Apply For Scholarships And Grants
There are a variety of scholarships available. Some are merit-based, so you must have good grades or fulfill service requirements to qualify. But others are based on your situation, your location, or the school you’re attending.
Grants are often needs-basedyour income and savings are insufficient for you to manage this on your own, or some other special situation applies to you. The College Grants Database can help you get started and guide your search.
It can be worth it to apply each year because available scholarships can depend on your college year. Grants or scholarships are often available for participating in things like student teaching, internships, or senior projects as well.
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Pay For College With Student Loans
Another option is to take out one or more student loans, but be careful about how much you borrow. Budget how much you’ll need per semester and take on only that much debt. You’ll have more financial freedom after you graduate from college if you don’t start with huge balances.
The interest rates on private student loans tend to be higher than for federal student loans, so you might want to avoid them if possible. The government will also work with you on repayment options if you can stick to federal loans, such as the Stafford Loan.
You might want to talk to a professor or financial aid officer who has access to more information about student loans if you’re already in school.
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What Are The Other Options To Pay For College
Whether you pay tuition at the start of the school year, the start of each semester, upfront for four years or on a monthly basis, youll need to make sure you have the money to cover your costs.
Before you start school, you should have a plan not only to pay for tuition, but also to cover your other expenses including room and board, activity and academic fees, and other costs of living.
Most people use a mix of different strategies to pay for college. Many students rely on funds that do not have to be paid back, such as scholarships and grants, as well as money from relatives, friends and parents. However, loans are a major source of college funding, and both parents and students borrow to pay for school. The fact that students often need so many sources of funds for college shows just how expensive college has become and how challenging it is to find the funds to pay for it.
You can obtain the money for school from:
Applying For Federal Financial Aid
The process for obtaining federal financial aid is relatively easy. You fill out a single form, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and send it to your schools financial aid office. Then they do the rest. The FAFSA is your single gateway to Stafford loans, Perkins loans and PLUS loans. Many colleges also use it to determine your eligibility for scholarships and other options offered by your state or school, so you could qualify for even more financial aid.
There is really no reason not to complete a FAFSA. Many students believe they wont qualify for financial aid because their parents make too much money, but in reality the formula to determine eligibility considers many factors besides income. By the same token, grades and age are not considered in determining eligibility for most types of federal financial aid, so you wont be disqualified on account of a low GPA.
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Borrow Private Loans As A Last Resort
If you do need to use private student loans, compare your options before you choose a lender. Shop around to find the lender that offers you the lowest interest rate and the most generous borrower protections, such as flexible repayment plans or the option to put your loans in forbearance if youre struggling to make payments.
Remember: After you graduate, youll have to pay back any money you borrowed. Many student loans all but federal subsidized loans accrue interest while youre in school, which means youll have to pay back more than you originally borrowed. You can use a student loan calculator to see how much you’ll owe later based on what you borrow now.
How To Pay For College: 6 Ways To Cover Your College Costs
Everyones financial situation is different. Attending college is a big financial decision for you and your family. Being accepted into your school of choice is cause for celebrationso dont let the price tag damper your excitement. When its time to start planning how to pay for college, there are many resources to help you find a financial plan that works for you and your family and help you pay for college.
Most students qualify for . Whether you come from a military family, have stellar grades, or demonstrate financial need, there are loans, grants, and scholarships that are designed to help you achieve your goals.
To get a better idea of your options, check out our list of six ways to pay for college:
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How To Pay For College: Gift Aid: Scholarships & Grants
When deciding on how to pay for college, scholarships vs. grants are by far and away from the best method of paying for college. These sources of gift aid dont have to be repaid and can reduce your likelihood of student loan debt.
There are plenty of scholarship opportunities available. Its worthwhile to spend some time searching and applying for as many scholarships as possible. Even smaller awards can really add up.
Applying for Institutional Scholarships & Grants
Colleges award their students scholarships and grants through their financial aid offer letter. These financial aid packages can greatly reduce your overall cost and make that school option more affordable. To apply, speak to the schools financial aid office and learn how to submit your application for consideration.
Applying for Outside Scholarships
One way to figure out how to pay for college is scholarships. There are countless scholarship opportunities out there, you just have to search for them. Outside scholarships can come from employers, companies, national organizations, local business, religious centers, ethnicity groups, and plenty more. Every scholarship you earn lowers your potential for student loan debt. Keep in mind, however, that many scholarship awards could affect how much money your college will award you in your financial aid package. Here are some great articles to help kick-start your search:
Reduce Your Tuition Costs
Consider choosing a college with lower tuition rates. In-state schools are generally cheaper than out-of-state or private schools. Some schools offer discounts based on how close you live to the campus.
You might qualify for discounts if you’re a “legacy” because one or both of your parents went to school there.
Of course, school costs include more than just tuition, but you can save in other areas as well. Buy used rather than new textbooks. Check your college bookstore to find out what’s available. A lot of students sell their used books back to these stores when they graduate. Some will even rent textbooks, and online booksellers often offer used copies as well.
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Complete The Fafsa Form
It all starts with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid . Submitting this form opens the door to numerous types of financial aid. You can’t do much without it, at least in the area of applying for grants, some student loans, and aid provided by schools and your state.
Each year, billions of dollars of financial aid go unclaimed because students and their families failed to complete and submit a FAFSA.
The earlier you deal with this, the better, because many schools have first-come-first-served programs. When the money is gone, it’s gone.
But there’s one hitch here. If you’re classified as a dependent student, you’ll need your parents’ cooperation. The FAFSA form calls for certain information about their Social Security number, income, taxes, and assets. They’re certainly not legally required to pay for your college education, and submitting the FAFSA with their information doesn’t put them on the hook to do so. Still, the information will affect your chances of receiving assistance.
You can always submit a FAFSA without this information, but it will limit your opportunities for federal aid.
Apply For Private Student Loans
Private student loans are another way to cover the cost of college. However, theyre generally considered to be the last resort option, even compared to federal student loans. Private loans typically require a credit check to get approved, which means that it can be tough to qualify as a college student with little or no credit history.
Even if you get approved, your interest rate is based on your creditworthiness, so your loans could be expensive.
With that said, most lenders allow co-signers, which can help you qualify and get a low interest rate. However, this also means the loans show up on the co-signers credit report, which could make it difficult for them to get approved for credit in the future.
Even so, if youve exhausted your allotment of federal student loans, which are capped on an annual and aggregate basis, private student loans can be a much better option than higher-interest options like credit cards and personal loans.
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Borrow Through The Federal Direct Loan Program
The Direct Loan, which is designed exclusively for students, is the safest loan to use and has built-in safety nets if you graduate without a well-paying job. Provided by the U.S. Department of Education, the Direct Loan is currently available in four options: Direct Subsidized Loans, Direct Unsubsidized Loans, Direct PLUS Loans, and Direct Consolidation Loans.
Direct Subsidized Loans are only available to undergraduate students with demonstrable financial aid . These loans do not accrue interest while students are in school, or for the first sixth months after school is finished.
Direct Unsubsidized Loans are available to eligible undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Demonstrable financial need is not required to earn these loans, though the amount you borrow is determined by your cost of college attendance and the amount of financial aid youre currently receiving. Direct Unsubsidized Loans accrue interest the moment they take effect.
Direct PLUS Loans are available to eligible graduate and professional students, as well as dependent undergraduate students that may need extra assistance with costs not covered by other forms of financial aid. You do not need to demonstrate financial need to apply, but you will need to conduct a credit check. Direct PLUS Loans are unsubsidized, so they accrue interest the moment they take effect.
How To Pay For College: Private Student Loans
If a loan does not come directly from the federal government, it is considered a private loan.
Private student loans stem from multiple sources, including community organizations, nonprofits, corporations, banks, and even universities themselves. The interest accrued on private loans can be deducted from taxes, which can make them attractive to some students depending on their situation.
When youre deciding on how to pay for college, private loans should be considered a last resort for funding your degree, as the interest rates tend to be higher and the repayment plans are less flexible. If you find yourself needing one, its paramount to find a loan option that best fits your situation. With College Raptors free Student Loan Finder, you can look at interest rates and terms from leading lenders side by side.
Interest Rates
As a loan borrower, you will not only pay back the original amount that you borrowed, but also an interest that accrues every month based on the outstanding balance. For most borrowers, the interest rates are somewhere between 210%. Generally speaking, federal interest rates tend to be lower than private loan rates.
Factors that affect your interest rate may include:
- Savings habits
Variable Rate vs. Fixed Rate
All federal loans have a fixed interest rate, but private loans have an option called a variable rate. With a variable rate, the interest rate can go either up or down .
Co-Signers
Flickr user Dominican University
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Confused By Your College Financial Aid Letter You’re Not Alone
So the tricky part, once you get that net price, is to make sure that you understand what the components of that net price might be. For instance, how much debt did that school ask you to take on?
The other money you get from colleges is merit aid. I think of merit aid as money for being smart. But it sounds like this goes beyond academics?
It’s much more about who you are, about your profile, about grades and test scores and other kind of tangibles and intangibles. It may vary depending on the year, or the month and also how well the school is doing in its attempt to attract the right number of students paying the right amount of dollars per student.
Here’s another way to think of it: Imagine a really long list of all of the colleges and universities in the United States, ranked roughly in order of selectivity. Starting around slots 30 or 40, you start to get a trickle of elite institutions that do give away some money based on someone’s academic prowess. And then in the next 25 to 50 slots on the list, you’re finding a lot of selective schools that have a market problem and a marketing problem, which is that at $70,000 or $80,000 a year, people’s ability to pay no longer matches their willingness to do so, increasingly. So you’re trying to maintain some pricing power at the full price for a certain number of students, while giving others discounts.
How To Pay For College: 8 Expert
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Asking How do I pay for college? is like asking, How do I get healthy? or, How do I learn another language? There are lots of answers, but theres not always one clear path.
If youre like most students and families, youll cobble together funds from multiple sources. Some types of financial aid are better than others, so use the following advice in this order:
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Spend Or Save Leftover Funds
If youre among the few savers who end up with a balance upon your childs college graduation, you have a few options.
You can save the money for graduate school or switch the beneficiary to another family member, such as a younger child, or a spouse whod like to go back to school.
You can also cash out of the account entirely. If you do that, youll owe interest on the earnings only, plus youll pay a 10 percent penalty.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this story had incorrect information about the income phaseout limit for claiming the American Opportunity Tax Credit.
Making College More Affordable
For many applicants and their families, the most daunting aspect of the journey to college is the price tag â but it doesnât have to be. There are more options available than you might realize to help alleviate many of the burdens associated with paying for college.
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Make Withdrawals Strategically To Minimize Borrowing
It doesnt always make sense to use all your 529 money at once if you think you will also have to borrow money to pay for school. There are limits to the amount you can borrow via federal loans each year: $5,500 in your students first year, $6,500 in the second year, and $7,500 after that if you claim your student as a dependent.
If you spend your 529 money in the first years of college and need to borrow later, you could exceed federal loan limits and have to turn to costlier, less consumer-friendly private loans, says Fred Amrein, a fee-only financial planner in Wynnewood, Pa., and author of Financial Aid and Beyond: Secrets to College Affordability.
Instead, spread out your 529 withdrawals over all four years so that you can keep each years borrowing below the federal limits.
Apply For Federal Aid And Grants
If youve talked to anyone about going to college, then youre probably very familiar with the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. FAFSA provides federal and state student loans and grants using your financial need to determine eligibility.
| Whats the Difference Between Grants and Scholarships? | |
|---|---|
| Grants | |
| No, unless used for non-degree expenses or awarded in exchange for work | No, unless used for non-degree expenses or awarded in exchange for work |
If youre going to accept student loans, federal loans offer the best interest rates and flexibility. FAFSA also determines your eligibility for government grants like the Pell Grant, which offers up to $6,345 of assistance per academic year.
Grants can be provided by other public and private entities, too. Theyre typically awarded based on personal characteristics including minority groups, those with financial needs, soldiers, and more. Your chosen career can also play a role, so search for companies and industry associations youre interested in to see what opportunities are available.
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