A college education will probably be the first or second most expensive purchase that an individual will ever make over the course of his or her entire lifetime. Yet, most people will select an institution and either completely ignore the cost. Not be aware of what the true cost of that school will be. Then, once they get accepted and have their heart set on one school or another. They find that the cost of education is far more than they expected.

While it is true that a college education has gotten incredibly expensive for almost anyone. A huge contributing factor to skyrocketing student debt is that students are choosing to attend schools that they simply cannot afford. Students are compelled to take on significant loans to pay for these high cost educational choices. And then find themselves in very challenging financial situations upon graduation.

Instead of taking the “fire, ready, aim” approach to choosing a college, families should be much more measured with their tactics, if they want to avoid being overwhelmed by college costs.

Here’s how to assess the cost of college:

Step 1: Know your budget

Before you even consider applying to college, take stock of your family’s financial situation. Ask yourself, how much do I have available to spend for a college education, and how much am I willing to spend and sacrifice? Consider the future. What if something happens and you have a lot less money coming in once the student has started college (e.g., you lose your job, an expensive health issue crops up, etc.)? Will you still be able to fund college? Are there other family members who will also need to tap into the family’s finances in the future?

Step 2: To assess the cost of college: Cast a broad net, initially

Identify a number of schools that fit the student’s interests and academics. Don’t just choose one or two; find several. Even if the student thinks he or she knows the exact college where he or she wants to go, expand the search. First, there’s no guarantee that the student will get admitted to that school. Second, there’s no guarantee that the school will fit your budget. By finding many schools that could be a good match for the student, you will increase your chances of putting together a list of schools that you can afford.

Step 3: Explore the fully loaded cost of each school

You cannot assume that the price of college will be “about the same” irrespective of where you attend. From one college to the next costs will vary tremendously. Where do you find information on school costs? What is meant by “fully loaded” costs? Schools will generally provide tuition information on their websites. Many schools will include what is called an estimated Cost Of Attendance (COA), too.

The COA represents an approximation of your fully loaded cost, and will usually include:

• Tuition
• Room and Board
• School Fees
• Books and School Supplies
• Travel
• Personal Expenses

Visit each school’s website that your child is interested in, and if the school provides an estimated COA. Use it as a starting point to calculate your costs. You need to figure out what your actual outlay is likely to be based on your own individual circumstances. Schools use an average number to figure costs like travel and personal expenses, but you should try to be more exact. 

For example, if the student will be bringing a car to campus, the school will not put car-related expenses into their COA calculation. But you should put it into yours. In short, project how the student will be living while attending college and tally up all the costs associated with that lifestyle.

Step 4: Investigate the financial aid generosity of each school

Not all schools are created equal when it comes to their financial aid generosity. Some will meet full financial needs while others won’t. Some schools will be very generous with merit aid for those who don’t meet the criteria for need-based aid. And others will only provide merit aid to a select few.

To figure out just how generous a school is with their aid, a good source is the College Data website: www.collegedata.com. You can search by school name and in the Money Matters section. The site reveals what percentage of financial need was met as well as how much the college provided in need-based and merit aid and how many students for the previous year.

By looking at this information for each of the schools of interest, you can get a good sense of how open-handed with money that school is and whether or not you might have a shot at getting some aid.

Step 5: Assess your likelihood of receiving financial aid to reduce the cost of college

You know your budget. Also, you know what your finances look like. You know what the cost of college is. You know whether the schools on your list are generous. But, you still don’t know what each college on your list is actually going to cost you.  Will you qualify for financial aid and bring down the COA?

While you can’t get a definitive answer about your costs before you apply and actually get admitted to a school. You can get a reasonable approximation of how much a college education will cost you at a given school.

Colleges are now required to make online Net Price Calculators (NPC) available to the public. NPCs allow prospective students to input some basic financial information about themselves and then the NPC calculates approximately how much financial aid they are eligible for and how much it will consequently cost them to attend that school – the “net price”.

Net Price Calculators can generally be found at a college’s website, and The College Board also provides an NPC for a multitude of schools at www.CollegeBoard.org.

Beware that the NPCs provide only an estimate of your likely cost, and sometimes a very loose one at that. Because the information captured isn’t as thorough as on an actual financial aid application, and because the NPCs don’t take into account either special circumstances or your potential eligibility for merit aid (which is based on student performance rather than financial strength). The output of the NPC should not be what you expect to receive.

Still, by going through the Net Price Calculator process for each school on your list, you’ll get a directional sense of what the school will cost you.
The bottom line is that if finances are an issue when you are first considering where to apply consider budget, school cost, and financial aid in the calculation. By doing so, you just may save yourself a little heartache and a whole lot of money.

Andrea Aronson
College Admissions Consultant, Westfield, NJ

The post Choosing A College: Don’t Ignore The Cost first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

• More Money:  Private schools may have more money to give away than public schools. In fact, some of the more established (and, often, more selective) institutions have very large endowments that they can draw from to fund their students’ financial aid needs.  More available funds means potentially larger packages awarded to more students.  Some schools even commit to meet the full need of their students, and they are able to do this because they have the money in their coffers.

• Preferential Treatment for More Desirable Students:  Many schools use financial aid as a way to build and shape a class with certain types of students as well as grow the institution’s reputation by recruiting students that will enhance the image of the college.  The students who fall into the “most wanted” category by the school can expect to get more favored treatment when it comes to aid.  What does this mean for those students?

• Need-based financial aid packages will be weighted more heavily to non-repayable grants rather than loans or work-study.

• Merit scholarships will be awarded to those who show less need or will be added to supplement the aid packages of those who do show need.  To create these merit scholarships, the school will either use institutional funds, if they have them, or those schools that are less wealthy will discount their tuition for these coveted students and hike the tuition for others whom they are less interested in attracting to make up the difference.

If a student is at the top of the applicant pool at a given college, chances are that the student will be awarded a significant amount of aid.  On the other hand, if the student is not in this position, he or she may end up with a far less appealing package and generally less overall financial assistance from that school.
So, the lesson is simple:  If you’re concerned about the cost of college, don’t walk away from a private school just because of its price.  For the right student, it may be far less expensive than the actual sticker price.
Along these same lines, many students assume that the cost to attend an out-of-state public school may be prohibitively expensive and that only an in-state public education will be within reach.  While it’s true that public schools do favor in-state students with a lower tuition, many public universities’ out-of-state tuition costs can still be quite low.  In fact, depending upon which state you live in, some out-of-state public schools’ tuition costs may actually be lower than your in-state university system’s tuition!
The point is, don’t jump to fast conclusions about private vs. public or in-state vs. out-of state educational costs.   Do your research and understand what your opportunities and costs might be at each school in which you are interested.
Andrea Aronson
College Admissions Consultant
Westfield, NJ

The post When Choosing A School: Which Costs Less? Private vs. Public. In-State vs. Out-of-State. first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

In the previous financial aid post, we defined COA (Cost of Attendance). This is the dollar figure that college financial aid offices use to help calculate your need by figuring out the approximate cost to attend for a single school year (remember: COA-EFC=Need).

What do schools consider in this COA calculation?

• Tuition
• Room
• Board
• School Fees
• Books
• School Supplies
• Travel
• Personal Expenses

This list includes both direct costs and indirect costs.

Direct Costs:

Costs that the institution bills directly to families (e.g., tuition). These are sometimes called Billable Costs.

Indirect Costs:

Costs that the student will have while at college but that will not be paid directly to the institution (e.g., books, travel, personal expenses, etc.)

When you are calculating how expensive college may be for your child. You should include all of these direct and indirect costs, too, and potentially even more. Before your student applies to a school, it’s important to understand what your actual outlay is likely to be based on your own individual circumstances. Schools use an average number to figure costs like travel and personal expenses, but you should try to be more exact.

For example, if your student will be bringing a car to campus, the school will not put car-related expenses into their financial aid calculation, but you should put it into yours. Will your student be traveling to and from campus multiple times per semester? Figure the cost per trip and include the number of estimated trips in your cost calculation. In short, project how your student will be living while attending college and tally up all the costs associated with that lifestyle.

Where do you find information on school costs? Schools will generally provide tuition information on their websites, and many schools will include an estimated cost of attendance, too. Visit each school’s website that your child is interested in, and if the school provides an estimated COA, use it as a starting point to calculate your costs.

It’s no secret that college costs a lot. Yet, families still experience sticker shock when the reality of attending college and all of its related expenses hits. Know what to expect before your child goes. Set your budget, do your research on college costs, and estimate your child’s expenses based on his or her circumstances. Having this information will help you to make a more informed decision about which college to attend once the time comes to make that choice.

Andrea Aronson
College Admissions Counselor, Westfield, NJ

The post Financial Aid Primer: #3. The Real Cost of College first appeared on College Admission Counseling.

• A college education is the biggest investment a family will make, aside from a home.
• The cost of attending an in-state college is now well over $100,000.
• The cost of a private four-year college can easily amount to $250,000.
• Most students take MORE than four years to graduate, so plan on at least 4 1/2 to 5 years of tuition payments.

Add to these facts another, sobering statistic: almost half of all students entering college either drop out or transfer to some other institution.
Moreover, families can save considerable amounts of money if they take more care in choosing colleges that are more likely to award their student merit-based financial aid.
So it makes sense to invest in choosing the right college.
More and more families across the country are turning to professional advisers to help them in choose the right college. The Independent Educational Consultants Association (the IECA, of which I am an associate member) estimates that 22% of students attending private, four-year colleges have had some sort of professional assistance in the admissions process. Closer to home, a college counselor in a premier district in Colorado estimates that at least 25% of its student body hires a professional educational consultant.
So as you consider whether it makes sense to invest in hiring me to help map out your college journey, ask yourself these questions:

• Do you seek professional advice to help you manage your other investments?
• Did you buy your house without the assistance of a real estate broker?
• Do you get legal advice from the internet or books you pick up in the bookstore?

My fees are a tiny fraction of what you can expect to pay for a college education. An investment in the college selection and admission process will pay off in terms of:

• dollars saved
• headaches avoided
• student’s happiness on the college campus
• student’s academic success
• peace of mind

So if you’re ready to invest in choosing the right college for your student, give me a call or send me an email today. I’d be happy to talk to you personally about how I can help you and your student invest your educational dollars wisely.
Great College Advice
Independent College Consultant
720.279.7577

The post College is an Investment: Choose Wisely first appeared on College Admission Counseling.