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It's way too hot, and that's all I got.

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HOA neighborhoods are the scum of the Earth, and the members of the associations are absolute mongrels who think they own the house you work for.

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A couple of weeks ago I ran a post, Do You Ever REALLY Own Your Home, in which I challenged the assumption that you actually enjoy true ownership, in the traditional sense. I cited limited property use restrictions, heavy economic use restrictions, the potential for legal attachment, and increasingly burdensome property taxes as factors eroding true homeownership. Today I want to focus a factor that puts even more extreme limits on home ownership - homeowners associations, or HOAs. And more specifically, why you should avoid buying in HOA neighborhoods.

In the interest of full disclosure, I?ve lived in both HOA neighborhoods and non-HOA neighborhoods - as well as condos - so I have some perspective on what?s really going on - and why HOAs aren?t as benign as most people think.

What is an HOA Neighborhood?

An HOA neighborhood is something like a community within a community. You live in a city or town - a municipality - but if you also live in an HOA neighborhood, you also live in another distinct legal entity. And just as the municipality has rules, so does the HOA.

There are various types of HOA neighborhoods, and each vary in terms of the amenities they provide and their control over your status as a homeowner.

Voluntary HOAs - These are something more like traditional neighborhood associations in that they?re informal, have no legal standing and are generally organized to deal with a specific issue confronting the neighborhood. That issue could be something like organizing to block certain outside developments or circumstances that are considered harmful to the neighborhood, or just to get some seasonal parties going. They typically have small dues, but you aren?t required to pay them or even to join the HOA.

Mandatory HOAs - If you buy a house in a mandatory HOA neighborhood, you are required to join the HOA by virtue of the fact that you will be a homeowner in that neighborhood. There is no provision for you to opt out - once you close on the sale, you?re in. There are generally substantial neighborhood amenities, commonly a pool, tennis courts, a club house, playgrounds and a formal entryway into the neighborhood. You will be required to pay an HOA fee, on an annual, semi-annual, quarterly, or monthly basis. There are covenants and restrictions, that you will be required to sign at closing, that will include bylaws that mostly tell you what you can?t do with your property.

Condominium HOAs - This kind of HOA is much like the mandatory HOA, except that it provides more substantial amenities. When you buy a condo, you own only the interior of the home. The exterior, from the walls and ceiling outward, are common property. That means they?re owned by the HOA. As a result, condo HOAs can be even more restrictive than those that cover detached homes. However, condo HOAs also bear greater responsibility. Since the physical structures are owned by the HOA, it is the HOA that must pay to make exterior repairs and improvements, including replacing the roof, pavement, landscaping, windows and siding as needed. They also pay the hazard (exterior) home insurance on the property, and often certain utilities, such as trash removal. Fees are usually monthly and a lot higher than with detached housing. But the HOA will also provide certain services, such as landscaping and snow removal. It?s the perfect arrangement for people who don?t want to concern themselves with exterior maintenance of any kind.

Non-mandatory HOAs really can?t hurt you in any way, and condominiums are a different animal entirely in which you share ownership of the home with the HOA, who provides very specific and substantial services. As well, with condos most people recognize that property use is both restricted and totally necessary due to the communal nature of the arrangement.

What I?m going to focus on from here on are mandatory HOAs in non-condominium neighborhoods. They won?t replace your roof or maintain your yard, but they have a labyrinth of rules and restrictions that can seriously challenge the assumption that you actually own your home and are free to do with it as you please.

Even worse, mandatory HOAs can negatively affect your economic situation. We?ll get to that in some detail in a bit.

What Makes HOA Neighborhoods Such a Threat?

I?m convinced that most people who buy into mandatory HOA neighborhoods have no idea what they?re stepping into - until they run afoul of the association board.

If you don?t already get it, the primary purpose of HOAs is to maintain and improve property values in the neighborhood. Before you go thinking that?s a good thing, imagine that your house is controlled by a stock broker, who?s only objective is to increase the value of your property.

While that may be a good thing on the day you sell the house, how it plays out between now and then will be another matter entirely. The problem is that how we live our lives is usually not consistent with what is necessary to maintain and increase property values.

In order to carry out the business of increasing property values, the HOA enacts and enforces a series of rules designed to ensure that neighborhood standards of conformity are met. You?ve probably noticed that HOA neighborhoods tend to have dozens or hundreds of substantially identical homes. This is by design. Conformity is easier to enforce in similar homes. Customization of any kind becomes easier to spot.

The HOA will limit what color you can paint your house, how many people can live in it, how many - and what type of - vehicles you can park in the driveway, how often you need to paint the exterior, where you place your garbage dumpsters, and the condition of your landscaping. They can also prevent you from adding on to the house, or maintaining out-buildings, like tool sheds or a tree house for your kids. And that?s just the general stuff.

Once you?ve been prohibited from doing something with your property, or made to do something you don?t want to, you begin to get a clearer picture of what?s really going on.

To add insult to injury, should you be found to be in violation the HOA has the legal right to impose legally enforceable fines on you, that are automatically attached to your property.

Some Real Life Examples of What an HOA Can Do

In case you think that I?m exaggerating about this in any way, here are some real-life HOA horror stories:

HOA Horror Story #1. My wife and I discovered that our friends on the board of our HOA were not our friends at all when we had the exterior of our house repainted. We had the house painted gray with pink shutters, like you might find on a New England cottage. We got a lot of compliments from our neighbors. Then the notice came from our HOA. The gray was fine, but our pink shutters were too? pink. We had to drab them down, or face a battery of consequences, including accelerating fines, that the notice apprised us were the associations legal right to pursue. All color schemes that departed from the original that came with your house required pre-approval by the board. So much for freedom of choice.

HOA Horror Story #2. One of my best friends (who moved into the same neighborhood after we moved out) got a notice from the HOA telling him he needed to put curtains on the second floor windows of his house. The reason: ?neighbors? (an HOA?s favorite subterfuge) complained that they could see the furniture in his bedroom windows. I still can?t make sense out of that one, but it was similar to the notice that we received for the offensive paint job on our shutters.

HOA Horror Story #3. A mortgage client of mine received notice from his HOA that he and his wife needed to store their three-year-old daughter?s toys out of sight, rather than letting them sit in the backyard. I?m not sure exactly what the crime was here, but they were forced to comply.

HOA Horror Story #4. A distraught friend of mine called me one day telling me that she had just received notice from her HOA informing her of a recently passed rule requiring all vehicles to be garaged between the hours of midnight and six a.m. No overnight parking of vehicles either in driveways or on streets would be permitted. Since all houses in the neighborhood had no more than a two car garage, this was a fundamental issue for anyone with kids who also have cars. I?m not sure what they were going for with this one either, but I thought that it would create a security risk, since the entire neighborhood would look abandoned overnight. She sold and moved out shortly after.
Update: Read Are HOAs Cults Behind Smiling Faces? for a first hand report of a full-fledged HOA horror story.

HOA Economic Use Limitations

Since this is a personal finance blog, I want to focus more closely on the effect that HOAs have in regard to your ability to earn a living. We're not even going to get into the fact that HOA dues will be required even if you're unemployed and don't have the money to make the payment, but I digress.

Conformity is the rule in HOA neighborhoods. The preference in a typical HOA neighborhood is to have people work in white-collar positions, or if they?re self-employed, to work in ?clean businesses?. That mostly restricts you to businesses that involve nothing more than your computer and telephone. The more that you depart from this ideal, the greater the potential to face a confrontation with the HOA - a confrontation you?re destined to lose.

If you work in one of those two preferred capacities, you probably are not the least bit concerned that the association might limit other activities. You might even be happy about it. But what would happen if you lost your job or your clean business were to fail? What if you need to pursue economic and financial options that didn?t fit neatly within those parameters? These days, you should never be too certain that can?t happen to you - it can happen to anyone.
And if it happens to you, you?ll find yourself economically constrained by the very restrictions you once enthusiastically supported.
This is just my opinion, and I?ll be the first to admit that I can?t substantiate this with hard evidence, but I believe that the preference in a typical HOA would be for you to move out of the neighborhood. After all, struggling homeowners aren?t good for property values. Part of how HOAs protect and advance property values is by keeping out the "riff-raff" (I was actually told that by the president of a condo HOA we were considering moving to). They?re always on the look-out for even a hint of it. If you start to resemble anything close to that riff-raff, you may come into their crosshairs.

Here are some of the economic/financial activities that a typical HOA will prevent you from engaging in:

Renting a room to a boarder to earn extra money to help pay your mortgage.

Growing food in your backyard (flowers fine, tomatoes - no good!).

Parking a commercial vehicle on or near your property.

Storing major tools or inventory in your house.

Meeting customers or clients at your house.

Constructing out-buildings or erecting equipment used in connection with a business.

A lot of people today are being forced to retool into lines of work they never imagined. Living in an HOA neighborhood won?t help you do that if you decide that you want to start a cleaning business, a home remodeling business, a sales operation, a landscaping business, or if you want to become a truck driver.

HOA neighborhoods are conducive to people in a very narrow career range. It?s important to understand the implications of this if you are facing a decision to buy a house in an HOA neighborhood. Should you hit on hard times, or decide to enter a career or business that is not consistent with the covenants and restrictions, the HOA can legally get in the way of your operation.

Your Recourse: Practically non-existent!

An attorney friend of mine here in Georgia told me that once you buy into an HOA neighborhood you have no choice but to go along with their rules. Not just the ones that exist when you move in, but any subsequent rules that are passed. In Georgia at least, and I suspect in many other states as well, HOAs have legal preference before the courts, not the least of which because you sign?in on?agreement with the covenants and restrictions at the time of closing (you have no choice, other than to not buy the house), signaling your willingness to comply. According to this attorney, legal challenges against HOAs typically don?t end well.

The unkindest cut is that they can impose a series of fines for non-compliance. These fines will increase in size the longer you fail to comply. They can then place a lien on your house, forcing you to pay out of the sale of the house. Presumably, they can block the sale if there isn?t enough equity to cover the fines, but my guess is that they?ll be happy to see you go and won?t let the unpaid fines stand in your way. But that won't stop them from obtaining an unsecured judgment against you after the fact.

While you may think that you can somehow insulate yourself from hostile action by your HOA by being a good neighbor, don?t count on it. Most of the HOA issues I?m familiar with were brought against people who were otherwise good and compliant neighbors.

HOAs and The People Factor

HOAs represent a level of government, one close enough to the ground to be manipulated by its participants. Not all of those participants have good intentions.

I?ll be accused of painting with a broad brush, but HOA boards are often collection points for the worst kinds of people who could be in charge. While I readily acknowledge that there are a lot of people serving on HOA boards who have the purest of intentions, there are plenty of the other kind. I?ve known some people who joined boards but got run off by the games.

Some examples of the kinds of people who are drawn to become HOA board members:

People who have political aspirations, and see an HOA board membership as a springboard.

People who are looking for an extracurricular activity ? particularly one of rank and responsibility ? to add to their business resume.

People who thrive on popularity and being the center of attention.

People who have an ax to grind with a neighbor, and join the board so that they can do something about it.

People who want to set the rules but not obey them. (Our HOA had a restriction on unleashed pets, but the HOA treasurer let his dog run the neighborhood freely early every morning.)

Control freaks - people with an abiding need to be in charge.

People who like being part of ?the clique?, which the HOA board often is.

Unfortunately, many or most of these personalities tend to be of like-mind, which makes disputing the board?s actions mostly a waste of time. A popular radio personality here in Atlanta once ranted about HOAs, saying they?re elitist at the core, and I have to agree. As I said earlier, the primary goal is to increase property values, which doesn?t leave much room for neighborly interaction. It can be surprising and shocking how ?official? they can be when carrying out board agenda. It?s as if they aren?t even your neighbors, but more like precinct overseers.

Here?s another complication to ponder about HOAs, but this one has nothing to do with the board - HOAs are made to order for resident complaining neighbors. Every neighborhood has at least one ? that person who believes that it?s their duty to make sure that everyone in the neighborhood ?behaves?.

It could also be someone who has a specific bone to pick with you, and decides to turn you into the board whenever possible. That person usually makes a part-time career of studying and understanding the covenants and restrictions, so that he or she can pull them out against an unsatisfactory neighbor at any time. They won?t bring their concerns to you - they?ll go to the board, where they can complain anonymously. And like it or not, the board will usually side with whoever?s doing the complaining.

In a strange, twisted way, HOAs can feed neurotic behavior.

Swimming against the tide

Most people assume the best when it comes to HOAs - that is, until they have a conflict with the board. Only then do they realize the true extent of what they?ve signed themselves up for. By then, it?s usually too late. It?s then that you come to realize that HOA neighborhoods are not democracies.

I realize that most people have a favorable view of HOA neighborhoods, not the least of which because rising property values are considered the Holy Grail of homeownership in America. But if any of the issues I?ve listed above will be a concern to you, or if you?re at least a bit of a nonconformist, or if you have any career aspirations beyond the white-collar corporate cubicle, you might do well to avoid HOA neighborhoods if you possibly can.

And you usually can.
Have you had any negative experiences in an HOA neighborhood?
( Photo by MyBiggestFan )

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Why You Should Avoid Buying in HOA Neighborhoods

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A couple of weeks ago I ran a post, Do You Ever REALLY Own Your Home, in which I challenged the assumption that you actually enjoy true ownership, in the traditional sense. I cited limited property use restrictions, heavy economic use restrictions, the potential for legal attachment, and increasingly burdensome property taxes as factors eroding true homeownership.

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I can't imagine it's too difficult to not live in debt, so I think I'll have an okay time.

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Recently paid off those lingering credit card balances? Finally made your last payment on your student loans? Perhaps you've recently opened a credit card but aren't sure how to stay out of debt while using it to build your credit history.

Financial advice often stresses the importance of spending less than you earn - but it doesn't always explain how to stay out of debt in the long-run.

Here are six habits anyone can apply to their financial life to help stay debt-free.

1. Manage credit card balances based on cash on hand.

Credit cards may be synonymous with the phrase "buy now, pay later" but it pays to make sure you have the cash on hand that you could theoretically use to make a purchase before you put it on plastic.

This strategy empowers you to enjoy the benefits of credit cards (including the potential to earn rewards, including cash back on purchases) while ensuring you won't be faced with a credit card balance you can't pay in full.

2. Monitor spending with a self-imposed credit limit.

The amount of your credit line you use compared to the amount of credit available (called the credit utilization ratio) is an important factor in your credit score calculation.

There is no specific ratio that causes a person's credit score to drop, but it's a good idea to keep your credit use relatively low. Aside from the positive impact this could have on your credit score, it forces you to stay aware of your credit card balance, and to be mindful about spending.

3. Limit housing expenses.

A 2016 analysis by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University indicates that an increasing number of Americans technically qualify as "severely cost-burdened," defined by monthly housing expenses that account for at least half of their monthly take-home pay.

When living expenses take up at least half of a person's paycheck, the researchers explain, they are often forced to make financial sacrifices in areas like health care and retirement savings, and are more likely to fall into debt.

4. Pay yourself first.

More than half of Americans don't have $500 saved to cover an emergency expense. A basic premise behind how to stay out of debt is having savings you can rely on if you're faced with an unexpected expense. At minimum, experts recommend you build an emergency savings fund that could cover three to six months of basic expenses (and, potentially, as much as one year's worth depending on your level of job security).

Make automatic contributions to a savings account earmarked for emergencies from every paycheck, even if you can only afford to save a little bit of cash at a time.

5. Make it your mission to avoid unnecessary fees.

Consumers collectively paid their financial institutions more than $11 billion in overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees in 2015, reports the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Further, a survey revealed that the most common credit card fees include those for late payments, cash advances, returned payments and balance transfers.

Be sure to read the cardholder agreement and terms and conditions for your financial accounts so you're aware of the fees associated with them. For example, many credit cards offer a grace period on new purchases; you could avoid paying finance charges when you pay the balance for that statement in full by the payment due date.

Credit card balances associated with balance transfers and cash advances may not offer a grace period, and could include additional transaction fees. If you don't understand the potential fees associated with different financial transactions, contact your bank or credit card issuer and ask before you take action.

6. Don't give your budget a raise.

The challenge of how to stay out of debt isn't associated with your income so much as it is your ability to avoid spending more, once your earning power increases. Got a raise, bonus, tax refund or cost of living increase? Put it directly into an account that pays interest; it may help you grow the value of your cash.

Not only does this strategy help you work toward financial goals beyond how to stay out of debt, but also by limiting your expenses, you increase the likelihood that you will remain debt-free for life.

Legal Disclaimer: This site is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for professional advice. The material on this site is not intended to provide legal, investment, or financial advice and does not indicate the availability of any Discover product or service. It does not guarantee that Discover offers or endorses a product or service. For specific advice about your unique circumstances, you may wish to consult a qualified professional.

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Six Tips On How To Stay Out of Debt | Discover

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Recently paid off those lingering credit card balances? Finally made your last payment on your student loans? Perhaps you've recently opened a credit card but aren't sure how to stay out of debt while using it to build your credit history.

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Fix everything I don't like about my car

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Fix everything I don't like about my car

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It's fifteen years old, so there's some work that needs to be done.

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Get into a field of work that I find enjoyable.

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Get into a field of work that I find enjoyable.

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This is long-term because an enjoyable field of work is far out of reach for somebody in high school.

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You are not alone. The fact is-lonely and isolating though it may feel-job unhappiness is the norm. Gallup's State of the American Workplace 2014 reveals that a mere 31.5% of people feel truly engaged in their work. This data point is sadly optimistic, as the highest measure since they began tracking this performance statistic in 2000.

Yes, it's important to be self-critical, but the real question we should be asking ourselves is:
What am I doing to change this?
How do you join the 31.5%? It isn't easy, but the worst thing you can do is nothing. Like most things that matter, career love takes... well, work. Follow these seven steps* to discover a career you love.

*Note: this isn't a checklist. These seven will require constant reevaluation and optimization throughout your career.

How to find a career you love:

Start with introspection

If you're saying to yourself I need a new career, stop to reflect on what it is that's keeping you in your current rut? Can you envision a scenario in which your current job might work for you? Is that scenario a realistic possibility? If you enjoy your role, but you butt heads with your manager, you may not need a full-on career overhaul-a lateral move may do the trick. If your discontent is rooted in your industry or your specific job function, you'll need to be proactive about identifying what type of role or organization may make a better fit.
Ask yourself these questions:

If money weren't an issue, what would I do?

What type of role or mission would I be excited to tell my friends and family about?

What makes me most curious?

What do I do best?

What am I most passionate about?

What projects (paid, volunteer, or school-oriented) have I most enjoyed working on and why?

What kind of work environment do I thrive in? (Collaborative or autonomous? Do I need clear structure, or can I be scrappy in an ambiguous environment?)

Whatever you do, don't let a lack of clarity paralyze you from moving forward. The key is to make an educated guess about what jobs you may enjoy, and then seek out activities and conversations that will teach you more about those roles. If you don't find these activities and conversations engaging, you go on and try something else.

To learn more about what kind of work environments you'll thrive in, read Corporate or Startup: Where Should You Start Your Career?

Figure out what motivates you

This ties to #1. Chances are, if you were unhappy in your last job, your greatest motivating factors in that job were emotional pressure (disappointment, guilt, shame, fear), economic pressure (the money was good), or inertia (you kept doing it because you'd been doing it for so long).

According to The Reasons We Work by Shane Parrish (based on a book by Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor), direct motivators-motives that tie directly to the work itself-typically bring out our best performance. The closer our reason for working is to our actual job, the more engaged we'll be.

There are three direct motivators:

Potential: Another step further away is potential-we work because it will eventually lead to something we believe is important, such as a long-term career goal.

As you explore career opportunities, keep these three P's in mind. Will this job function tap into your passions and curiosity? Will the mission align with your own sense of purpose? Will the role set you on a path toward your career goals?

If you accept a job for the fourth "P"-paycheck-you're likely to end up where you started: disenchanted.

Develop your personal brand

Your personal brand is your professional identity and how you package it. This is an important part of positioning yourself to find a career you love. Just as a company's brand identity encompasses everything from their logo and messaging to their customer service, your personal brand is the sum total of your interests and expertise, what it's like to work with you, your digital presence, and more.

If you've been out of the job market for a while or working in an industry that's late-in-coming to digital trends, you may need to dust the cobwebs off of your your brand by tightening up your LinkedIn profile, launching a website or blog, or joining the Twittersphere.

Identify a "board of advisors"

Some would tell you to seek out a mentor, but you should never rely on only one person for all career advice. Also, if you approach this one person for counsel on every challenge, you risk burning them out.

Instead, curate a group of people with a variety of perspectives. Choose people who you trust and respect, and who are more advanced in their careers (i.e. not your peers). These may be senior coworkers, but you should also pursue people beyond your company and job function. Don't expect a new connection to become your advisor overnight, and don't force the relationship. Nurture your relationships to see how they develop.

Reach out to these people for advice during key challenges and crossroads (don't ping any one of them too frequently). Share your answers to the questions above, and listen carefully (and critically) to what they have to say. Above all, be sure to close the feedback loop. Say thank you, and follow up with the people who helped you to let them know how things turn out. These people will only continue to share advice if they are also get value from the relationship, and knowing that their insights haven't disappeared into your inbox abyss is a huge part of that value.

Build your network

A powerful network is key to finding the right opportunity. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics report that at least 70% of jobs are found through networking. Why? More often than not, company leadership, hiring managers, and recruiters will rely heavily on their networks and past interactions; preferring to find what they need organically before ever posting the job.

A strong network will allow you to:

As you seek a more fulfilling career path, begin by prioritizing learning about other industries, companies, and job functions over finding actual job openings. Do your homework. Talk to people. When you meet someone doing something interesting, dig in to learn more.

Above all, be human. Strong and sustainable relationships are two-way streets. Offer to help others wherever you can.

Fine-tune your elevator pitch

Develop a 30-second elevator pitch so that, when it comes time to talk about yourself, you can help people help you. Share your strengths and passions. If you know what type of role you're looking for, say so. This way, your connection will have you in mind if a relevant opportunity comes up.

Remember: there are lots of ways to tell your story. You need to find the way that best positions you for the roles and companies you want to attract. Try different narratives on for size and observe peoples' interest and reactions as you speak. In your elevator pitch, connect the dots for your audience, demonstrating how your previous experience and career has led you to want to explore this new path. Above all keep it positive-focus on where you're headed, and what excites you.

These articles can help you to craft the perfect elevator pitch:

Gain relevant experience and skills

The purpose here is two-fold. This will, of course, beef up your resume-especially important for career changers who are trying to reposition themselves for a new job or industry. While your work experience may tell a niche narrative, additional volunteer experience, freelance work, career skills trainings, or active membership in a meetup group will broaden that story.

Of equal or more importance, stepping outside of your usual wheelhouse to try new things is an opportunity to test the hypotheses you made in step #1. While you're out building your network, find people who are doing the jobs that you think you may be into, and ask them what other events you should attend or if there's a project that you can help them with. The closer you can get to the actual roles you're interested in, the better sense you'll have for them.

Finally, don't compromise (or, know what you can compromise on).

Truly committing yourself to each of these steps requires a massive investment of emotional and mental energy. If you've put that work in (and remember, the work is never done), you're already ahead of the curve and on your way to finding a career you love.

The daily grind in a job you hate can be torturous. Unemployment is torturous as well (I know, I've been there). It can be tempting to take the first offer you're given.

To whatever extent you can afford it- don't compromise.

You know what interests you, you know what motivates you, and you have the skills and resources you need to find your perfect career. Persevere, and aim to land among that 31.5%.

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A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding a Career You Love | Startup Institute

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You are not alone. The fact is-lonely and isolating though it may feel-job unhappiness is the norm. Gallup's State of the American Workplace 2014 reveals that a mere 31.5% of people feel truly engaged in their work. This data point is sadly optimistic, as the highest measure since they began tracking this performance statistic in 2000.

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Find a university with programs that fit my needs

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Find a university with programs that fit my needs

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This goal is being set to make sure I can eventually obtain a degree (or certifications) to assist me in my future field of work without leaving me far into debt for 10+ years afterward.

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My GPA has slipped unfortunately low already, and I would like it to remain at least where it is for the time being.

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Do you find yourself wondering why you need a 4.0 GPA? We see this in high school and we know that we need a 4.0 or higher GPA to get a scholarship or to help us get into college, but after you are in the college of your choice, why do you need a 4.0 GPA?

The most important reason for having a high GPA in college is to keep your financial aid (FA). Most FA policies require at least a 2.0 GPA to keep your FA benefits.

Another important reason for having a higher GPA is that employers look at that number when they are considering you for a new career. It is on the transcript that will be requested by your new potential employer when you are applying or interviewing for that dream job.

Most companies want the top performers in college, and they measure that based on your GPA.

Listed below are 5 ways to help you maintain a high GPA while in college:

1. Go to class. If you are on campus or online, it is important to make time for your classes. Do not let any excuse keep you from going to class.

2. Get organized. Always know when your assignments and quizzes are due. Work ahead to keep yourself from ever getting behind. It is so easy to get behind, but so hard to get caught back up. Things you should organize include: class schedules, notes, study time, reading assignments, and handouts.

3. Get some sleep. Although it's good to spend a fair amount of time studying before a test, it is just as important to get enough sleep. Sleep improves concentration, solidifies what you have learned and improves your ability to organize and recall information.

4. 4. Ask about your grades. Always ask about any grade that you are questioning. Be polite, and do not demand that the grade be changed. This will get you nowhere. Remember it is your responsibility to earn your grade and to fight for those extra points if you feel it is warranted.

5. Set a GPA goal and reward yourself. It is important to set a realistic goal for each semester. Always set the bar high, but not so high that it can't be attained. Reward yourself in some way for reaching the goal and then keep going!

College is not easy. It takes so much more work than high school did, but with a little determination and few tips form the list above, you will be top of the class in no time.

Keep in mind that your GPA is important and will follow you for the rest of your life. Keep working hard, and striving for a higher GPA. It is worth the extra effort and the sacrifice of a few Friday nights to earn a higher GPA in college!

Interested in learning more about continuing your education and earning that higher GPA yourself? Check out what all we offer!
By: Misty Green

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How To Maintain a High GPA in College - Community Care College

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Do you find yourself wondering why you need a 4.0 GPA? We see this in high school and we know that we need a 4.0 or higher GPA to get a scholarship or to help us get into college, but after you are in the college of your choice, why do you need a 4.0 GPA?

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I plan on graduating senior year as soon as possible so I can maintain full-time work, saving for future schooling.