What methods do you reccommend? We are filling out apps this month for ds#1. Some are colleges that don't accept federal grants, others do, some have scholarships available. What do you think about student loans?

We are looking at $11,000 a year to $28,000 a year. Unfortuantely, the $28,000 is the one that is looking more and more appealing to all of us. I really think it would be a good fit for my son's career choice, and he is very interested in it too.

BTW he has asthma so he couldn't get into the military....otherwise we were hoping he could do that for the GI Bill.

I have a MA in School Guidance Counseling, and the college/financial aid application process is a big item covered in the training.

First, make sure you fill out the FAFSA  early - all government aid requires it, and when the money is gone, that's all there is.  Since it requires your income taxes, do those early so you can complete the FAFSA.

Next, contact the school(s) your son wants to attend and ask to speak to their financial aid department - there are all sorts of grants and scholarships that go unused because no one who qualified applied for it. 

Apply to more expensive schools - they generally have larger endowments and provide more financial aid for students.  Don't let the tuition scare you away.

It's hard to get government aid without at least being open to student loans - and the interest rate is low.  If there's any way you or your son can pay down any of the principle before graduation, do it - interest does not begin to accrue until 6 months after full-time schooling ceases.

Search the 'net - there are lots of unclaimed scholarships out there.  Do NOT apply for any scholarship that has a fee, or for any scholarship search programs that charge a fee - these are scams.  You will get your best information from the school's financial aid office.  There may be a small fee for that - pay it; it'll be worth it, and it's usually a processing fee to make sure you're serious.

Have him take the SAT and/or ACT early, and then take it again.  Most schools will look at either the highest or last score - but some look at all of them; I went to a university that saw my first score from 11th grade and invited me to apply, then saw my second score from 12th grade and reinvited me, with an offer of funding because I had raised my score 100 points.

Check with any organizations to which you belong - religious, social, scouting, anything - because often these will have scholarships or be able to help you find them.

Good luck!

I have a daughter in an expensive out of state Catholic university. We're doing all we can to minimize the loans she'll have to take out, but she's probably going to have a fair amount of debt when she graduates.

 My main bit of advice would be to have your son apply for every single scholarship he can possibly find. They don't have to come from the university he's applying for; go online and google 'college scholarships' and you'll find a host of sites that will list thousands of them. Among those are sure to be plenty that your son may qualify for, so encourage him to apply, and apply early. Even the little ones, that are only a few hundred dollars, or that aren't renewable from year to year. Our daughter didn't do that for this year, she only applied to a few and didn't get any of them, but we're already encouraging her to apply to as many as she can for next year.

About student loans--they're good, but they have limits, and you'll end up supplementing them with other loans to fill in the gap. This year we won't have to do that, but we will next year unless we happen to win the lottery. LOL

Look into work-study programs at the school of his choice. Some are good, others don't pay much, but every little bit helps. Does your son have a part time job at the moment? If it's something he can fit around his school schedule, he could put away a good chunk of his paychecks towards things like books and all the extra little fees that always seem to add up.

Is there a community college near you? Maybe he'd consider going there for his first two years to get the basics out of the way first, if the college of his dreams will accept the credits. Some schools are still kind of picky about community college credits, though, so you really have to watch that.  But it would mean that he'd only have to pay that $28,000 tuition for two years instead of four. Our son is doing that, and is saving us, and himself, a boatload of money.

And finally--fill out the FAFSA form as soon as you can after January 1. You'll need your completed income tax return to fill it out--they say you can use the previous year's return, and then just update the info later when you do the current one, but it's probably just easier to have the current one on hand the first time around. But getting the form in early will get you an answer from them sooner, so you can see what you're up against and can plan accordingly.

 I wish you all the best--that your son gets into the college of his choice, and that he gets as much in the way of financial aid/scholarships as possible!

thank you for the educated answers!!

My son is the one that is having difficulty staying at home right now...he wants to be out in the big wide world so I don't think the community college will keep his interest much...he has a friend that scored a 30 on the ACT but has thrown his communtiy college education away because he wants to "do his own thing". Sheesh. I am hoping that the excitement of a big college in a faraway town will either fullfill this need for adventure or else bring my son back down to earth.

I have noticed page after page in the large college catalog of scholarships and grants. I am hoping the counselor they have provided for us can help us in the process. I will wait until taxes on Jan 1st because our return from last year had a early 401k distribution and it threw our AGI off.

As much as I have been against student loans of any kind, I find myself re-thinking it because he might miss a golden opportunity to do something right with his life.

He does not want to retake the ACT; he scored a 18 but the colleges like a 21 or better. I told him I would pay him $10 for every point higher he gets so he might decide the cash at least is worth it. Yes he needs a push and a shove in the right direction.

Cinnamonhuskies:

He does not want to retake the ACT; he scored a 18 but the colleges like a 21 or better. I told him I would pay him $10 for every point higher he gets so he might decide the cash at least is worth it. Yes he needs a push and a shove in the right direction.

I retook the ACT. I raised it one point and was offered over $10,000 in scholarships from 3 schools to which I had applied. It never hurts to try again.

When I started my freshman year, 90% of my scholarships were local and not related to the University. Having several $500 scholarships adds up fast and will pay for books at least. I had several $100 scholarships as well and it all went into a savings account to pay for books, etc. Local: church, Rotary, Sertoma, PEO, Masonic organizations, local banks scholar programs, civic club, etc. Some were $150, some were $500.

Of course, this was 15 years ago, my in-state tuition was $3600 a year at the University of nebraska and I started college with $5000 in scholarships. The extra went for room and board.

A previous poster was correct in that more expensive colleges do give more money but in my case, the $12,000 "presidential" scholarship for the private school I was interested in (Creighton University)only covered 1/2 of the $24,000 a year tuition. Still too much for me to attend.

And, not only should you apply for every scholarship under the sun now, but apply every year of college for different scholarships and grants.

I agree with everything everyone has said about going after scholarships and grants as much as possible.  I also want to just throw this out there b/c it's not been mentioned.... Americorps has all sorts of programs where people go out and work at a non-profit like a full time job for 1 year and at the end of your term of service you receive (if it's the option you choose) a federal education trust fund.  I did Americorps VISTA for 2 years after college and earned $9,000 in addition to my monthly stipend and health benefits and job experience.  Research it, but at the time, the money could be saved and used within 7 years of earning it.  You can apply it to future college options or apply it to college loans.  There are non-profits -- national chains and smaller local ones -- that take Americorps employees and they work in a HUGE variety of fields.  If I'm not mistaken, any loans you have from college can be deferred while you do your Americorps work.  Like everything else, do the research to see if it helps you out.

Before you agree to cough up a chunk of change for college, make your son define what general career path he's moving in. Research the career prospects, starting salary, post-graduate monthly payment if he were to finance 100% of it himself, and the "payback period" (increased salary/number of years) for a college degree in that field and at that college. After our oldest daughter blew 5 years and $150,000 at a top college for a "fluff" degree as a preschool teacher (not even an elementary school teacher, which comes with pension benefits, but a $23,000 per year preschool teacher) we made our son do this analysis. Our research taught all of us that spending $150,000 to become a computer hardware engineer at a top school like his father was an outsourceable career dead end (sorry ... those jobs have all gone to China), while spending $72,000 at an in-state college to get a degree in research biology was a wiser investment. When credible business journals like US News and Wall Street Journal are advising investors to send their kids to trade school to learn "non-outsourceable" traditional trades like electrician, plumber, and auto mechanic, you'd better make sure he understands the path he's heading down may be a dead end. Oh ... and don't trust the "job placement rate" or "salary rate" info the colleges give you ... they lie ... do your own career/starting salary prospects research at your state and federal Department of Labor Statistics website.

Agreeing to finance an expensive faraway college just because he wants to get out on his own is foolish ... I've seen many families make this costly mistake and end up eating the cost when junior gets bored or drops out. If you want to contribute, don't agree to pay more than a set percentage (such as half or all) of the in-state tuition rate at the local state or community college and make -him- evaluate whether he's willing to cough up the extra money (explaining how much money out of his anticipated paycheck he'll have to pay back each month) to go. If he's willing to do it, fine, let him pay for it and don't co-sign anything, but most kids come back down to earth quick once they realize how much it's going to stink being payment poor once they graduate. Hope this helps.