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Resources
For College |
Believe it or not, the resources for financial aid assistance are endless. Here are some of avenues that can be explored:
Public Financial Aid
Getting money for college starts with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid FASFA). The FASFA will determine how much you or your family can afford for college, in the eyes of the federal government.
After the federal government determines how much you or your family can afford and the colleges you've selected get a copy of the report these schools will determine how aid to offer you. And this aid comes from a number of federal and state programs, including Pell and Supplemental Education Opportunity Grants (FSEOG).
Once you know how much you will get from public funding then you can attempt to supplement that with private scholarships and grants.
Private Aid
Below are a number of books that provide information on billions of dollars of private aid. Some of them come with a CD disc and all are probably available in most public libraries.
· Scholarships, Grants and Prizes 2000 (Petersen's, $26.95)
· College Money Handbook 2000 (Petersen's, $25.95).
· Winning Money For College by Alan Deutschman (Petersen's, $12.95).
· College Financial Aid For Dummies by Herm Dais & Joyce Lain Kennedy (IDG Books
Worldwide, $19.98).
· Paying For College Without Going Broke by Kalman A. Chany & Geoff Marz (The
Princeton Review, $18.00).
· College Cost And Financial Aid Handbook (College Board)
The Internet
For those of you with access to the web try the following sites:
· FinAid -- www.finaid.org
· FastWeb -- www.fastweb.com
· Embark -- www.embark.com
· College View -- www.collegeview.com
· Also the College Planning Network -- www.collegeplan.org
Links to the above and other sites can be found at http://public.surfree.com/dlkearns/college.htm.
Scholarships
In addition to public and private financial aid, there are also a range of merit scholarships that are available. Students should always check with counsellors at their schools and with student services at their colleges, especially if they are doing pretty well academically or possess some outstanding ability such as in sports. Also always check bulletin boards for any scholarship postings.
Do not forget you or your parents's workplace as some employers often offer scholarships for their employees or their children. Trade unions, churches, fraternal and social organizations also sometimes provide aid to their members or their children
Scam Alert
With the abundance of free information available, do not fall victim to advertisements that tell you they will find thousands of dollars of scholarship money for you. These companies merely send you a listing of scholarships and you have to do the rest - fill out and mail applications etc. And there is no guarantee that you will obtain any money from the list provided. You can very well do the search yourself and save yourself some money.
Savings
Financial aid is one way of helping to pay for college. Another way is financial planning.
New York's College Savings Program is managed by TIIA-CREF, a mutual fund and teacher pension company. Parents open an account with as little as $25. The first $5000 (single parent) or $10,000 for married couples is exempt from state tax laws. Tiia-CREF invests the money, changing the investment mix as the child gets older.
The program has enviable tax benefits and is offered in similar format by most states.
Loans
There are also a number of loans available to students. The Perkins loan which is based on need, defers all interest until nine months after graduation. The Stafford Loan defers interest until six months after you graduate. Both of these have limits and the latter is subsidized with interest capped at 8.25%.
The unsubsidized Stafford Loan may defer interest until six months after you graduate but unlike the Perkins and the subsidized Stafford, interest for the unsubsidized Stafford accumulates.
Earnings
Since the college day is not fully taken up with classes one way of picking up some money is to seek part time jobs. Placement is offered by colleges and these jobs are either with the college itself or with corporations and governmental agencies that are affiliated with the college program.
One type of part time work also offered is internship, depending on what is your major. And, of course you can seek part time work on your own - working evenings or weekends or summer jobs - which can usually bring in a tidy sum.