How to Go to College on a Shoe String: The Insider’s Guide to Grants, Scholarships, Cheap Books, Fellowships and Other Financial Aid Secrets
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According to the most recent report done by The College Board Annual Survey of Colleges, the average rate of tuition at four-year public universities is $19,548, and even more shocking, the average four-year tuition rate for private colleges is $43,921. Tuition costs, of course, are just the beginning.
However, there is good news: There is more financial aid available than ever before, and despite all of these college cost increases, a college education remains an affordable choice for most families. Armed with the information detailed in this comprehensive and updated edition of How to Go to College on a Shoe String, you will be privy to the more than 2,200 programs that offer scholarships, internships, or loans to more than 1.7 million students each year.
In addition to scholarships and grants, you will learn hundreds of innovative ways to slash your college cost, such as calculating and reducing your college budget, buying your text books and supplies cheaply, earning college credit on an accelerated basis, combining higher education and course-related employment, performing national and community service, and making use of tuition prepayment plans, federal funds, state aid, and private sector aid. If you want to learn hundreds of innovative ways to save thousands on your college costs, then this book is for you.
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How to Go to College on a Shoe String - Ann Marie O'Phelan
How to Go to College
on a Shoe String
The Insider’s Guide
to Grants, Scholarships,
Cheap Books, Fellowships and
Other Financial Aid Secrets
~ 2nd Edition ~
By Ann Marie O’Phelan
Revised By: Debra Lipphardt
How to Go to College on a Shoe String:
The Insider’s Guide to Grants, Scholarships, Cheap Books, Fellowships and Other Financial Aid Secrets - 2nd Edition
Copyright © 2016 Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc.
1405 SW 6th Avenue • Ocala, Florida 34471 • Phone 800-814-1132 • Fax 352-622-1875
Website: www.atlantic-pub.com • Email: [email protected]
SAN Number: 268-1250
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be sent to Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc., 1405 SW 6th Avenue, Ocala, Florida 34471.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lipphardt, Debra, 1954- author. | O’Phelan, Ann Marie, 1960- previous
edition. How to go to college on a shoe string,
Title: How to go to college on a shoe string : the insider’s guide to grants,
scholarships, cheap books, fellowships and other financial aid secrets /
Debra Lipphardt.
Description: Revised 2nd edition. | Ocala, Fla. : Atlantic Publishing Group,
Inc., 2016. | Revised edition of: How to go to college on a shoe string /
Ann Marie O’Phelan. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050644| ISBN 9781620231180 (alk. paper) | ISBN
1620231182 (alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Student aid--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc. |
College costs--United States--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC LB2337.4 .O64 2016 | DDC 378.3/8--dc23 LC record
available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015050644
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Web site is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Web site may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Web sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read.
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: All trademarks, trade names, or logos mentioned or used are the property of their respective owners and are used only to directly describe the products being provided. Every effort has been made to properly capitalize, punctuate, identify, and attribute trademarks and trade names to their respective owners, including the use of ® and ™ wherever possible and practical. Atlantic Publishing Group, Inc. is not a partner, affiliate, or licensee with the holders of said trademarks.
Printed in the United States
EDITOR: Rebekah Sack • [email protected]
INTERIOR LAYOUT AND JACKET DESIGN: Antoinette D’Amore • [email protected]
COVER DESIGN: Meg Buchner • [email protected]
Table of Contents
Preface
Introduction
How to Read This Book
What to Do Once You Finish This Book
Chapter 1
How Am I Going to Pay for College?
College Knowledge
Whose Job Is This?
Going It Alone
What You Can Do to Get Ready
Savings Plans
Get a Job?
Looking Good on Paper
Grades
SATs and ACTs
Activities
Home-Schoolers
Advanced Placement, IB, AICE, and CLEP
Community College Courses
Chapter 2
Applications
Choosing the Right College
Visit Campuses
Cost
Public or Private?
In-State or Out-of-State?
Location Matters
Living at Home
Commuter Blues
Online Options
The Application Process
Chapter 3
The Numbers Game
What Is the FAFSA?
Filing Tips
What Parents Can Do
The PROFILE
The Student Aid Report (SAR)
The Offers
Some Good News
Upcoming FAFSA Changes
Chapter 4
Grants
Federal Grants
Pell Grants
Academic Competitiveness Grant and National SMART Grants
Supplemental Educational
Opportunity Grants
Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP)
Federal Agency Grants
State Grants
A Few More Ways to Save on Education
Chapter 5
Learn Now, Pay Later
Federal Student Loan Programs
How Much Can You Borrow?
Federal PLUS Loans
Service-Cancelable Loans
Child Care Providers
Forgiveness Amounts
Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)
Repayment
Private Loans
Bank Loans
Home Equity Alternatives
Retirement Fund Borrowing
Chapter 6
Work It Out!
Work and Service Opportunities
Cooperative Education
Internships
College Work Programs
AmeriCorps/National Service
Reserves/National Guard/R.O.T.C
Chapter 7
The Scholarship Jungle
Defining Yourself
Books
Internet
Colleges
Local Organizations
Scholarships for Specific Groups
Keeping Track of It All
Chapter 8
Bringing It Home
How to Win the Dream Scholarship
Recommendations
The Essay
Filling Out the Application
Personal Statement
Awards and Achievements
The Transcripts
The Interview
Chapter 9
Avoiding Trouble
The Credit Card Trap
Loan Consolidation Pitfalls
Scholarship and Aid Scams
Scholarship Search Scams
Dropping Courses
Dropping Out
Chapter 10
Living Cheap
Choosing Where to Live
To Drive or Not to Drive
Doing Without
Eating Right
Medical Expenses
Cheap Books
The Cost of Going Home
Spring Break
Staying in School
Conclusion
Additional Resources
Colleges and Universities Information
Job Services and Career Advice
Money-Saving Ideas
Organizational Ideas
Scholarship, Grant, and Loan Information and Assistance
Travel
Work and Service Programs
Other
Glossary
Bibliography
About the Authors
Preface
By now, we all know that the cost of getting an education is soaring. College Board, a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunities, states in their report Tuition and Fees and Room and Board Over Time
:
Average published tuition and fees in the public four-year sector rose by 2.8%, 2.9%, and 2.9% in 2013-14, 2014-15, and 2015-16, respectively, the smallest current dollar increases since the mid-1970s. The inflation-adjusted increases were 0.8% in 2013-14, 0.9% in 2014-15, and 2.7% in 2015-16. (https://trends.collegeboard.org)
These days, getting a college degree is vital to working in many fields, including nursing, teaching, and engineering. But even with the hefty price tag, getting an education makes good economic sense. According to the most recent College Board Education Pays
report, authored by Sandy Baum, Jennifer Ma, and Kathleen Payea, those with bachelor’s degrees will earn roughly $21,100 more than those with high school diplomas only. Another fun fact from the report: The median four-year college graduate who enrolls at age 18 and graduates in four years can expect to earn enough by age 36 to compensate for being out of the labor force for four years, as well as for borrowing the full amount required to pay tuition and feed without any grant assistance.
That all sounds great, but at the end of the day, you have to figure out how to get the money for college. Yes, tuition and costs are rising, but there is good news: According to the most recent College Board Trends in Student Aid
report, $236.7 billion in financial aid was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students for the 2011-12 school year. There are low-interest loans, grants, scholarships, cooperative education, work-study programs, and more, all designed to help you get that degree.
So where do you start? The first thing you should do is apply for all the free college money that you can. Grants and scholarships can help, and their values can range from as low as $250 to assisting with covering the entire cost of college. Yes, the entire four years can sometimes be paid in full by a grant, but not for most of us. Once the free money sources are exhausted, you should check out student loans. Student loans can provide you with low-interest rates, and you will not have to worry about starting payments until six months after you graduate. They can even defer payment an additional two or three months for special circumstances. That gives you plenty of time to find a job in your chosen profession and be in a position to make payments. Even if you are able to make loan payments, it is in your best interest to make them as low as possible. There are also other resources for money, such as home-equity loans, private loans, and retirement fund loans. But those should be considered only after you have exercised your other options, and you should seek the advice of a financial adviser before even thinking about it.
How to Go to College on a Shoe String: The Insider’s Guide to Grants, Scholarships, Cheap Books, Fellowships, and Other Financial Aid Secrets is designed to help you find out what college funds are available to help you pursue your education and how to get through college as inexpensively as possible from your first day of school until graduation. Chapter by chapter, you can explore what money and opportunities are available and how to apply for and receive the funds for your education — whether you are working on a certification program, two-year degree, a four-year degree, a master’s degree, or even a doctorate degree. Plus, you will learn all sorts of tips and helpful information to stretch the dollars that you do have.
Cutting college costs wherever possible will result in that much less for you to pay back once you finish your education. And once the normal, real-life
bills start rolling in, like the mortgage, the car payment, and the insurance, you will be glad you did everything you could to take advantage of college funds that were designed to help students like yourself pursue their education more affordably.
Introduction
While there are a lot of books out there designed to help you cut back on your education costs, this book is one of the more comprehensive books on the market, and one of the easiest to follow. From providing you with the contact information for grants, scholarships, and loans to explaining all the steps you need to take to apply for and win them, this book will guide you through the process of finding money for college from start to finish. Additionally, you will pick up some great money-saving tips along the way.
How to Read This Book
There is a wealth of information in this book, but to get the maximum value out of it, you need to read it from cover to cover. If you are short on time and attention, you can always read the chapters you are most interested in first.
For instance, if you are one of the one million students who have been home-schooled and you are wondering how that affects your college application, you will find helpful information in Chapter 1. Although home-schooled students enjoy a reputation as being well-prepared for college and tend to score better on the SATs and other standardized tests than regular students, colleges sometimes expect your home-schooling to be well-documented, which you can read more about in Chapter 1.
If you are wondering about the application process and what kinds of forms you generally need to fill out and what paperwork you need to provide schools with, Chapter 2 will outline what to expect, from getting your transcripts to gathering letters of recommendation to preparing for your interview.
Say you have heard about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), but you are not sure what it is. Chapter 3 spells it out for you and tells you how to apply. The FAFSA is a form that schools, government agencies, and many scholarship committees use to generate the Student Aid Report (SAR) to determine your financial need. This report determines how much money (free or loans) you are going to get for college.
Maybe you have already received a scholarship, but it did not cover enough of your costs. What do you do? Chapters 4 and 5 cover grants and loans that may offer the perfect supplement to your scholarship. Everything is covered in these two chapters to help you find the funding that is right for you — from specifics on how to apply for the funding to who is qualified to receive the funds.
Perhaps you have heard about cooperative education (education that blends academics with hands-on work) but you were not quite sure what it is. Chapter 6 will explain it and give you information on how to pursue it so you can zero in on cutting college costs while gaining work experience to help build your résumé.
If you have attempted to navigate the scholarship jungle, then you must know that it can be complex and daunting. Chapters 7 and 8 concentrate on answering all of your scholarship questions, while providing helpful information on how to pursue scholarship funds — everything you need is included, from writing an effective essay to where to look for those scholarship dollars.
Of course, there are scams out there designed to rip you off under the guise of helping you receive college funds. Chapter 9 outlines what to watch out for so you are less likely to be taken advantage of by unscrupulous companies or private individuals looking to steal your identity or your money.
You may have received plenty of college funding from student loans, grants, and scholarships, but you still need to keep your spending under control. Chapter 10 is filled with helpful tips and ideas on how to cut personal spending and save a few dollars along the way.
Whether you are a freshman studying political science, a sophomore pursuing a teaching degree, a junior on your way to becoming a marine biologist, or a senior studying pre-law, you will find all the information you need to get the money that is available for you to finish your education, and you will also find out the best way to put those dollars to work.
While the cost of getting an education is soaring, more money is available for students than ever before. Once you finish reading this book, you will know where to find that money and how to go about getting it more effectively. You can zero in on the chapters that apply most to you or dive in and read the entire book. Either way, you should learn a great deal.
What to Do Once You Finish This Book
You can read about getting education funding until you are blue in the face, but it will not do any good unless you take the necessary steps to apply for the money. Getting funds of any sort — from loans to grants to scholarships — takes some effort on your part. You may have to fill out an application, apply for FAFSA, write an essay, or prove that you have financial need. It may take you hours or days to prepare, depending on what it is you are applying for, but by cutting costs you are essentially paying yourself. Once the student grants and scholarships come in, all of that time will be worthwhile.
Chapter 1
How Am I Going to
Pay for College?
Higher education has never been cheap, but costs have skyrocketed in recent years. According to the College Board, tuition increases have outpaced the cost of living for the last 20 years. From the 2006-2007 college year to 2014-2015, college tuition and fees have more than doubled. The cost of food, books, housing, transportation, and other expenses have also risen. The good news is that with some research and effort you can bring your college expenses down to an affordable level or even have them paid for completely.
Once you have the money you need for college and know how to spend it wisely to stretch every dollar to the max, you are ready. But before all of this can begin, you need to start with the basics. First, which college are you going to attend?
It is never too early to start preparing for college. To maximize your scholarship potential, you should not only keep your grades up but also participate in a variety of extracurricular activities and community service so that when the time comes to fill out applications, you will shine. There are also inexpensive ways of knocking out course credits while still in high school. Advanced Placement courses, the International Baccalaureate Program (IB), the Advanced International Certificate of Education (AICE), CLEP exams, and completing coursework at a local community college can reduce the time and costs you will need to spend at an expensive college while also preparing you for college courses. Since your time is limited, you need to weigh these options carefully to ensure that you finish high school with a well-balanced record. You could even be on you way to finishing your freshman year before you even leave home. Although your schedule may be full, if you have a goal in mind and work steadily toward it, the end results will be well worth it.
College Knowledge
New experiences like entering college may cause feelings of uncertainty, worry, and even fear. One way to lessen these real concerns is to become well-informed. Knowledge is power. Increase your power. Correct