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View Full Version : Any college financial aid experts out there?



dennis thompson
09-24-2011, 1:30 PM
My grandson will be starting college next year. He has begun to do some research on financial aid & I've been trying to help him. To say it is overwhelming is an understatement . Can anyone suggest:
-a good reference book
-a good website
-their personal experiences
-any other thoughts on the process
Thanks
Dennis

Gary Hodgin
09-24-2011, 2:15 PM
I've been out of that loop for a while, but one of the first places to start is with the financial aid office of the school he plans to attend. Aside from federal aid and other types that are available for any school, each school normally has some financial aid on its on. It is very important that he applies for this as soon as possible. He needs to follow deadlines. Start that process now. Don't wait till Nov. or Dec. It is impossible to overestimate the difficulty and time of filling out the forms unless they've been greatly simplified in the last few years.

Jackie Outten
09-24-2011, 4:09 PM
Be sure to have him check with his guidance office at school. They will usually have a list of local scholarships that are available that he should be able to apply for.

Jackie

Kyle Brooks
09-24-2011, 4:56 PM
It sounds crazy, but if he is willing to do the work have him look up all the scholarships he can find and apply. Every year lots of scholarships go unused. Some of them require an essay to be written but I have seen people do that and save money in a huge way. Just a suggestion. www.finacialaid.com might have something worth reading.

Joe Pelonio
09-24-2011, 6:20 PM
I'm not very current either as my 3 are beyond that point, but even then it was a terribly difficult, time consuming process.

Be careful about some of the places that advertise being able to get you loans, grants and scholarships for a fee. They won't likely increase the success rate yet will take your money. We found that everything we needed was available at the high school college placement office. It's just a matter of getting the kids to take the time and ask questions. Schools like to advertise their college placement success rate so they are happy to take the time to help.

Thomas S Stockton
09-24-2011, 6:34 PM
Dennis,
Scholarships are fine but most schools will count them against financial aid like state and private grants. It seems like it is time well spent to apply to scholarships directly from the school especially if you can get one that covers most of the expenses. FASFA is what drives the whole process and is a federal program, make sure you fill it out on time (deadline is around March 1st, But can be amended later) this will tell you what the expected family contribution is or how much you have to come up with. Most private schools will have their own paperwork and also use the CSS profile which is more in depth and kinda a pain the first time.
It is good to be thinking about financial aid ahead of time and there are some pitfalls to avoid so I would talk to his guidance counselor and find out who is knowledgeable in the area, around here it was a nonprofit that will help by looking at applications and explaining how financial aid works.
One other important thing is to make sure his parents or if your the guardian taxes are up to date.
We found that just applying to schools was more than we thought and if he knows were he wants to apply take advantage of being able to send SAT and other test scores to a certain amount of colleges for free. This is done usually when registering for the test.
I would also look at private schools the close to 60k a year price will make you choke but they offer some of the best financial aid around in the form of grants for financial need. In our case it is cheaper to send our child to a private schools than any of the state schools. The state schools were mostly loans and the privates offered grants. The other thing about private schools is he has had no problem getting the classes he needs, where our neighbor has found it very hard and stressful to get the ones she needs.
I'm kinda rambling here but the last thing is that the schools he has been accepted to will usually give him a financial aid letter explaining costs and what his scholarships, loans, grants etc will be before he has send in his acceptance.
Promise last thing and it is very important keep a notebook or piece of paper with all the sign in names and passwords on it, this is extremely helpful because yo will have too many to remember and they are never the same
Tom

Charles Wiggins
09-24-2011, 8:28 PM
This is my best advice: http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980

If he chooses to go with Financial Aid he should stay away from Federal Direct Student Loans. The government is forcing colleges to provide them, but our Financial Aid office resisted them because they felt they are bad for students. I never found out why. That's about all I know about the current scene.

I worked my way through six years of undergraduate and four years of graduate school, but when I decided to go back for a second master's degree I took loans to get through faster. Worst financial mistake of my life. After grad school I got married and my wife had school loans too. We did not think we'd ever get them paid off, so we had all that income tied up paying off loans instead of replacing worn out vehicles or saving for a down payment on a house.

BTW: Federally backed student loans are not bankruptable. The only ways to get rid of them is to pay them off or die.

Stephen Tashiro
09-24-2011, 11:32 PM
More on the liabilities of student loans: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Student+Load+Scam&x=0&y=0

One point of the book is that some finance companies have perverse incentives to make people default on their student loans since the companies may make more money that way. For example, some lenders also own collection agencies.

John Shuk
09-27-2011, 8:39 AM
This is my best advice: http://www.amazon.com/Debt-Free-Outstanding-Education-Scholarships-Mooching/dp/1591842980

If he chooses to go with Financial Aid he should stay away from Federal Direct Student Loans. The government is forcing colleges to provide them, but our Financial Aid office resisted them because they felt they are bad for students. I never found out why. That's about all I know about the current scene.

I worked my way through six years of undergraduate and four years of graduate school, but when I decided to go back for a second master's degree I took loans to get through faster. Worst financial mistake of my life. After grad school I got married and my wife had school loans too. We did not think we'd ever get them paid off, so we had all that income tied up paying off loans instead of replacing worn out vehicles or saving for a down payment on a house.

BTW: Federally backed student loans are not bankruptable. The only ways to get rid of them is to pay them off or die.

+1 on these loans. I have no experience with student loans. I have however seen and heard of the nightmares that they have made of peoples lives. Proceed carefully and be well informed.