If you are going to college this fall, now is a good time to have your parents teach you financial skills like budgeting and bill paying. Learn now will make life on campus away from home much easier.
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StatePoint - Perhaps even more nerve-wracking than waiting for your child’s college acceptance letters is learning whether they’ve been awarded financial aid. Recent changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) designed to simplify the process have led to unforeseen hiccups and technical glitches, causing academic institutions to delay sending out financial aid award letters. However, once you finally get the results, it can give your family a better idea of what to do next.
“Our research shows that for a majority of parents, figuring out how to pay for college was the ‘road to college’ activity that caused them the most stress. By making a financial plan and prioritizing it, you can be well prepared to avoid the most common bumps in the road,” explains Angela Colatriano, chief marketing officer, College Ave.
Colatriano recommends using the spring to teach your child these valuable financial skills: how to set up a budget, how to pay bills and how to manage credit. If your family will potentially be borrowing to finance college, students should also gain an understanding of how loans work, and how the different terms of the loan will affect their monthly payments and overall loan cost.
Speaking of budget, you should set a realistic budget for yourself. A recent College Ave survey found that in addition to helping pay for tuition and housing costs, parents also contribute to their child’s phone bill (65%), health insurance (61%), food and groceries (42%), cable and internet bill (35%) and transportation (32%). Be realistic about which expenses you can afford and where you want to ask your child to chip in.
Decode Award Letters
Financial aid award letters can look different for each school. Familiarize yourself with their components so that when they arrive, you’ll be ready to decipher them. Here’s what to look for:
1. Free money: The award letter will list whether your student is eligible for scholarships and grants (sometimes called Merit or Gift Aid). This is money you typically don’t need to pay back.
2. Federal Work-Study: Your child might be eligible for Federal Work-Study jobs. While jobs aren’t guaranteed, they can be a good opportunity to help cover educational expenses.
3. Student Loans: Schools will list any federal loans your child is eligible to receive. Helpful hint: They may be grouped with scholarships and grants. You should also note whether the loan is subsidized or unsubsidized. Because unsubsidized loans accrue interest while your student is enrolled and during deferment periods, this will affect the overall loan cost.
4. Other factors: Check if awards being offered are for all four years and understand what your child will need to do to continue being eligible for them, year-to-year.
To get an apples-to-apples look at the offers, calculate the net direct cost of each school by subtracting offered scholarships and grants from the cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, textbooks and fees). If applicable, you can subtract work-study aid too. You should also factor in expected increases in tuition, room, board and other fees.
Fill in the Gaps
If after doing the math, you find you have a financial gap to cover, look into private scholarships. One easy one to enter on a monthly basis is College Ave’s $1,000 Scholarship Monthly Sweepstakes.
You may also want to consider a private student loan or parent loan. Look for a lender with great rates, flexible repayment terms, and the opportunity to customize the loan to fit your budget. For example, College Ave offers student loan calculators, a pre-qualification tool that offers quick answers without affecting your credit score, and other helpful tools and resources. To learn more, visit CollegeAve.com.
“The important thing is not to panic. If you filled out the FAFSA, financial aid award letters are on the way. And once you receive them, you and your student can get to the fun part of planning for the future,” says Colatriano.
2. Federal Work-Study: Your child might be eligible for Federal Work-Study jobs. While jobs aren’t guaranteed, they can be a good opportunity to help cover educational expenses.
3. Student Loans: Schools will list any federal loans your child is eligible to receive. Helpful hint: They may be grouped with scholarships and grants. You should also note whether the loan is subsidized or unsubsidized. Because unsubsidized loans accrue interest while your student is enrolled and during deferment periods, this will affect the overall loan cost.
4. Other factors: Check if awards being offered are for all four years and understand what your child will need to do to continue being eligible for them, year-to-year.
To get an apples-to-apples look at the offers, calculate the net direct cost of each school by subtracting offered scholarships and grants from the cost of attendance (tuition, room, board, textbooks and fees). If applicable, you can subtract work-study aid too. You should also factor in expected increases in tuition, room, board and other fees.
Fill in the Gaps
If after doing the math, you find you have a financial gap to cover, look into private scholarships. One easy one to enter on a monthly basis is College Ave’s $1,000 Scholarship Monthly Sweepstakes.
You may also want to consider a private student loan or parent loan. Look for a lender with great rates, flexible repayment terms, and the opportunity to customize the loan to fit your budget. For example, College Ave offers student loan calculators, a pre-qualification tool that offers quick answers without affecting your credit score, and other helpful tools and resources. To learn more, visit CollegeAve.com.
“The important thing is not to panic. If you filled out the FAFSA, financial aid award letters are on the way. And once you receive them, you and your student can get to the fun part of planning for the future,” says Colatriano.
America needs attention to our infrastructure. It’s pathetic that our Congress and President are having so much trouble putting something together they can agree on.
We managed to spend the equivalent of a trillion dollars in today’s currency on the Vietnam war. What did we get for a trillion dollars? Over fifty-eight thousand dead American soldiers. Plus, over 1500 missing in action and thousands of wounded. Many who have never recovered.
We lost 4497 American soldiers in Iraq. We spent two trillion dollars in Iraq. We had over 32,000 other casualties. What does America have to show for the war in Iraq?
We spent 20 years in Afghanistan. Over 2400 American soldiers were killed and over 20,000 were wounded. We spent at least 2.3 trillion dollars. What does America have to show for our war in that country?
Did these wars make us safer? Did they make our country greater and stronger? Is America better and freer because of these wars? America suffered great loss from these wars. Thousands of American families are still grieving.
The stimulus proposal, approximately $1.75 trillion is about investing in America. We are long overdue for a major investment in America. We don’t all agree on the infrastructure bill’s spending list. However, can’t these “great” politicians come up with an “essential” needs list that is starkly visible to any naked eye?”
Maybe we could get busy in our nation and stay out of other countries’ business for a while.
Maybe we could take a break from fighting among ourselves.
A working nation will be a much happier nation. We hear all this bull talk about we’ll never get out of debt from this infrastructure bill and we won’t. However, we’ve spent too much time trying to solve the world’s issues while ignoring our own problems. We need to work on our homeland. The roof is leaking, the walls are crumbling, the electrical work needs to be repaired. The water we are drinking is dirty. The driveway is crumbling and potholes abound. The plant down in town relocated and the local coal mine closed. Things are tough.
The house needs a lot of repair but it’s hard to repair a house and buy expensive groceries on the meager wages that are available to most Americans. Families can’t live on $15 an hour, or go to the doctor. Over forty million Americans still live in poverty. Millions more live right above the poverty line and struggle.
According to Pew Research, "A household with an income between two-thirds of and double the median household income is considered middle class. The national median income in 2021 is $79,900, which would mean an individual would fall squarely in the middle class with an income between $53,266 and $159,800." Is this you? The average household income for 2021 has been $79,900 according to huduser.gov.
A financially strapped American living in an aging house that is desperate for repairs is symbolic of much of America.
Yes, we have seen a stock market boom. Americans selling houses are doing well financially. Yes, a lot of people in America are in the medium income level which is not bad.
However, too many Americans are still financially insecure. They don’t make enough money. They can’t afford adequate housing. They still put off going to the doctor because of costs. They aren’t saving any money.
More senior Americans are working than ever before because they can no longer live on their meager pensions and Social Security is being eaten away by rapid inflation.
We need an investment at home, our home, America. Congress, please make a reasonable list. Our needs are so visible. We need clean water, Internet, available affordable healthcare including prescriptions, affordable clean energy, chips for our cars and phones, roads and bridges and real paying jobs for Americans who are willing to work. Why is this so hard?
In comparison to over 5 trillion dollars and thousands of American lives spent around this world, spending a few dollars at home should be a cakewalk for this Congress and President.