PAYING FOR COLLEGE
How Are You Paying for College?Figuring out how to pay for college can be one of the most stressful parts of family financial planning. It’s no easy task figuring out how much college will cost and determining how to pay for it.
This guide will cover the steps you should take to pay for college and highlight resources you can use to help along the way. It’s always a good idea to start planning as early as possible so that you don’t miss any deadlines and can make the best decisions for you and your family. These are some vitals steps to paying for college: calculate the estimated cost of college
Whether you’re taking a one-year vocational course, getting started with a two-year degree at a community college, or jumping right into a university program, you need to sit down and realistically figure out what your college options are going to cost you. Colleges vary a lot when it comes to the cost of yearly tuition, books, housing, parking, and other fees. Fortunately, every school provides those costs on their website. Simply go to each of your prospective schools’ websites and take note of how much each of these things is expected to cost. Then factor in things like:
Having at least a rough understanding of how much you’d have to pay for each of the schools you want to go to is a necessary first step in planning for college costs. There are also some different strategies you can consider if you’re looking for help with paying for grad school. Fill out the fafsa
If you’ve filled out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) before, then you already know what a headache it is to complete. If you’ve never heard of it before, the FAFSA is simply the application that each college student in the country needs to fill out in order to be eligible for federal financial aid – like grants that don’t need to be repaid, work-study funding, and low-interest loans for both parents and students. If the FAFSA isn’t filed, your only loan options for the next academic year will be in the private sector – which typically comes with much higher interest rates than federal student loans. The FAFSA is also necessary for a lot of other purposes, like university-specific scholarships and grants. Completing the FAFSA is one of the most important parts of this process because it helps provide students with the most options. The application period opens in October of each year and closes June 30 of the academic year (although states and schools also have their own deadlines). And students need to re-do the application every year that they’re in college. figure out how much free aid you have available
Throughout high school and college, you should be regularly applying for scholarships and grants that you are eligible for, outside of what becomes available to you when you fill out the FAFSA the year you are applying to colleges. These will often have their own eligibility requirements and application procedures – often involving some sort of essay or final project/presentation. Around the time that you start hearing back from colleges as to whether you’ve been accepted, they will also send you the information on the results of your financial aid applications – detailing what you will or won’t be awarded. Remember that some schools have their own application, outside of the FAFSA, so pay attention to each individual college’s requirements and deadlines. Once you know how much free aid you’re getting, you’ll have a much better idea of how much more you’ll be paying for college. But that doesn’t mean that you should stop applying for scholarships. Keep searching around for that free money just sitting there for the taking, even as the end of the academic year approaches. Scholarship deadlines go throughout the year. start researching potential colleges
College visits are your friend! Researching colleges by visiting, attending information sessions, reviewing websites, attending college fairs and getting on college mailing lists. While attending local college fairs, find some that appeal to you. Start considering criteria such as academic programs, location, cost and size of school, retention rate, campus life and housing. Take notes on colleges of interest and learn what distinguishes one college from another. learn your Funding options
After you have scrounged up as much savings and free money (government-backed or from the private sector) to pay for college, you can determine if you will need to take out one or more loans to cover the difference. Taking out a loan isn’t anyone’s first choice – but it may mean the difference between going or not going to school at all. Just be sure to know how student loans work before you get yourself thousands of dollars into debt. Luckily, for families with financial need, the government provides student loans with low rates and great repayment terms and benefits. explore private student loan options
Every student and their families’ situation is different – so if federal student loans, grants, scholarships, and savings can’t cover all of your costs – then you might have to turn to a private student loan. Private student loans typically have higher interest rates and less forgiving repayment terms than federal loans, so it’s always a good idea to know what your monthly payments will be after graduation so you can judge if you’ll be able to handle them or not. It’s worth noting that most private student loan lenders require a cosigner as most high schoolers haven’t had a chance to build up a credit history yet. There are, however, pros and cons of cosigning student loans to be aware of. If you don’t have a cosigner, there a few student loan options for those without a cosigner. practice writing
Being able to write a complete thought in the form of sentence is great part of college - from start to finish! Guess what? You are now in the "start" position, so practice your writing skills! Most college essays will require you to be self-reflective and write in the first person, so keep a journal where your practice just that. Formally and informally expound on your thoughts, and edit as necessary. Practice makes improvement. You can't improve if you don't practice! |
Resources from the Arkansas Student Loan Association College Planning Services
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