Last blog I shared FINANCIAL AID SECRET #1 - You can appeal the amount and type of financial aid, even if a college hasn’t awarded you any.
In this blog I will tell you how to appeal your student's financial aid package(s). I will also share two more financial aid secrets.
Appealing Financial Aid Packages
If you believe that the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) doesn’t reflect your correct financial situation the first thing you need to do is include a letter with each college application. (The colleges probably won’t pay any attention to the letter when they are putting together your first financial aid offer, but you can refer to it when you appeal the financial aid packages.)
One reason the FAFSA might not reflect your financial situation could be large medical bills or some other expense that isn’t part of the FAFSA. Or your job situation might have changed since the last year, which is what the FAFSA is based upon. The colleges should take these things into account when they are putting together a financial aid package, but you can’t assume that the first financial aid package reflects these factors.
Appealing your financial aid package will mean that you will have more paperwork to do. You will have to send the colleges the evidence of whatever you’re claiming makes it impossible to pay the EFC (Expected Family Contribution). You may have to send them copies of your tax return too. And you will have to do this for each college you are considering.
When I was appealing my daughter Kat’s financial aid package, I sent huge packages full of copies of doctor bills and prescription receipts as well as tax returns to four colleges. By the time my daughter was applying to colleges my husband was ill with ALS, so we didn’t have an EFC of $20,000 to challenge, as we did with my son's first EFC. However, appealing Kat's financial aid packages did make a difference, especially in the kind of aid she received. (Grants vs loans) One college took the information we gave them and actually had the Federal Aid Office change our SAR (Student Aid Report) and EFC. Most deal with it internally.
Even if you don’t have huge medical bills or have lost your job, you may still find the EFC is more than you can afford. Most people in this situation aren’t poor, but they don’t have the extra funds that the EFC assumes. They are middle-class, hardworking people who have too much money to be considered economically disadvantaged, but not enough money to be able to write out a check for many thousands of dollars.
So challenge your EFC if it’s way out of line with what you can really afford. It doesn’t cost you more than time and postage, but it could make a difference of thousands of dollars in financial aid. It could also make a difference in whether your student receives scholarships and grants instead of loans.
FINANCIAL AID SECRET #2 - Be sure you get this information to them by the deadlines that they give you. In many cases being late is the same as not doing it at all.
FINANCIAL AID SECRET #3 - The earlier you get all financial aid information done, including the FAFSA, the better. The same goes for the college applicatons, because the financial aid that comes from each individual college (as opposed to state or federal aid) is given until it runs out. If you are one of the last ones to apply and get accepted, you may not get as much aid as you would have if you'd applied and gotten accepted earlier.
Blessings,
Bonnie
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Excessive College Financial Aid Debt – Part 2
This series of financial aid blogs cites a Houston Chronicle article, that explains how huge college loan debt is handcuffing college students to monster payments for years after they graduate. As a result, this excessive college loan debt severely limits the graduates’ life options.
The newspaper article mentioned a lawyer who couldn’t afford to buy a house, go on vacation or do much of anything because of her $150,000 college loan debt. With a huge debt hanging over their heads, Christian college graduates can’t go into mission work, the ministry, or non-profit work, all of which pays less than corporate jobs.
When my son Chris was selecting a college, this issue came up. One of the colleges that accepted him was a private university in Texas. It was his first choice, but it was very expensive. (I should point out that it was less expensive than Ivy League colleges and even some Christian colleges.)
The Federal Aid Office, the government agency that determines how much parents can afford from their FAFSA (Free Application of Federal Student Aid), sent us our SAR (Student Aid Report) with an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) of $20,000 a year. In other words, they thought we could afford to spend $20,000 on Chris’ freshman year. We couldn’t. And Chris didn’t want to graduate with a debt of $80,000 (which assumed he would graduate in four years). He chose to attend the University of Houston, a state school. This was before I knew the secrets of financial aid.
As it turned out, Chris’ choosing to go to the University of Houston resulted in multiple blessings. My late husband Hugh was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) only months after Chris started college. Chris took small class loads and even a whole semester off to help me care for Hugh. (A real blessing for me and Hugh.) Because of his maturity and unselfishness, Chris will graduate three years after his original graduation date, but without a huge debt weighing him down. (A definite blessing for Chris -- You can imagine what seven years at the expensive college would have cost!) He also met his fiancé at University of Houston, so there’s a third blessing.
The first secret I learned was that you don’t have to accept the first financial aid package that a college offers you – you can appeal the amount and the kind of aid. (Some kinds of “aid” are loans.) You can appeal even if the university has not awarded you any financial aid.
I will go into the process of appealing financial aid packages in my next blog.
If you want receive the next blog and all upcoming blogs, subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe to be notified by email. If you subscribe by email, you will receive a confirmation email from confirmation@emailenfuego.com
Before you subscribe, put that address in your address book to ensure the confirmation email goes to your inbox and not your spam folder. Christian College Parents is an anti-spam organization, so you must confirm so we can email you. We will not give or sell your information to a third party.
Blessings,
Bonnie
The newspaper article mentioned a lawyer who couldn’t afford to buy a house, go on vacation or do much of anything because of her $150,000 college loan debt. With a huge debt hanging over their heads, Christian college graduates can’t go into mission work, the ministry, or non-profit work, all of which pays less than corporate jobs.
When my son Chris was selecting a college, this issue came up. One of the colleges that accepted him was a private university in Texas. It was his first choice, but it was very expensive. (I should point out that it was less expensive than Ivy League colleges and even some Christian colleges.)
The Federal Aid Office, the government agency that determines how much parents can afford from their FAFSA (Free Application of Federal Student Aid), sent us our SAR (Student Aid Report) with an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) of $20,000 a year. In other words, they thought we could afford to spend $20,000 on Chris’ freshman year. We couldn’t. And Chris didn’t want to graduate with a debt of $80,000 (which assumed he would graduate in four years). He chose to attend the University of Houston, a state school. This was before I knew the secrets of financial aid.
As it turned out, Chris’ choosing to go to the University of Houston resulted in multiple blessings. My late husband Hugh was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) only months after Chris started college. Chris took small class loads and even a whole semester off to help me care for Hugh. (A real blessing for me and Hugh.) Because of his maturity and unselfishness, Chris will graduate three years after his original graduation date, but without a huge debt weighing him down. (A definite blessing for Chris -- You can imagine what seven years at the expensive college would have cost!) He also met his fiancé at University of Houston, so there’s a third blessing.
The first secret I learned was that you don’t have to accept the first financial aid package that a college offers you – you can appeal the amount and the kind of aid. (Some kinds of “aid” are loans.) You can appeal even if the university has not awarded you any financial aid.
I will go into the process of appealing financial aid packages in my next blog.
If you want receive the next blog and all upcoming blogs, subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe to be notified by email. If you subscribe by email, you will receive a confirmation email from confirmation@emailenfuego.com
Before you subscribe, put that address in your address book to ensure the confirmation email goes to your inbox and not your spam folder. Christian College Parents is an anti-spam organization, so you must confirm so we can email you. We will not give or sell your information to a third party.
Blessings,
Bonnie
Monday, November 5, 2007
Excessive College Financial Aid Debt –Part 1
As Christian parents, we are very protective of our kids. Our kids might even say over-protective. (At least mine do.) However, there’s one area where we may be not protective enough – their college loan debt.
I recently read an article in The Houston Chronicle, entitled School Loans Could Spell Trouble, that really upset me. The article, by Marcy Gordon of the Associated Press, begins “The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years.” (Italics mine.)
From my standpoint of a mother, that's not the worse news. It goes on to say that college loan debt could haunt our children for years too.
The article cites Kristin Cole, a 30-year-old graduate from Michigan State University’s law school, who owes “$150,000 in private and government-backed student loans.” Kristin is quoted saying “I could never buy a house. I can’t travel; I can’t do anything. I feel like a prisoner.”
She now works as a legal aid worker, but says that she may need to go to work for a law firm, which is “something I’m not real dedicated to, just for the sake of being able to live.” Her payments, currently $660/month are scheduled to increase to $800/month in a year or so!
How can our Christian graduates accept calls to be new pastors or missionaries if they have huge college loan debts? I don't think they can, and that's a situation that's bad news for Christian students and for our community of faith.
The good news is that there are solutions to this problem. There are ways you can maximize scholarships and grants while you minimize loans. Through extensive research and personal experience, I've discovered the secrets about financial aid. I will share financial aid tips in the next and future blogs.
As we advise our children on financial aid, I believe it is our duty to protect them from excessive debt. If we don't, we will have to watch them struggle for many years under the burden.
What do you think? Are you facing this situation? Or do you know someone who is? Share your story with us.
I recently read an article in The Houston Chronicle, entitled School Loans Could Spell Trouble, that really upset me. The article, by Marcy Gordon of the Associated Press, begins “The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years.” (Italics mine.)
From my standpoint of a mother, that's not the worse news. It goes on to say that college loan debt could haunt our children for years too.
The article cites Kristin Cole, a 30-year-old graduate from Michigan State University’s law school, who owes “$150,000 in private and government-backed student loans.” Kristin is quoted saying “I could never buy a house. I can’t travel; I can’t do anything. I feel like a prisoner.”
She now works as a legal aid worker, but says that she may need to go to work for a law firm, which is “something I’m not real dedicated to, just for the sake of being able to live.” Her payments, currently $660/month are scheduled to increase to $800/month in a year or so!
How can our Christian graduates accept calls to be new pastors or missionaries if they have huge college loan debts? I don't think they can, and that's a situation that's bad news for Christian students and for our community of faith.
The good news is that there are solutions to this problem. There are ways you can maximize scholarships and grants while you minimize loans. Through extensive research and personal experience, I've discovered the secrets about financial aid. I will share financial aid tips in the next and future blogs.
As we advise our children on financial aid, I believe it is our duty to protect them from excessive debt. If we don't, we will have to watch them struggle for many years under the burden.
What do you think? Are you facing this situation? Or do you know someone who is? Share your story with us.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Welcome to Christian College Parents
Hi! I'm Bonnie McGrane, CEO and one of the founders of Christian College Parents, an organization for Christian parents of high school and college students.
Through this blog I plan to address the concerns and issues of Christian parents who are helping their children go through the arduous process of selecting, getting admitted to and finding funding for the special college that is just right for them.
When I was a high school student back in the late 60's the process was nowhere near as difficult. I applied to one college -- Vanderbilt University -- early decision and got admitted. I hate to admit it, but it was easier to get accepted to the college of your choice back then, because fewer people went to college. Now a college degree has become what a high school degree was then -- absolutely necessary to get a decent job. The cost of Vanderbilt has increased approximately 2000% since my freshman year. When I graduated I had a loan to repay, but the payments were only about $17/month. Now I read about students who graduate $100,000+ in debt. All of these factors makes the process a lot harder and a lot scarier to navigate.
That's where Christian College Parents can help. Our goal is to make life easier for parents who are helping their students with the whole big selection, application, and funding college process. One of the ways I'll be doing that is through information, but I also will be offering Christian support during this hair-yanking-out time.
And I'll be going through the process for the third time. My daughter Kat is transferring next Fall so I'll be reporting on our journey through the maze.
What are your biggest concerns and questions about the process? Let me know and I'll address them in future blogs.
Blessings,
Bonnie
Through this blog I plan to address the concerns and issues of Christian parents who are helping their children go through the arduous process of selecting, getting admitted to and finding funding for the special college that is just right for them.
When I was a high school student back in the late 60's the process was nowhere near as difficult. I applied to one college -- Vanderbilt University -- early decision and got admitted. I hate to admit it, but it was easier to get accepted to the college of your choice back then, because fewer people went to college. Now a college degree has become what a high school degree was then -- absolutely necessary to get a decent job. The cost of Vanderbilt has increased approximately 2000% since my freshman year. When I graduated I had a loan to repay, but the payments were only about $17/month. Now I read about students who graduate $100,000+ in debt. All of these factors makes the process a lot harder and a lot scarier to navigate.
That's where Christian College Parents can help. Our goal is to make life easier for parents who are helping their students with the whole big selection, application, and funding college process. One of the ways I'll be doing that is through information, but I also will be offering Christian support during this hair-yanking-out time.
And I'll be going through the process for the third time. My daughter Kat is transferring next Fall so I'll be reporting on our journey through the maze.
What are your biggest concerns and questions about the process? Let me know and I'll address them in future blogs.
Blessings,
Bonnie
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