(upbeat music) - welcome to teen kids news, i'm livia, let's begin with our top story for this week. (upbeat music) unless you've been living on the moon, you're no doubt aware that the cost of going to college has been skyrocketing. in fact, costs for many schools, especially private schools, may seem to be putting a college education into another galaxy. but as amelia reports, there are ways of making what's been going up, come back down. - moon, skyrocketing, galaxies and gravity. livia, i think you just set a new teen kids records

for the most metaphors in a single read. and here is one more. to help us launch our discussion of ways to afford college, rob franek is here, he's from the princeton review. hi rob. - hey, folks, good to be back, and i'm so happy to be here talking about paying for college because it is not rocket science. - so, that we are on the same page, what does a year of college typically cost, here on earth? - well the way we talk about it, at princeton review, it's one year of public university average across the states and that number for this year is $20,090, and remember that's the big four. on the other side of the spectrum, are schools that are private colleges, now from one year or private college, average across the united states, again the big four is $45,370. - wow, that's a lot. we always hear about financial aid,

how do you find out if you qualify for that? - well, there are two ways to think about financial aid. financial aid given out based on a family's need and then based on academic merits or how well did you do in high school, how well did you perform on the sat and act. here's the important distinction about financial aid. one, for those dollars that you are applying to receive based on family need, you need to apply for financial aid through the fafsa form. again, that acronym stands for the free application for federal student aid. so that's active on your part, and your parent's part to make sure that you're filling out and completing that fafsa form and sending it in. for the other dollars, for scholarship dollars. and this is merit-based dollars, grant dollars, scholarship dollars, you wanna look for those words, because that's all money that you do not have to pay back. and that's based on academic merit. and the two factors that most schools will look at is high school gpa, and rigor of your courses and then sat and act scores. so, crossing those two streams, will require that, will award you at the majority of schools,

scholarship dollars based on that academic need. but remember there's no separate application for those dollars in your application. - do different schools offer different amounts of financial aid? - the answer to that question is absolutely yes, and the interesting part is that there is a wide cross-section, of different dollar amounts given out by different schools. so, it is well worth your while and your parents while, to do your due diligence and dig down to the research of those different dollar amounts being awarded. - how can you tell which school is offering the best financial aid? - well one of the things, and this is what, i'm very proud of doing this at the princeton review, we look at the total cost of attendance, and we've talked about that already, that being the big the four right? tuition, room and board fees and books, but that only gets us the sticker cost of the school. where it's really valuable and thinking about what schools are actually giving out to bring those sometimes lofty sticker cost down to something that's gonna be attainable and actually viable for the average family . so, that is how aggressive is a school being

to offer scholarship dollars, grant dollars, merit-based dollars. and those are the things that we're giving out. so sticker cost and then the average grants and scholarship that those schools are giving out. in addition to that, and this is an important metric, we're looking at the average amount of debt that students will graduate with after four years of college. so, again thinking about doing your due diligence, we have done so much of that homework for students in getting what is the real sticker cost that the typical student and parent will have to pay. - so let's say we've done all our research, and we've come up with what the ultimate cost is going to be. are there things we can do to actually increase the amount of aid we're being offered, or will that give the school a bad impression of us? - it is next an excellent question, and one that comes up pretty, pretty often. most deans of admission and deans of financial aid don't like us to use the term negotiate our financial aid package. however, that said, most deans of admission and deans of financial aid will invite a conversation with you and certainly with your parents

and saying can we have a discussion about the cost and the scholarships that we've already received. the thing that i feel very comfortable for students and parents to do, particularly if it's a school that is a first choice school for you. meaning that the nine schools that you've applied to, the eight schools that you've gotten into, this is your number one school. but for some reason you just can't make that the dollars work for the average student and family. that is a very fair conversation for you to have with an admission or financial aid representative. again, you're not negotiating your package, you are having a conversation with them, and talking about, is there a way that we can bring down that, even the scholarships that we've gotten to something that's gonna make it more viable for me as a family. - what's a financial safety school ? - financially aid safety school, is simply a school that you know, that you're going to be receiving either one, great amounts of financial aid to go to that school based on academic merit, or scholarship dollars based on our family need,

or a school that simply has a lower sticker cost that we know as a family we can likely afford. - great, as always thanks for the info rob. when it comes to being an expert, you're really out of this world. - (laughs) you guys you are good, thanks so much. - getting a good college education can be priceless, so don't let sticker shock prevent you from reaching the stars. (chuckles) sorry, couldn't resist. for teen kids news, i'm amelia. - coming up, i'll tell you why it's a good idea to keep right a list of your accomplishments. teen kids news will be right back.

- it's time for some advice on getting ahead in school. so here's christin with this week's, make the grade. - you might be years away from applying to college, but some of the things you're doing right now could count for extra credit when the time comes. were you a camp counselor? did you win a music competition? set the school record for 100 yard dash? president of the chess club. you might think you'll remember achievements like that forever, but believe me when senior stress hits and you're filling out college applications, it's easy to forget something important. so, now is the time to start a file called resume. you can do this either on your computer, or even on your smart phone. just be sure to backup your data on a drive, or to the cloud. whenever you do something you're proud of, add it to the file.

when it comes time to apply for college, you'll have all those great things you accomplished at your fingertips. i'm christin, here to help you make the grade. (drum beats) - [sherman] the medal of honor is the highest award, united states can bestow on person for bravery above and beyond the call of duty. - the medal of honor, came about because the united states army actually did not have any medals to give to it's soldiers prior to the civil war. today of course we have to pretty much do a very heroic act, something that's distinctly either saves lives, or saves a situation.

in a civil war, you didn't have to do that. a lot of time a soldier would get a medal of honor for just picking up a dropped flag. but today though, you actually have to do something in combat, with an enemy force, and that's a little bit different than some of the medals of honor, that we've given out in the past. - how tall are y you? for accuracy, you should really answer this question early in the day. scientists have proven that you're about 1% taller in the morning, that's because of the effect of gravity. as the day goes on, the weight of the world is literally pushing you down, making you shorter. so, if you want to know your true height, measure yourself as soon as you get out of bed. - this message about drinking and driving is brought to you by the national road safety foundation. (upbeat music) - cool party. - what do you guys wanna drink?

- can i have a head-on-collision with a concussion twist? - make mine a fatal accident with no survivors. - [girl] and you? - a designated driver please, you know, just a bottle of water. - awesome. - true, lifesaver. (upbeat music) - coming up, that's as misunderstood as it is controversial. i'll explain when teen kids news continues.

- speak of the week, is when we get to hear what you have to say. here's this week's question. (upbeat music) - it's a question that strikes fear in the hearts of most of students. should school be year-round? many other countries do it, and a lot of people believe that in order for the us to stay competitive, we need to do it too. so, what do you think? should school be year-round?

- oh, no. i need like a break, in between cause i need to sleep. and sometimes, school can be like really stressful, so i need that break, to less loose. - no, i don't think that's a good idea, i think that summer is a good time for everyone to just like relax, and take a break from school. so yeah. - well, i'm south korean, and i also have chinese ancestry, and so, well they have school all year round, and i can tell you that the kids there they are really stressed and depressed, and so i don't it would be a good idea. - i definitely do not think the united states should have school all year-round. because, i need summer. i a hundred percent need my summer, i already have tons of homework during the summer, so i would probably go crazy if i had to go to school all year-round. - first of all, it's important to understand that year-round schooling, doesn't mean more days of school. the regular school year has 180 days, so does year-round school. the difference is, when you have time off. rather than a long summer vacation,

year-round schools sprinkles more days off during the school year. many educators believe, that the long summer vacation puts us at a disadvantage. by the time school restarts, students tend to forget a lot of what they learned the previous school year. you might be surprised to know that the main reason for school ending in the spring and resuming the fall, wasn't to give us a great summer vacation, it was because kids were needed to help out on the family farm. and trust me, farm work is a lot harder than schoolwork. with speak of the week, i'm eric. (upbeat music) - during the middle ages, girls would remove their eyebrows, in order to accentuate their foreheads. surprisingly, that was very fashionable. fortunately, fashion has changed and today eyebrows are back in style. make-up expert jeanna doyle has advice on how to shape your brows. - so for brows,

they can really help you have a polished look without brown very much effort at all. so, i take an angled brush, i dip it in a little water, and then i put it in some eye shadow. so, for katie she has really nice brows, and we just wanna strengthen the shape a little bit, to add some drama to her eyes. now, if you feel like you have on too much, you can take a second brush with some loose powder and soften the effect. comb through that with a flat toothbrush when you are done, and you'll have beautiful brows. - hope these tips help you brush-up your eyebrow game. for teen kids news, i'm jackie. (upbeat music) - one of the world's most famous paintings, may have been created simply to win an argument.

back in the 18th century, two artists were major rivals. one of them was thomas gainsborough, the other was sir joshua reynolds. sir joshua, insisted that the main colors in a portrait, needed to be warm colors, like red, yellow or yellowish white. he went on to claim that green, gray and especially blue, could only be minor colors. well, gainsborough grabbed his easel, palette and brushes, and set out to prove sir joshua was a bit benighted. the result was this painting, called the blue boy. it's considered one of the worlds greatest paintings, bet you that must have sir joshua's face red. with art smart, i'm william. (upbeat music) - coming up, i'll tell you about one of great britain's greatest landmarks. (upbeat music)

italy it's leaning tower of pisa but london's most iconic landmark isn't exactly what most people think it is. and as nicole reports, it's about time to set the record straight. (instrumentals)

(bell tolling) - [nicole] it's been telling londoners the time, ever since it was erected back in 1859. and if you what is the name of this famous tower, you'll no doubt hear-- - it's big ben. - that's called big ben. - [nicole] even the adults don't get it right. - alright now, funny enough, big ben. and me being ben, yeah big ben. charlie don't run away. sorry (laughs) - [nicole] nope, what just about everyone calls big ben isn't the clock tower, but actually the huge bell inside. no one knows how the bell got its name. there are two popular stories, one is that it was named after benjamin hall, a public official who oversaw the construction of the clock tower. the other possibility, is that it was named after a popular prizefighter in the mid-1800s. he was big, powerful and named ben.

(bell tolling) the tower's great bell, is actually it's second bell tolling the hours. the original bell cracked the first time it rang. interestingly, the second bell also cracked, rather than replacing it, they simply rotated the bell, moving the crack, away from where the hammer strikes. and they installed a smaller hammer. the clocks are reportedly, the largest four-faced clocks in the world. designing this incredibly ornate and beautiful tower drove the architect mad literally. (bell tolling) but that does bring us back to our original question what is the name of this tower? for more than 150 years, it was simply the clock tower. but then in 2012, queen elizabeth ii, celebrated her diamond jubilee, meaning the 60th anniversary, of her as queen. so, the clock tower, was renamed, the elizabeth tower, in her honor.

- get out of here, you are now lying without any doubt. you americans, you americans. (bell tolling) - [nicole] honest, it really is now officially, the elizabeth tower. the clocks are powered by a swinging pendulum, that's 13 feet long. to keep the clocks accurate, they have to adjust the pendulum swing. they do that with a stack of pennies sitting on the base of the pendulum. adding or taking away one penny, changes the time by four tenth of a second over the course of a day, makes cents. - here are some more words of wisdom to ponder. i like that. (upbeat music)

- [katie] this report is brought to you by target. when you might still be finishing up your halloween candy, the holiday shopping season is right around the corner. and some time shopping for everyone in your list is not easy. so, back with us again is lifestyle expert justine santaniello, with some ideas to help us out. welcome to teen kids news. - thank you for having me. you know, shopping for gifts during the holidays it can be a challenge for sure, but i'm gonna make it easy for you. this year i've partnered with target, they are a one-stop shop for all the toys and games you are looking for. including more than 1400 new and exclusive items, all available at amazing value. - okay great, let's start with the top toys for our younger brothers and sisters. what do you suggest? - okay, so for the doll lovers on your list, targets exclusive our generation dolls, now have more skin tones, eye colors and body types than ever. and now they have a cool new vet clinic playset that has two sides. for the film and tv buffs, they have a wide range of licensed toys

from star wars, my little pony and more. target is even the exclusive retailer for the netflix series beat bugs merchandise, including the musical submarine. there are also plenty of interactive toys to choose from like nerf, and tech toys that bring books to life, like the exclusive moonlight, which turns your mobile phone into a storybook projector to create bedtime storytelling magic. - wow, i wish i had that when i was younger. how about gifts that the whole family can enjoy? - yeah, sure boardgames. they recently launched more than 70 exclusive games to choose from. everything from rustic retro like scrabble and operation to 90s throwbacks like bob ross and the oregon trail. they even launched ship of treasures, a target exclusive invented by two 10-year-old girls who won last year chicago toy fair, young inventor challenge. - a toy invented by a kid, now that's smart. do you have any money-saving tips? - yeah, target has tons of great deals on toys and games,

and you can tell your parents about their free target app that's got the latest sales and coupons. and if your parents have a redcard, they'll save 5% on everything they buy and get free shipping if they order online. - sounds good, so where can we go for more info? - be sure to check out target.com or your local target store to help check off everyone on your list. - thanks for all the suggestions justine. - thank you. - while the biggest shopping day is usually the day after thanksgiving, there's nothing wrong with starting early, you might even avoid some holiday stress. for teen kids news, i'm katie. - that wraps up our show for now, but we'll be back with more teen kids news next week. see you then.

fox 29 news in hd changing the way you experience tv ♪ . live from center city in a >> donation drive for the barclay friends senior living complex, it was a big success. let's get to fox 29 brad sattin live in west chester brad? >> reporter: lucy, if you're looking for a story to put a smile on your face, this is it. you mentioned big success, it is a huge success, if look behind me you'll see the good will fire station and it will look like not a lot is