With the price of admission rising every year at universities around the nation, you’re probably worried about how you’ll afford to pay for college. But no matter your family’s financial situation, you can almost always find a way to fund your education. Between scholarships, grants, student loans, saving in advance and part-time work, a college education is within your reach! And even though you’re still in high school, there are a few things you can do to prepare now.
CALCULATING THE COST
One of the most important steps in preparing is to understand how much an education will cost. When figuring out your expenses, be sure to factor in the “net cost,” which includes tuition, fees, room and board, books and all sorts of other personal expenses, less the amount of “gift aid,” such as scholarships and grants you don’t have to pay back. (College websites have a net price calculator.)
According to the College Board’s Trends in College Pricing 2013 report, the average budget for a student living on campus at an in-state public college for the 2013-2014 year was $22,826. For a private college, the cost was almost double, averaging $44,750.
Here’s the good news: The average private school student received $17,630 in grant aid and tax benefits, while the average public college student received $5,770 per year in grant aid and tax benefits. This drives down the net cost, which then can be partially or fully covered by scholarships and loans.
Tuition and school fees combined account for roughly 70 percent of the total cost of education. Room and board, if you choose to live on campus, account for around 20 percent of a total student budget.
The remaining 10 percent of college expenses come from transportation, books, incidentals (e.g., cell phone and clothes) and entertainment. Because, let’s be honest, even though you’ll be studying hard, you’ll still want to have fun!
SCHOLARSHIPS AND GRANTS: LOOK FOR AS MUCH FREE MONEY AS YOU CAN!
If you want to help your family’s quest to make college more affordable, nothing can beat scholarships and grants. Unlike loans, which need to be paid back, scholarships amount to free money! While many scholarships are based on academic merit, there are others available for specific talents, interests or majors, as well as those that are need-based.
You can start preparing to get scholarship money while you’re still in high school! As a first step to preparing to pay for school, Scott Thum, director of financial aid at Indiana Tech, recommends that high school students focus on doing well in school, given how many scholarships are merit-based. He also recommends doing community service because many institutions, including his own, consider leadership and giving back when assessing whether a student deserves a scholarship.
Most scholarships are available through the college you enroll in, as well as through private organizations. However, don’t wait until you start applying to colleges to find out what’s available.
See what’s available through your high school guidance counselor or parents’ employers, suggests Michelle Day, director of financial aid at William Peace University (NC). Next, research scholarships aimed at your specific interests or hobbies. Check out local and community foundations, professional organizations for your major, ethnic organizations, nonprofits and corporations. There are also essay contests where you can write for college money! (See brief on page 17.) Ask your teachers and do Internet searches to find these contests.
Online resources include sites like www.fastweb.com, www.scholarships.com and www.finaid.org, which catalog various community civic awards. Paula Lehrberger, director of financial aid at the University of the Sciences (PA), also recommends www.studentscholarshipsearch.com, the Gates Millennium Scholars Fund (www.gmsp.org), and the grants and scholarships awarded by the College Board (https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/grants-scholarships).
Like a scholarship, a grant is essentially free money and doesn’t need to be repaid. A large portion of grants are need-based and therefore given to students because of their family’s financial situation. The federal and state governments, as well as some individual colleges, award grants. Common grants include the Federal Pell Grant and the Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant. To get a federal grant, you’ll need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at www.fafsa.gov after January 1 for the following school year to see if you qualify.
WHY LOANS CAN SOMETIMES BE A GOOD THING
At the outset, you may be borrowing more money for college than you could ever imagine paying back! But the investment is a good one, because a college education, no matter what background you come from, is a path to future success. “A loan is an investment in the future,” states Lehrberger. “A person’s education is something that they will have for their entire life and cannot be taken away.”
There are many options for taking out student loans. You can apply for federal student loans, such as the Perkins, Stafford and PLUS loans, by filling out the FAFSA. You can also take out a loan through private lenders. “We are starting to see more private lenders enter the [college] loan business,” notes Lehrberger. “Many credit unions are also offering private educational loans for their members.”
Lehrberger suggests looking at sites like www.finaid.org and www.youcandealwithit.com to begin to understand how borrowing $1,000 today will impact the future.
The first step to borrowing money is to understand what types of loans exist, how interest rates work and how you can get the best deals with private banks (to the extent federal loans aren’t sufficient). “Sallie Mae advises families to follow its ‘1-2-3 approach’ to paying for college,” says Patricia Nash Christel, a spokeswoman for Sallie Mae. “First, maximize scholarships and grants and tap college savings. Second, explore federal student loans, which may offer lower rates. Third, fill the gap with a responsible private education loan.”
Ultimately, however, it’s important to know that most of your financial aid will come from the university or college you choose to attend. Thum recommends being active in searching out financial aid officers at the institutions you are researching to find someone who can help you determine your financial aid. “If you don’t get the information you want, go somewhere else,” he warns.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Hopefully you can get most (perhaps all!) of your college education paid for by scholarships and grants. However, you may need to supplement it with federal and/or private loans.
But with the increased availability of loans from private lenders, students need to do some research to compare the long-term burden of those loans. Day recommends exercising caution when considering what to borrow. “I generally counsel students to only borrow a total in loans up to what their entry-level salary will be for their chosen profession,“ she recommends.
Of course, you need to consider your own personal circumstances and discuss how much you should borrow with your parents and/or a financial adviser. But to give you some perspective, in the 2011-12 school year, 60 percent of students who earned bachelor’s degrees from public and nonprofit institutions graduated with an average of $26,500 in debt.
Ultimately, your future is in your own hands. Devoting just a little bit of time during your sophomore year to researching what colleges are best for you, and how you can pay for them, will pay off enormously in the end. You deserve a great education, and with so many financial aid opportunities, you should certainly be able to get one!
Brienne Walsh is a freelance writer based in Brooklyn, NY.
6 WAYS TO CUT COSTS WHILE STILL IN HIGH SCHOOL
1. Take AP classes in high school, especially in subjects that you think you might want to major in.
2. Get college credits through dual enrollment or by taking pre-college summer courses that provide college credit.
3. Consider colleges close to home in order to keep travel costs down.
4. Apply for as many scholarships as possible.
5. Check out essay and video contests that award money for college to the winners.
6. Buckle down and study hard to increase your chances of being awarded a merit scholarship.
