With college tuition costs constantly on the rise, it makes sense to begin looking for financial aid as soon as possible. But you may have some questions regarding the process and whether or not it is even worth going through it based on your family’s income. Here are a few tips for students seeking financial aid for college.
- Start as soon as possible – You don’t want to wait and miss out on the opportunity to reduce how much you need to borrow for college.
- Find out what your EFC is – EFC stands for expected family contribution. It is calculated based on a number of things, including household income. This will let you know how much of your college tuition that you and your parents are expected to be able cover. You may be pleasantly surprised to learn just how much you qualify for.
- Don’t rely on merit-based scholarships – Very few students get a full-ride scholarship. And it is virtually impossible to predict who will get a merit-based scholarship. As a result, you don’t want to rely exclusively on this source of funding. If you are fortunate enough to get a scholarship, look at it as found money.
- Don’t sell yourself short – If your family makes $150k per year and you are applying to a public college, you may not qualify for much, but you won’t know until you try. If you are applying to a private university, your family can make six figures and you should still qualify for a significant amount of aid.
Getting Help for College Financial Planning
If you are planning on attending college and have concerns about how to afford it, College Planning Source can help. We love helping students to maximize the amount of aid they receive, so give us a call today at 858.676.0700 or submit our online contact form.
