Student advocates are saying that colleges must help protect their students from credit problems.

Colleges have allowed for years now, aggressive and often deceptive credit-card-marketing campaigns on their campuses.  Credit card companies often are allowed to set up booths in campus bookstores, including advertisements for their cards in the welcome packets and are allowed to advertise on campus.  Some colleges even provide the contact information of their student body to the banks and receive a fee for doing so.

What do you think?

Well, the Federation of State public Interest Research Groups is urging the administrators at the different colleges to take an active role in determining the type of credit-card marketing allowed on their campuses.  The Federation believes that college students are victims of unfair credit-card-marketing practices that they think they can stop.

Looking for ideas to make your New Year’s Eve special? Take a look at some traditions from around the world.

Get Your Year Off to a “Grape” Start

When in Spain, do what the Spaniards do — or in this case bring the Spanish New Year’s tradition to your home. Invite some friends for a late dinner. In Spain, that’s 9 p.m. at the earliest! Before midnight, bring out the dessert — bunches of grapes. Eat one grape with each toll of the midnight bells. This old tradition is thought to bring good luck.

Get Rid of Your Faults and Bad Luck

It’s a tradition in Colombia, South America, to build a dummy representing the Año Nuevo (the old year). It’s made out of bits of old clothing from each family member and stuffed with straw and firecrackers. On a piece of paper, every family member writes a fault or a bit of bad luck that they want to get rid of. Exactly at midnight, Año Nuevo is set on fire and burns until nothing but ashes is left. That’s when all of the old year’s bad luck and faults disappear.

Your neighbors may think you’re nuts if you and your family burn a straw effigy in the middle of the street on New Year’s Eve. But you can bring this tradition down to size. Here’s how.

Make a small Año Nuevo out of sturdy paper or cardboard. “Dress” it by drawing clothes on it or gluing on scraps of old clothing from each family member. Everyone writes their faults and bad luck on a piece of paper. At midnight, tear Año Nuevo into shreds. Or, if you have a fire going in your fireplace (and this should only be done with adult supervision), burn Año Nuevo like the Columbians do (but minus the firecrackers). While Año Nuevo is being destroyed, read the list of faults and bad luck out loud. They’ll all go up in smoke with Año Nuevo.

Let Them Eat Cake and a Coin Too

It’s a Greek tradition to serve Vasilopita (New Year’s Bread) at midnight. This special bread is baked with a coin or charm hidden inside. The head of the household cuts the bread exactly at midnight and whoever receives the piece with the coin will have good fortune throughout the year. So spend the day baking Vasilopita with your kids and at midnight, welcome in the New Year with a sweet treat. Happy hunting!

By:  Margy Davidson is producer for the FamilyEducation Network. She is married and a mother of two children. Ms. Davidson is also involved with the Special Education Parent Advisory Council in her hometown.

Age: Preschool through elementary
Time: 30 minutes or more
Type of activity: Language

Although many of us make individual goals for ourselves to start the New Year, making family goals is a very meaningful way to share your family’s values. This activity allows your child to have a hands-on role in your family’s decision-making process.

Materials needed:
· Paper
· Pen, pencil, or markers
· Post-it notes

What to Do:

Step One: Discuss what a goal is with your child. Tell her about goals you have set for yourself and why having goals is important to you. Be sure to give her concrete examples, as younger children will find this idea hard to follow.

Step Two: Discuss what a good goal for your family would be. (For example, you could decide to be more charitable to a neighbor or friend in need. Or, you could decide to just be more patient with each other.) Let your kids help brainstorm a list of goals to choose from. Remind them that there are no bad suggestions when you are brainstorming. Then set a family goal. You may decide on only one goal, or you may choose a few.

Step Three: Write your family goals on a piece of paper. Then, write the steps your family will need to take in order to reach the goal. Do this for each goal you have set. You may want to change goals every few months in order to keep them fresh.

Step Four: Post your goals on the family bulletin board or refrigerator. Every time a family member achieves a step toward a goal, write “Good Work” and the person’s name on a post-it, and stick it on the list. This will generate both positive feedback for your loved one and continued discussion about the goal.

1. Growing Pains (Bonus Track)  Mary J. Blige
2. Noel, Josh Groban
3. Lupe Fiasco’s the Cool (Deluxe Version)
4. The B-Side Collection (Maroon 5)
5. Little Voice,  Sara Bareilles
6. Alvin and the Chipmunks (Movie Track)
7. Dreaming Out Loud (Bonus Track Version), One Republic
8. As I Am, Alicia Keys
9. Let It Snow!  Michael Buble
10. The Makings of a Man, Jaheim

The perfect gift for music lovers in your life – iTunes gift certificates 

It’s easy to recognize when you’re physically tired. You haven’t slept normally in days or even weeks. You can’t remember the last time you saw the inside of a gym.  And enough caffeine is racing through your bloodstream to keep a small elephant alert.

When your motivation is down, the effects can be worse than physical tiredness. You can’t concentrate, you procrastinate and become as lazy as possible. What’s worse, it is hard to tell that a motivation recharge is what you need.

Why You Might Need a Motivation Boost

I think at this point it is important to distinguish between needing an occasional motivating boost, and constantly needing to motivate yourself. If constant motivation is necessary for you to complete anything, you probably lack the intrinsic motivation of satisfying work. Recharging your enthusiasm can’t make up for a lousy job.

But even the most energetic and inspired people can go through a dry patch where their motivation falters. Here’s just a few potential reasons:

1. Negative feedback. I’d be lying if I felt the same after reading a piece of harsh criticism than glowing praise. I’m sure you probably feel the same. A few harsh blows to your ego can cause waning motivation in all but the most stoic and enlightened human beings.
2. Disappointment and failures. We can be our own worst critics. Just as a big win can fill you with enthusiasm, a big mistake can dampen your motivation.
3. Routines, habits and missing goals. Spending weeks doing the same things repeatedly can make it easy to lose sight of why you started doing them in the first place. Zig Ziglar once said that motivating was like bathing. It isn’t permanent, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t insist upon doing it.
4. Stress and frustration. I know people who were excellent students but did horribly on tests right after a break-up. Sometimes an upset in one area can reduce your motivation in another area, even if it is otherwise enjoyable.

Creating a Motivation Recharge Minute, Hour or Day

The headline of this article suggests creating a motivation recharge day. I find this can be useful to take time going over all of your goals, reviewing your progress and planning for the future. The effect on your motivation can be incredible. But the times you feel the least motivated are often the times you have the most pressing commitments. An entire day might not be possible.

I’ve found you can inject a bit of motivation into a few minutes or an hour. The effect won’t be as powerful as taking an entire day to recharge, but it can still be helpful. Here are some tips for how to recharge your motivation:

1. Dissect Solvable Problems - Is your motivation waning because of a problem in another area of life? If that is the case, ask yourself whether the problem has a fast solution. If it does, the best way to fix your motivation is to fix the problem. This could be talking to a friend you had a fight with or sorting out a disorganized room.
2. Avoid Impossible Problems - There are some problems that can’t be solved, or aren’t worth the effort to do so. Losing your wallet, making a bad first impression or messing up a presentation can’t be fixed, so trying to solve them will probably have the opposite effect.
3. Listen to Audio Tapes - Are a lot of self-help tapes nothing but common sense wrapped up in an emotionally satisfying package? Probably. But that emotionally satisfying package can still be useful if it helps build your enthusiasm. Zig Ziglar, Tony Robbins, Brian Tracy and many others have motivational tapes which can get your ideas going again. Hopefully reading this post can get your ideas going.
4. Read “Lifehack” Blogs - There are plenty of blogs dedicated to sefl-improvement including lifehack.org. Getting a few snippets of good ideas can get your motivation flowing again.
5. Review Your Goals - Go over all of your goals. Go over how you plan to achieve them and spend time thinking about what they consist of. It is easy to lose sight of your overall direction when you’re caught up with a daily routine. This is also the time to make corrections and plan new goals if your old direction doesn’t suit you anymore.
6. Get an Energy Donation - Spend time with people that make you feel motivated and good about yourself. I don’t suggest spending all your time with a personal cheerleading team. That might lead to missing important information that might be negative. But being around people who are positive and can get your ideas flowing again can boost you out of a motivation deficit.
7. Avoid Energy Vampires - Brad from 30sleeps calls people who drain your motivation, “energy vampires”. Avoid these people like the plague. Having people who can deliver bad news is important, but otherwise don’t spend time with these people. If you are forced to be with these vampires because of a work or school environment, then at least dedicate a few days to avoid them while you recover your motivation.
8. Have a Project-Kill Day - Sometimes the best way to recharge your motivation is to accomplish something meaningful. I’ve found setting aside a day to accomplish more than usual (waking up early, getting done several major tasks right in the morning, etc.) can rebuild the faith you have in your abilities.

About Author: Scott Young is a university student who writes about productivity, habits and self-improvement. Scott has been featured on the Be Happy Dammit! Show.