Archive for the ‘Financial Aid’ Category
But I Don’t Qualify for Financial Aid…You Might Be Surprised!
Southern California, April 12…sunny skies, breezy and 70 degrees…perfect weather for staying inside, completing your taxes, waiting in line at the Post Office AND coming straight home to complete your son or daughter’s FAFSA!?!…Free Application for Federal Student Aid: the form required to be completed by all applicants for federal student aid and sufficient for most states and private colleges to establish eligibility for non-federally sponsored aid programs.
The FAFSA can be completed entirely on line in little over an hour using data from your current 1040 forms. What is considered when calculating student need? Annual income and value of investments are the two major factors. NOT considered is the value of your primary residence! [Note I recommend that you sign your student’s FAFSA electronically by requesting a pin. It will take a day or so now, but save you a lot of time in future years.And remember even if you are denied aid this year, reapply in future years.]
You will be asked to enter the code for the school(s) your son/daughter plans to attend next year. …DON’T wait for a final decision.
Every day that passes the line is forming for financial aid at each college and university.
The individual colleges and universities may ask you to provide them with additional information to complete the application. In my experience satisfying these requests takes mimimal time.
It is hard to predict whether or not your son/daughter qualifies for financial aid. It depends on you, them, other students applying, their parents and the financial aid at the discretion of the college or university. So stay inside one more hour and complete your FAFSA. Good luck!
P.S. The sooner the better for submitting a FAFSA, but it’s never too late…summer or even during the school year. The size of the pot of available moneys is just shrinking. But we all know circumstances don’t always change according to schedule, so never hesitate to approach the Office of Financial Aid at your son or daughter’s college at any time throughout the years. They want your son/daughter to have the opportunity to graduate from their college.
Don’t Wait to be Accepted. Find the Money Now!
Just as important as completing a persuasive and complete application for admission is completing a persuasive and complete application for financial aid. Don’t wait until your student is accepted to try to figure out how you will pay the college bill. If you wait for the acceptance letter it will be too late. Now is the time in order to give colleges the opportunity to put together a financial aid package.
Most important first step is to go to the website of every college to which your student applied and read it carefully and thoroughly. Each college has different aid forms and deadlines. Dont hesitate to call the financial aid office if you have questions.
To follow is a list of terms you will encounter as you research the financial aid requirements of each college:
Financial Aid: A general term used to refer to all types of money awarded to student based on financial need. It can include grants, loans, work-study and scholarships.
FAFSA (Free application for federal student aid): Completing the online (or paper) FAFSA is the first step toward applying for federal financial aid at any college. Dont wait until your 2006 taxes are complete, you can begin completing it now. The site walks you through step by step and even the technically challenged like myself can get through it.
CSS Profile (College Scholarship Service): some colleges that award non-federal funds require that this profile be completed. It is a division of the College Board who charges a family $5 registration fee and $18 to submit to each college. AGAIN check each college’s web site to see if this is necessary.
SAR (Student Aid Report): The Department of Education will send a SAR to the applicant and the colleges selected by applicant based on information provided in the FAFSA. The SAR will contain a dollar amount, EFC(Expected Family Contribution) that the family is expected to contribute to college expenses that year.
Demonstrated Need: The difference between the EFC and real cost of attending college.Some colleges are committed to meeting this difference and others are not.
Grants and Scholarships: Federal government and states have systems for granting or giving money to students with demonstrated financial need. It can be used for public or private colleges. Scholarships can also be awarded by colleges or outside sources for achievement, special talents or other particular reasons. These do not need to be repaid.
Loans: Loans must be repaid by students and/or parents and can come from federally funded loans, colleges themselves or banks. Watch the terms carefully and be proactive whenever possible to improve them.
Merit aid: Merit scholarships are awarded to students to entice them to attend the college. They do not have to be repaid.
Work-study: The federal work-study program is a way for students to earn money to help pay for college expenses. Jobs can be on or off campus, though off-campus jobs are usually related to community service. Even if your student does not qualify for work study have them seek work opportunities organized through the college as they are often more understanding of college testing schedules and vacations.
Student Loan Costs Cut
HR 5 recently passed by Congress will require interest rates on need-based student loans to be cut from 6.8% to 3.4% by 2012. At best this is a first step in reforming current higher education costs which all agree are out of control. Few students graduate from college without some college debt. Instead of buying a new car upon getting that first job, college graduates typically have between $500 and $1000 per month in student loans to repay…for the next ten years! It’s no wonder more students still live at home and are getting married later and later. Taking this one step farther, fhe exhorbitant price paid for a college degree is not just affecting college students…its could be argued that is affecting other segments of the economy– the car market, housing market and more. It’s about time Congress brought higher education costs to the national stage.
Scholarships in a nutshell.
What to ask about scholarships.
Keep these questions in mind:Â Â Â Â
- What is the maximum scholarship award?
- Is the scholarship one-time or can it be renewed?
- What’s required for renewal?
- Is the scholarship based on merit or need, or a combination?
- How does the scholarship define merit?
- Does the scholarship require admission to a certain college program?
- Is full-time enrollment required to get and keep the scholarship?
- What are the other requirements, if any?
- Is an essay required?
- Are recommendation letters required?
- What is the deadline?
- How does the college treat “outside” scholarships? Some schools let students combine outside scholarships with financial aid from the college with no impact on a student’s financial-aid package. Others will reduce the package if you get outside scholarships. Check with the college.
Martin Luther King Day: UC Riverside Most Diverse UC Campus
According to statistics quoted in Los Angeles Times article (January 15, 2007), “Diversity works at UC Riverside”, UC Riverside has the highest percentage of African Americans of any of the 10 campuses and highest percentage of Latinos of any campus with the exception of the new Merced campus which has slightly more Latinos. UCLA and Berkeley continue to struggle to attract minorities while UC Riverside stands as one of the most ethnically diverse research universities in the country.
UC Riverside Chancellor France A. Cordova, hailed as the first Latina chancellor of UC system, leads the university reaching out to minority applicants, giving financial aid packages to promising students, offering summer programs to give high school students a chance to experience life on campus and creating race based programs to assist minority students.
As quoted in the LA Times article:
“We are not UC rejects,” says Samantha Wilson, 19, a white student who chose Riverside because of its diversity. “We are UC on the rise.”
Despite these successes there are challenges to overcome. Some students report that the school could do more to bring students of various ethnic backgrounds together. Others suggest there is too much emphasis on racial identity and not enough on integration. Even if true, hats off to UC Riverside, Chancellor Cordova, staff and students at UC Riverside for taking important first steps to attract college student-bodies that reflect the diversity of our state.
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