts, repayment terms, and repayment schedules will vary. Students may find that repaying several different lenders is not only taxing, but the payments may be too high after graduation and beyond. Fortunately, relief is possible through student loan consolidation.
Student loan consolidation is the refinancing of multiple student loans guaranteed by the federal government. The Higher Education Act (HEA) provides for a loan consolidation program under the Direct Loan Program and the Federal Family Education Loan (FFEL) Program. Under these programs, the student’s loans are paid off and a new consolidated loan is created. The loan consolidation program is a good option because:
-It simplifies the loan repayment process by combining all of the student’s Federal student loans into one loan, meaning there’s only one place to pay each month
-The interest rate will be lower than one or all of the original loans
-The monthly payments are typically lower, possibly 50% lower than the original monthly payments
-The amount of time to repay the loan will be extended beyond the original time period
-Consolidation may act as a safeguard against default
Applying for student loan consolidation is easy. Before applying, use an online calculator to estimate what your new monthly payments would be under one of four repayment plans including:
-Standard Repayment Plan
-Graduated Repayment Plan
-Extended Repayment Plan
-Income Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR)
Under the Standard Repayment Plan, you will pay a fixed amount each month and your payments will be no less than $50 a month for 10-30 years, based on total debt. Under the Graduated Repayment Plan, your minimum payment amount will equal the amount of interest accrued monthly. Payments will start out on the low end, then gradually increase every two years for 10-30 years.
The Extended Repayment Plan is for students with student loan debt that exceeds $30,000. Under this plan, you will have a maximum of 25 years to repay the loan and you can choose a fixed rate payment option (same amount each month) or a graduated monthly payment option, as discussed above. Under the Income Contingent Repayment Plan (ICR), monthly payments are based on several factors including yearly income, Direct Loan Balance, and family size. Payments will be spread out over a time period not to exceed 25 years.
To apply for student loan consolidation, gather the following documents:
-Your monthly billing statement
-Your annual statement or quarterly interest statement
-Your coupon book
-Website of your lender or servicer
-Your school’s financial aid office information (if you are currently in school)
Once you have all of the information listed here, visit the Federal Student Aid Programs Student Loan Consolidation Website to apply.
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