HOW TO UNDERSTAND A FINANCIAL AID AWARD

When a college offers you financial aid, it's important to understand exactly what they are offering you. Here's how to decipher your award and determine just how much it will actually reduce your college cost.

Once a college admits you—and crunches the numbers you provided on your financial aid applications—it will offer you a "financial aid package" (sometimes called an award). In this package are different types of financial aid intended to meet all or part of your financial need for one academic year. The size and makeup of a financial aid package is, for many students, a major factor in determining which college to choose.

The Award May Not Cover Everything

Many aid packages appear to cover all or most college expenses. But not all financial aid awards decrease what you will actually pay out-of-pocket. Before you accept any financial aid, make sure that you have reviewed each aid offer carefully and that you understand how it will—and will not—reduce your college costs. Here are some guidelines to follow.

READ THE AWARD LETTER CAREFULLY !!!

An "award letter" describing your aid package in detail usually arrives online or by mail soon after you are accepted. In fact, it may be part of your college admission notification. The letter will list the types and amounts of aid being offered to meet your financial need.

Aid may be a grant, a scholarship, a loan, or work-study. The amounts in the award letter may be estimates, but you can count on receiving aid fairly close to those estimates if you accept the aid promptly.

The letter may also offer aid that does not count toward meeting your financial need, such as an unsubsidized Stafford loan or a PLUS loan.

The award letter should also include:

• A breakdown of the college's cost of attendance (COA)
• Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• The amount of your financial need the college is meeting
• The deadline for accepting the aid offered
• How and when the money will be disbursed
• The academic period the award covers
• The process for accepting or declining aid
• Any additional documentation needed
•  

The content of award letters, however, can vary dramatically from college to college. It may not contain all the information listed above. For example, some colleges omit the COA or do not show all its components. Award letters may use terminology and acronyms that you do not recognize. Before accepting any aid, be sure to ask the financial aid office for missing information and clarification of anything you don't understand.

Identify Aid That Reduces College Costs

Although your aid package may seem to cover most or all of your financial need, not all aid actually reduces your college cost.

Gift aid (scholarships and grants) does reduce your college cost. To identify gift aid, look for words like "scholarship," "grant," "discount," and "award" in your award letter. Sources for gift aid may be the federal government, the state, and the college itself. For example, Pell Grants are federal gift aid for lower-income families.

Self-help aid (loans and work-study) does not reduce your college cost. For example, the college may award you a federally subsidized Stafford loan, or loans provided by the state or the college. If you qualified for work-study, your award letter will list the maximum amount that you can earn from a work-study job during an academic period. You might have the option to convert all or a portion of your work-study aid to a loan, or vice versa.

Figure Your "Net Cost" to Attend

Let's say someone gave you a gift of $1,000 towards buying a $3,000 car. Your "net cost" (what you pay out of your own pocket) is $2,000. Let's say you decide to cover that $2,000 with a loan. Your net cost is still $2,000 even though you did not pay that amount up front.

Financing a college education works the same way. Gift aid reduces your cost dollar for dollar. Self-help aid simply makes it easier for you to pay for college out of your own pocket. To figure your net cost for one year of college, subtract your total gift aid from the college's full cost of attendance. The resulting number is the dollar amount you will have to cover, whether you use loans, income, or savings

If an award letter provides a "net cost" figure, look at it closely. It may treat loans and work-study as aid that reduces your net cost, when in fact these types of aid add to your net cost. Your actual net cost always includes the dollar amount of loans or work-study aid.

Compare Aid Packages

Comparing aid packages from different colleges can be tricky because there is no standard approach to award letters. Here are some tips to ensure you are comparing apples to apples.

Be sure the COA contains the same elements for each college. The major components of a college's cost of attendance are tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, local transportation, and personal expenses. If the college does not show the components of its COA or does not show all components, ask the financial aid office for a full COA breakdown.

Separately add up all gift aid and self-help aid for each college. For each award letter, identify every offer of gift aid and self-help aid and their amounts. Then total up all gift aid and all self-help aid.

Run the numbers for each college. Once you know each school's full COA and the total amount of gift and self-help aid, you can compare the net cost of each college. Simply subtract the total gift aid from each college's cost of attendance. To understand how much debt and work commitment you might take on, compare the total self-help aid offered by each college (plus any other loans you might get to cover your unmet need or your EFC). Ultimately, you may not choose the college with the lowest net cost or the college that will put you in the least amount of debt, but the information can be invaluable when making your final college decision.

Before You Accept

Check the loan terms and conditions. Make sure that you know the interest rate, fees, how many years you have to pay off the loan, whether the loan is a student or parent obligation, and whether the interest is subsidized or unsubsidized. Make sure that you or your family can afford to make the payments.

Find out what happens after the first year. Usually, your aid award is good for only one year. Find out whether the college typically offers less gift aid and more loan aid after the freshman year. Find out if your scholarships are renewable for subsequent years and what the requirements are for renewal.

Identify any strings attached. Many scholarships and grants require students to maintain a certain GPA and take a specific number of course credits to remain eligible for the aid. Don't wait until your scholarship or grant has been cancelled to learn about these requirements.

Find out the college's policy on outside scholarships. Colleges require you to report any outside scholarships you won, which may affect your financial aid package. Some colleges apply the scholarship to any unmet need, some will reduce your loans, and others will reduce your gift aid. If the total amount of your aid plus any outside scholarships is more than the college's COA, you may be required to pay the extra amount back to the college.

Understand how you will receive the financial aid. Colleges normally deduct your financial aid from your college bill. The school usually will give any excess funds to you by check or electronic transfer. You may have the option of applying the excess funds to your next college term.

Accepting and Declining Aid

You don't have to accept every offer of aid. For example, you may decide to accept a subsidized loan, but not an unsubsidized loan. If you change your mind later, the rejected aid will usually not be reinstated for the same academic year. Nor will the college increase other aid to make up for the aid you rejected. Your award letter should explain these consequences. Accept or decline each aid offer as soon as you are comfortable and certainly before the acceptance deadline.

Taking Care of Your EFC and Unmet Need

If your total award does not meet your full financial need, or you need help covering your EFC, you have options. You may be able to take out a private education loan. Your parents may qualify for a PLUS loan. You can ask the college about staggered payment plans. You can also review your situation with the financial aid office. If your financial circumstances have changed since you filed your FAFSA, the office may be able to adjust your package.
Some financial aid packages offer welcome relief from daunting college expenses. Others may be disappointing. Weighing your hopes and dreams against the actual cost of a college education is a sobering moment. But the more savvy you are about financial aid, the more able you will be to make a solid, informed decision about where to spend your college years.

A BLOG FOR THOSE LOOKING TO GO INTO BUSINESS WITH EMPHASIS IN SPORTS MANAGEMENT

A couple of years ago, Georgetown University decided to open up a graduate level program in Sports Management and held a 3 day seminar in Washington DC.  It was like no other seminar I had ever attended.

The seminar had very young professionals showing up and moving from 7:30 till 8pm with no real breaks in between. for lunch or just a break... you ate lunch through networking introductions, and listened to speakers at break.  All I could when I got back to the hotel room was go to sleep for the next morning's session.

During this seminar,  one speaker stated that the average burn out time for someone in sports management was about seven years....  that sounded like those practicing law, waking up one morning to realize they hate what they do.

I am writing this segment here, because as I talk to many high school seniors the discussion going into Sports Management which is really a business or communications major and emphasis in Sports Marketing and Management.

To keep you abreast of some of the new things going on in the world of sports marketing,   there is a blog, which hopefully has a website coming soon that you should keep tabs on.  This is a professional promotional marketer who is doing promotional marketing at major sporting events and travels the country visiting stadiums, teams, keep track of the latest developments in sports.

Check it out if you are looking into Sports Management.


http://finersideofsports.blogspot.com/

BEWARE OF THINGS SOME PUBLIC AND PRIVATE HIGH SCHOOL COUNSELORS WILL TELL YOU ABOUT THE COLLEGE ADMISSIONS PROCESS

As our company start to finalize the "ends" for our 12th graders, and looks toward getting our 10th and 11th grade students for the next wave of college applications, I am shocked to not only see, but hear from other professional college admissions consultants, as well as  that public schools are informing parents early on in their seminars or emails to " Don't hire a college admissions consultant, we can do it all for you for free"

The truth is that after working for several weeks in a high powered public school counseling office,  I saw first hand how the counselors, do in fact,  work their tails off, but are not reach as many students as they think;  and they know it.   The public and private school counselors admit they  hate having to deal with the parents who are trying to cope with what is to come, and to top it off, they agree they can not reach all the students within their school.  At best, it appears the only ones who go into the college counseling office are in the top 5% -10% of students within that class, and the other are given some information, with much less time.

 These school counselors will provide some information about financial aid, but not help parents with the actual forms or extra information ( they are on their own, said one counselor), so where do the families turn?. Did you know that sometimes students get into a school, but because families did not know how to deal with the forms, the students could not attend that school, or in the alternative, a student went into major debt.

As I did my internship in the prestigious public high school,   it became more alarming to be told you were not being introduced to the school principal or school board members, nor were you to go to the school board meeting. One had to question why.  Why should a school not embrace an independent counselor as much as a public school one?  Job Security I was told.

As I talked with others who were going through this program with me,  I was shocked  to hear  how many college admissions counselors and high schools specifically state  their anti college admissions consultant philosophies when many have been in the very same programs as their counterparts..... and the sad part is that they don't recognize that a consultant could actually make them look better, and improve their school's image.  Some people though it was very capitalistic of us to want to work with students outside of the classroom, just as a tutor is hire to help with a subject matter.

Professionally  trained college admissions consultants are here to stay, and the number of people willing to go into this field increase each year.  These consultants belong to well regulated groups such as IECA or NACAC that recognize them as professionals and keep abreast on a more detailed basis of the newest things going on in colleges that their college admissions counselor counterparts don't know about. They hold many time a master's  or doctorate degree and other training as well.

Consultants have as much talent as their public or private school counterparts, if not more,   more resources,  travel the US to visit schools, work not only with the students  ---  some who need more guidance than others, but the entire families, counseling parents as well..... as parents need counseling for  what is to come in the coming months,  however school counselors tell families they don't need it.  Private Consultants are like Tutors and can buffer the stress of the process for all.  They take on as many students as they feel they can comfortably work with that year, knowing that an estimated number of hours to work with a family will be far more than a public or private school can offer.


I personally heard many students while at this school state that they felt, even with the counselors working from 7:30 am to 10 pm at night, driving long distances to and from home,  and showing signs of major exhaustion daily , were left out of the cycle and on their own to face the struggle of getting into college.  One student said specifically to an admissions rep from one of the colleges..... " The people here at this high school really don't care about us".  I have heard this comment several times, and kids are looking for a place where they can sit down and share their concerns, fears, questions, etc. without feeling pressured.   One mother I spoke to wanted her daughter just starting her junior year to attend a 4 year college only to be told, you have to go to the community college first.  One student needed help and needed "hands-on" assistance  for a half hour that the counselor could not afford to give ( so I did it) My response was why?

I think the counselors gave each student five to ten minutes of time, and ripped through without a lot of thought. The same students came back repeatedly,  which in many cases is just not enough time. I think many counselors take the easy way out, not because they want to, but because they have so much work, and not enough hands.  I have no complaints about individual counselors, but I do have a problem with the over philosophy of when they can not meet the demand of the work load,  they turn on those who are available and willing to help them.



Kids need attention, and and it is the duty of a parent, counselor, teacher, coach, etc to give them the wings to fly so they can build confidence in themselves.  If a students is in need to more time than a school counselor can give them, if there is major stress over the college admissions process in your home between parents and students, or a child is shutting down over the stress of it all, GET HELP.

A college admissions consultant is able to easily connect all the dots.  A consultant can line up "brag sheets" (aka resumes) to work with essays and get the WOW effect students and families seek,  work with the different applications,  get your financial aid in order, keep you on track with the deadlines, offer ideas for a scholarship search, and help with appeals.  A college admissions consultant in a matter of 3 hours can reduce your families' stress substantially, and make the process much more enjoyable for everyone.

25 WAYS TO REDUCED COLLEGE COST

The Washington Post just came out with an article by Daniel de Vise who offers ways to cut college costs.  These are not necessarly NEW  ideas,  but a refresher of ideas is not bad either.  

Take a look at these ideas as now that applications have been submitted, students are looking for ways to fund their dreams.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/college-inc/2010/12/25_ways_to_reduce_the_cost_of.html?hpid=sec-education