College Funding

A recent letter to the editor in USA Today  complains about borrowing large sums of money to pay for a Community College education.

The writer states justifiably so that community college education including tuition and room and board are a real bargain. Correct! She also complains about students applying for financial aid to help pay for it. Suggesting they should either self fund or save the federal aid for those that go to a more prestigeous, more expensive school. I disagree. Any education is better than no education. Furthermore many students cannot afford to pay for even a community college education without help.

Federal financial aid programs come in all shapes and sizes. Some are Grants, Some are Work study but the application eligibility is tied to the FAFSA application, and some are federally guaranteed loans.

Many of the loan programs are not connected to the federal aid program at all and are privately funded.

She does suggest that limiting the size of a students assumed debt is a good thing. I agree with her on this point. She also suggests that some sort of cost benefit ratio between cost of school and the education degree/ career is a good thing.

The varied Federal and private funding sources are good programs and are designed as a safety net. several dozen top schools now guarantee that if you meet admissions standards, once you meet the Expected Family contribution (EFC) that you will be ably to graduate with no student debt.

Do  you  want to  find out if you  can  increase your eligibility for Financial Aid?

financial-services@live.com

Tags: colleg cost Financial Aid, college Financial aid, Education Funding, EFC, Expected Family Contribution, FAFSA, Finance, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, Money