Child Aid
College Financial Aid FAQ’s: Part Two
College Financial Aid FAQ’s:
The Answers You Need Today!
Part Two
In Part one, we covered the following FAQ’s:
1. Is it too late to ask for funding?
2. Do financial aid forms have to be filed every year for every child?
3. Are there income limits for financial aid applications?
Here are the remaining three important things that you must know as this school year comes to an end:
4. Which cost more out-of-pocket: public schools or private schools?
Take a quick look at the fees charged by private and public schools and you might think that private schools are far out of your economic reach.
That’s not necessarily true.
While tuition at private colleges is usually higher than at public schools, they often have more financial aid available too—and often times it’s free money, the best type.
When you’re applying for financial help with your child’s studies, you want to pick up grants and scholarships, the kind of free money that you don’t have to pay back. Because private schools tend to have wealthier alumni who like to give endowments, they also tend to have more scholarships and grants available to students. Public schools, on the other hand, tend to want the money that they distribute to be paid back with interest.
When you calculate the real cost of your child’s education, you shouldn’t look only at the size of the tuition fee or your EFC. The figure in which you should be most interested is how much will have come out of your pocket when the last check is signed. That’s the bottom line.
We always recommend that students apply to between eight and 10 schools, including both public and private colleges. Once the award letters have been issued, you’ll then be able to see clearly which schools will cost you less (out of pocket).
5. Are private scholarships the answer for my family?
When most people think of college aid, one of the first solutions that comes to mind is private scholarships.
Scholarships are sometimes awarded for academic or athletic excellence. They can also be used to help disadvantaged sectors of society. All of them are free money.
But scholarships are very rare. About 97 percent of financial aid is made up of grants or loans from the state or federal government, or from schools; only about 3 percent comes in the form of private scholarships. That’s unlikely to cover your child’s freshman book expenses, let alone a complete college degree.
Of course, you shouldn’t necessarily ignore scholarships. Every little bit helps and if you have some spare time, you might find some interesting opportunities in the Grants Directory (there should be a copy in your local library) or online. Just don’t bank on it.
And remember that even if your child does receive a scholarship, the school may reduce its own package by the amount of the award. You can negotiate a little, but often you’ll find that your child will have won a scholarship for the school and not for him— or herself.
You don’t want to exclude scholarships completely, but you’ll be better off building a more comprehensive funding package.
6. Do I have to understand all this financial aid jargon?
Even financial experts can feel a little lost when it comes to applying for financial aid. There are all sorts of special terms that just don’t turn up anywhere else.
In college planning, these terms will come up again and again. You must know what they mean:
“EFC”
There are two kinds of Expected Family Contribution (EFC): the Federal EFC is the amount that the government thinks that you should pay; the Institutional EFC is the amount that private schools and colleges think you should pay. Private schools usually think that you should pay more. The higher your EFC, the bigger your college expenses.
“Base Financial Year”
Your Base Financial Year is usually the year that your child is a high school junior. It’s that year’s financial figures—your assets, income and even home value—that will be used to calculate your EFC. You must know which year is your Base Financial Year.
The fact is, there are lots of ways to arrange your assets to keep your EFC down. If you’ve got a big expense such as a roof repair or a new car purchase coming up, you could be better off paying the bill before you fill in the forms so that that money is no longer counted as savings.
We can create a Customized College Funding Solution to maximize free money and minimize loans.
“Need”
“Need” on financial aid forms is the difference between your EFC and the cost of sending your child to a particular school. The size of your need will depend on the school and how successfully you’ve managed to keep your EFC down. The higher your need, the more aid you may be eligible for.
Whether your child is preparing for college or getting ready for his or her senior year at high school, you’re not alone at this difficult time.
About the Author
Ian Welham
Complete College Planning Solutions, LLC
(973) 467-0101
http://completecollegeplanningsolutions.com/pages-blog/
One of America’s leading college financial aid experts, helps parents get every cent of financial aid they’re entitled to, even if you make a six-figure income. “College Savings Video Series” reveals proven ways to reduce college tuition costs by $5,000 to $30,000 a year. Normally $47, FREE for a limited time:
http://collegeadmissionscounselor.org
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