Ascent x CollegeAdvisor – Mastering College Costs: Essential Tips to Avoid Overpaying

Webinar Transcription

2024-07-31 – Ascent x CollegeAdvisor – Mastering College Costs: Essential Tips to Avoid Overpaying

Lonnie: Hello, everyone. Welcome to CollegeAdvisor and Ascent’s webinar called, “Mastering College Costs: Essential Tips to Avoid Overpaying.” To orient everyone with the webinar timing, we are first going to begin with our presentation, and then we’ll have the opportunity to answer your questions in a live Q&A. You actually can begin submitting your questions now.

questions by locating our Q and a tab. And in a few more moments, you’ll have the opportunity to actually down download the slides in the handouts tab at any time. If your webinar is not working correctly, you can’t hear us. I mean, if you have any technical difficulties, just please go ahead and send me, Lonnie Webb, a note.

So with that, we’re gonna go ahead and get started by introducing our panelists. Allie, we will start with you. Great.

Allie: Hi, everyone. I’m Allie Danziger. Thrilled to be here today. I am the head of product and brand marketing at Ascent. Ascent is an innovative private student lender that helps students plan, pay, and succeed in and after school.

I also have the honor to be the SVP and GM of Ascent Up, which is the wraparound support training that we provide to every single borrower, um, through about 50 hours worth of training focused on budgeting, college and school success, and then how to get a job and how to succeed in the job, teaching students all the unwritten rules of all of those different hard to navigate parts of, um, the education to employment transition.

So we’re there with them every step of the way. Uh, and we have great teams to back all that up and really ensure that we are helping our students succeed through amazing webinars like this as well. Which again, excited for all the great content that we’ll be sharing tonight.

Lonnie: We’ll turn it over to Jess.

Jess: Hi, everyone. My name is Jess. I am the Financial Aid Milestone Team Leader here at CollegeAdvisor. So we help all of our families and students navigate the financial aid process. I’ve been working in financial aid since 2018, so I’ve helped a lot of families navigate. It’s very complicated, um, and confusing process.

So we’re really here to help you understand, um, kind of the notes and bolts of, of applying for financial aid and, uh, paying.

Lonnie: Hey, awesome. Well, for our audience, you are all an integral in store for a treat because we have two experts that are going to be here to support you with learning how to pay for college.

So with that, I will turn it over to our panelists to talk about understanding the cost of college.

Jess: Absolutely. Thanks, Bonnie. Um, so when we think about paying for college, we really want to think about a four year plan. Um, you know, it’s great to kind of get through the first year, but you have three years after that potentially grad school and how.

So, it’s really smart to head into this process with an understanding of how you’ll manage the costs over 40. We’ll break down the differences between direct and indirect costs, direct costs being, you know, what the school is going to bill you, and then the indirect costs that we really want families to consider and think about, but might not show up on a formal basis.

We’ll also talk a little bit about the sticker price. Um, you know, you’ll see really high costs of attendance at all of these different schools and colleges, but for most. Of the time you won’t actually pay, you know that that full price so we’ll kind of break down You know how families manage the cost of college and what you can expect to actually pay So in terms of direct costs versus indirect costs the direct costs can be thought of as the bill So we’ll have tuition on there, which is going to be, you know, the cost of attending classes We’ll have some mandatory fees on there as well, including health insurance, which I want to kind of call out, um, because a lot of families are able to waive that health insurance, um, because they already have coverage.

Um, so that’s something that we can talk a little bit more about in terms of fees that you might be able to get waived. Um, but there are a lot of mandatory fees associated with, um, Um, going to college as well, there are going to be different, um, at each school. So, you know, once you’re kind of in the process and actually looking at a bill, having a conversation with the financial aid office can be helpful to understand what’s mandatory and what’s not mandatory.

We also want to include the cost of housing, um, as well as meal plans. So, for a lot of freshmen, you know, they’re required to live on campus. That might change, um, you know, sophomore, junior, senior year. So, in thinking of that four year plan, you know, how can you kind of accommodate and anticipate the cost changing?

Um, tuition tends to increase every year. Housing and meal plans might increase as well, but are there opportunities, uh, for your students to become an RA, get free housing, get a free meal plan, or potentially even move off campus and kind of reduce the cost that way. So those are what we like to think of as direct costs.

So those are things that will show up on a, on a bill per semester that you’ll be responsible for. When we think about the indirect costs, The most common thing would be books and kind of materials for class. Um, you won’t formally be charged for these and these can really, again, fluctuate between class to class, student to student.

Um, but in terms of thinking of the overall cost, having a plan to, to kind of manage the cost of books and supplies is going to be important. Another thing that a lot of families don’t think about until they’re actually in it is the cost of travel to and from college. Thank you. Are you having to buy plane tickets, train tickets, bus tickets?

How are you getting your student to that university? Are they getting home for Thanksgiving, for, for winter break? Um, so those costs can really, you know, build up over the course of a year, and it’s important to, to kind of think about those as well. The other thing that we like families to think about is the general just cost of living.

Um, a lot of students, you know, are living on their own for the first time, kind of managing that, uh, managing a budget. Bye bye. It can be a really big shift for them, so we want them to think about what it’s going to cost them just to kind of be a person day to day. And then the last thing are going to be those non mandatory gym fees, so things like a gym pass, sports passes.

These are typically things that you can waive on a bill, um, but it might not be immediate to you that you can go ahead and waive them and that they’re not mandatory. And your student might be interested in participating in any of those things, but sometimes they do come at an added cost. So all of these things together really built up to the overall cost of college.

So most colleges are going to bill on a per semester basis. There’s going to be a fall bill and then a spring bill. The first bill is typically released mid summer with a due date of the late summer slash early fall, depending on the college. So in terms of really figuring out when you’ll have to pay the bill, Schools really only give families sometimes a couple of weeks to kind of figure out the plan.

So it can be really helpful to think ahead and have that plan set in place so that when the bill is released, you’re not kind of scrambling and trying to figure out how you’re going to manage the cost. Like I’ve mentioned before, really try to review the bill carefully. Call the financial aid or the accounting office to review any of the fees that can be waived.

Ask about every single line item just to kind of get a better context and understanding of exactly where that charge is coming from and if it’s absolutely necessary for you. So how do families pay? We see most families use a combination of these three things. So they’re using scholarships and grants, which we’ll cover in another slide.

They’re using payment plans. Um, so if they have a set amount of money, you know, set aside for college, or if they have an understanding of what they can do out of, you know, their monthly paycheck or just, um, you know, in the income that they’re earning, a lot of colleges will allow them to set up a payment plan for a set amount to help them stretch out those payments, either through the semester or through the year.

And then the last category are going to be loans. A combination of federal loans as well as private loans. And loans are really meant to help kind of bridge the gap between scholarships and grants and those payment plans. So we see a lot of families utilizing a combination of all three of these things to really manage the cost of college year to year.

In terms of financial aid and scholarships, we have a bunch of different categories. Uh, so the first thing I have here are going to be federal versus institutional. And what I mean by that are going to be grants and aid coming from the federal government. Um, that’s going to come from the FAFSA application.

versus grants and scholarships coming from an institution, so the school itself. These might be merit versus need based. Um, some schools will have merit scholarships available to students, and a lot of schools have a need based scholarship program as well. When I’m talking about financial aid and scholarships, most of the grants and scholarships offered will not have to be paid back.

It’s important to understand where this scholarship money is coming from. If it’s coming from the federal government. Or if it’s coming from your school, and the financial aid office would be the best resource for you to break down exactly, uh, what kind of aid your student is getting. The last category I have included here are going to be outside scholarships.

So, scholarships coming from outside sources, you know, not the federal government, not the school or institution. And these can be, you know, really wide ranging. They can come from a lot of different organizations, local organizations, national organizations. CollegeAdvisor has a lot of really great resources about finding and applying for outside scholarships.

But this is something that your student can be applying for throughout the school year. Um, it doesn’t stop when they enter, you know, their freshman year. There are opportunities for them to find these scholarships and apply, um, again, throughout their college career. In terms of figuring out how much need based aid you might qualify for, this is a general calculation that schools use, where they take the cost of attendance.

They subtract out your expected family contribution, so that’s coming from the financial aid applications, and that’s going to spit out a financial aid eligibility. This can provide some context to the amount of aid that you’re getting, and can really give you some ammunition in going back to the financial aid office and trying to figure out if You know, there are other sources of aid available for you and your family.

In terms of applying for financial aid, there are two main applications. There’s going to be the FAFSA, which will be the Federal Sources of Financial Aid. It’s a free application, um, and it’s required for most colleges if applying for financial aid. Then we have the CSS profile, which is more for private schools and institutional sources of aid.

It is not free. There is a 25 initial fee and then 16 for every additional school. And like I said, it’s usually only required by private colleges. So in terms of really understanding the cost of college and managing the cost of colleges, we want to make sure that you’re maximizing all sources of aid, including applying for financial aid and working with the financial aid office.

I’m going to go ahead and pass this over toAllienow, and she’s going to talk you through a really great. scholarship opportunity, as well as some other information.

Allie: Thanks so much for passing the mic. Um, so as we’re talking about scholarships, just wanted to make sure that we are reminding everyone to enter this 500 scholarship giveaway that we have in partnership with, uh, CollegeAdvisor tonight. Um, it ends tomorrow at 8:59 Pacific, so please make sure if you haven’t already entered, uh, you do go ahead and do that now.

As I mentioned at Ascent, we’re trying every way to make college and education as accessible as possible for students. And so we have, we have given away over 330,000 of scholarship giveaways to date. So the biggest question I think, you know, to, Parents, families is what is the ROI of education? So we’re here talking about like, how do we make sure we don’t overpay for schools?

Uh, and for our education, tuition at private universities has increased 132 percent over the last two decades without taking inflation into account out of out of state tuition, 127 percent and in state tuition, 158%. Like it’s the cost is going up. so much. It’s a complicated conversation as a whole because while college gets more expensive every year, 83 percent of Gen Z students reported in the Gallup poll that they still do believe that a college education is essential to employment, but 30 percent of Americans question if college is worth it.

I believe that a lot of that is driven by the fact that 52 percent of college students today are underemployed, meaning they are taking a job that does not require a college degree. And so, and that number has increased year over year for the past five years. So again, it’s complicated. And, um, as my colleague Jess has just talked about, like there is a lot that goes into the cost of that education.

I don’t want to be duplicative to the things that she’s already so eloquently talked about. Um, and so this is something that’s been eloquently spoken about. There’s some duplication here. But like when you’re thinking about where to go to school, there’s the question of cost. Like how do all the options actually stack up?

Um, public versus private versus, you know, as you mentioned, you know, what, what’s the cost of the location and whatnot. Um, when you are selecting your major, let’s face the facts. Different majors have different average salaries after the first year of graduation. And so if you are, you know, Um, and so when you’re thinking about.

Majoring in finance or marketing as compared to history or music. You have to weigh those, those factors when, when choosing your school and major. The faculty at those schools. May also. Be a major contributing factor to who can get you help get you access to summer opportunities or jobs off campus post graduation.

And so that is a really important thing to think about when you’re thinking about the cost of. of school and what the ROI of that education is going to be. You mentioned location. That’s huge. And then just the overall experience. So in addition to just like, what does life cost in that city? Um, what are the extracurricular activities that are available?

That’s can get really expensive. Um, so just putting, playing all that into account is, is really just something to think about when you’re thinking about how much to borrow, uh, and how much to spend. We have a really great tool called the Ascent Bright Futures Engine. We actually have our own algorithm of how we determine how much to lend to students.

And then we realized, like, let’s make that available to everyone so that you can actually think about what the ROI of that education is. I was a public relations major at the University of Texas at Austin. So here’s what the calculation actually says that my first year, um, sorry, cost of attendance, 28, 000.

That’s not what it was when I went there, but hey, it’s growing, right? And then what the average first year salary is today. And so you have, you actually look at this index score of what is the ROI and is it actually going to be, um, a good Good investment in your future.

So, unfortunately, sometimes scholarships and, um, public funds don’t cover the full cost of school. And so, that is where we come in. Again, we have scholarships, we educate on FAFSA, we do everything that we can to help students get all the free money possible. And then, um, when needed, we love to be there for them to help support in every way that we can with the most student friendly.

Um, friendly benefits. So when you are looking for a private student lender, just some things to consider. One is of course the total cost of the loan. So you don’t want to just think about, as just mentioned, this isn’t just a semester. This is a four year commitment that you’re making to the school. Maybe five or six years.

And so in thinking about that, what is the loan going to cost me over the duration? What’s the interest rate. What’s the APR. And what, what are the overall fees? Now, as I have a little handy chart to the right, Ascent has no fees, but I’m not turning this into Ascent commercial. What are the repayment options and how do those align?

And what is the flexibility of those repayment options during school, immediately following graduation? And then what’s the grace period that you have post graduation before those? Uh, payments start because not everyone gets a job day one. Right. And so you want to make sure that you’re looking for a lender who actually is keeping the student and your actual experience in mind.

And then just generally like make an Excel spreadsheet. Like what are all this, the benefits that every lender is offering so that you can compare and contrast what makes the most sense for you. Do they have ACH benefits? Do they have a graduation benefit? What’s that grace period, as I mentioned? And then, like, what kinds of job support do they actually offer?

Because that’s what’s most important post graduation, right? When you actually get into that repayment, uh, and that’s, you know, the, as I mentioned in my introduction, that’s what I have the opp opportunity to lead. We help our borrowers actually get paid internship opportunities and access to exclusive opportunities that if you’re not a borrower with us that you would never have access to.

So, um, we, we really try to go above and beyond to help hold our students hands to make sure that they’re set up for as much success as possible. And other lenders have other great benefits as well. So it’s important to really do your research and not just go for who’s first on Google. Then when it does come time to repayment, it’s important to really budget for this and plan for this.

Your servicer, the person who actually helps to make sure that that loan is paid, is going to be sending you emails. They’re going to be sending you text messages. They likely have a mobile app. Make sure that you are signed up for that communication, because if not, something could change. You could get a notification and you couldn’t miss it.

Emails go to junk sometimes, you know, so like, just make sure that you’re looking out for them. You’re making sure that you are receiving that communication. Set those emails as high importance again, so you don’t miss it. Keep a clear budget in mind. And we’ll get to that on the next slide. Sign up for auto payments.

You, the last thing you want is to accidentally miss a payment and then be penalized for that. So by signing up for ACH for automatic payments, it just is deducted from your checking account. You never have to worry about it or think about it. You want to consult, track interest rates and consolidate your loan, your loans if you can, just to make it easier to pay everything on time.

And then, you know, like we’ve all got our phones. Add it to your calendar so that you don’t miss a payment and keep records of those payments. Just have them, you know, like you can have all this stuff automated, have it automatically go to a folder in your inbox. So you never even have to look at it or think about it, but you know that it’s happening and you’re keeping track of everything.

And then this is a really busy slide. So I do apologize. Um, but let me just walk you through it. So budgeting in college is huge. It’s important for students. It’s important for families and parents. And, um, I’ll again, walk you through this year. So you want to start by planning ahead. Understanding your income and your expenses is the best place to start.

So I don’t know if you can see my mouse, but right over here in the top blue. Income, what that would include is part time jobs, allowance, scholarships, grants, financial aid. What is all the money that’s coming into you? And then we’ve already talked about what this fixed expenses and variable expenses are.

So keeping track of those, what must you pay? And what is an option? Food, not an option necessarily, but going to a fancy restaurant to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Maybe you bring in, maybe you cook, maybe you do something different. That, that, that can be variable. Next, you want to keep track of this. So, you have your income, you have your expenses, you know what the differential is, and then you’ve got, let’s say, 500 a month to play with.

Keeping track of those, that 500 and incentivizing yourself to turn that 500 into 550 or 600 on a monthly basis is the best way to train your brain and to start budgeting and increasing it. I’m one who like loves motivating myself, incentivizing myself, gamifying the whole situation. And so what that means is like, I, I remember when I was paying off my Debt.

A long, long time ago, I had, this was like before there were apps and everything for it, but I had a printout in my closet. And every time that I didn’t go out to eat, when I wanted to didn’t buy some, like a pair of jeans when I would have before I kept track of it. And then every time that that savings hit a thousand dollars, I like went to Starbucks at the time.

Cause that’s what I wanted to do to incentivize and treat myself. So figure out what works for to motivate yourself or like maybe when it’s. Thousands of dollars or maybe when all of your loans are paid off, then you do something that you’ve always wanted to do. Um, so tracking everything, gamifying it, getting an accountability partner who can actually like call you on your overspending or underspending or check in with each other on a weekly basis of how’s it going towards your goals can be so helpful, especially if it’s a friend that you, um, are with on a regular basis.

And then, you know, you, you can like do it together. You go grocery shopping together, you coupon clip together, you do So as I mentioned, like instead of going out for a friend’s birthday at a restaurant, you celebrate together at your house. Um, so budget wisely, you guys probably know a lot of this, but there’s so many amazing student discounts.

There’s opportunities to take advantage of various campus resources and ways just to save through. Um, I know it sounds obvious to increase your income, but as you are looking for internship opportunities, um, having a paid, looking for paid internship opportunities are a great great way, not only to build your experience, expertise, skills, and ability to get a job post graduation, but of course, by increasing that income, you then have more savings to actually spend on things on your fixed and variable expenses.

Building an emergency fund, um, is also important. So as much as you have your budget, you have your plan, you’re tracking everything life happens, right? So always making sure that you are doing what you can to build that, um, income and build that cushion is really, really helpful. There’s some great apps that will like round up from 92 cents to a dollar.

And that 8 cents will add up over time. Um, where I have here, save windfalls. What that means is like, if you get a bonus, if you get a thousand dollars. Paycheck for some reason and that you don’t need and you weren’t expecting it, save it as much as tempting as it can be to like them, go spend it, book a vacation or something like that, where you can save it.

That will help with that emergency fund. And what you’re doing is you’re creating habits to last your lifetime care. So 93 percent of people who follow a budget report to being feeling more control of their finances in the long run compared to 68 percent who don’t budget. And that leads to building more confidence.

Better saving for retirement and overall better mental health. So building this budget isn’t just about what you’re doing today to start slowly, you know, saving for your dorm room or paying off student loans, but these are building healthy habits for your car payments, your mortgage payments, and whatever else might be needed.

Come to you in the future. Lonnie, I started talking really fast because I thought you came on camera to tell me to wrap it up. No, no, no, no. I know.

Lonnie: No. Is there anything else you want to share, Allie? This is a, this is a really great slide. Um, I wish I would have had this years ago, but now I think I can even reset my mindset as it comes to like budgeting.

I love the idea of gamifying it. So like I’m working towards. A treat

Allie: for myself. Yeah, there’s some fun memes out there, you know, all about how people like to treat themselves these days. So, um, great. You know, that’s all I got here. Thank you.

Lonnie: Alrighty. So with that, um, we are going to share a little bit about the work that we do within CollegeAdvisor.

So for those of you who aren’t already working with us, We know how overwhelming the admission process can be. CollegeAdvisor has over 300 former admission officers and admission experts that are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admission process in one on one advising sessions.

We’ve helped over 8,000 families in their college journey. Thus far, after analyzing our 2021 through 2024 data, we found that CollegeAdvisor students are 2.4 times more likely to get into Harvard and 2.9 times more likely to get into Stanford and 1.9 times more likely to get into Princeton. Increase your odds and take the next step in your college admission journey by signing up for a free 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team by using the QR code on the screen.

During this meeting, you’ll receive a plenary assessment of your academic profile, along with some initial recommendations on what you can do to stand out. At the end, you’ll also learn more about our premium packages that we offer that will pair you with an you. expert who can support you and building your college list, adding your essays, navigating the cost of college and much, much more.

Okay. So with that, we are now going to move into our live questions and answers. And so thank you to my audience who have already started to add Ask their questions. We’re going to do our best to get to all of them. Um, so how it’s going to work is we have a Q and a tab. We ask that you place your questions in there.

I will read it aloud to for our panelists and then I’ll paste it into the public chat for everyone to be able to see it. See the question that is. Um, all right. So we’re going to jump into our first question. Um, and Jess and Ali, you all can kind of decide how you would like to take the question. Um, but this question says, how common is financial aid given by the college?

Jess: I can grab this one. Um, so it’s really going to depend on a number of different factors. There are some schools that offer to, to cover 100 percent of your need. Um, so in that case, you know, it’s really common for schools to give out financial aid. Other schools aren’t able to make that commitment, so it might be a little bit more limited at, at other schools.

It’s also really going to depend on how much you qualify for financial aid, um, so it’s going to depend on your income, assets, a number of different things, um, that will kind of turn out a number that schools use to determine if you’re eligible for financial aid. I would say if you are kind of concerned about financial aid and qualifying for financial aid, using what’s called a net price calculator, um, can help you estimate how much money you be able to receive at that specific college.

Every school has one on their financial aid website, so that’s a really great resource and just to see what you might qualify for.

Lonnie: Right, thank you. Okay, so moving to our next question, will colleges stack merit and need based financial aid? So is it can you receive both?

Jess: I can, I can take this one too. Um, so it’s going to depend again.

I think that’s like the famous answer in financial aid is that it depends. Um, the, the main rule is that schools can’t give aid over the cost of attendance at that specific point. So if the merit and need based aid exceed the cost of attendance, then the school will likely have to reduce one source of aid.

If it’s within the cost of attendance, a lot of schools are able to stack need based in there.

Lonnie: Okay, next question. What are some websites we can use to find scholarships?

Allie: Jess, you can take that if you want. And, um, in the meantime, I can drop some into the public chat here. Um, specifically, I can link to all of the ascent funding scholarships that we currently have, as well as the one that, you know, we, I was talking about before.

Jess: Yeah, absolutely. So I I’m a big fan of the college board scholarship search engine.

Um, it’s vetted. It’s, it’s, um, you know, a really intuitive tool to use. Um, scholarship owl is also a really popular one. And then spolly is also one that I

Lonnie: great. Okay, Ali. I think this question might be for you. Um, it mentions for the scholarship program. When and how is the winner announced?

Allie: So, um, for any of our scholarships, they are all, um, to date, they are all, um, no essay. And so you fill out a form, um, in each of these different scholarship pages on the link that I shared, uh, and you’ll be contacted via email if you are the winner.

And then we send out emails and all that, like put you on the website, do the whole thing. But, um, you will be contacted individually.

Lonnie: Great. Great. Okay, so next question. Um, do these scholarships, federal or institutional, apply to international students? And what limitations can these students face?

Jess: Yeah, absolutely.

So any sort of federal aid is going to be limited to U. S. citizens. Um, there are some exceptions, but in general, international students aren’t eligible for, uh, U. S. federal funding. There are some schools are able to offer institutional scholarships to international students. Um, so, as you’re kind of looking for colleges and doing that college list research.

Flagging that specifically and making sure that they offer aid to international students is going to be, you know, a big part of your search. Um, in general, you know, it is a challenge, I think, for a lot of international students and families to kind of fund the cost of an American education. Um, there are some resources available, some, you know, scholarship agencies, but as a whole, um, a lot of the institutional and federal aid at U.

S. schools is, um, kind of designated for U. S. students.

Lonnie: Okay. Um, this question says, if I take out a loan, will interest begin occurring as soon as I take out the loan or will it start after I finish my education?

Allie: Interest does start accruing immediately. And that’s where, um, with various student lenders, you can choose what your repayment options look like, where you can start paying interest immediately.

And that way you have a lower balance at graduation. Um, so yeah. It does start, it depends on, it probably depends on the loan, the lender, but it does start accruing immediately, but you’re, you don’t have to pay until six months post graduation, nine months, sorry, nine months post graduation. Okay.

Lonnie: Um, next question.

How much time do college students usually have to pay back a student loan? Maybe Allie, you want to take that one?

Allie: Yeah, so it does depend on, um, on the repayment plan that you choose. You can start paying immediately, and that is the best way to do it. It’s the best way to build the budget and the financial habits, even if it’s 1.

And you, at Ascent, we incentivize you to pay. Even just start paying 1 a month, set up your automatic payments, and then you just don’t have to ever worry about it. As I mentioned, there also are incentives to just pay down interest or just 25. There’s all kinds of options. Um, but at Ascent, we do have that grace period of nine months, which that you have until you have to start paying back your loan.

Lonnie: All right, so let’s move to our next question. Uh, and it reads any advice specifically for upper middle families who may not be eligible for need based grants but don’t make enough money on to pay out of pocket completely. And that is a sentiment that is carried across many of the families that we work with here within CollegeAdvisor.

Um, so who would like to take this question around advice for upper middle class families who still don’t have enough money to pay for college?

Jess: Jess, do you want to start and I can piggyback? Yeah, absolutely. Um, so like Lonnie said, this is a huge, you know, kind of question and problem that we help a lot of families navigate through.

The first thing I would say is don’t count yourself out, you know, still absolutely apply for financial aid, even if you don’t think you’ll qualify. Um, there’s no harm to applying for financial aid and it’s just giving the school, you know, as much information about your financial situation as, as you want to kind of get it.

The second thing I would say is really prioritize merit scholarships when applying for financial aid. Make sure you’re on top of all the deadlines for schools in terms of merit scholarships. Make sure you know which merit scholarships they offer and that you’re asking about those scholarships specifically, um, when you’re talking with the financial aid office or the admissions office.

Um, and you know, the last big piece of advice is really trying to take a step back and look at, again, the four year plan, understanding what you can and can’t. Kind of handle in terms of borrowing alone, paying out of pocket and set yourself up with some parameters, you know, have a conversation with your student about what is feasible and what is not feasible.

Are you comfortable with the student taking on, you know, some of that burden and some of that loan debt? Is that something that you want to keep, you know, between the parents? Really kind of get into the granular, you know, nuts and bolts of how you’ll pay so that you have a better understanding of, you know, what schools you want to gear your student to applying for.

Allie: Yeah, I

Jess: think that’s, that’s my big advice.

Allie: That’s great. Um, a couple things that I’ll add on to that one. As I shared at the beginning, we’ve got that bright futures engine, which is an amazing tool to really think about what the cost of school will look like and the ROI of that experience. So really encouraged to your point, Jess of like, think about what the 4 year experience looks like.

Think about what the ROI of that is as you’re thinking about what your payment options are. And the only other thing that I’ll add is that. Not all debt is bad debt and building your credit history can be really beneficial to long term, um, growth as an individual and as a family. And so, um, student debt really is one of those types of debt that can be helpful in building your, your credit as long as you do the repayment part that, uh, we shared in a couple, a couple of slides ago.

So as long as you are paying that debt off. on time. Um, the debt can actually help you in the long run. So, um, obviously take out as little amount as you possibly need and pay it off on time. Um, but it can help so that when you do then need to go get credit cards or take out a car loan or get a mortgage or take out consumer of debt for whatever reason, um, and you have been able to show good, healthy financial habits in your credit history.

It works in your favor. So just something to think about as well.

Lonnie: Nice. Nice. Um, our next question is really specific. Um, so I’ll read it slowly is the amount of financial aid given based on your household income are also their savings. And so what if someone is low income, but has been saving, you know, all their life, you know, they’ve been saving will financially not be given because this person has a savings.

It’s

Jess: going to be both. It’s going to be both income and assets. Um, the one caveat I will give is that retirement assets are not counted as part of the calculation. So if those savings are in qualified retirement accounts, you’ll still have to report them, but they won’t be formally counted as part of the calculation.

Um, so that can be, you know, something that you can think about as you’re planning is moving some assets if they’re not in qualified retirement accounts into those accounts. So that, you know, they don’t have to be counted as part of the calculation, but the calculation does consider income as well as assets.

Lonnie: Um, how likely are you to receive a scholarship if your GPA is under 30? 3. 0.

Allie: I can chime into that one. Um, just I always recommend to people to look for scholarships that apply to who they are. There’s so many scholarships out there. And yes, you could go to any of these scholarship searches and just blindly applied to every single scholarship. You can do the same thing when you’re looking for a job.

It won’t necessarily bear the fruit of, um, all that hard work. Instead, actually do your research, actually search for the right scholarships for you based off of what you do. You know, whatever, if it’s your GPA, if you happen to be a violin player in a very random city, um, there, it is possible that, you know, there is a scholarship specifically for you.

for you and and what your niche interests are. Uh, and someone who wants to support that type of growth in that type of individual that that you can be. And so by doing your research, don’t worry about your GPA. Um, and And find, you know, spend the time instead on on the right types of scholarships now with the ascent scholarships.

There are no essay. It’s more about your participation and whether it’s like Instagram conversations or surveys or things that that we’re trying to collect from students to make sure that again, we’re delivering the right type of services and the right type of features and benefits that students want.

That’s what that’s what we’re looking for. Um, and so it’s just or like sharing, right? It’s sharing information. So, um, if they, um, they’re, they’re going to be for the type of audience who wants to spend time doing that versus someone who is going to be much more focused on the merit. So just do your research.

There’s great tools out there to help find all the right niche scholarships for you.

Lonnie: Okay, next question. Is it true that you can contact your college? To see if you can receive more financial aid if you did not get as much as you expected.

Jess: Yeah, absolutely. Um, I am a big advocate for calling financial aid offices and asking about what other programs, what other resources, um, if there’s an appeals process, you know, kind of formally requesting financial aid or circumstances.

Um, you know, the financial aid office is there to work with you and to kind of understand, you know, the specifics of your situation, but they don’t know that until you tell them. So the more contact, um, the more understanding you have from them, I think.

Lonnie: Okay. Uh, does receiving scholarship money affect the financial aid given by colleges?

Jess: No. The application is going to be based off of income and assets. It’s not going to be based off of, you know, other grants and scholarships that you receive. But like I mentioned earlier, if you get a grant, outside scholarships that are going to put your total aid over the cost of attendance that an adjustment might be needed.

Uh, how are

Lonnie: merit scholarships awarded?

Jess: I can take this one. Um, so it’s going to be based off of a number of different things and it’s really going to depend on the specific scholarship. Um, I would say from an institutional standpoint, um, you know, those kind of big ticket merit scholarships that colleges give out, a lot of them are used as recruitment tools.

So they’re usually given to students kind of at the top of their admissions Um, you know, outside scholarships. It’s you know, there’s so many out there and so many different organizations really hard to kind of give, um, you know, a specific guidance on on how they’re awarded. Um, but in general, you know, I think it’s a holistic review.

I think it’s going to be based off of, you know, the different things a student has done different extra activities. If there is an essay, you know that that essay component. Um, so it’s going to be all of the kind of. Things together, um, that someone’s going to review and kind of determine, you know, how that’s

Lonnie: okay. Uh, this question reads, can you talk about endowments and are they available to students? If so, how do you go about getting an endowment?

Jess: Uh, they are not available to students. Endowments are funds used by the university to, you know, pay for the cost of running that university. Um, usually they’re given, you know, by other individuals to the university directly and.

A school has a financial aid budget. Part of that budget might come from an endowment, but it’s not given out directly.

Lonnie: Great, great, great. Um, if my EFC is zero, why are loans given?

Jess: So that’s going to be based off of the school. Um, every school has a different policy around, you know, loans. Um, the expected family contribution is not a guarantee of financial aid. It’s really a guideline for schools to use to determine, um, you know, how much aid you might qualify for.

And a school’s budget might differ school to school. So they might not have the budget to kind of give you everything that they need, everything that you need. So they include loans as part of that financial aid package to help you manage the overall cost.

Lonnie: Okay, let’s see. So the next question is, what advice could you give to an 18 year old, 18 year old independent student who wants to start college but does not have a monthly income?

Allie: You can take it, Jess. Yeah,

Jess: so I would definitely, you know, take a step back and really, you know, evaluate what you’re really looking for out of the college going experience. Take a look at community colleges as kind of your first step, because the cost tends to be so much lower. Um, or really look into what state programs, you know, kind of internal financial aid programs might be available at the state universities, because they tend to be, um, you know, most aligned with, uh, you know, funding sources that might be available to you as a resident of that state.

Not saying that a private university is kind of out of your reach. It just might be a little bit more challenging to kind of find the funding. Um, but if you’re interested in a private university, definitely look at schools that meet 100 percent of your costs and your need. Um, those are going to be the schools that are going to have the most resources available to help you manage the costs.

It’s really about doing your research, you know, calling financial aid offices, getting a sense of their programs and just learning a lot more about what your options are, um, either locally or, you know, across the country to kind of depending.

Allie: And just remembering, like, just because you’re 18 doesn’t mean that this is necessarily the right thing to do. Time to start college, you know, work for a couple years. Um, better understand what it is you want to do. Um, test, do some internships, do some full-time work, uh, and just test the market a little bit.

And then once you have a little bit better understanding of what you would use that education towards, then you can work towards going to the right school, choosing the right major, and having that stronger ROI of your education in the end.

Lonnie: Hey, great. Um, our next question says my daughter received the sub and non sub loan and then they offer the parent loan to me.

Can you put all this to the spring semester? So I guess like all these loans going to go towards The spring semester.

Jess: Yeah. So there are some rules around how these, those are all federal loans. So all of those loans you listed are coming directly from the federal government and there are some rules about how those loans can be kind of split up and dispersed.

Um, there might be, you know, an opportunity for you to put all of them towards the spring semester, but I would call your financial aid office, um, to get more information.

Lonnie: Our next question. How will it affect the family contribution if parents are separated and living in different homes but are legally married?

Jess: Yeah, so, um, on the FAFSA, if you’re legally married, you have to report both parents. Um, You know, with the CSS profile, the other financial aid application, there might be a little bit more flexibility, um, but in kind of federal financial aid, you know, kind of terminology and rules.

If you’re married, you’re a part, you’re considered a part of the household. Um, so you’ll have to go ahead and report both parents incomes.

Lonnie: Let’s see, next question. My daughter has applied to lots and lots of scholarships and has not received one. She has over 3. 5 GPA and they always say so much free money, but where is it all?

Allie: Who wants to take that? Yeah, I can take it. And then just like, if you have anything else to add, um, as, as I said before, I just really feel strongly that like you can, anyone can go to LinkedIn or Handshake and apply for every single job, right? You can just like click, click, click, click, click, um, and apply, apply, apply, and then say, I’m applying to all these jobs.

Why am I not getting the job? Well, if you’re not actually doing the research for the right jobs, doing your due diligence to and reach out to those individuals and, um, do the extra work that goes into getting a job at the right company for you. Um, it’s going to be really challenging. Same thing goes with the scholarship.

So I’m not saying you need to like network with the organization in the same way. It doesn’t really work like that. But finding the niche scholarships that really make the most sense for your daughter. What else does she do besides have a 3. is wonderful. And what city are you in? And what community? Is there anything in your church?

Is there anything in a non profit that she’s volunteered with? Is there anything within, um, you know, your, your neighborhood or the company that you, that, you know, the father who’s asking this question work at? Like really, really, really. Think about what makes your daughter unique, what makes your daughter special, and find the scholarships that are relevant to her, and then spend the time not just on blindly applying to so many scholarships, but on getting the right reference letters for those scholarships, or on really writing the best essays possible for those scholarships.

Whatever needs to go into it, then you have more time and energy to focus on the right scholarships for you and have a better chance of success.

Lonnie: Okay, our next question. Um, and this comes from our questions that were asked when our participants registered for the webinar. Um, we have four Children, two of our Children are in graduate school, med school and M.

A. Programs. Master programs. Um, child three will be applying to college next fall. Do the schools take the family expenses and sibling expenses into account when providing scholarships or financial aid?

Jess: Um, so classically it depends. Um, the FAFSA unfortunately did just change to kind of remove that consideration out of the calculation, but the CSS profile is still built to account for siblings in college.

Um, whether a school considers siblings in graduate school is going to be up to each individual school’s policy. Um, so it’s Not a 100 percent no, but it’s also not 100%. Yes, it’s going to depend school to school.

Lonnie: Um, what is the biggest trap people fall into when trying not to overpay for college?

Jess: That’s a great question.

Um, my like inclination would be to to not having that four year plan and to not Really thinking ahead. Um, mapping out classes can be really helpful. You see a lot of students, you know, sign up for summer classes and then that cost just kind of balloons, you know, later in their undergraduate career, um, and also not calling the financial aid office or the accounting office to see what can be waived or removed.

You’d be surprised at what, you know, can be removed from the bill and you don’t know until you ask. Um, so I think a lot of families just take the bill for granted and they don’t kind of question the line items. Um, so really having a conversation with the school to see what can be minimized, what options are kind of available.

You know, down the line in terms of RA is again, getting that free housing. Can you reduce tuition? Um, can your student go part time for a semester later on? Um, just really exploring all the different avenues to really reduce that

Lonnie: cost. Okay. Oh,

Allie: no, I was gonna say those are all great suggestions. I’d say the other thing is sometimes just getting too wrapped up in the brand of the school and not thinking, is this the right school for me? Is this the right school for the lifestyle for my budget? And for the lifestyle that I’m looking for in school, or my child is looking for in school, and for what their specific major is, interest is, social interests are, etc.,

to make sure that the school choice isn’t just your alma mater, but is the really, really the right choice. Uh, choice for for your student or yourself.

Lonnie: Um, I would just add one or two that I’ve seen is, um, for some colleges, they get their financial, the student gets their financial aid award, um, and they see a big number and just making sure that that is for all four years and not just year one, um, because the college may be saying, we’re going to offer you a 60, 000 merit scholarship, um, and making sure that All four years are to just for one.

So I’ve seen students kind of fall into that, just overlooking that it’s actually just for year one and not planning financially for the other years when they’re not getting that big merit scholarship. Um, next question, you see, this is similar. Okay. So let me know if this is similar, but it may not be.

Um, but if two parents who are married live separately, Um in houses they own in different cities. Oh, okay. They’re married. They live separately in houses They both own in different cities Which are both houses are looked at on the file Which are both houses are looked at on financial forms as equity

Jess: Um, so if you’re legally married, it would be yeah, so it would be all assets all houses within the household, which would be considered both parents because they’re legally married.

Lonnie: Um, is FAFSA A based on the income and assets of the year before a student applies to college?

Jess: That’s a great question. So it’s actually going to be based off of what we call prior, prior year. Um, so for example, for the upcoming academic year, so the 2024 2025 cycle, The FAFSA was looking at 2022 income information.

So it’s always going to be two years before that academic year. And that’s so that families have the tax return information, you know, they filed everything. It’s to help families who might need extensions and stuff. So it’s always going to be two years.

Lonnie: How can we tell the difference between a legit scholarship website and a fake one?

Jess: That’s also a great question. Um, if you have to pay to apply for a scholarship, if they’re asking for, like, your social security number, that’s a red flag. Um, I think, you know, use your best judgment. If a website looks a little sketchy, it might be.

So, you know, use your best judgment and err on the side of caution.

Allie: One clue we always look at also is do they announce the winners? Like, do they have pictures of people who have won because then you can tell that like, they are actually giving away the money that they say that they’re going to. Right,

Lonnie: right.

Okay. Uh, let’s see. The last question is what are the best ways to save for college?

Allie: I can go for it. Yes. And then I can.

Jess: Yeah. Um, so in terms of saving, I think, again, planning ahead, getting a sense of what the costs are going to be. At the schools that your student is interested in. Utilizing the net price calculator is also going to be a really helpful tool just to estimate, you know, how much 80 might qualify for and that can give you a sense of what that gap is going to be total cost and what a package you might get in terms of kind of long term saving, you know, really utilizing 529 accounts, um, you know, Taking advantage of the things that are kind of already built in, um, to the system is a really great way to think ahead and plan ahead.

Um, and again, just kind of getting a sense of what the cost is going to be over 4 years and really thinking through, you know, your strategy for managing that cost. How much can you reasonably save in a year? Um, you know, how early are you really starting in the process? That’s also going to really, you know, your saving strategy.

Thank you.

Lonnie: Um, we got a couple of more questions and we do have about two more minutes. So I’ll ask these questions. Uh, this fast will provide financially for all four years or just the upcoming year. And do I have to reply every year?

Jess: It’s just going to be for the upcoming year. So you’ll have to reapply each year.

Lonnie: Yes. And if if they look for income for a prior 2 years, they also consider current income.

Jess: It’s not an option to report that on the application. However, if you’ve had a change in circumstances, you can work with the financial aid office to use more recent and

Lonnie: maybe this might apply to what you just said, just what if your income the year before school is significantly less.

Oh, less than the income you received two years ago.

Jess: Yeah, so exactly. That would be a situation where you’d want to work with the financial aid office, make them aware of your situation. There’s a process in which they can essentially overwrite the FAFSA with the most recent income information, but you have to kind of initiate that process.

Lonnie: Alrighty. Well, with that, we are now at the conclusion of our webinar with CollegeAdvisor Innocent. And so thank you, Allie. And thank you, Jess. Are there any final words that you want to offer to our audience?

Allie: Really just thank you so much for the opportunity to be on this webinar and this conversation today.

It was a great discussion. Always love helping to make sure that students and families don’t overpay for college. I’m going to put in the chat one last reminder for our scholarship that ends tomorrow. So please make sure that, um, you do go fill that out. And, um, just overall, we’re grateful for the opportunity and, um, look forward to supporting even more students in the coming years.

Jess: Yeah, and I’ll just echo, you know, what Allie said. Thank you so much. Um, if you aren’t already a part of CollegeAdvisor, you know, definitely consider signing up for that free, you know, 60 minute session. We help a lot of students navigate this process and. No, we’re really here to

Lonnie: help. Absolutely. All righty.

Well, we hope to see our audience and the future upcoming webinar. We offer webinars every week. They’re all designed to support you, um, with preparing for the college application process as well as financially process. Um, so with that, we are now going to end our webinar. Thank you, Jess. Thank you, Allie.

And take care. Bye. Thank you so much. Have a good evening. Bye.