FA Tips from CBS News

calmom
Sun, 26 Aug 2007 04:17:43 +0000

Thanks for the summary!

I’d like to point out a few nuances or clarifications, though:


The fifth year. While it is true that many students take more than four years to graduate, it is not too helpful to project costs over 5 years when factoring in financial aid. That’s because the aid is not likely to continue beyond 4 years, even if the student does. Most colleges expressly limit their awards to 4 years or 8 semesters, and there is also a limit as to the total amount of federally subsidized aid available. So if a parent really is worried about that fifth year, then rather than subtracting out grants and multiplying by 5 as the article suggests, the parents would need to assume that year #5 is at full cost. Of course, need-based financial aid tends to be weighted more heavily toward loans and work-study during each year of college, and the student’s expected contribution from summer earnings also increases – so parents also need to factor in the fact that need-based grants are likely to be reduced each year. Finally… tuition and other costs keep going up, and up… though often some typical first-year expenses, particularly housing & meal costs, can be reduced somewhat in later years through various strategies.


Personally, I dealt with the “fifth year” problem by making it clear to my kids that the fifth year, if any, is their problem.


Traveling to discuss financial aid. For those of us who live hundred or thousands of miles away from the colleges our kids want to attend, this doesn’t make much sense financially. Not only is travel expensive, but it can also send mixed messages about the parent’s finances. (If the parents are having such a tough time financially that they need to appeal, how come they were so eager to jump on a cross-country flight?) A phone call can be a reasonable substitute. Actually, a phone call can sometimes be better – I learned this year after a very long phone call that my daughter might be able to get her grant increased, if I could provide written documentation of an expense I discussed with the financial aid officer. From home, I was able to quickly pull the records I needed and fax them to the financial aid office --a parent who has traveled far from home may also be very far from the documentation needed to support a case.


I would note that if the kid is traveling to the campus alone for an admitted-student event, that can be a good time for the student to discuss aid. I made sure that my daughter had needed documentation in hand when she went to talk to the financial aid officers at one college – she did fine, and “won” the appeal with an increase in grant – even though the end result was still not enough to meet our need. (But that particular college is notorious for its poor financial aid – I’m quite sure that my presence wouldn’t have made a difference).