Financing your education

You’ve heard it a million times before, and here it is again: College is a great investment. The question for you is: how much do you really know about how your college education is getting paid? If your answer is, “Not a lot,” then now is the time to find out…

First, you’ve gotta get clarity
The first step to feeling comfortable with your college financing is getting questions answered around what your individual situation looks like. For a lot of students, that means talking to your parents. I know sometimes it can be awkward asking about money issues, but it’s important for you to know what’s going on and to know what is expected of you during and after college. Here are some good things to find out:

• How is your tuition getting paid? Grants, scholarships, work study, family donations, loans?
• How much are you receiving within each category?
• Could the amount in any given category fluctuate year-to-year?
• What could happen, if anything, to change your financial situation?
• If any is in loans, is your name on any of the paperwork? What are the terms of the loans?
• If any is in scholarships, are you expected to maintain a certain GPA, keep a certain major, etc. in order to keep your financing?
• Similarly, if any is in family donations, are there any expectations for you to keep it?
• If any is in work study, what happens if you don’t get an on-campus job?

Next, you’ve gotta take charge
Now that you have gotten your questions answered, what are the final steps that will allow you to feel like you are really on top of financing your degree? Are there any remaining concerns or discrepancies that you need to get sorted out in order to feel secure about your expected graduation date?

For financing next year’s tuition, here are the two most pressing categories to consider:

• FAFSA. Is your family filling out FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) for the coming year? Have you started working on it yet? If you aren’t familiar with it, check it out ASAP: www.fafsa.ed.gov. This is the same application that is required for many state financial aid programs, the earliest of which have preferential filing dates as early as March 1st … coming right up! This is definitely not something you want to procrastinate on – be sure to give yourself (and your parents!) plenty of time to gather everything in order to fill it out completely the first time, ‘cause if you don’t, it can affect when you receive your financial aid package. Yikes! If you have questions, be sure to contact your Financial Aid department.

• Scholarships. Feeling the pressure to get some more scholarships? Here is a great website to start with: www.scholarshiphelp.org, and then here is a popular scholarship search engine to check out: www.fastweb.com. But here’s a warning: I work with a lot of students who either think scholarships are going to pay their entire college-way, or who think that it isn’t even worth the time to try for them. The fact is, getting scholarships takes hard work and perseverance, but hey, if you spend 10 hours writing an essay and filling out an application and you are awarded $1,000, isn’t that the best 10 hours you’ve ever worked?! A lot of scholarships start the process early, so check it out now if you are looking for next year.

Remember, feeling secure about your college financing doesn’t mean graduating debt-free; according to www.finaid.org, the vast majority (two-thirds!) of 4-year undergraduate students graduated with a Bachelor's degree and some debt in 2007-08. You’ll be in excellent company if you are among them. Especially considering that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a person with a Bachelor's degree will earn, on average, almost twice as much as workers with a high school diploma over a lifetime ($2.1 million compared to $1.2 million)! How’s that for getting the most out of your investment?!