College on a Dime: Public colleges boosted by economic woes

Jobs are hard to come by these days...go to college to learn, not to one that has a famous football team!!

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Zac, I am a step mom of a college freshman who gets some of his tuition paid for by playing baseball for the school. He filled out the FASFA with his Mom and received a pell grant, an SEOG, and a student loan. His father and I were wondering if there were other financial help out there, We are having to pay for tuition, books, housing, gas, food, utilities, and other supplies related to school and having a hard time doing so. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Becky

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Speaking of expensive private colleges:
http://www.campusgrotto.com/most-expensive-colleges-for-2008-2009.html

Ouch!

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In regard to the suggestion to go to a public school the first year and then transfer to a private school: Be careful. Many schools offer less financial aid to transfer students than to freshmen. A scholarship that is offered to your high school senior may not still be available if he or she comes to the school later as a transfer. Be sure to check on that with the private school before making a decision to attend another school first.

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What this article says is very true. Have your child attend a State school which they can transfer from, to a more prestigious school later on. If your child plans to attend graduate school, you may consider keeping him in the state school until graduate school. Employers are going to look at where the kid did his graduate work & not put as much weight on the undergraduate school. If you can stomach it, it is less expensive to have your child live off campus. It saves several thousand dollars a year due to the inflated meal plans and room rates the colleges charge. Of course, you have to know your kid and be sure he or she is responsible enough to handle living off campus.

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Zac, I am paying 15k a year for my son's private college prep high school. Do the college admissions see these kids any differently? I know lots of public high school kids think they are all snobs. I see they are kids who work hard and have high expectations for their future. What are you seeing amongst the kids when they enter college? Am I wasting my money?

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My son is going to college without any state or federal support. It is
extremely stressful financing this. As he is'nt an illegal alien or minority he does'nt seem to qualify for any grants, fasfa, etc.
His dad is active duty and leaving for Afghanistan in 4 weeks. Are
there any scholarship's, grant's, etc. for children of military personnel at war? Thank you for your response in advance!

A proud ARMY wife and AIR FORCE mom!!!

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My daughter recently graduated from Florida State. I bought a pre-paid tuition plan (I paid about 35$ a month for 16 years)and she earned a Bright Futures Scholarship by maintaining a 3.0 plus average in High School. The only expenses I had were housing and living. Florida now has a pre-paid housing & fee program. Well worth the investment. She graduated with no loans.. so now I don't feel so bad that she has law school loans (even though they will be in excess of 30k per year) If she had loans for both undergraduate and graduate school it would be overwhelming to pay them back.

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since we are in a recession, everybody is cutting back. my daughter got scholarships, grants, etc. to go to a state school, based on income, is this recession going to affect the money we received. should i worry that we will receive less next year.

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Probably one the the most often overlooked sources for tuition is your current employer, both for you and children. My two previous employers paid for my continuing education in full, including tuition, books, software, student fees, parking, etc. If you haven't explored this option, you should! I discovered one of the best books you'll ever find about finance, "How to Become Filthy Rich on Your Current Income" at www.how-to-become-rich.com. If people read books like this one we would not have the current situation we do.

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start at a community college. the credits transfer to the flagship public universities in most states.

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Zac,
Our daughter just graduated from the Isenberg School of Management at UMass Amherst in May. She is currently attending grad school at the University of Central Florida on a free ride. UCF clearly recognized the quality education that she got and made her a scholarship offer that she couldn't refuse. More people need to realize that many public universities have a great reputation both in academia and in the workplace. It is not necessary to pay $150,000 to $200,000 to get a degree from a "brand name" university in order to be successful.

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Hi Melinda, I just wanted to give you (and hopefully others) some advice on scholarships and saving money because I can totally understand how stressful college is. I'm soon to be graduating from a 4 year private college/gradschool and it has been rather stressful for my mother, grandmother, and I. A lot of time my grandmother had to help with tuition. I stopped purchasing text books and started searching for the same versions at the library. You may have to go to your local main library for these books (and ask the librarian for the updated version or the most recent; there is also ILL, interlibrary loan which can give you recent books that most professor require for their students to read) instead of the colleges' library.
I also applied for a payment plan, a lot of times colleges understand how those thousands a year can really put you in a rut, so they offer a price plan which will bring your monthly payments down to the hundreds. A lot of times this is helpful, other times it is not.
You can also check your local church or google "local churches" or ask a pastor for a sheet of local churches and they can always help you find money. This wasn't the best option for me, however, your situation may be different.
Go to www.fastweb.com to look for scholarships or www.collegeboard.com or www.petersons.com. These are pretty good sites.
In addition, you can go to your local library (again!) and ask for direction to the college section. There you will be able to find many books on college admission, financial aid, scholarships, etc. There is also information on students with visas and who are also not eligible for aid in the U.S.
Believe me...utilize the library, this has been my best friend through college life and soon to be my best friend through the rest of my graduate school years!
If none of the above is helpful, try taking so many credits (or college classes) at your local community college. You can always take credits there (to save money) and then transfer to your school of interest during your last year of college. Many of my fellow students have had to do it this way to save money. No one really cares (even employers) where you went to college. The key is what did you learn, how have your skills been developed, what type of education did you truy receive, are you able to think critically and relate to others across cultures, are you matured, etc. This is what truly matters.
Despite me attending a good private school, some of the students aren't able to relate to others across cultures, have mannerisms that are favorable, and some are extremely immature. Ivy League schools or highly favored private schools don't equal success or a better environment. Sometimes they do...but most times they don't. A lot of times you'll get snobby students and unprofessional professors. Usually the curriculum is centered on making the school look good or making the students appear extremely intelligent. You want a school that will foster intellectual growth not popularity. Other times you may get lucky, like I have, and find good people and teachers among you at "popular schools." I didn't really know that my school was popular until I attended. Sometimes the very school you think is unpopular will climb its way to the top and become popular, that is, if you're just totally consumed with being popular and saying you went to A+B school so to speak.

Lastly, if you can, try to utilize the summer months for a small job. Whatever it is: babysitting, working at a child development center, utilizing an internship that could count as credits toward your degree (will help you graduate faster), working at a checkout counter...whatever it is it can help bring extra money in for your tuition or books or room or board. One thing I have done is live at home with mom. There's nothing wrong with this. You can gain your "independence at home" or better yet, one day in the future when you start paying your rent or mortgage. A strong need for independence shouldn't determine whether you can afford college or not. College education with more money is so much better than living on your own, believe me.
Don't forget...you can always apply for a student loan. The best is the Stafford loan which is given to low income students with an interest rate at 6-8%. The Perkins loan, with a 5% interest rate, is also given to low income students. Private loans are another option or loans that parents can apply for to help their student. Be very careful (as I have) with student loans. You don't want to graduate (or would like to go to graduate school) and are thousands of dollars in debt. You will have to pay that back and the more you borrow the higher your monthly bills will be once you are obligated to pay them back.
Sometimes you can also get a part-time job while also taking classes. Scheduling classes at a time, say, during the morning hours or evening hours and working the rest of the day can be helpful.
I don't mean to be the pessimist here, but also consider this: college isn't for everyone!! You may not need to go to college to pursue engineering, art, music, computer technology, of computer science. Try a Trade school of some kind. You can usually graduate within two years and the tuition is no where near as expensive as college tuition. Remember...it's about your future career, how skillful you are, and how you work with others, not about what school you attended. In 25 years from now, your name-brand school will either have changed so much that no one likes the school anymore or even cares.
You can also go to college later in life (after you've saved some money). Many adults in their late twenties or even late fifties have gone to college (some are at my school) and they've expressed that they love it so much better than they would have in their twenties. You know why? Because they are more mature now and can really understand the materials and they now have the time and patience to dedicate themselves to a steady career. I don't particularly like this option, as I would like to be heading toward retirement at this age, but if you must experience college life, go ahead...take a leap!

The last thing on my list is: I have found that prayer is one of the most helpful agents to my success. Yoga/meditation and making sure that I give myself the psychological freedom I need to remain healthy for my future career, is what was most helpful to me. If you utilize these things you'd be surprised at how strong you feel and invincible your mind can become!

I wish you the best.
Dr. T

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state schools have lower tuition but at private schools you can receive more finacial aid. I applied to a state school and only got $2000 but i applied to a private school and received a full ride. Have them apply to different type of schools to see which give the best offer. There are also private schools that cost the same as state colleges.

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I MUST BE DOING SOMETHING SERIOUSLY WRONG. I AM A SINGLE MOM WITH 3 CHILDREN IN COLLEGE. TWO OF THEM ARE IN A PRIVATE SCHOOL AND THE OTHER IN A STATE SCHOOL. TUITION FOR TWO OF THEM ARE 43,OOO EACH. BETWEEN THEIR SCHOLARSHIPS WHICH WAS ABOUT 20,000 EACH AND FINANCIAL AID, STUDENT LOANS AND GRANTS I AM STILL 7,000 SHORT. MY DAUGHTER ISN'T ALLOWED TO REGISTER FOR NEXT SEMESTER. DUE TO MY BEING IN AN AUTO ACCIDENT AND OUT OF WORK FOR 8 MONTHS THIS YEAR, I CAN'T GET OR COSIGN FOR ANY MORE LOANS. I AM AT A LOSE. I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO. I AM OPEN FOR SUGGESTIONS

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If you have a daughter make sure she gets involved in the various women's organizations. Mine received over Ten Thousand in grants and scholaships from various women in business groups. It came in handy and made it possible for her to get her masters.

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Sure, no problem at all. I'm glad I could be of help to those who need it. As a Christian believer, I feel obligated to help anyone who needs it.
I wish I had someone to help me when I first started. My mom and I were so very overwhelmed and tired as a result of trying to understand everything on our own. Cafi Cohen who wrote the book: Homeschoolers' college admissions handbook : preparing 12-to 18-year-olds for success in the college of their choice, stated that the best researcher is YOU!

The way I learned what I know today is by being a diligent researcher. The only problem is learning where to find those resources :)

Good luck

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