Pet-sitting business booms\nBELLEVILLE, Ill. -- Going out of town and don't know what to do with Fido? You don't have to call the kennel anymore: Call a pet sitter. \nLee Anne Emig became The Pet Nanny this summer. Her pet-sitting business provides customized pet sitting and other services to clients. She visits most of her clients' homes to feed, give medicine, walk or just spend time with clients' animals. \nEmig worked for the Humane Society in St. Louis for five years before taking maternity leave. She said she had noticed several pet-sitting services opening in Missouri. \n"After that, I realized I really wanted to pursue my passion, which is caring for pets," Emig said. "It's become more well known that people are spending more money on their pets and making them part of the family. People now think of them more as children." \nThe pet trends expert has written books and lectured across the country about the pet-sitting industry. She said more people are living longer and are looking for pets for companionship. \nThe American Pet Products Manufacturers Association reports that 62 percent of American homes have pets -- 77 million cats and 65 million dogs. A recent study by the association found that consumers spend almost twice as much on pet products than they did a decade ago. The cost is expected to reach $31 billion before the end of the year.
College students not applying for aid\nA new study said hundreds of thousands of college students who may be eligible for federal financial aid don't get it for a simple reason -- they don't apply.\nThe study released Monday by the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities, said that half of the 8 million undergraduates enrolled in 1999-2000 at institutions participating in federal student aid programs did not complete the main federal aid application form. Many students were well-off and assumed they wouldn't get aid. \nBut the study found 1.7 million low -- and moderate-income students also failed to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Two-thirds of community college students did not apply for aid, compared to 42 percent at public four-year colleges and 13 percent at private colleges. \nThe study concludes 850,000 of those students would have been eligible for a Pell Grant, the principal federal grant for low-income students. The study said about 9 million students will receive federal assistance this year in some form, and about 75 percent of all undergraduates whose parents' incomes are less than $30,000 filed a FAFSA.
