Christian College Parents

One of Financial Aid's Dirty Little Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:50:00 +0000

Financial Aid Leveraging – Bad News for the Less-than-Wealthy

The way I see it, the main job of financial aid officers should be to help the newly accepted and current students find a way to afford to go to their colleges or universities. In some universities and colleges, this is the way it is. However, there are some colleges that actually plan that some students will not receive financial aid packages that will allow them to enroll. This is called financial aid leveraging, and it maximizes the amount of money paid by students, while balancing that with the goal of meeting enrollment goals. Because of this, richer students, who can afford to pay their Cost of Attendance (COA) will get more spots at the college than they would if ability to pay didn’t play a role in who would enroll. Facts of life, folks.

Why Colleges Leverage Financial Aid
With colleges losing big chunks of their endowments when the stock market tanked, they’ve got to make it up somewhere. Some cut costs; some raise tuition and fees. (The Board of Regents of The University of California system just raised the undergraduate tuition 32 percent over the next two years.) Others cut costs and raise tuition, and some leverage financial aid. There are even companies that help colleges and universities figure out how to do this so they will get the tuition income they want. It’s a rough world out there.

Christian College Parents to the Rescue
This is why you need to get reliable information when facing the daunting task of selecting the right college, applying to colleges, and finding financial aid for college. A woman I met in, of all places, a mammogram waiting room, told me that someone had asked her for $900 to find scholarships for her child. Totally unnecessary!

More Information on Financial Aid
There are lots of places to find reliable information on financial aid without paying someone $900. Christian College Parents is one of them. You can also find a wonderful FREE scholarship search at FastWeb

Blessings,
Bonnie

The Truth about the "Bill Gates Scholarship"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 02:59:00 +0000

Don’t Believe Everything You Read on the Internet
There’s a lot of misinformation out there. Case in point – I was recently looking for information about college financial aid and found one on a “scholarship” website. Not only was it poorly written, it was also wrong. It was about the “Bill Gates Scholarship.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does fund a scholarship program called The Gates Millennium Scholars. The article got at least that part right. However, the article said that the scholarship was available to anyone who was a permanent resident of the United States.

Actually what the article says is “The students from different ethnic groups like Native American, African American, Hispanics and Asian and Pacific Islanders are privileged under this scholarship. …. The Nationality also will not be a barrier for availing scholarships from the establishment. If you are a permanent resident of US, you are adequate for the scholarship.”

Huh?

Was it written by a software program or someone who doesn’t speak English? Either way they got the facts wrong, because The Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program is ONLY for African Americans, American Indians/Alaska Natives, Asian and Pacific Islander Americans, and Hispanic Americans.

Want More Info on the GMS Program?
For those of you who might be interested in this scholarship, there are other requirements for the scholarship, including a cumulative GPA of 3.3 on a 4.0 scale (unweighted), and meeting the Federal Pell Grant eligibility criteria (which is for lower income families). The recipients also have to be nominated by an educator and recommended by someone familiar with the student’s leadership and community service.

There is no mention of the two additional applications (by the nominator and the recommender) in the article I found. It does however say that the scholarship “will cover the major portion of the coaching fee.” I have no idea what that is supposed to mean because on the official website of the GMS there is NO mention of any “coaching fee.” Maybe he’s talking about the tuition? He also gives a specific dollar amount for the scholarship, but, in reality, it varies depending on a number of factors. Again I wonder who or what really wrote the article.

The deadline for the GMS program is January 11, 2010 (11:59 p.m. EST), so there is still time to apply. However, before you do anything else, you should go to the GMS website, which you can find here. That way you can get the whole truth and nothing but the truth about this scholarship. You should do this with any scholarship for which you plan to apply.

What about the Nominators and Recommenders?
The educators who qualify as Nominators are principals, teachers, guidance counselors, higher education representatives, and other professional educators. They are invited to nominate students with outstanding academic qualifications, particularly those likely to succeed in the fields of computer science, education, engineering, library science, mathematics, public health, or science. There are no limits on how many students a Nominator can nominate, so if your student meets all the qualifications, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask an educator to nominate him or her. It may be that an educator who knows your child would be delighted to nominate her or him, but doesn’t know about this particular program.

As far as the Recommender goes, the GMS website even suggests that you “choose your Recommender carefully.” It can even be the Nominator if that person is also familiar with the student’s non-academic activities.

Speaking of Financial Aid…
The Financial Aid ebooks are almost ready. You’ll be the first to know when they are available!

Blessings,
Bonnie

Income Based Repayment for Federal Student Loans

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:49:00 +0000

There’s a new program for government college loans that gives students with big college debt some relief. It is based on your income and family size, so that if you have a large debt and a small salary, your payments are adjusted taking your family size into consideration as well. This new program, appropriately called Income Based Repayment (IBR), is available now for people who have any Stafford, Grad PLUS or Consolidation loan made under either the Direct Loan or program, unless the loan is in default, parent PLUS Loans, or consolidation loans that repaid a parent PLUS Loan. Although your lender will make the calculations to determine a new payment, you can find out if you are eligible and approximately how much difference this program would make on your monthly payment by going to the government’s IBR Calculator.

To use the IBR Calculator you will need to know your estimated adjusted gross income, the amount that you owed on your eligible federal student loans when you entered repayment, the estimated average interest rate on your eligible federal student loan, and your family size. You plug these figures into the IBR Calculator, and this gives you the payment amount your would pay on your government student aid through the Income Based Repayment plan. If that payment is lower than the monthly payment under a 10-year standard repayment plan, then you are eligible to repay your loans under IBR.

During this time of economic hardship and mounting student debt, this federal student loan program could be a lifesaver for many students and their families. Check it out at the Federal Student Aid website.

Blessings,
Bonnie

Private Colleges Can Be a Better Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 18:01:00 +0000

In today’s Houston Chronicle Tammy Vo, a freshman at University of St. Thomas in Houston, says that St. Thomas “proved a better deal than most public schools” she applied to because of the financial aid they give her. Next year St. Thomas, a Catholic college, will raise financial aid by $250,000 or more. This is one way that private universities are trying to stay competitive in today’s tighter economy.

Other universities are cutting faculty, freezing jobs, and admitting more students in an attempt to make sure that their classes are filled in the fall. This is good news for cash-strapped parents who are worrying about sending their children to college. To help students pay tuition and expenses, colleges are cutting their expenses and digging deeper into their endowments.

The important message for bargain-hunters is that you need to look at the bottom line when comparing colleges, because private universities give out lots of financial aid. This is especially true with smaller, lesser known colleges like University of St. Thomas.

Parents shouldn’t tell their children that they will be able to go to any college they are admitted to, unless the parents can afford the school without financial aid. However, they should encourage their children to apply to private colleges that might try harder to get them to attend by giving them the financial aid they need to make that a reality.

COMING SOON:“The Secrets of Financial Aid” – an ebook with all the secrets I’ve discovered in my comprehensive research of the subject. Make sure you’re on my email list, so you can get a copy as soon as it is released. Just fill in the boxes on the right hand site of this blog. You’ll also get a free copy of the ebook “A Parent’s Survival Guide to College” by insider Neil P. O’Donnell, academic advisor and professor at a private college in NY.

Blessings,
Bonnie

More Help with the FAFSA

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 17:53:00 +0000

Since filling out the FAFSA ranks right up there with filling out the income tax forms as a fun activity, I’ve been researching places on the web that offer help. (By the way, you’ll have to have at least an estimate of your 2008 taxes in order to fill out the FAFSA.) In addition to the ebook “Completing the FAFSA 2000- 2010,” published by the federal government that I mentioned in my last blog, there are other places where you can find useful information.

VIDEO TUTORIAL
The Financial Aid staff at the University of California, Santa Barbara has designed a video tutorial on filling out the FAFSA called “Eight Easy Steps to the FAFSA: A Student's Guide to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.” Because it is divided into eight segments, you can use all of it or just the segments for the sections of the FAFSA that are giving you trouble. Two people named Natalie and George go through the entire FAFSA line by line. They are a little too happy for my taste, but that might reflect my previous hours of struggling with the FAFSA.

Help from the FAFSA Itself
There’s a help button in the lower left-hand corner of every page of the FAFSA that you fill out online. This will give you help on the specific questions that are on that page, as well as links to FAQs and Customer Service.

The FAQ for the FAFSA says that it will take you less than an hour to fill it out. HA!!! It takes less than an hour IF you’ve already found all the information and filled in the worksheet they provide,which is basically a FAFSA that you can print. If you’re just copying answers from the paper to the web, then, yes, it can be done in less than an hour. Otherwise, allow more time, and DON’T wait until the day before the deadline for your state or college. That’s just asking for trouble.

Believe me, I know. The first FAFSA I ever filled out was done in the middle of the night the day before I thought it was due. Luckily, I was wrong and I had more time. Unluckily, I didn’t know that and my internet connection kept crashing. It was a rough night. By the way, if your internet connection crashes while you are doing your FAFSA on the Web, it will automatically save it and you will be able to access it in 45 minutes. (Of course, if you’re panicking because you think you’ve got just hours until it’s due, 45 minutes seems like a lifetime.)

Besides the FAQs, there is a link to “Web Customer Service Chat.” However, when I tried to access that, I got a screen that said that the following browsers had not been certified for use with Live help: Netscape Navigator (all platforms), AOL (Windows), Firefox (all platforms), Internet Explorer 7.x (Windows). Since I use Internet Explorer 7, I could not use it.

COMING SOON
“The Secrets of Financial Aid” – an ebook with all the secrets I’ve discovered in my comprehensive research of the subject. Make sure you’re on my email list, so you can get a copy as soon as it is released. Just fill in the boxes on the right hand site of this blog. Blessings,
Bonnie

Fill Out the FAFSA!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:58:00 +0000

I'm back from California, where I spent seven weeks with my mom, who had major surgery. I was there at the beginning of the year, so I missed reminding you to FILL OUT YOUR FAFSA!

The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Most financial aid, even that which comes from the states and the colleges, start with the FAFSA. Many college deadlines are in February and March, so time’s a wastin’. Financial aid is given on a FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED basis, so the quicker you get your FAFSA done and submitted, the better off you are.
With the economy tanking, more people than ever will be applying for financial aid, so there's even more competition than usual. Some states are cutting back their financial aid and many colleges are raising their tuition. More reasons to get going on the FAFSA.

Even if you are fortunate enough to have a job and make a decent living, you want to fill out the FAFSA. Many colleges are so expensive that even people making good money can qualify for financial aid. Also, if you're going to have to take out a loan, government loans have better interest rates and terms than private loans. The government will pay the interest on some federal loans while the student is in college, and repayment of some federal loans don’t begin until after the student graduates or stops going to college. You can't get a government loan for college without filling out the FAFSA.

So get going! The official FAFSA site is www.fafsa.ed.gov. Note that it is not a .com site. If you go to a .com site you may be asked to pay to have the FAFSA submitted.

If You Need Help
If you need help in completing the FAFSA, check out the government publication “Completing the FAFSA, 2009-2010”. This has an explanation for each question asked in the FAFSA. You can also call toll-free 1-800-433-3243 or TTY users (for the hearing impaired) can call 1-800-730-8913.

COMING SOON: “The Secrets of Financial Aid” – an ebook with all the secrets I’ve discovered in my comprehensive research of the subject. Make sure you’re on my email list, so you can get a copy as soon as it is released. Click here to sign up. You’ll also get a free copy of the ebook “A Parent’s Survival Guide to College” by insider Neil P. O’Donnell, academic advisor and professor at a private college in NY.

Blessings,Bonnie

Getting a Child Ready for College is Like a Hurricane

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:35:00 +0000

As you probably know, I live in Houston, Texas, which was hit by Hurricane Ike last month. Mine was not a bad experience. Because September is hot and humid in Houston, some of my friends literally sweat through more than two weeks without power. My power was out for only 19 hours.

To add to my blessings, my sister Sandy, her husband Randy and her two kids Sarah (11) and Jake (7) came and stayed with me starting the Sunday after the hurricane struck, because their power was out and mine wasn't. They stayed five days, which was two days after their power came back on. I wanted them to stay longer! I just love Sarah and Jake -- they are so fun!!! And since my kiddos are 23 and 26 and live out of town, this mama misses having kids in her house.

Speaking of hurricanes -- the time leading up to a child leaving for college can seem as chaotic and stressful as a hurricane. Information about what you need to know and what you need to do can eliminate a lot of that stress and chaos.

There's a ton of information out there, but it's not usually in one place, some of it is difficult to understand, and none of it is from a Christian perspective...until now.

One of the goals of Christian College Parents is saving Christian parents time.

Time is the only commodity you can't make more of, but you can save time. For two years I've been researching --

how to help your child find the right college
how to help your child get accepted to college
how to find and maximize financial aid for your child
how to prepare your child for college life and
how to help your child deal with the issues at college

Along with experts in their fields, Christian College Parents is putting together packages that contain everything you need to know about every aspect of college...from a Christian perspective.

The first ebook we are offering is "A Parent's Survival Guide to College." It was written by Neil O'Donnell, an academic specialist and professor at a private college in western New York. This ebook is FREE to our members and membership is also FREE. You can join and request the FREE ebook by simply clicking this link.

We promise never to sell or give away your information and you can quit your membership at any time. However, I can't imagine why you'd want to quit, since you'll also get a FREE newsletter with tips and news about all things college from a Christian viewpoint.

We will continue to offer the information you need in a concise, easy-to-understand format. So you can save the time you'd spend researching and spend it doing something you'd actually enjoy. Or you could spend the time helping your child during the chaotic and stressful pre-college hurricane.

Yes, I did mean to say that you might not enjoy helping your child get ready for college. This can be a difficult time for the child-parent relationship. This may be because your child is trying to become more independent, but it may also be because they are anxious about leaving home for college. (Even if they don't admit it.) As a result, they may not be the nicest people to have around. I have a friend who says that God planned it that way so we wouldn't miss them so much when they leave. I'm not so sure about that, but they can be less than delightful during this period. (It's possible that we might, from time to time, be less than darling during this period also.)

Anyway, the point of all this is that Christian College Parents will continue to provide you with essential information that is all in one place, easy to understand, with a dash of humor and a Christian perspective.

We hope you join and get our FREE ebook "A Parent's Survival Guide to College" today. Get it now by clicking this link.

We also hope that you will become an active member of our Christian College Parents community. We want to hear from you, so we can give you exactly what you need. We'd also like to hear about your experiences -- both positive and negative -- of getting your children ready to fly the coop and stretch their wings at college.

Blessings,

Bonnie

Taking My Daughter to College, Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:53:00 +0000

This is the second half of my report on my trip. See Part 1 below.

A computer has become an essential tool for college. However, like all computers, sometimes computers at college don't function like they are supposed to, and most of the time you have to get plugged into the college internet service. At times that's as easy as plugging it in. In my experience, most of the time It's not that easy. My daughter and I had to go to the technical support building three times. The first time we went they said we had to go back and get Kat’s laptop. (We just wanted a network cord, which they were distributing free of charge.) We went back to her room and returned with her laptop. Then they told us that they were out of the network cords. So they set her laptop up for wireless. After they did this, they told us that her dorm didn’t get wireless. Even after we’d bought a network cord, Kat still couldn’t get the internet. So we went to tech support again. One of the support people from the day before had left his IP number on her computer, so it wouldn’t work in her dorm room. Although the support team was set up outside, (more sweating), they did give us free cold drinks and hot dogs. That was lunch on Saturday.

Sometime between the second and third trip to technical support, we went to buy Kat’s books. Kat's last college only has one bookstore where you can purchase textbooks, but there are four in this college town, two of them right next door to each other. When we went to the first one, they didn’t have any used books for Kat’s courses. Used books can save you a fortune, so Kat stayed at the first bookstore with her textbooks while I went next door to see if they had any used books for her courses. In both bookstores, people came right up to us and helped us find the books. In the second store, Jay, the man in charge, came up to me. I explained that Kat was next door with her books, and that I had come looking for used textbooks. He promptly told me that even if they didn’t have used copies that their prices were lower. We found 4 or 5 used ones and a new one that was 95 cents lower than at the other bookstore. They were missing two of the books, which we had found at the other store. I told Jay I would go get Kat and we would purchase the books he had. While we were purchasing Kat's books at Jay's bookstore, he gave Kat a free notebook and both of us free soft drinks. Competition is a wonderful thing when you are the buyer.

An essential part of every trip to take your kid to college is the marathon WalMart trip. This takes hours, especially if it’s the weekend before the local schools begin, as it was last weekend. It makes sense not to pack all the laundry soap and school supplies, but it does make for a very long shopping trip. And we didn’t start this marathon shopping expedition until about 9 p.m. We’d heard that WalMart was out of the network cords, so we also stopped at Staples before we even went to WalMart. Both of our feet were aching before the first hour was up.

When we got back to the dorm at 11 p.m., they weren’t renting the WalMart carts anymore, so we had to carry most of it up to the dorm room. We did use Kat’s rolling laundry hamper for one trip, and that helped. I recommend that you take a dolly or even just a collapsible luggage cart with you, in case your school doesn’t rent out WalMart carts. Kat wanted me to stay and help her put everything away, but I was totally exhausted and probably somewhat dehydrated, despite the free water and soft drinks. I begged off and went back to my motel room.

I intended to leave after church on Sunday, but Kat wanted me to stay longer. How could I refuse? I knew I was going back to an empty house, (not counting my two dogs), so staying with my daughter for a little while longer wasn’t a tough sell. I told her I just wanted to get home by dark, which, these days in Houston, is a little after 8 p.m. It’s a three hour drive without stops. I left at 4:30 p.m. I stopped once at a truck stop, where I bought a “The Best of Linda Ronstadt” CD. I sang loudly, if not well, the rest of the way home. When I turned into my driveway it was almost 8 p.m. I was happy to be home and my dogs were ecstatic to see me, but I now have a very empty nest. It seems like only yesterday that there were four people living in my house.

If any of you would like to share your stories about taking a child to college or your empty nest, please post a comment. It helps to know you're not alone in this situation.

Blessings,

Bonnie

Taking My Daughter to College, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:13:00 +0000

August 29th, 2008

I just got back from taking my daughter Kat to college. She’s been home with me for the last two years, since she dropped out of Texas Christian University (TCU) after her dad died. If she hadn’t dropped out, she would have graduated last May, when my son Chris did. (It took him 7 years to graduate because he took small course loads or skipped semesters completely to help me with his dad while Hugh was ill.) While Kat was at home, she did take some classes at Houston Community College, and she also worked a year in a Christian bookstore. When she decided it was time to get back out on her own, she wanted to start fresh at a new college, so she chose a state school in a small town.
Kat and I drove up in separate cars this past weekend, so she could have her car with her and I could help bring her stuff and get her settled in. Kat is living in a ten-story dorm linked to another ten-story dorm by a lobby. In other words, a lot of kids live in these two mammoth towers. Luckily, many of them had already moved in, since the dorm had been open for a couple of days. Unluckily, many of them were moving in at the same time Kat was. It was kinda crazy.
For those of you who are lucky enough to have missed the experience of Texas in August, I will just tell you that, because of the heat and the humidity, the newspaper said that it felt like between 101F – 103F all weekend. In addition, the humidity made it feel as if I was in a large kettle of soup. Yuck! I’m somewhat used to it, since I’m from Houston, but moving a kid into a college dorm when thousands of other parents are moving thousands of other kids into the same college dorm makes it extra sweaty. That’s the only word for it. I thought about using a more genteel word, but “sweaty” is the one of the words that sums up my weekend. The other word is “exhausting.”
In addition to the weather, the AC was not working in my motel room when we checked in about 9 p.m. on Friday night. The motel was booked solid, as was every other motel in town. It took about an hour before it got fixed, because we were so brain-dead tired that we didn’t even call the front desk for about 30 minutes. We just kept thinking it would get cooler, but it didn’t. The people were very nice and fixed it quickly and even gave us a large fan in addition. I think they were worried I would have a heart attack or something. I get very red in the face when I’m hot, and after a day of packing Kat up and driving 3 hours, I was tired. It was not a pretty sight. Thankfully, the AC worked fine after that.
Saturday we spent getting her moved in, which included multiple trips to and from both cars. Luckily the dorm was renting out carts to help with the loads. It cost $10 - $12/ hr for the carts. I would have paid twice that. Some of the carts were clearly marked “WalMart.” At that point, I didn’t care that someone was making money off of stolen carts. They were probably going to take them back to WalMart after everyone moved in.
The best part of the whole time was the free, cold water that volunteers were distributing. They probably saved lives by doing that. I’m not kidding. Boomer parents, myself included, aren’t all in the best shape. I’d recommend that public service to all alums who live in their college towns. It was the best public relations I’ve ever seen.
Kat’s dorm room is minuscule. The two dorm towers are round. They look very cool from the outside, but because the towers are round, the rooms are shaped like a slice of pie with the tip cut off. Dorm rooms are usually smaller than kids expect, but when they are pie-shaped, they are even smaller than most small dorm rooms. Her roommate had already bunked the beds, which helped, but some closets are bigger than Kat’s room. Well, that might be an exaggeration, but not by much. You can see from the photos at the top of this blog that there isn't much room, especially for two people. Good thing Kat isn’t claustrophobic.
I’ll write about the rest of the trip next time. I’d love to hear from any of you about your trip to take a child to college. Come on, share. It’s such a fun trip. :P
Blessings,

Bonnie

Student Loan Update + Wedding News

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 16:31:00 +0000

I looked at the date on my last blog entry, and can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve written anything. So many things have been happening…

On a personal note, the most important thing that’s happened to me is that my son Chris got married. It was a beautiful wedding and my son and his new wife Nicole are very happy. Here’s a photo of the lovely couple.

: Nicole and Chris

In addition to my son’s wedding, I’ve been writing two ebooks on financial aid for students, as well as working on some other projects for Christian College Parents. The writing is going well, but it hasn’t left much time for other things, like my blog!

Several things over the last few weeks have caught my attention, however, and I wanted to share them with you.

FIRST THE GOOD NEWS:

President Bush has signed legislation to help parents and college students with their student loans.

HIGHLIGHTS of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act:

· Monies received by institutions from selling their student loans must be used to provide more loans for students

· Temporarily removes medical bill payment delinquencies up to 180 days as a reason to reject parent applying for PLUS loans for their children’s tuition

· New subsidized Stafford loans interest rate dropped to 6%

And that’s just the beginning!

· The new maximum Pell Grant scholarship is now $4,731, up $490 from last year. This is the first in a series of increases to eventually raise the grant by $1090 by 2012.

· The interest rates for unconsolidated student loans taken out before July 1, 2006 has now dropped to 4.21 percent. You can get a fixed rate of 4.25 percent and combine all your student loans into one payment by getting a consolidation loan now. (Those loans taken out after July 1, 2006 won’t be eligible for this rate because they are at a fixed rate of 6.8 percent.)

· Even if your local bank has stopped issuing consolidation loans, you can still get one through the federal government’s Direct Loan program.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD NEWS:

Although government undergraduate student loans should be available to people who have filled out the FAFSA and qualify, private loans and loans through the Parent Loan for Undergraduate Students (PLUS), available to parents and graduate students are harder to come by.

Why is that?

· PLUS loans require a credit check, something the undergraduate student loans through government programs do not. Higher credit scores are required for these loans as a result of the subprime mortgage crisis.

· Credit score requirements for private loans will be even higher since they are not guaranteed by the federal government.

· Lenders make more money on loans for four or more years of college than they make on loans for two years of college.

This means that people with less than wonderful credit scores, low to moderate income, and/or plan to attend trade schools or community colleges will be the ones that have a harder time paying for college.

These are the very people who need the most help. If we want an educated citizenry with the knowledge and skills needed in today’s world, we need to make education easier to get, not harder.

If you are still trying to figure out how to finance this fall’s college education, here are some things to try:

· Contact your financial aid office. If you have not filled out the FAFSA, ask them if your child could still get government aid, if you did fill it out now.

· Ask the financial aid office if any scholarships or grants have become available that your child might qualify for.

· Ask if your child could get in the work/study program.

· Ask them if you could pay with an installment program over several months.

· PRAY

I don’t guarantee that any of those options will result in new funding, but it doesn’t hurt to ask. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

What about you?

Have you been affected by the student loan crunch? If so, please leave me feedback on how you’re coping with the situation.

Blessings,

Bonnie

Student loans-good and bad news

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Recently I read two very different articles about student loans. The first one was all about the bad news concerning student loans and the second one was all about the good news. I sure was glad to read the second one!

BAD NEWS-

First I read a Newsday article by Carrie Mason-Draffen that appeared in The Houston Chronicle entitled Student loan market pinched. It said that the “subprime mortgage meltdown and the ensuing credit-market crunch have slowed lending and cooled investor interest in securities, including those backed by student loans.”

MORE BAD NEWS-

The article went on to say “In addition, the federal government has cut billions of dollars in subsidies to lenders who make federally guaranteed student loans.” According to the article, this makes lenders less likely to offer the federally guaranteed loans.

You wouldn’t think that there would be any good news after that, would you?

GOOD NEWS-

However, an article written by Stacy Teicher Khadaroo for The Christian Science Monitor, called Amid loan worries, a silver lining for students, states that the credit crunch in the private sector will push some students to apply for the federal loans with interest rates that can be half that of the private loans. The article also said that “Almost half of college students fail to collect all the federal loans – fixed at 6.8 percent – that they are eligible to receive.” In other words, because of the publicity that the credit crunch is receiving, students and their parents are finding out about the federal loans for which they qualify and saving themselves a lot of money in interest. WHOOPEE! That’s what I’ve been talking about!

So what about the problem regarding the federal loans?

MORE GOOD NEWS AND SOME BAD NEWS

The good news, according to the same article, is that, the federal loan system has “’impressive backstops…to make sure there’s loan availability,’” according to Robert Shireman, executive director of the Project on Student Debt in Berkeley, California.

However, it seems that these backstops are not completely ready to be used, if it becomes necessary. The story goes on to say that “Congressional education committees have urged Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings to make sure those ‘backstops’ are ready if needed. Under a lender-of-last-resort provision, 35 guaranty agencies would be obligated to serve as lenders if any problem arose. But that’s never been implemented before, and requires work to be made operational.”

EVEN MORE GOOD NEWS-

“Financial aid officers are eager to help students sort through the confusing news,” says the Christian Science Monitor article (emphasis mine). See that? “Financial aid officers are eager to help.” When approached the right way, most financial aid officers are eager to find a way that all accepted students can go to their colleges. Unfortunately, some parents start thinking that the financial aid officers are their opponents, especially if their students don’t get the financial aid packages that they wanted. I think this is a very harmful attitude, because, after all, financial aid officers are just people doing their jobs, limited by the resources they are given by their colleges.

As Christians, we always want to apply the Golden Rule when we interact with other people. You and I both know this isn’t always easy, especially when a big stressor, like money, is involved. However, I’ve found that using the Golden Rule will also yield better results, all other things being equal.

Not that I always manage to do this, but I do try. Right now I’ve got someone I need to apologize to because I didn’t treat her as I would want to be treated, because she didn’t treat me the way I wanted to be treated. And I was big time stressed at the time. I know that’s not a legitimate excuse, but I’m human.

God’s been working on me about this for a couple of days. First, my Beth Moore Bible Study homework included the verse: “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you know how to answer everyone.” (Colossians 4:6)

Then today at church the pastor talked about forgiving people, even if you think they were wrong and you were right. Boy, that struck home with me. So I decided that I not only had to forgive her, but that I also needed to apologize for being less than Christian in my reaction to her.

BACK TO STUDENT LOANS-

So there you have the good news and the bad news about the state of student loans today. I think the good news somewhat negates the bad news. However, with bad news being what sells papers, it’s often hard to find the good news of a situation. However, I’ll always give you the good news with the bad news, if I possibly can. In addition to the things I’ve learned through experience, and the eighteen months I spent doing research on the issues facing Christian high school and college students and their parents, I continue to monitor the news regarding these issues.

QUESTION FOR YOU-

Is anyone facing situations that have been affected by what’s going on with student loans? Please add a comment. Sharing could help others facing a similar situation, especially if you’ve found a good solution.

NEW EBOOK COMING-

I apologize for not blogging much lately. I’ve been working on an ebook, (tentatively-titled “The 10 Things You Absolutely Have to Know about Financial Aid) , and it’s taken up some of my blogging time. I’ll let you know when it’s ready (soon), and how you can get a copy.

Blessings,

Bonnie

GOOD NEWS in College Financial Aid

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:57:00 +0000

As I continue to research college financial aid for you, I've come across wonderful news!

Bowing to pressure from the American people and Congress, many colleges are using more of their endowments to limit or completely eliminate loans from their financial aid packages!

At Stanford, where this year the cost of attendance is $49,500/yr, they recognize that many people will not be able to afford that. Students whose families’ total income is lower than $45,000/yr get a free ride, with the exception of some self-help, which Stanford requires of all their students receiving financial aid. The standard amount of self-help required is $4,000/yr, which the student is expected to provide through working or taking out loans. Stanford has also set aside an additional $5 million for financial aid for families with incomes from $60,000 to $135,000.

This year Emory University, where the cost of attendance is $47,000/yr, eliminated loans for undergraduates whose families earn under $50,000/yr. For families that earn up to $100,000/yr Emory is capping the students total loan amount at $15,000 for four years. Considering that borrowing $80,000 --$100,000 for college is not unheard of, a cap of $15,000 is great. Private loan companies advertise that you can get up to $40,000 a year!

Brown University recently announced that it is eliminating tuition for students whose parents earn less than $60,000. Their cost of attendance for the 2007-2008 school year is $48,660. Not only are they helping families that earn under $60K, Brown will also substitute grants for student loans in the financial aid packages of students whose families earn less than $100,000 a year.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg!

Reports of universities cutting or limiting the loans from their financial aid packages are coming fast and furious! Every week another college announces that they are using more of their endowment to lessen the burden on their students. I don't know about you, but I consider this a great victory for parents and students! Maybe now students can get an education without graduating with the millstones of massive debt hanging around their necks.

Nice to have a bit of good news for a change. I hope all your news is good news when it comes to financial aid!

Blessings,
Bonnie

Increase Your College Financial Aid

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:18:00 +0000

Last time I told you I’d give you some ethical ways of increasing college financial aid and decreasing the EFC (Expected Family Contribution). I’ve been researching this and there are ways that I feel a Christian can do this without feeling that they are doing something unethical. This is somewhat like tax planning, which can also go both ways – some “tax planning” borders on illegal and can be definitely unethical. As Christians we want to steer clear of anything like that.

Since the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is a snapshot of a certain day in terms of assets, you can control the assets somewhat. If you are planning on making a large purchase in the near future and you’ve been saving some cash for this, you might want to go ahead and buy that big purchase so the cash is gone. I wouldn’t say to go out and buy things just so you have less cash, but buying something a little earlier than you planned is another thing entirely.

If you’re going to owe the IRS, one of the things you could do is pay your taxes before you fill out the FAFSA. You need to do your taxes, or at least estimate them, before filling out the FAFSA, so you’ll know if you owe taxes. I know it’s normal to wait to pay until you absolutely have to, but in this instance, it might be better to go ahead and pay, if you have the cash. If you’re going to have to put your tax payment, or anything else, on a credit card or loan, then it won’t help with the EFC, because they don’t take debt into consideration.

While, it would be financially positive for the EFC to pay the taxes before you fill out the FAFSA, don't let that be a reason that you put off completing the FAFSA. You don't want to miss a deadline or miss college-funded financial aid because they've run out. (See last blog.)

If you’re looking at long-term savings, then consider that a larger percentage of your child's assets than your assets will be included in the EFC . If you’re wondering whether to put something in your name or your child’s, putting it in your name will save you money, as far as the EFC is concerned. Of course, if it’s already in your child’s name, I don’t think you can legally move it.

Which brings me to this important note: I’m not an accountant, a financial planner or a lawyer, so before you do anything that might impact you financially or legally, you should consult a professional.

I hope everyone is getting their FAFSA’s done without a lot of hair-tearing. If you have questions about federal financial aid or filling out the FAFSA, you can call toll-free 1-800-4-FED-AID (1-800-433-3243) or go to Completing the FAFSA, a 68-page ebook, prepared by the federal government, with lots of answers to your questions.

Blessings,

Bonnie

Financial Aid – Fill Out FAFSA Now

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:24:00 +0000

Well, the holidays are over, and it’s time to start thinking about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). I do hope you had a wonderful Christmas, but it's time to get to work!

EVERYONE should fill out the FAFSA, even if they don’t think they qualify for financial aid.

The reasons are simple. Believe it or not, colleges with high endowments and universities that are expensive offer financial aid to families with high incomes. You might be surprised by how much financial aid you qualify for. Many colleges have stopped including loans as part of their financial aid packages and are using more of their endowments than they have in the past.

Even if all you qualify for are loans, you may be eligible for federally-subsidized loans, which have lower interest than private loans. Private loans should only be used as a last resort!

If you don’t fill out the FAFSA, you may miss out on all sorts of financial aid.

Although the federal deadline for submitting the FAFSA is June 30, 2008, many states and schools have earlier deadlines. Two of the colleges I checked had deadlines of Feb. 15, 2008 and one said to submit it as soon after January 1^st as possible.

Besides the state and university deadlines, there is another good reason for getting it in as soon as possible. Part of the financial aid given students is provided by the individual colleges. When it is gone, it’s gone, so the sooner you apply the better.

So go to the FAFSA website and start getting organized. There are papers to be collected, taxes to estimate or complete, PINs to apply for. The sooner you get started, the better!

Next blog I’ll talk about ethical ways to minimize the EFC (Expected Family Contribution).

Blessings,
Bonnie

Getting Into College: An Insider's Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:31:00 +0000

Getting into college and getting financial aid are the two things on most college applicants' and their parents' minds. Wouldn't it be nice to hear some advise from the Dean of Admissions of a leading university?

Well, You're in luck....

I found a great video on the Vanderbilt University site that has a lot of great tips for getting admitted and getting financial aid. I've posted it below. Here's Vanderbilt's description of the video:

Douglas Christiansen is Vanderbilt University's associate provost for enrollment and dean of admissions. He's spent the last 20 years in admissions leadership roles in both public and private universities. Now he's using his expertise to give students practical advice on what they can do to get into the right college, in hopes of clearing some of the mystery and misconceptions surrounding the admissions process.

In a series of short and direct video clips, Christiansen tackles questions such as, "How should I prepare for my college essay—what if I'm not the greatest writer?" "My parents have decent jobs, but we haven't saved much for college. What are my chances of getting financial aid?" "As an admissions insider, what tips can you give to help me sound my best in my application?"Christiansen also talks about when extracurricular activities can actually hurt an applicant and how to ease the stress surrounding the admissions process.

All college applicants and their parents should watch this video! It's 24 minutes long, but worth the time!

Is that a great video, or what?

It's also on YouTube, along with other Vanderbilt videos. Many are very academic, but that's what you want from a top notch college. There are also videos showing what Vanderfbilt professors are doing and thinking. In addition, there are videos of concerts from the Blair School of Music, which is part of Vanderbilt.

If I sound somewhat prejudiced for Vanderbilt, it's because I'm an alumni. If you'd like more information, go to their website http://www.vanderbilt.edu/ and there's also a series of videos with Interim Chancellor Nicolas Zeppos who talks about life at Vanderbilt.

I loved every minute of my time at Vanderbilt. I got lots of financial aid thirty-five years ago, but "lots" was around $2,000/year then. Now that it's 2000% more expensive, I was afraid that it was priced out of reach for most middle-class people.

I was glad to find out that I was wrong.

Douglas Christiansen says in the above video that their average financial aid package is $30,000!

I'll write more about financial aid in my next blog, and I promise I won't wait as long to post one next time.

Tune in next time for: FINANCIAL AID SECRET #4

Blessings,
Bonnie

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Three College Financial Aid Secrets

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 18:32:00 +0000

Last blog I shared FINANCIAL AID SECRET #1 - You can appeal the amount and type of financial aid, even if a college hasn’t awarded you any.

In this blog I will tell you how to appeal your student's financial aid package(s). I will also share two more financial aid secrets.

Appealing Financial Aid Packages

If you believe that the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) doesn’t reflect your correct financial situation the first thing you need to do is include a letter with each college application. (The colleges probably won’t pay any attention to the letter when they are putting together your first financial aid offer, but you can refer to it when you appeal the financial aid packages.)

One reason the FAFSA might not reflect your financial situation could be large medical bills or some other expense that isn’t part of the FAFSA. Or your job situation might have changed since the last year, which is what the FAFSA is based upon. The colleges should take these things into account when they are putting together a financial aid package, but you can’t assume that the first financial aid package reflects these factors.

Appealing your financial aid package will mean that you will have more paperwork to do. You will have to send the colleges the evidence of whatever you’re claiming makes it impossible to pay the EFC (Expected Family Contribution). You may have to send them copies of your tax return too. And you will have to do this for each college you are considering.

When I was appealing my daughter Kat’s financial aid package, I sent huge packages full of copies of doctor bills and prescription receipts as well as tax returns to four colleges. By the time my daughter was applying to colleges my husband was ill with ALS, so we didn’t have an EFC of $20,000 to challenge, as we did with my son's first EFC. However, appealing Kat's financial aid packages did make a difference, especially in the kind of aid she received. (Grants vs loans) One college took the information we gave them and actually had the Federal Aid Office change our SAR (Student Aid Report) and EFC. Most deal with it internally.

Even if you don’t have huge medical bills or have lost your job, you may still find the EFC is more than you can afford. Most people in this situation aren’t poor, but they don’t have the extra funds that the EFC assumes. They are middle-class, hardworking people who have too much money to be considered economically disadvantaged, but not enough money to be able to write out a check for many thousands of dollars.

So challenge your EFC if it’s way out of line with what you can really afford. It doesn’t cost you more than time and postage, but it could make a difference of thousands of dollars in financial aid. It could also make a difference in whether your student receives scholarships and grants instead of loans.

FINANCIAL AID SECRET #2 - Be sure you get this information to them by the deadlines that they give you. In many cases being late is the same as not doing it at all.

FINANCIAL AID SECRET #3 - The earlier you get all financial aid information done, including the FAFSA, the better. The same goes for the college applicatons, because the financial aid that comes from each individual college (as opposed to state or federal aid) is given until it runs out. If you are one of the last ones to apply and get accepted, you may not get as much aid as you would have if you'd applied and gotten accepted earlier.

Blessings,
Bonnie

Excessive College Financial Aid Debt – Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 01:34:00 +0000

This series of financial aid blogs cites a Houston Chronicle article, that explains how huge college loan debt is handcuffing college students to monster payments for years after they graduate. As a result, this excessive college loan debt severely limits the graduates’ life options.

The newspaper article mentioned a lawyer who couldn’t afford to buy a house, go on vacation or do much of anything because of her $150,000 college loan debt. With a huge debt hanging over their heads, Christian college graduates can’t go into mission work, the ministry, or non-profit work, all of which pays less than corporate jobs.

When my son Chris was selecting a college, this issue came up. One of the colleges that accepted him was a private university in Texas. It was his first choice, but it was very expensive. (I should point out that it was less expensive than Ivy League colleges and even some Christian colleges.)

The Federal Aid Office, the government agency that determines how much parents can afford from their FAFSA (Free Application of Federal Student Aid), sent us our SAR (Student Aid Report) with an EFC (Expected Family Contribution) of $20,000 a year. In other words, they thought we could afford to spend $20,000 on Chris’ freshman year. We couldn’t. And Chris didn’t want to graduate with a debt of $80,000 (which assumed he would graduate in four years). He chose to attend the University of Houston, a state school. This was before I knew the secrets of financial aid.

As it turned out, Chris’ choosing to go to the University of Houston resulted in multiple blessings. My late husband Hugh was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) only months after Chris started college. Chris took small class loads and even a whole semester off to help me care for Hugh. (A real blessing for me and Hugh.) Because of his maturity and unselfishness, Chris will graduate three years after his original graduation date, but without a huge debt weighing him down. (A definite blessing for Chris -- You can imagine what seven years at the expensive college would have cost!) He also met his fiancé at University of Houston, so there’s a third blessing.

The first secret I learned was that you don’t have to accept the first financial aid package that a college offers you – you can appeal the amount and the kind of aid. (Some kinds of “aid” are loans.) You can appeal even if the university has not awarded you any financial aid.

I will go into the process of appealing financial aid packages in my next blog.

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Before you subscribe, put that address in your address book to ensure the confirmation email goes to your inbox and not your spam folder. Christian College Parents is an anti-spam organization, so you must confirm so we can email you. We will not give or sell your information to a third party.

Blessings,
Bonnie

Excessive College Financial Aid Debt –Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:52:00 +0000

As Christian parents, we are very protective of our kids. Our kids might even say over-protective. (At least mine do.) However, there’s one area where we may be not protective enough – their college loan debt.

I recently read an article in The Houston Chronicle, entitled School Loans Could Spell Trouble, that really upset me. The article, by Marcy Gordon of the Associated Press, begins “The near doubling in the cost of a college degree the past decade has produced an explosion in high-priced student loans that could haunt the U.S. economy for years.” (Italics mine.)

From my standpoint of a mother, that's not the worse news. It goes on to say that college loan debt could haunt our children for years too.

The article cites Kristin Cole, a 30-year-old graduate from Michigan State University’s law school, who owes “$150,000 in private and government-backed student loans.” Kristin is quoted saying “I could never buy a house. I can’t travel; I can’t do anything. I feel like a prisoner.”

She now works as a legal aid worker, but says that she may need to go to work for a law firm, which is “something I’m not real dedicated to, just for the sake of being able to live.” Her payments, currently $660/month are scheduled to increase to $800/month in a year or so!

How can our Christian graduates accept calls to be new pastors or missionaries if they have huge college loan debts? I don't think they can, and that's a situation that's bad news for Christian students and for our community of faith.

The good news is that there are solutions to this problem. There are ways you can maximize scholarships and grants while you minimize loans. Through extensive research and personal experience, I've discovered the secrets about financial aid. I will share financial aid tips in the next and future blogs.

As we advise our children on financial aid, I believe it is our duty to protect them from excessive debt. If we don't, we will have to watch them struggle for many years under the burden.

What do you think? Are you facing this situation? Or do you know someone who is? Share your story with us.

Welcome to Christian College Parents

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 23:21:00 +0000

Hi! I'm Bonnie McGrane, CEO and one of the founders of Christian College Parents, an organization for Christian parents of high school and college students.

Through this blog I plan to address the concerns and issues of Christian parents who are helping their children go through the arduous process of selecting, getting admitted to and finding funding for the special college that is just right for them.

When I was a high school student back in the late 60's the process was nowhere near as difficult. I applied to one college -- Vanderbilt University -- early decision and got admitted. I hate to admit it, but it was easier to get accepted to the college of your choice back then, because fewer people went to college. Now a college degree has become what a high school degree was then -- absolutely necessary to get a decent job. The cost of Vanderbilt has increased approximately 2000% since my freshman year. When I graduated I had a loan to repay, but the payments were only about $17/month. Now I read about students who graduate $100,000+ in debt. All of these factors makes the process a lot harder and a lot scarier to navigate.

That's where Christian College Parents can help. Our goal is to make life easier for parents who are helping their students with the whole big selection, application, and funding college process. One of the ways I'll be doing that is through information, but I also will be offering Christian support during this hair-yanking-out time.

And I'll be going through the process for the third time. My daughter Kat is transferring next Fall so I'll be reporting on our journey through the maze.

What are your biggest concerns and questions about the process? Let me know and I'll address them in future blogs.

Blessings,
Bonnie