“The amount of money they’re charging for something that’s free is the biggest concern,” says Elsa Martinez.

Some students believe the website FAFSA.COM is where they need to apply, but there you have to pay $79.99. Elsa Martinez is a financial advisor for the non-profit ACCESS that helps students navigate the financial challenges of college.

WBZ-TV’s Kathy Curran reports

[worldnow id=6803922 width=320 height=240 type=video]

“The reason why the federal government makes it free is because most of our students don’t have the funds to pay,” says Martinez.

“Financial aid is very important to me without it I couldn’t go to college,” says Louidor Michel.

Michel, a senior at English High in Boston got a letter from FAFSA.COM and thought he needed to shell out money to apply for aid. Michel said, “I think that’s crazy, eighty bucks is a lot of money.”

Another student at English used FAFSA.COM but her application never made it to the federal government. By the time she realized there was a problem, she missed the deadline and missed out on critical funding. Martinez said, “The type of people they’re hurting don’t have a lot of income to work on.”

The website states it’s not affiliated with the US Department of Education and provides a link to the free application site. The company says it provides a useful preparation service and counseling for a nominal fee. With FAFSA.COM comes a service for a fee. With FAFSA.GOV you do the work but the application is free.

The non-profit ACCESS provides free counseling and services for the financial aid process. They have a walk-in center in Boston. For more information go to their website: www.accessedu.org.

A spokesperson for the company tells us they’re transparent about its fees and services and always informs students of their options. They say they’re proud of the service they provide.

The article discusses the 2013 fiscal year U.S. federal budget proposed by President Barack Obama, focusing on elements of the plan related to higher education. The proposed plan gives particular emphasis to college student aid and job training programs and the article highlights its recommendations for budget initiatives such as research grants given by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Presidential Teaching Fellows program, and the Stafford and Perkins student loan programs.

But still the value of an education goes beyond employment prospects and a college degree definitely opens doors closed to non-graduates. But still, it’s expensive.

Prescott College

When I was touring colleges with my kids every campus seemed to be building a new science center, student union or some complex guaranteed make them look newer and shinier than the thousands of other institutes of higher-priced learning.

Truthfully, schools need students in their classrooms and so they offer grants, gifts and scholarships to get qualified student to enroll. A high percentage of students enrolling get some sort of grant or scholarship to go along with the student jobs and loans they’ll need.

If your child is among the best and the brightest students, they may receive a scholarship or grant regardless of the parents’ income just because his or her awesomeness casts a golden glow across the land.

Most families need a combination of financial aid, loans, grants and scholarships in addition to helping their child choose an affordable school.

The College Board has a Net Price Calculator  that factors in the various expenses and funds available to students for participating schools to show the actual estimated cost of a year at college, not just tuition.

Just for fun I chose Prescott College because it is the only Arizona school using College Board’s calculator and Kenyon College in Ohio because it’s an excellent but expensive school. To be fair, I don’t know much about Prescott College other than what I read on their website yesterday, but it looks progressive and innovative.

Prescott College lists their estimated cost of attendance per year as $38, 814. Equal to the cost of a very nice new car. Kenyon lists their estimated cost of attendance as $57,910, which is like a really nice new car you’d likely have to sell to send your kid to attend Kenyon.

Kenyon College

Both schools offer grants, scholarships and gift aid. Just for fun I entered numbers into the calculator for both schools for a family of four that earned $60,000 per year with just a few thousand in savings, a mortgage and another child following the first one to school in a couple years.

The estimated cost after grants, scholarships and aid from Prescott College came to $10, 714. Still a chunk of money to cough up every year but still, not a mind-boggling number.

The Kenyon College cost after grants, scholarships and aid came to $12,180, which surprised the heck out of me. The two schools are almost $20,000 apart expense-wise and now less than $2,000 apart. Maybe there will be money left over to buy a car?

I also entered numbers for a family of four making $125,000, ample savings, solid interest and dividend income, and lots of equity in their home. The calculator said, sorry, you’re own your own.

Clearly, colleges want kids to attend that qualify and they have money to offer to get them there. Someone has to use those new science buildings.

Oddly though the Kenyon calculation only listed $280 in personal expenses. For a kid from Arizona the costs for cold-weather clothing will be more much than that the first year. Prescott College listed $2,650 in expenses, which is more realistic.

Both only listed transportation costs as $1,000 or so, which for Prescott is reasonable, as it is only a short car ride away from the valley. For Kenyon though, there’s at least two round-trip plane tickets each year unless parents want to drive to Ohio and back, twice, or tell their new collegian they have to stay at school over winter break.

Here’s an interesting article from U.S. News The College Solution blog about Net Price Calculators. Apparently all schools needed to have them on their websites by Oct. 29, 2011 as per Congressional mandate.

Story by Daniel Friedman

Prescott College photo credit: Flickr.com
Kenon College photo credit: Flickr.com

Q: Where can I find out information on scholarships?

A: For more information on scholarships for currently enrolled students visit http://scholarships.ua.edu/current/.

Q: Where do I find out information pertaining to my financial aid package?

A: For more information on financial aid visit http://financialaid.ua.edu/ or stop by the Financial Aid office on the first floor of the Student Services Center. 

I’ll keep posting things as I find them!

This site is put on by the same people that give you free money for school, the federal government, so this should definitely be bookmarked.

Student Aid – Adult Student

I’ll post more links as I find them and use them to keep a nice collection going.

President Obama chose a spiffy new indoor football field at the University of Michigan here on Friday to kick off a broad campaign for college affordability, calling higher education “an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford.”

Blending the personal with the political—and playfully responding to shouts of support from the audience—Mr. Obama made clear that the college-cost themes in this 35-minute speech would set the tone for a continuing national discussion that will be central not only in his administration’s coming budget fight with Congress but also as he campaigns around the country for re-election.

With a message that prompted cheers and praise here—but already criticism from other college and political leaders around the country, including one president who called it “political theater at its worst”—Mr. Obama challenged states to spend more on higher education, describing cuts by Michigan and 39 other states as “the largest factor in tuition increases over at public colleges over the past decade.”

He urged students to pressure Congress to keep the interest rate on federal student loans from doubling in July. “That would not be good for you,” he noted with exaggerated directness, drawing laughs and applause from the crowd of more than 3,000, most of whom had camped out for hours in the cold a day earlier to get tickets.

And he warned that colleges themselves needed to do more to cut costs and not assume they can “just jack up tuition every single year.” Government “can’t just keep on subsidizing skyrocketing tuition,” he said.

“We should push colleges to do better,” said Mr. Obama, as he briefly touched on forthcoming proposals to overhaul how billions of dollars in federal aid to colleges and students are awarded. “We should hold them accountable if they don’t.”

Via Goldie Blumenstyk, The Chronicle of Higher Education.

However, there is a glimmer of good news:  All student loan borrowers must thank President Obama for the “Pay As You Earn” proposal that will reduce student loans repayments for 1.6 million people!  In short, his proposal will cut student loan payments from 15 percent to 10 percent of their discretionary income starting (hopefully) in 2012.

The “Pay As You Earn” proposal includes an “Income Based Repayment” (IBR) plan that will currently reduce your standard repayments to 10% of your discretionary income.   The amount you pay is based on your previous year’s Federal Tax Return.

According to Whitehouse.gov, “the program lowers monthly payments for borrowers who have high loan debt and modest incomes, but it may increase the length of the loan repayment period, accruing more interest over the life of the loan.”

The Whitehouse provided an example Standard Repayment plan vs. the Income Based Repayment (IBR) plan.

“…take for example a nurse who is earning $45,000 and has $60,000 in federal student loans. Under the standard repayment plan, her monthly repayment amount is $690. The currently available IBR plan would reduce her payment by $332, to $358.  President Obama’s improved “Pay As You Earn” plan — reducing the cap from 15 percent to 10 percent — will reduce her payment by an additional $119, to a more manageable $239 — a total reduction of $451 a month.”

Another example:

“A teacher who is earning $30,000 a year and has $25,000 in Federal student loans.  Under the standard repayment plan, this borrower’s monthly repayment amount is $287 .  The currently available IBR plan would reduce this borrower’s payment by $116, to $171.  Under the improved ‘P ay As You Earn’ plan, his monthly payment amount would be even more manageable at only $114.   And, if this borrower remained a teacher or was employed in another public service occupation, he would be eligible for forgiveness under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program after 10 years of payments.”

This plan is not a student loan bailout plan but it is an excellent plan.  If student loan borrowers are not able to catch up on their student loan repayments with this plan, they simply just don’t want to repay.

For more information to determine if the Income-Based Repayment plan is right for you visit:  http://studentaid.ed.gov/ibr

Stay Positive!

Joveline

Part 1:  Tips for Appealing Your Financial Aid

Sometimes even after you have received all of the aid your school can provide to you there still is a good amount of money that is left to be paid. While some students are able to afford it, there are a handful of others are not. For those who aren’t capable, don’t lose hope just yet!

You may be able to appeal your award letter and possibly garner more funds through a process called professional judgment. Professional Judgment refers to the authority of a school’s financial aid administrator to make adjustments to the data elements on the FAFSA and to override a student’s dependency status. The school does not have the authority to change the need analysis formula itself or to make direct adjustments to the Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Instead, the school may make adjustments to the inputs to the formula. The changes to the inputs are dictated by the impact of the special circumstances on the family’s income and assets. The standard formula is then applied to the new data elements, yielding a new EFC figure.

The decision of the financial aid administrator is final. There is no appeal. By law, neither the school’s president nor the US Department of Education can override the financial aid administrator’s decision. This was created because FAFSA does not cover every little detail  that can drastically alter your award letter. These rulings are based on a case by case basis, so just because one thing worked for someone you know doesn’t mean that it will work for you.

Here are a few tips for when you are pursuing a professional judgment:

• Watch Your Language: Even though this is technically a negotiation, you do not want to say the word ‘negotiate.’ Instead, thank the financial aid office for what they’ve given you but highlight that you are still incapable of paying the remaining balance.
• Be Friendly: These people hold your future in their hands. Come correct and be respectful. No need to offend the person you need assistance from.
• Be Honest: There is no point in lying. Tell the truth and only the truth. Fabrication will get you a 20K fine and up to 5 years in prison. That is the last thing that you would want!
• Be Specific: Let them know what the situation is, when it occurred, and how it is affecting and effecting you.
• Provide Documentation: Be able to back up the things that you have claimed with the appropriate evidence.
• Ensure Delivery: Make sure said documentation reaches the right people in a timely fashion!

*Information for this post was taken from the Black Enterprise Magazine, September 2011 Issue

*This information was taken from the Federal Student Aid website.

Applying for federal student aid is quicker and easier than ever. You can complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^sm) at http://www.fafsa.gov. Follow these easy steps to simplify the process of applying for federal student aid.

(1) Gather the documents needed to apply. For example, you’ll need

*This information was taken from the Federal Student Aid website.

Applying for federal student aid is quicker and easier than ever. You can complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA^sm) at http://www.fafsa.gov. Follow these easy steps to simplify the process of applying for federal student aid.

(1) Gather the documents needed to apply. For example, you’ll need

“Although I will be graduating next semester and school is almost done for me, I will be attending graduate school and hoping that I will have the funds to further my education. I not only signed that petition for myself, but for the many students to come after me,” said Haywood.

According to the Save Student Aid website, by the year of 2018 there will be 22 million jobs available for new workers with college degrees, but because of financial aid budget cuts, three million workers will miss the opportunity. These three million cannot afford to further their education because their resources have been limited. “Cuts to student aid will make college an unrealistic expense for some students. Jobs are hard enough to find with a degree; I cannot imagine what would happen if suddenly multitudes of students had to give up their college aspirations and join the thousands who are looking for work now,” said Dominican’s own Financial Aid Director, Marie von Ebers.

As far as Dominican University students are concerned, the financial aid office has come up with ways to make sure we get as much help as possible. The Office of Financial Aid encourages students to file their FAFSA as early as possible in order to meet deadlines, get involved with scholarship opportunities provided by the university, as well as attend the literacy programs provided to teach students how to budget their money.

“Most importantly, we are here to listen and assist in any way that we possibly can. Students who are struggling financially should not be afraid to come to the financial aid office so we can explore our options. In the end, it is our goal that all Dominican students graduate and go on to be successful alumni!”  von Ebers said. Be a part of the call to action and sign your name on the Save Student Aid petition today!

- Quiana Miller, Staff Writer

But fast-forward to the present, and you’ll see I’ve taken my father’s advice to heart. I’m a current Sophomore at Carnegie Mellon University working ridiculous hours in the Information Systems Program, preparing for my GRE (as every young Sophomore should), and working on programming projects that make the world a better place through technology. But what my family never did consider were the overwhelming costs of a college education. This lack of forward thinking seem to threaten to derail my current plans. When there are so many ways to delay my education, it’s such a pity that in this country it must be the finial status of the student which remains blind to the individual talent and promise the student possesses. To be terribly frank I WILL get an education, however there may be a few road-blocks to stall my progress.

When I think of “financial need” I don’t think about any set number or parental gross income cut-off. My family exists within the overly-taxed, debt-ridden income bracket just above the Pell Grant’s cut off. I simply have to write off all scholarships that ask for me to “demonstrate financial need.” But honestly what the heck does that even mean? I’d define financial need as individual situations which do not allow the student to pay for the school in which they can excel. These days it would seem that the gateway to a college tuition is riddled with far too many bars and high fences. Those, no matter how well intentioned, scholarships who seek to target “disadvantaged youths,” fail to recognize the very large number of students whose parents’ mismanaged incomes do not leave them a single cent to help with college aid.

When left with financial aid which caters to the silliest number of parental contribution, the gross income, my parents and I do all that’s possible to keep me in school. From applying to the parent PLUS loan each year only to be turned down and become eligible for more loan money, to entering countless scholarship competitions with no certainity of any results for hours worth of work. While my parents have always dreaded to the idea of me ruining my GPA trying to hold a part-time job as well, I can see few other options left availible to me. There was a time when I dreamed of becoming an independent student as defined by the FAFSA, but at this time there are zero options that actually make sense. Perhaps I could become homeless never contacting my parents again, but I have fears that even this wouldn’t be enough to qualify!

While getting a job will be stressful, there exists a problem of what if a single job is simply not enough? Is it possible to juggle college life at Carnegie Mellon (or any top university for that matter) with multiple jobs? The simple answer I imagine is “No.” The only solution I see currently is that “I have to if I really want this.” Perhaps another option is to transfer schools, which sounds horrible to me considering how great both Pittsburgh and the Academics at Carnegie Mellon are. There seems to be no simple answer to this problem. While my description is specific to my experience, I know I am not alone. When is someone going to “fix” the way we do financial aid? For the 18+ year old in America, parents are no longer able to legally control their child, and yet the parent is still in charge of financial aid until age 24. What possible sense does that make? To be perfectly honest, I don’t know, and I don’t have an answer. But for the hard working, do-what-it-takes kind of student I salute you. These are troubling economic times in which Federal Aid consistently fails to adequately fill in the gap.

Don’t worry if you haven’t started the FAFSA, this year’s application is not available until January and the deadline is not until June, so you still have time, even after you apply for college. Just remember, after studying  for the SAT and ACT, make filling out the FAFSA a priority.

I would recommend that you apply online; this way you can cut down on paper and streamline the process. You must first request a four-digit PIN number. The address is here. This step is simple; all you need to know is your most basic personal information and your social security number. You can even predict the final aid package on their website thanks to the FAFSA4caster. This will give you an early indication of how much aid you may receive.

The next step is to fill out the application itself. For this you will need your parents’ income tax return forms from the past year (if you earned money you will need your tax returns too). You will also need a drivers license and social security number. For the final step, you will tell FAFSA which colleges you are applying to, so they can determine your aid. For this reason, you will need to know the school codes for your prospective colleges. You can find these through this website. The schools’ aid award will depend on how much money your parents earn. The PIN will serve as your electronic signature.

The last step is perhaps the hardest: wait. You will receive your “Expected Family Contribution” in the Student Aid Report either in two to three weeks after filling out the paper form, or one business day after filing online. This will help the colleges make their final aid decisions. In April, you will hear back from your prospective schools about their admissions decisions and your financial aid package. It is up to you now to choose your college. Choose wisely and not simply on the aid package. Remember, you must reapply for FAFSA each year, and each year the amount you pay could change. Your dream school may seem unaffordable at first, but there are ways to make the price tag manageable. By working with your college’s financial aid office, you can negotiate your tuition into something reasonable. Your best education is a cause worth fighting for.

Study on Grockit, online anywhere, any time for any amount of time.

September 12^th, 2011. Starting the end of the day wind down, around 3:20pm.

At the end of class today one of the girls in the class was having a rough time finishing her math problems and packing up to head home. Recently her grandmother had passed away and she hadn’t quite figured out how to deal with that feeling (this is an exceptional blow for the family since grandma was a large financial provider for the family). Having witnessed over the past few days that this little girl’s emotions were on high seeing her eyes filling with tears sent me to step in and her finish her math. Before I could cross the room to get to her however one of the girls at the table next to her stood up and started asking her what was wrong, what didn’t she understand and how could she help. The little girl started explaining the hardship that she was having with the math problems and not understanding what the word problems were asking her to do. After hearing this, the other girl started to explain what sort of words to look for and how to interpret certain terms to mean the same thing as if a problem said “add” or “subtract” instead of “take away” or “altogether”. In record time the younger of the girls had finished her math and packed up to go home.

I found this interaction to be very important for many reasons. First, it was a reminder to me of the bringing of gaps between peoples. The older girl that helped the young struggling girl was from a background that doesn’t allow her to have all the nice and fancy things in life but she is just as capable of doing things and helping the other students solve their problems and discover their potential. Students, especially as they are younger, are more likely to overlook the social boundaries that society likes to enforce depending on social financial standings. In my mind the fact that these girls of different financial standing were able to help each other just goes to prove that the process the teacher has in teaching and working with the class really emphasizes the equality and value of each individual (Payne, 2005). There is also something to be said that the students can help each other out. The fact that one girl could help the other through explaining the problems and vocabulary in their own terms and being engaged in the process of helping each other. This event as well as the last really proves that this educator is focused on having the students be responsible for their own education at a very young age. These students know how to ask questions and how to explain the answers and processes of answering the problems through their own words not necessarily the technical jargon that they don’t yet understand (Pohl, 2000).  These students are being brought up in a process that allows them to teach each other while the teacher is educating them in whatever process they may be going through. This all fits within Category I of the SPU categories: the Teacher establishes and maintains a positive and encouraging classroom.  These students are in a positive classroom and it shows because they are willing to step out and help each other (Payne, 2005). If students were not in a positive environment, they wouldn’t be learning as much as these students have and they wouldn’t have the desire or ability to help each other.

Payne, Ruby K. A Framework for Understanding Poverty. Highlands, TX: Aha! Process, 2005. Print.

Pohl, Michael. Learning to Think, Thinking to Learn: Models and Strategies to Develop a Classroom Culture of Thinking. Cheltenham, Vic.: Hawker Brownlow Education, 2000. Print.

Tobias, Cynthia Ulrich. The Way They Learn: How to Discover and Teach to Your Child’s Strengths. Colorado Springs, CO: Focus on the Family Pub., 1994. Print.

Sometimes, an email can be very important. At least this was the case for junior Katy Grant this past summer.

She was waiting to hear about her financial aid, but her inbox was lacking that message.

“Come, probably mid-July, when all my friends got their financial aid back it’s like ‘OK, something’s wrong,’” she said.

She went into the financial aid office to see what the problem was and apparently they never received her application information. Thus, no aid.

“I had no way of knowing that they didn’t have my stuff,” she said.

However, the frustrations were short lived as all they had to do was resend the information. She said it was frustrating to learn how important this one email was in getting the money she needed for college.

Grant is one of many students who receive government financial aid at UW-Eau Claire.

The most common are the two Federal Stafford Loans. Over 5,300 students receive the subsidized version of that loan, Director of Financial Aid Kathy Sahlhoff said. There are also over 5,200 students who have the unsubsidized version.

Aid from federal loans totaled a little more than $44 million in 2010-2011, with $40 million of that aid being Stafford loans, Sahlhoff said.

These totals are not mutually exclusive as somebody, such as Grant, could have both loans at the same time.

One difference between the two Stafford loans is that all repayment of the subsidized loan is completely deferred until six months after graduation or after a student drops below full-time status.

Another difference is that the unsubsidized loan is not need based and monthly interest payments are not deferred, Sahlhoff said. They need to be made after the loan is accepted.

“Bill Gates could get an unsubsidized loan,” she said.

To get these loans, students need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Aid. Grant said that with the exception of this past summer, it has generally been hassle free.

Senior Tuesday Wustrack, who will be using financial aid for the first time this semester but has applied before, also said it was low hassle.

“It was pretty easy,” she said. “I just went into the financial aid office and just asked them what to do.”

With their help, she was eventually able to obtain an unsubsidized loan.

Her parents had paid for her education in her first three years, but now that her sister has entered college, she was asked to apply for financial aid. Her family could afford it, but it would be harder, she said.

“They could still pay for me, but they just wanted me to do it — just for a little extra bit of money.”

She describes her family as upper middle class and has only applied one other time for aid, but didn’t get offered much until now.

The formula for figuring out how much money each applicant gets is complex, Sahlhoff said. It’s based on things such as liquid assets, parental income and the student’s income. Also, families with more kids get more aid.

In the first year, up to $5,500 of aid is available to students with $3,500 of that being the subsidized loan. The limit raises $1,000 each of the three years.

Sahlhoff said that she thinks the limit rises because there is more uncertainty about a freshman’s future.

“When someone becomes a junior or senior, it’s much more likely that they will graduate.”

There are two other federal loans: the Perkins and the PLUS. The Perkins is limited so only students with the highest amount of need can get it. Payments for the Perkins are deferred like they are for the Stafford loan.

The PLUS loan is not based on need, but it has the highest interest rate of the federal loans, and it is disbursed to parents. The money for this is also limited and Sahlhoff said that it’s a last resort.

In terms of repaying the loans, Sahlhoff said there are many options, but that most students go on a 10-year repayment program. Whatever option is chosen, she stressed the importance of being vigilant with your payments.

“The important thing is to always, always stay in touch with your lender and always make efforts to repay,” she said.

People who fail to graduate repay loans at a worse rate than those who do, Sahlhoff said. Neither Wustrack nor Grant said they have thought much about paying off the debt yet.

For Grant, who also receives the Pell Grant, financial aid is critical.

“The only reason I am able to go to college is because of financial aid.”

Sahlhoff said she wishes fewer people needed aid, but it’s still worth it if they can get an education.

“If we can help keep a student in school and then get a student graduated and working — if we have to do that with some loan that’s to the better good I think.”

Read it here.

Same-Sex Couples and Financial Aid – Inside Higher Ed.