Free Money News August 2018

August: Back to School once again! Are you happy your kids will be back in their classrooms? Even so as a parent, student or teacher this can be a stressful time as you work to pay for all your school needs. This is the second biggest retail season of the year, with $billions being spent on back to school needs.

Our August Free Money Highlights can help with important updates and tips about student loans, paying off student debt, getting help with childcare and family assistance, and even grants for innovative school year programs.

On a lighter note, Major League Baseball’s postseason is in full swing and predictions are out on who will win the World Series. Sadly (for us) but not surprising the Giants have only a .1% chance of taking the trophy this year. The Astros look likely to snag another championship. Red Sox and Yankees also look strong though, so stay tuned…

Some good news: Check out “free money” from McDonalds in our Grants for Personal Needs Section…. and discover our newest article that can help you find free property to build a house on:

Startling but true: there are still Land Grants available in the United States! Our newest article all about Land Grants lets you know where they can still be found and the basic requirements if you want a piece of property to call your own or your business’s — for free. There are some There are some eligibility requirements but they’re not too stringent. Discover more about this piece of history that is still in practice today in Land Grants.

We were amazed at some of the new home-buying assistance programs we discovered this past month. There are actually realistic ways to get your required downpayment down to zero — honestly. One is so simple that all you have to do is to commit to rent out a room of your new home through airbnb and share the proceeds with the assisting organization. And there are more! If you’re looking for a new home and feel frustrated about the amount you’d have to save up to make a down payment please check out Government Grants to Purchase a Home.

Good news in Micro-Lending, especially for women. Grameen, one of the largest micro lending institutions in the United States, has committed an additional $16 million specifically to support low income women entrepreneurs in this country. Discover more in Microfinancing in the United States.

Has your business suffered from a disaster, or do you fear the upcoming hurricane season and wonder if your firm can survive another ordeal? The SBA has announced a new program which should help. Called the Express Bridge Loan Pilot Program, it is designed to help banks get cash assistance to needy businesses immediately. Loans will be up to $25000 with a major portion of that under SBA guaranty. Good news! Get the details in our lates update to SBA.gov.

Student Loans are great but there is a serious danger of rising debt. Especially if you don’t make full payments or if you wait to start repaying your debt, you will probably be surprised to see how rapidly interest charges mount up. You will be paying increasing amounts of interest on unpaid interest in addition to the interest charges on the amount you have borrowed. And if you think you don’t have to worry because you’re going to find a debt forgiveness program you may be in for a big surprise. Take a look at our latest update to Student Loans to find out about the nasty surprise the IRS may have in store for you.

Grants to Pay Off Student Debt

Help with paying off student debt doesn’t typically exist in the form of grants. There are, however, some tips you should know about getting your loans paid off early so you can reduce your overall costs. See how you can benefit from the recommendations in Grants to Pay Off Student Debt.

Scholarships for High School Seniors

Yes, they do exist and we detail them in Scholarships fo High School Seniors. There’s also some great news you might now be aware of. More and more colleges are competing for applicants by awarding an increasing number of financial awards based on merit, regardless of whether you show financial need. So don’t hesitate to apply to some colleges you like because you don’t think you’ll be able to afford them without financial aid. You might get that aid from an unexpected source even if your family has considerable income. Discover more in Scholarships for High School Seniors.

Grants for Kids

Our latest update to this article discusses a specific community grant program designed to provide financial aid to innovative teaching programs, whether they are for summer or school year projects. While you might not be able to benefit if you don’t live in that community it could give you a model to pattern your own program after or to do a search for a similar program in your area. See some more details on this an other potential opportunities in Grants for Kids.

Did you know that in addition to awarding grants the federal government also provides some government loans? In our latest update to this article we provide additional detail about the government’s tool to make it easy to find loan you might qualify for as well as the information you must be willing and able to provide to determine your eligibility.

Are you confused about the status of the Obamacare insurance mandate and whether you are still liable for that? You can now find out the latest in a recent update to our earlier article Free Money 2015.

Speaking of being confused: whatever happened that all the money that was committed in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? There used to be a great website that showed you exactly where the funds went, what opportunities were still open, and who and what organizations were on the receiving end. That website is no more but we show you how you can still get some of that information elsewhere. See the latest about recovery.gov.

Last but not least there was some great news in the latest budget for 2018. It included a dramatic increase in Block Grants that are specifically to be used for childcare help and family aid. We don’t know details yet but stay tuned!

OK, we promised: McDonalds is giving out bronze colored coins to those who purchase a Big Mac, in honor of that sandwich's 50th anniversary. The “free money” part is that you can use those coins to buy a Big Mac. So if that's your favorite you might want to get on down do a McDonalds while this lasts. And who knows, they could become a collector's item…

Don’t forget that individual states give out lots of grants, and they’re not all for education. Discover more about the types of grants you might find in our lates updates to Grants in New York (lots of money committed for women in film: $5 million to promote and improve gender equality behind the camera and in front of it!) and lots of new grants available for Humanities projects in Grants in California — and there’s still time to apply. And if you have a business in Florida see how you could be reimbursed for some advertising expenditures if you are promoting tourism in Florida. Get the facts in Grants in Florida.