Having
children is a big responsibility and one of the worries that most parents
have right from the birth of their children is how they are going to pay
for college. And if you have a few children this worry can grow to
enormous proportions. College is not cheap, everyone knows that and by the
time your kids get to be that age, the cost is going to be much higher
than it is right now.
Colleges, average public ones not
Ivy League ones, cost about $16,000 each and every year. And most programs
are about 4 years long. Now if you did have a brilliant child who wanted
to go to a school like Harvard or Yale you are going to be facing cost
over and above $40,000 each and every year. And these are today’s costs,
in 15 years things could be double that or more.
The cost of tuition is rising faster
than inflation and they are showing no sign of slowing down in the near
future. It is not that it is impossible to understand why the costs are
going up it is just that it is making it harder for parents to afford
their sons and daughters educations.
Many colleges are equipping
themselves with the cutting edge technologies like libraries and labs and
even special recreational facilities. These things are necessary for the
college to draw in all of the brightest minds around. They need to be able
to get student to come to their school from the other side of the country
and they cannot hope to do that without all of the latest in technology.
The only downside is that all of this technology costs money and this
money has to come out of tuition costs and that is why they are getting to
be so high. The more technology changes the higher the costs are gong to
soar and at the rate technology is growing there is simply no end in sight
to the tuition hikes.
There have been many studies done over the years to
see just how important a college education really is and these studies
have shown that someone with a college education is going to make a lot
more money in their life than someone without one.
Just how
much more money? About a million dollars more. Huge difference and it is
all due to college educations.
Don’t let all this talk to high
rising prices scare you too much though because there is a silver lining.
School is expensive yes, but there is over $105 billion dollars handed out
each year in financial aid. This money comes from the government both
state and federal as well as from the schools. Even private organizations
and companies are getting into the financial aid department. Well over
half of the students at any given school are receiving some sort of
financial aid so if you don’t have the money to shell out for college you
do not need to worry about feeling alone.
If you or your child needs financial
aid the first thing that you will have to do is find out just how much you
can afford to kick in to the education pot as well as how much you are
expected to. You will do this by filling out the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid. This form is gong to look at your families income and
their assets as well as how many children are in the family. Once all of
these have been taken into consideration you will be able to find out what
the expected family contribution is.
To fill out the form properly and completely there
are several different documents that you will need to have on hand.
Documents such as your tax returns, any W-2 forms, your bank statements,
records of all income even untaxed income, mortgage records
and any business and farm records that you may have.
This may sound like a hassle but it
is a necessary one because this form will be used to apply for your
financial aid and for grants. You can get this form online and fill it out
there which makes things even easier.
Your expected family contribution or
EDC is something that is needed in order for your financial aid package to
be done correctly. It does not matter which school you are applying to or
how much this school is going to cost you need to have your expected
family contribution. Any of the costs that go above his expected family
contribution amount will be covered up the your loan limit.
There are a couple of different ways
in which your expected family contribution can be worked out. The first
one is known as Federal Methodology while the other is Institutional
Methodology. Some schools will use both of these methods while others will
only use the FM. Those that use both are generally trying to find out how
large of a grant to offer,
Financial aid packages for colleges
often will have a combination of loans, grants and even work-study
programs.
Even students I their mid twenties
will have their families income looked at with the assumption that this
family will be willing to pay at least part of their education costs.
There are a few exceptions, for instance if a student is an orphan or if
they are married or if the student has his or her own children or if they
are in professional school or even graduate school. You will be considered
an independent also if you happen to be a veteran or if you have any other
sorts of dependents that get a minimum of half their support from this
source.
If none of these things apply to you
then you will have to talk to the administration at the school that you
want to attend. If you have very peculiar circumstances there is still a
chance that you could be considered an independent.
If you are a parent trying to plan
for your child’s education the best course of action is to start planning
early. With a little simple planning you can avoid anyone having to get
into serious debt.
