Going Broke Paying For College
Are your children are getting close to college age. The good news is that there are several options available to prospective students and their parents to help you pay for college. Tuition plus room and board at a private college in the United States is on average around $35 000, and the tuition is increasing every year between 4 and 7%.
If you haven?t saved enough over the years to cover college expenses, you may have to work through those years to pay the fees as your child attends college. This can be quite a burden in addition to your normal living expenses. There are however, a number of financial aid options available.
Basing on the total cost of their education and the family’s ability to pay, need-based Aid are offered to qualified students. Low-interest student or parent loans, federal or institutional grants, as well as work-study programs subsidized by the Federal Government, are among the forms Need-based aids take.
Providing student loans with lower interest rates that are accrued only after repayments start are the Federal Student loans, the Perkins and Stafford loans. Also available to other students are their private loans.
The PLUS loan ? Parent Loan to Undergraduate Students ? gives parents low-interest loans too, but the repayments start 60 days after the loan has been disbursed.
Not needing to be repaid, grants have one big advantage over loans. Awarded by federal and state governments, grants are also awarded by individual colleges. They are awarded based on financial need, and can help fund the gap between what parents can pay, and the tuition fees.
Paid by the school, but later refunded by the government, work-study programs give students hourly or salaried work. Jobs can be on campus, such as library assistant positions, dining hall workers and so on, or they can be off campus at nonprofit organizations or other government agencies. Work is scheduled around the student?s classes, and usually entails 10 to 15 hours a week.
Merit-based scholarships are awarded based on academic, artistic, musical or athletic abilities, but are not available at all colleges. They do provide full tuition and room and board, and are therefore highly sought after.
Students can also earn money working while in college. The option of taking summer internships and co-op programs provide students with certain opportunities, such as supplementing their income while gaining useful work experience and insight into their possible career paths.
These are all alternatives that can help parents pay for their child’s college education. It may mean repaying loans for a while, but with statistics showing that college graduates earn up to 60% more than people with no college education, your child will reap the benefits later in life.
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Posted by Carlos Sagastume on February 3, 2011. Filed under HUD Homes.
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