education

Studying a foreign language could make you smarter. According to a study from the University of Chicago, people make more rational decisions when thinking in a foreign language, because it forces us to use the more analytical side of our brains.

If you're looking to learn a language, you could certainly do worse than Spanish. It's the third most-spoken language in the world, and Hispanics make up more than 16 percent of the US population. So, in honor of Cinco de Mayo, here are five tools I've found super helpful in my quest to learn Spanish as an adult.

• App: Larousse Spanish-English Dictionary ($4.99) The free Spanish-English dictionary apps I tried left a lot to be desired, and this $5 app is well worth the price. It quickly translates almost any word from my phone, and it also has tons of verb conjugations — a must have for beginners! Plus I can do my homework on the go.
• Podcast: Discover Spanish (free) This series of 10-minute Spanish lessons is great for travelers, because it teaches commonly used phrases while also explaining a bit of the grammar, so you're more likely to remember. It's also a great supplement to in-person Spanish lessons. After a while, I found the hilarious music and overly enthusiastic host "Johnny Spanish" quite endearing.

Three more Spanish tools after the break.

There are clear advantages to going to college, especially with career advancement. The US Census Bureau said today that in the fourth quarter of 2011, the average college graduate in America made three times more than someone who didn't graduate from high school.

But if pricey student loans are holding you back, here are some instances (other than the income-based repayment programs that cancel out your debt after 25 years) when some of your student debt may be forgiven:

• Serve for AmeriCorps for 12 months or volunteer 1,700 hours of service for Volunteers in Service to America and get up to $4,725 toward your Stafford loans.
• Army National Guard students have a Student Loan Repayment Program that can help repay up to $10,000 toward their loans.
• Volunteers for the Peace Corps will be eligible for partial cancellation of up to 70 percent of their Perkins loans — you get 15 percent for each year of service.
• If you are employed by a federal agency, it may repay up to $10,000 of your loans every year through the Federal Student Loan Repayment Program. The maximum amount it can repay is capped at $60,000.
• Certain public service jobs may forgive the rest of your student loan debt after 120 monthly payments (equivalent to 10 years) under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007.

Read on for more.

Just because you haven't had a vocabulary quiz since the eighth grade doesn't mean you can't keep expanding your word knowledge. Discovering new words can help give meaning to the world around us, and learning is always fun, no matter what the age. Here, some easy, breezy ways to enlarge your lexicon.

• Use apps: While you can go the traditional learning route with dictionaries and flash cards, the great thing about apps is that you can learn while you're out or on the go. There are many out there, but comprehensive ones like Vocabulary HD let you choose word sets based on your learning level, offer quizzes to test your knowledge, and even give pronunciation help. If that sounds like too much to get started, opt for simpler, straightforward apps like Vocabology — Word of the Day.
• Play games: Become a walking thesaurus by having some fun. Many word games that might not exactly be geared toward expanding vocabulary — like Scrabble or crossword puzzles — will challenge you to recall words you may have forgotten or force you to look them up yourself when you're competing with someone else.
• Latin or Greek: Another great way to learn new words is to get back to their roots. Becoming familiar with Latin and Greek prefixes, suffixes, and roots will only help you because so many English words are based off of them. Anomal, for example, which comes from Greek and means "uneven," has spawned words like anomaly and abnormal.
• Read: Perhaps one of the most powerful ways to digest new words is to read, read, read. If you stop at words you're not familiar with — and look them up — while you're in the middle of a good book, it won't feel so much like a task as it will a hobby. Plus, you'll get context right then and there.
• Use the new words: This might be one of the few times the phrase "Use it or lose it" actually applies. When you don't use the new words you're learning, chances are you'll forget them as fast as you picked them up. Practice integrating them into your speech or emails. If you're afraid of sounding too formal in your everyday interactions, you might want to consider pairing up with a vocab buddy to learn together. Retention is key!

I'm expecting my first child in just a matter of weeks, and while I'm basking in the midst of baby showers and nursery color schemes, there are some much more serious issues that we will need to tackle as we move beyond her birth. Of course there's health insurance for her, life insurance for us, and a will, but a little planning now will also help us afford things like child care and college. Fortunately, Uncle Sam has put a few programs in place that allow parents to save for these major expenditures . . . and provide a nice tax break to boot!

Dependent Day Care FSA Account

Check with your employer to see if they offer a dependent day care flexible spending account, because you could be eligible to sock away up to $5,000 a year from your paycheck into a pre-tax account to be used for child-care expenses until your child turns 14. For families in the 25 percent federal tax bracket, this type of account allows you to save about $1,250 per year at the maximum contribution plus additional savings by avoiding Social Security and Medicare taxes.

There are a few important things to note about this program. First, both parents (or the parent in a single-parent household) must work. Second, if your spouse's company also offers a dependent care FSA, you are still capped at $5,000 in total family annual contributions. You also don't want to overestimate your expenses, since the money in the account won't roll over into the next year (and should you leave your job, you forfeit any unused contributions). Finally, the child-care expenses that you pay for through this spending account must be those that allow you and your spouse to work. So paying a babysitter while you spend a night at the movies doesn't count!

Keep reading for three more ways to save.

Paying for college can be a tricky financial situation, but Business Insider shares a way to put away money for college tuition.

What might be the most accessible and simplest way to save for college — a 529 savings plan — is typically one of the most widely misunderstood financial tools among consumers.

That all might be changing, however, given a new report by the College Savings Plans Network.

Related: Parents Are Using Rewards Credit Cards to Help Pay For College

Contributions to 529 plans have reached record growth levels, with a total of $179 billion saved in 11 million open accounts so far this year.

Growth has doubled since the same period last year, from $7.43 billion to $14.16 billion in new assets, the group says. The average account holds about $16,300.

This is exciting news and most likely a result of soaring tuition costs that look unlikely to drop anytime soon. A 529 plan is a simple tool parents or relatives can use to tuck away a college nest egg for high school graduates to use on related expenses after enrolling.

If you're in need of a 529 savings plan refresher, here's what you need to know:

What it is: In short, a 529 plan is a tax-free savings fund that can be set up for anyone heading to college. There are two main types: a prepaid tuition plan (the only kind higher education institutions can offer) and a savings fund, according to the College Savings Plan Network. Head over to CSPN's site to try their handy tool to compare the benefits of various plan features.

Read on for more.

College is a great goal for many students in their academic careers, but the thought of paying is not so fun. Kiplinger shares a few points to keep in mind when paying for college.

You've heard the stories about students who borrow $40,000, $60,000, $100,000 to get a college degree and discover upon graduation that the monthly payments are way too high to manage. And then there are parents who stretch to the breaking point to send their kid to a school they can't afford.

Unrealistic expectations, and the thrill of acceptance letters, can impel families to make decisions that may not only hurt their children's future but also impair their own. According to a recent report by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 10 percent of new grads have monthly loan payments that consume more than 25 percent of their income, and default rates have soared since 2008. Even more depressing, the New York Federal Reserve recently reported that more than two million people ages 60 and older are still paying down student debt.

You — and your kids — can avoid that fate if you steer clear of the mistakes that trip up families when they’re paying for college.

Read on for more.

Choosing a major in college can be stressful, but how important is your course of study? LearnVest shares when majors matter and when they don't with regard to the job market.

As the fall semester starts, one question will undoubtedly be lobbed at millions of college students across the nation: What are you majoring in?

And then, the cringe-inducing follow-up: What are you gonna do with a degree in anthropology/zoology/religious studies/medieval history?

The question is especially timely: With student loan debt in the United States climbing over $1 trillion and the job market still sputtering, choosing a major seems increasingly important as students contemplate how they will pay off those looming loans.

Read on for more about the importance of majors.

We have good news for you: just because you didn't go to college doesn't mean you can't have a great job! This article from Kiplinger reveals the top 10 jobs that don't require a degree.

College isn’t for everyone. Sure, earning a degree will improve your income potential, but skyrocketing tuition costs are a deterrent for some. Others choose not to continue their schooling for a host of reasons, from family obligations to a desire to start collecting a full-time paycheck.

You can still find a good job without a college degree. According to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, 44 percent of high school graduates make better money than college grads. It's just a matter of picking the right career field.

To identify the 10 best jobs you can get without a college degree, we focused on two critical factors: salary and job growth. We started with the more than 300 professions that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies as requiring only a high-school diploma or postsecondary nondegree (typically awarded by a trade school or vocational training program). We trimmed the list by filtering for jobs with annual salaries well over the national median of $41,444 and projected long-term growth rates above the average of 14 percent. Continue reading to find out the 10 best jobs you can get without a college degree!

Going back to school is looking more attractive with a growing number of employers requiring a master's degree. Apparently, an undergraduate degree just isn't enough these days.

But it's dangerous to assume that an advanced degree is a guaranteed ticket to cushy jobs. Not so much. The tale of the Starbucks barista with a JD is unfortunately all too common. If you decide to take the plunge and enroll in higher education, follow these four tips to make your grad school education worth its while:

• Build ties with faculty. It's important to get to know your professors, because some of them may have job leads and can play a central role in your professional development. "Students need to talk to faculty. I hear about jobs all the time that I wouldn't put on the listserv, because I want to make sure that I connect my source with an appropriate talent." says Marcel Pacatte, professor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. "I don't want either party coming back to me later complaining."
• Try new things. Take advantage of your time in grad school to explore new things; it may even result in a new career path. "While you're in grad school, I think it's important to sample everything it offers. One student came here and had never held a video camera — never even entered his consciousness — and because of his Medill experience, he's now a documentarian," Pacatte says. Picking up a broad array of skills and experiences will make your resume look less cookie cutter, which is to your advantage.

Read on for more tips.

College is expensive, but there are ways to cut down the costs for your student. Kiplinger shares a few tips on what is necessary for college and how to be more financially savvy.

The sticker shock when you first see the bill for tuition, room and board, and all those nebulous fees is bad enough. With the excitement and stress that accompanies the move to college, it's easy to let down your guard and pony up the plastic for a whole lot of other expenses. Sure, you want what’s best for your child, but you don't have to say yes to every item on his or her wish list.

Of course, not all students' needs are the same — students in engineering and medical studies, for example, may require new textbooks they’ll keep or a more powerful computer. But generally speaking, here are 12 expenses campus life doesn't really require:

New textbooks. More and more universities are offering textbook rental programs to help students avoid paying unfathomable new-book prices. Check to see whether your university offers a rental program, which is most often available for the school's core-curriculum and prerequisite classes.

Read on for more.