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Singapore's Private Tutoring Boom Reveals the Hidden Cost of Success

Singapore's Private Tutoring Boom Reveals the Hidden Cost of Success

Bloomberg5 days ago

Three minutes was all Leshane Lim gave herself to scarf down food as she rushed between private tutoring classes. In the midst of school-entry examinations, the then 16-year-old Singaporean was cramming feverishly, scheduling three after-hours sessions every day, back to back. With her options for future schools and ultimately her career path on the line, the stakes seemed high.
'I used to think it was the end of the world,' said Lim, now 18. 'I put myself in that position because I wanted to do well.'

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You May Need to Resubmit Your Student Loan IDR Plan Application. Here's Why
You May Need to Resubmit Your Student Loan IDR Plan Application. Here's Why

CNET

time30 minutes ago

  • CNET

You May Need to Resubmit Your Student Loan IDR Plan Application. Here's Why

If Mohela is your student loan servicer, you may need to reapply for an income-driven repayment plan. Designer491/Getty Images/CNET An income-driven repayment plan can offer you a more affordable student loan payment. But if you applied for an IDR plan before April 27, 2025, and your servicer is Mohela, you may need to reapply. Mohela posted on its website that IDR applications before this date didn't include your income information and would be automatically canceled. If you're already on an IDR plan like SAVE and you applied to change plans before this date, you'll also have to resubmit your application. Borrowers who applied for an IDR after April 27 don't need to reapply. Your loans may be placed into a temporary forbearance while your application is processed. Last year, the US Department of Education paused processing for IDR plans while the legality of one of them, the Saving on a Valuable Education plan, was being weighed by the courts. At one point last fall, online applications for IDR plans were even taken down from the website. IDR processing resumed in November of 2024. This year, IDR plans were paused again in March and reopened in April. Mohela is one of several student loan servicers contracted to handle federal student loans for the Department of Education. Here's how to find out if Mohela is your servicer, how to resubmit your IDR application, and more options for borrowers enrolled in SAVE. How to find out if Mohela is your servicer If you're enrolled in SAVE, chances are you may not have logged in to your student loan account since before the pandemic. Between all the payment pauses and servicer changes over the past five years, you might not know who your current servicer is. You can find out by logging in to your Federal Student Aid account at Once you're logged in, you'll be able to view all your loans, your repayment status and your servicer information. How to resubmit an income-driven repayment plan application You can apply for an income-driven repayment plan online at the financial aid office of the Department of Education. Here are the steps you'll need to follow: Go to IDR plan request page. Select either "Apply for an Income-Driven Repayment Plan" or "Recertify or Change Your Income-Driven Repayment Plan." Log in to your Federal Student Aid account. Confirm your contact information, like your address, email address and phone number. Select "continue" when you're finished. You'll see which loans are eligible for an IDR plan. Select "continue" to proceed. The next few pages will ask you to confirm personal information, such as your marital status and family size. Confirm the number of dependents you have and your income information. You'll need to provide proof of income, such as a W-2, paystub or bank statement. You'll be able to review the different IDR plans you're eligible for and select one. You can weigh different options and payment scenarios using the FSA loan simulator. Review your information and confirm and certify your application. Hit "continue" to submit your application. Should SAVE borrowers move to a new IDR plan? Though the SAVE repayment plan has been shuttered, you don't have to move to a new IDR plan at this time. Currently, your payments remain paused during the administrative forbearance. Experts recommend using this downtime to explore other IDR options, like the income-based repayment plan, income-contingent repayment plan or the Pay as You Earn plan. If you're working toward debt relief through the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program or a similar program, then it may make sense to change IDR plans so you can hit your 120 payment goal faster. If you're enrolled in the PSLF and would've hit your payment total if not for the current payment pause, you can apply for the PSLF buyback program instead of switching IDRs. This program may allow you to make the remaining payments required to reach the debt forgiveness status on your federal loans.

What Is Farming? Hawaii Moves To Broaden Allowed Agricultural Uses
What Is Farming? Hawaii Moves To Broaden Allowed Agricultural Uses

Associated Press

time2 hours ago

  • Associated Press

What Is Farming? Hawaii Moves To Broaden Allowed Agricultural Uses

Strings of cages are submerged in the slightly salty waters at Ron Weidenbach's North Shore fish farm, each home to 100 growing tilapia destined for Oʻahu restaurants and tanks in Chinatown fish stores. On a recent morning, students from Waipahu High School cleaned tanks and dropped juvenile fish into the farm's large pond as the 77-year-old talked to them about the power of aquaculture to help feed Hawaiʻi. But while Weidenbach runs his fish farm legally on land he leases from the state, inviting a bunch of students required special permission. The Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture plans to overhaul its rules this summer to allow more than just agricultural production on 25,000 acres under a new agricultural enterprise lands program. Education is among the permitted activities under consideration, along with tourism, food hubs, farmers markets, livestock feed mills and slaughterhouses. The public will have the opportunity to weigh in during public hearings starting early next month. 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'It's almost like going back to the old American family farm,' Weidenbach said. 'Timber on the back 40, a pond for the cattle, gardens nearby for household use and your wheat or your corn for your staple crop.' In Hawaiʻi, the cattle, trees and staple crops might be replaced by different things but the idea of diverse income sources remains, creating more financial security for farmers. 'The term I have seen used is 'layering of income',' Sen. Tim Richards, a rancher, said. 'For instance, if you're raising cattle underneath wind turbines, you're actually producing two different income streams on the same piece of land.' The Hawaiʻi Board of Agriculture must approve the changes. At a meeting late last month its members discussed concerns that tenants may try to take things too far outside the realm of agriculture, such as creating agricultural tourism activities like zip-lines or drag racing. Such activities would be 'the bridge too far' and 'totally rogue,' Hurd said. 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HopSkipDrive Launches Specialty Transportation, Offering Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle Rides, New Rider Assistants, and Car Seat Program to Support Entirety of Schools' Transportation Needs
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Yahoo

time8 hours ago

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HopSkipDrive Launches Specialty Transportation, Offering Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle Rides, New Rider Assistants, and Car Seat Program to Support Entirety of Schools' Transportation Needs

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"Rising chronic absenteeism rates make clear that existing school transportation industry options leave behind students with unique needs." With more than 5 million rides across 95 million safe miles completed on its platform, HopSkipDrive continues to raise the bar for student transportation. The company supports over 600 school districts by supplementing yellow buses with a network of extensively vetted CareDrivers — local caregivers on wheels — through a care-centered transportation marketplace. With the launch of these three new transportation offerings this fall, HopSkipDrive will provide schools and school districts with even more resources, all backed by rigorous safety standards and industry-leading Safe Ride TechnologyTM. Transportation teams can use HopSkipDrive's ride management platform, RideIQ, to easily and simply book, track, and manage all rides in one place, and staff can get full visibility with Daily Queue, which provides a customized view for all HopSkipDrive rides for students at their school location. Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicles and Rider Assistants Following a successful pilot earlier this year, HopSkipDrive is expanding the availability of Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle rides and Rider Assistants to all cities in which the company operates. These rides are fulfilled by CarePartners™, local professionals who undergo HopSkipDrive's rigorous and comprehensive certification process, including name- and fingerprint-based background checks, clearing child abuse and neglect screenings where available, and enrolling in continuous criminal monitoring. Like all CareDrivers, they complete HopSkipDrive onboarding and a virtual orientation course. CarePartner drivers for Wheelchair-Accessible Vehicle rides also undergo driving record screens, vehicle inspections, and more. To meet the needs of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and those who thrive most when an additional adult is in the vehicle, HopSkipDrive offers a Rider Assistant for schools to book to join the CareDriver or CarePartner driver on the ride. The Rider Assistant will provide informed and compassionate support for the rider when needed. HopSkipDrive continues to lead in forward-thinking safety measures by directly managing driver and Rider Assistant vetting, onboarding, and compliance. This unique approach sets HopSkipDrive apart in the student transportation industry, offering schools valuable features such as the Safe Ride Support® system and enhanced Must Be Met process to support the development of new rider services all delivered with the company's signature tracking and notification systems. Car Seat Program In select cities, schools and school districts can select HopSkipDrive's car seat program for students whose height and weight, typically between the ages of four to six, require a car seat. CareDrivers can only opt in to fulfill these rides after completing comprehensive car seat safety education and using only the forward-facing car seat model approved by HopSkipDrive and Safe Kids Worldwide, the leading organization for childhood injury prevention. HopSkipDrive collaborated with the industry's leading child safety experts to design and develop the safest possible ride experience. Britney Lombard, who has spent more than a decade as a Safe Kids Worldwide certified Child Passenger Safety Instructor and performed thousands of car seat checks during her tenure, now leads HopSkipDrive's car seat program. The HopSkipDrive Safety Advisory Council, composed of six leading experts in transportation safety, also played a key role in advising the development of the car seat program to confirm protocols meet the highest standards in the industry. Compliance is a core principle of the car seat program. Ahead of the implementation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's new safety standards, HopSkipDrive proactively selected a car seat model that goes above and beyond these requirements in consultation with the company's expert advisors. Safety Leadership, Including In-Ride Recording HopSkipDrive continues to invest in leading the industry in safety with over 50 products, features, and initiatives woven throughout the ride experience. Over the past year, the company announced nearly a dozen new safety initiatives, including offering in-ride cameras through Safe Ride InSight.™ Schools and school districts can request dashcam recording for rides with CareDrivers who have installed SafeRide InSight, which combines visual monitoring with audio recording. HopSkipDrive uses this technology along with advanced telematics to create a solution that's unmatched in the student transportation industry. First piloted in Arizona and Colorado, the company is continuing to scale this technology to additional markets over the coming months. Learn more about HopSkipDrive at About HopSkipDrive HopSkipDrive is a technology company that solves complex transportation challenges where there is a heightened need for safety, access, and care. HopSkipDrive is modernizing the $30 billion school transportation industry through two core solutions: a care-centered transportation marketplace and industry-leading transportation intelligence platform, RouteWise AI™. HopSkipDrive's marketplace supplements school buses and existing transportation options by connecting kids to highly vetted caregivers on wheels, such as grandparents, babysitters, and nurses in local communities. RouteWise AI helps schools and districts address critical challenges, including budget cuts, bus driver shortages, and reaching climate goals. HopSkipDrive has supported over 10,000 schools across 17 states, with over 600 school district partners. More than 5 million rides over 95 million miles have been completed through HopSkipDrive since the company was founded in 2014 by three working mothers. View source version on Contacts Media Contact: press@

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