It’s Never Too Early to Plan for College
February 1st, 2010 by Mark McClellan
When it comes to financing your child’s college education, it pays to be one of two things — really smart or really poor. If your household income hovers near the poverty line, a plethora of grant programs exist to assist college hopefuls. If your teen student has an ACT score of 30 or above, coupled with a lofty grade point average, academic scholarships will likely help eliminate much of your tuition bill. The vast majority of students, however, lives between those two groups, so finding a way to pay for your kid’s college education is a process that needs to begin well before the senior year in high school.
Plan now
Whether your child is 6 or 16, it’s never too early to begin devising a plan to pay for college. In the current academic year, the average cost for tuition at a four-year public university is about $7,000. For a four-year private college, that figure jumps to more than $26,000. Community colleges, the best value in higher education, average about $2,500. Those costs reflect tuition only, and do not include additional expenses for room and board, meal plans, books, supplies, and the inevitable midnight run to Taco Bell.
If your teen is just starting high school, here’s a quick list of seven items that will guide you through the college cost process.
1. Every grade counts
When a student begins high school, every grade matters when it comes to receiving academic scholarship money. An ‘A’ in the student’s freshman year is just as valuable as one in the senior year. The cumulative high school grade point average is a major factor for schools when determining to whom scholarship money will be awarded.
2. Testing, testing
Your teen should take both the ACT and SAT in high school. Both tests are accepted by all colleges and differ in content and style. Unless your child records an extremely high score on the first try, he should take them more than once. Colleges will use the highest score achieved by the student for admissions and scholarship purposes. It does not matter to a college how many times a student takes the tests.
The PSAT (usually taken in the 10th grade) has value as well. That score is used in determining National Merit Scholars and it is highly valued by colleges.
3. Get it together
Most students will begin receiving college mailers in their sophomore year and will be inundated with them in the fall of the junior year. Take the time and at least look at all you receive. If the school doesn’t interest your teen, toss it out. Keep those of interest organized in a file for future reference.
If the student scores a 25 or higher on the ACT, expect to receive letters from colleges all over the country. Colleges are in the business of recruiting and retaining students. They all have numerical goals that need to be reached for budget purposes and if the student receives a letter from one, that college is interested.
4. Think nationally and locally
If your student is determined to go to an out-of-state school, don’t stress. Just remember to include at least one local college on the short list. Unfortunately, the unexpected happens. It might be a physical injury to your child that temporarily makes mobility more difficult (i.e., a broken leg or knee surgery); you or your partner might lose a job or have a cut in income; a number of other surprises might present a previously unknown obstacle to leaving home for college. Keeping a local school on the list provides the student with a backup plan if things change at the last minute.
Out-of-state public schools do cost considerably more, most of the time, than those in-state. Private schools, since they do not receive government funding, do not charge out-of-state fees. Very few schools are willing to waive out-of-state fees even for extremely strong academic students. Check with individual schools for their policies.
5. Colleges are generally not flexible
Financial aid, for the most part, is not negotiable. Grants, student loans, and — in Tennessee — state aid, are determined by a federally defined formula. Most schools have set criteria for different academic scholarships and cannot, by their own policies, negotiate with a student who wants a better offer. Occasionally, a school might be flexible, but don’t count on it.
6. Totals don’t matter, percentages do
Don’t judge an offer of financial aid by the total dollars. Judge it by percentage of cost. A $5,000 award at a school that costs $10,000 is much better than a $10,000 award at a school that costs $40,000. In the same vein, don’t eliminate a college based simply on the cost of attendance. If the student is interested in a particular school, apply and see what kind of financial aid package is offered. That will determine whether it’s an affordable option.
7. The big myth
There’s been a myth floating around for years that millions of dollars in scholarship funds go unused each year. There’s not much truth to that. A school may periodically not use all of its athletic scholarship funds or money in another area. However, that is rare. Even if a school doesn’t use all of its scholarship money in one year, that doesn’t mean the school will give more to incoming students.
Next to the purchase of a home, your child’s college education will likely be the biggest financial decision you make. It is not a decision to be taken lightly or made quickly. Two questions need to be asked when a student is seriously considering a particular school. Is the student comfortable on the campus? And can you make it work financially? If both questions can be answered with a yes, then that college should be high on the list of choices.
Mark McClellan is the Hope/TSAC Specialist in the Office of Student Financial Assistance, Christian Brother’s University. He has a Master’s degree in history from the University of Memphis.