April 8, 2014 By

Beware college financial aid letters

If you want to see what’s wrong with many financial aid letters today, check out the one that Georgia Institute of Technology has so helpfully posted on its Web site under the rather ironic headline “Understanding the Letter.”

Screenshot 2014-04-08 09.24.21The school does a few things right. Not all colleges include the total cost of attendance on their financial aid letters, and many don’t include the “expected family contribution”–what the family is expected to pay according to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. Subtracting the expected family contribution from the total cost results in the family’s need. In this case, the need is $31,787.

The total award figure of $41,690 seems dazzlingly generous compared to the family’s need. It’s not.

Like many schools, GIT lumps together gift aid (scholarships and grants) with loans and work study.

In this case, the gift aid is just $8,242, which includes a $2,000 scholarship the student won on his own.

The vast majority of the “aid”–$27,548–are parent PLUS loans. PLUS loans are designed to help the family pay its expected contribution, which in this case is $11,903. PLUS loans don’t reduce the family’s $31,787 need.

This award that seems so generous actually meets a quarter of the family’s actual need with gift aid. When work study and the student’s loans are included, the percentage of need met is only about half.

Too many financial aid letters are even more obscure, as I write in this week’s Reuters column, “Don’t get fooled by financial aid letters.” Some don’t include any cost information, while others list partial information. Some don’t spell out what’s a loan and what’s not. Fewer than half of schools use the federal “Shopping Sheet,” which was designed to help stop misleading financial aid letters and allow families to compare aid offers. You can find the sheet here, and using it to parse letters like this can really help you understand how generous–or not–a college is actually being.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
March 27, 2014 By

Get all the (college) credit you deserve

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailOne way to save money on college, families are frequently told, is to start at a two-year school and then transfer to a four-year institution.

The problem with such advice is that a lot of students never make it to the four-year college.

Even when researchers control for family background, achievement and ambition, those who start at two-year schools are far less likely to complete a bachelors degree.

One of the reasons may be that credits earned in community college often don’t transfer to the four-year school. Students who aren’t savvy about the transfer process may not realize how picky four-year institutions can be.

That’s leading a lot of otherwise capable students to drop out, according to two researchers from the City University of New York who reviewed 13,000 students’ records. My Reuters column this week, “For students who transfer, lost credits can doom college hopes,” has details about their study.

Community college students are more likely to be first generation, which means they can’t turn to their parents for advice about navigating the college transfer process. They’re trying to figure this out on their own, often without much help from the schools.

Some states have tried to ease the way by creating pathways between community college and their public four-year institutions. These pathways guarantee admission and credit if the students take recommended courses and maintain a minimum grade point average.

But students have to know such pathways exist and how to follow them. In states where these pathways haven’t been created, students must try to determine which courses are most likely to transfer and which aren’t.

To do that, kids need help. College consultant Todd Weaver recommends that community college students make a point of getting to know their academic adviser. The advisors’ caseloads may be huge–hundreds of students–but seeing them once every four to six weeks can help create the kind of relationship these students need to get specific advice on navigating this complicated process, Weaver said.

At the macro level, the researchers believe more needs to be done to smooth the transfer process. Most new jobs in the 21st century will require a four-year degree, and a more educated population is necessary if we want to compete in the global economy and have a viable middle class.

Given what’s at stake, students need all the help they can get.

 

 

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , ,
February 24, 2014 By

A free guide to filling out the FAFSA–get it now!

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailExciting news: One of the most-respected experts in financial aid has written a book about filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)–and right now you can get it as a free PDF download.

Mark Kantrowitz, who helmed FinAid.org for years and is now publisher of Edvisors, has this to say about the book he co-authored with David Levy, who has 30 years’ experience as a university financial aid director:

The book is packed with 250 pages of insights and advice about filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), along with a step-by-step guide to completing the application form. There are tips about increasing eligibility for need-based aid, avoiding the most common errors and appealing for more student aid. I have attached a tip sheet about Filing the FAFSA that is based on the book.

If you have a kid heading off to college, this book is a must read. To get the book, register (also for free) at the Edvisors site. The book is also available to buy on Amazon in paperback for $24.95. The Kindle version is $8.95.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , ,
February 21, 2014 By

High school graduates are losing ground fast

hobo with cardboardWe’ve known for awhile that incomes have been dropping for people with only high school educations. But there was a statistic in a recent Pew Research Center study that really set me back on my heels: 22% of people aged 25 to 32 who graduated high school, but not college, live in poverty. That compares to 6% of people with college degrees.

The poverty rate overall and for the college educated has doubled since 1979, when the early wave of the Baby Boom was in the same age bracket. For those with just a high school diploma, though, the rate has more than tripled.

Meanwhile, the earnings gap between college graduates and high school graduates is the widest it’s been in 50 years.

For more on the Pew study, read my latest Reuters column. You can subscribe here to weekly updates of my education column.

 

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,
February 11, 2014 By

Don’t think college is worth it? Read this.

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailThe earnings gap between young people with and without college degrees is the widest in half a century. Recent college graduates are more likely to be employed full time and far less likely to be unemployed than high school grads.

And all that debt college grads had to incur? The vast majority of college grads aged 25 to 32–72 percent–say their education has already paid off. Another 17 percent believe it will in the future.

Those are just a few of the fascinating statistics from the latest Pew Research survey, aptly titled “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College.” Read, learn, and use the statistics to combat those who say a college education isn’t a good value.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , ,
February 11, 2014 By

Lowering college costs: What you need to know

Zemanta Related Posts ThumbnailMy latest Reuters columns focus on financial aid and new opportunities for borrowers with private student loans to get some relief.

One of the big complaints about private student loans is how hard it’s been to consolidate or refinance these often high-rate, variable loans. Many big lenders fled this market and those that still offered the loans weren’t much interested in reducing rates for borrowers.

That’s starting to change as smaller lenders see the opportunities to cherry pick the most credit-worthy borrowers and offer them better rates. A new entrant into the market, RBS Citizens, is even offering fixed-rate refinancing. (RBS operates as Citizens Bank in the northeast and Charter One elsewhere.) For more, read “Student loan borrowers get relief from small lenders.”

Meanwhile, the financial aid season is in full swing as families submit their FAFSA forms and hope for the best. My column “How asking for aid could hurt your college chances” warns that most schools aren’t truly need blind, which is why you need a strategy for getting admitted.

Since most families need some help in cutting college costs, going without financial aid isn’t a smart option. In “Seven ways to help your child get more money for college,” I review the best ways to lower your expected family contribution. “Four financial aid strategies that can backfire” covers the strategies that won’t work.

In addition to those four, here are two other approaches doomed to fail:

Making kids “independent.” A father with a hefty income said that he didn’t plan to help any of his kids pay for college. He rationalized that without his support they could be considered “independent” for financial aid purposes and get help based on their own meager income and assets.

Sorry, Dad, but colleges closed that loophole decades ago. The Higher Education Amendments of 1992 tightened the definition of who qualified as independent for federal financial aid purposes to people who are:

  • 24 years of age or older
  • orphans or wards of the court and those who were wards of the court until age 18
  • veterans of the U.S. armed forces
  • graduate or professional students
  • married
  • parents or who have legal dependents other than a spouse
  • students for whom a financial aid administrator makes a documented determination of independence by reason of other unusual circumstances.

A parent who simply refuses to help isn’t typically considered one of those “unusual circumstances.” Financial aid will be based on his resources, which can effectively cut off grants, scholarships and loans for the children he won’t help.

Faking in-state residency. College consultant Lynn O’Shaughnessy of San Diego heard from a family who thought they would only have to pay out-of-state tuition rates for their daughter for the first year, believing that after spending her freshman year at the school she would qualify for in-state tuition.

States vary considerably in defining residency but typically require that at least one parent be a state resident for a full year before the student starts college. If the parents are divorced, residency is based on where the custodial parent lives. FinAid.org has a list of state residency requirements on its site.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,
January 27, 2014 By

Monday’s need-to-know money news

Today’s top story: How small business owners should plan for retirement. Also in the news: Picking the right credit card for college students, mistakes to avoid when you’re buying insurance, and what to do when bankruptcy is your only option.Help at financial crisis

Retirement plans for small business owners
Tailoring a plan to fit your needs.

How to Pick a Credit Card for College
Finding the right card that won’t get you into trouble.

5 Insurance-Buying Mistakes to Avoid
Never shop based on the price.

How to Know When Bankruptcy Is Your Best Option
What happens when your last resort option becomes the only one left.

What to Zero In On When Curbing Family Expenses
Tracking expenses is absolutely essential.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,
January 3, 2014 By

Starting over in your 50s, and other curveballs

Man Seeking EmploymentLosing a job late in life can be devastating, and rebuilding can be tough. Here’s how writer Teresa Mears puts it:

Americans in their 50s and 60s, who expected to be at the peak of their careers before retirement, are finding themselves playing catch-up. While they may never get back the lives they had before, there are steps they can take to improve their retirement prospects.

Jean Chatzky and I offer advice about those steps in “10 ways to get your retirement plan back on track.”

Job losses can have another side effect, besides derailing your retirement: they also can derail your credit scores. I talked to Kelley Holland for CNBC about why that matters and what you can do about it in “What your poor credit rating is costing you.”

I also discusses debt for a series of interviews with Spectrem’s Millionaire Corner, including “Debt is Not Just a Four-Letter Word,” “What Every Buyer ‘Auto” Know about Car Loans” and “You Don’t Want to Overdose on Student Loan Debt.”

Speaking of student loan debt, there are ways to erase some of your federal education loans—but too many people don’t know what they are. Read more in “5 ways do-gooders can erase student loan debt.”

My other recent education columns for Reuters including “Debunking the myth of college rejection rates,”  “3 ways to fix financial aid form flaws” and “That break from college? Stopping out leads to dropping out.”

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , , ,
December 12, 2013 By

Dropouts, addicts and teachers: must-read stories for this week

iStock_000016702801XSmallMy column for Reuters this week covers the perils facing community college students who “stop out” once too often. Reuters also posted an excellent piece on the financial toll addicts take on their families, plus a column on what teachers really want for the holidays (hint: it’s not another coffee mug!).

That break from college? Stopping out leads to dropping out
Taking a break from college isn’t unusual, but taking more than one can doom a student’s chances of getting a four-year degree.

More than 22 million Americans abused drugs or alcohol in a recent survey. What’s a family member to do? Experts offer some advice.

Holiday gifts teachers really want
Teachers share what gifts have meant the most to them over the years.

Finally, don’t forget to enter this week’s book giveaway. Time’s running out! Details here.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , ,
October 25, 2013 By

Friday’s need-to-know money news

Old Woman Hand on CaneToday’s top story: The warning signs of elder financial exploitation. Also in the news: Five harmless things that can hurt your credit, news apps to help college and financial aid searches, and what to do if you win the lottery.

Warning Signs of Elder Financial Exploitation
How to detect financial exploitation of our seniors.

5 Seemingly Harmless Things That Can Hurt Your Credit
How library fees and traffic tickets can ding your credit score.

20 new apps to help your college and financial aid search
Finding financial aid from your smart phone.

7 Painless Ways to Cut Expenses in Retirement
Ways to cut back without feeling the pinch.

Spending: What you need to know about winning a lottery
Someone has to win.

Filed Under: Liz's Blog Tagged With: , , , , ,