Free Education Info: Aid Money Basic Category

Scholarships/Grants—This is free money that doesn’t have to be repaid, ever. Obviously, this is preferable to any other kind. Some need-based aid falls under this heading, and merit-based aid is always free money. The best scholarships in most cases come directly through the college. There are a few good ones that you can apply for on your own, but generally, if you’re lucky enough to win that outside scholarship, any scholarship funds you’re awarded by your college will be reduced correspondingly. If you land a really huge one, great! It’s worth it. Unfortunately, those really big outside scholarships have applications that take a lot of time and effort. We’ve seen very worthy students work superhard and come up with nothing from some of the major ones like those sponsored by Coca-Cola and Toyota. By the way, take the hype about “millions of dollars of aid going unclaimed” as just one more bit of chicanery associated with this process. There are all sorts of unscrupulous individuals and agencies out there offering to “help”—for a fee. They’re generally just out to help themselves.
Loans—These have to be repaid after graduation. You and your parents may be aware of the scandals recently uncovered about the whole student loan business. The best loans come from your favorite uncle, Uncle Sam. The rates will be lower than private loans, and the terms will be more humane. Make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into before you take out any type of student loan; shop around for rates and terms that you and your parents can live with!
Work-study—These are jobs that the college gives students as part of their aid package. Because they come from the fi nancial aid office at the college, they fi t in with your schedule for classes and recognize that you need time to do your homework.

Some of those same factors that make students attractive candidates when they apply for admission can make them attractive in the financial aid process. Wealthier colleges have more money to spend on aid than do the others. Some of the richest, Princeton and Davidson among them, have completely done away with student loans. All the money they award comes in the form of scholarships—that is, free money. Quite a few other “elite” colleges, like U. Chicago, Northwestern, Columbia, and Harvard, have eliminated loans, giving grants instead to students whose family incomes fall below a certain level. Interestingly, because some of these schools don’t really need to lure talented students, all their aid is strictly need-based. Also interestingly, some colleges with less-fat endowments will go all out to try to win a particularly appealing candidate, sometimes offering a scholarship that amounts to discounting tuition and sometimes offering a full ride—even when there’s no need involved! To receive this kind of royal treatment, you’ll need to have grades, scores, and other qualifi cations that will make you a much-desired candidate.

A FEW SUGGESTIONS

Figure out which forms each of your colleges requires for financial aid. Anyone applying for need-based aid will have to do the FAFSA (all the information is available at www.fafsa.ed.gov), and from there on, it’s a real mish-mash. Some colleges require the PROFILE, another basic form; others will require their own forms; and yet others will want them all. To further complicate matters, there are more and different forms for loans. Ask the lenders to help you understand them. The financial aid offices at the colleges are generally very helpful when you or your parents have questions about paperwork. To gauge what your FAFSA might be before you’re able to apply in January, check www.fafsa4caster. com.
Your family and you can get an idea regarding your need-based aid eligibility by going to www.collegeboard.com and working with the College Board’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) calculator.
As you apply, try to fi nd out if each college is “need blind” or simply “need sensitive.” The former do not take into account whether or not you’ll need aid in order to attend. The latter may actually reject needy students who might be accepted if they were full-pay. That brings us to a practice called “gapping.” When a school “gaps” a student, it accepts that student but does not offer a package that meets all demonstrated need. Their thinking is that the student and her family may be able to come up with the extra cash—maybe by borrowing from rich relatives or winning the lottery. Obviously, if your family isn’t likely to qualify for need-based aid, don’t apply for it. As a full-pay, you may be a more desirable candidate. Once you’re in, you can apply for aid for your sophomore year. Outstanding freshman-year grades will be an asset if you decide to do this.
If you qualify for need-based aid, it’s a good idea to compare aid packages from all the schools that admit you. To do this effectively, you can’t apply early decision because you need to see all the information about each school’s offer side by side. That’s not only the total amount, but also the break-down: How much is grant (free) money? How much is loan? How much is work study? Look closely and ask questions. See what the real costs to you and your family will be. One of Lynda’s advisees received almost identical offers from two colleges he really liked. What tipped the scale in favor of one over the other? It was the type of work-study involved; one college had a great community-service job for him, while the other offered only custodial work. Sit down with your parents once you have all the acceptances and offers in hand, and look at what’s what. You may be surprised. It’s not unusual to find that attending a private school that really wants you, although the tuition there is higher, will cost less than going to the local state university where there’s lower tuition.
If you’re wait-listed at a school where you could only attend if you received fi nancial aid, you probably should forget about that one. Even if you were accepted later on, the aid money would most likely be all gone by then.
Beware of scams. It seems to us as if the neediest families are targeted with the most dishonest offers. All too often, students bring in letters about “seminars” that they and their parents are invited to attend. For only a few hundred dollars, the letters promise, undiscovered scholarship dollars will fl y directly into their hands. If a scholarship offer seems too good to be true, it probably is—except when it comes directly from the college, of course!
State schools will have lower tuition rates, but some of the small liberal arts colleges will have more money to offer.
Ask about aid consortia or reciprocal tuition discounts among states. For example, Colorado is part of WICHE (the Western Interstate Commission on Higher Education), which offers reduced tuition exchanges with several other states.