July, 2015 archive
Have you heard about our money saving “Dry Run”? 0
I wish I heard about you sooner is not an uncommon response after I explain what we do. I expected that at least two of the colleges my daughter had her heart set on would give her more financial aid. Every year, several families come to us because they heard from someone that we can help them get more money from the top choice colleges to which their child has been accepted.
Quite often we can, but once the horse has jumped the fence and headed for the hills it is much harder to do. You do not want to be a parent who realizes too late that the cost of four years of college is not possible without borrowing an amount that resembles the cost of a used Rolls Royce.
No matter how often I talk about the importance of our money saving heart attack prevention exercise called the Dry Run (step # 3 in the college planning timeline) there are still families that do not take advantage of it. Of course, it is not the end of the world if the student attends a community college for a couple of years. In fact it could be a good strategy in some instances. But more satisfactory outcomes result with planning that includes an early look at the financial options all families have.
Many families go through the college selection process content not to question the colleges we have financial aid pitch or our average grant package is $33,000. Wide eyed impressionable teenagers are told to “just put your application in and then apply for financial aid. Once you are accepted we will send you a financial aid package.”
All that students hear (and some parents) is what they want to hear. Reality comes knocking at the door too late for many of them. Though the most frugal and financially savvy parents have saved enough to cover the first year or two, it often does not cover all four or dare I say, five or six. To do that is very difficult without a steady source of extra income coming into the household. (By the way, we do have a solution for that too. Read the last paragraph here; then give us a call.)
In the meantime, if you have a student still in high school with college aspirations, NOW, not later, is the time to call to complete a Dry Run. It does not matter if the college list hasn’t been started yet either. We can suggest appropriate colleges.