Paying for College

Before Knowing college is coming, as much money as practical is placed in some sort of a fund for college. There is a misconception that people who save for their child's educations are unduly penalized in the financial aid process, but that is not true. The college's financial aid office will be looking at a family's long-term ability to finance education, not cash available. In fact, about 6% of parents' savings are what colleges will expect you to contribute annually. On the other hand, about 35% of the student's savings are expected to go toward college, so beware of putting your money in the student's account.

During Some families are fortunate enough to be able to pay for college without financial assistance. Those families may want to consider the pre-payment tuition plan offered by many colleges. Typically the college will allow parents to pre-pay all four years' tuition at the level it is upon the student's entry to college. Depending on the family's financial situation, this can have some advantages and avoids cost increases, which often average about 6% per year.

After In spite of prior planning and saving, most families are forced to borrow money to pay college expenses.

How about financial aid? Financial aid falls into two main categories: need-based and merit. Over 85% of all financial aid are need-based and are distributed through the college's financial aid office. It is important to carefully follow the instructions of each college the student has applied to because the procedures and required forms will vary.

There are two standard financial aid applications used nationwide, the FAFSA and the CSS Profile. Both attempt to use a uniform methodology to analyze a family's relative financial strength. Both provide the college's financial aid office with an estimate of the "expected family contribution" so that the financial aid officer can allocate grant money in the most equitable way possible. Often colleges will supplement information from the FAFSA or the CSS Profile with their own applications, the previous year's tax return, and/or a non-custodial parent supplement.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is required by virtually all colleges. It is distributed to Pomperaug High School seniors in November, and should be ideally filed between January 1 and February 15. The FAFSA asks you to name up to six schools to receive your application data. After your FAFSA is processed, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) which will tell you your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Colleges and local scholarships will be using this information to determine their financial aid package.

The PROFILE Application produced by the College Scholarship Service (CSS); the Profile is used by some colleges that want more detailed and customized information than the FAFSA provides. For instance, it takes home equity into consideration, while the FAFSA does not. From the students' point of view, the Profile has an advantage in that it can be filed in the fall of the senior year, so financial aid will be determined several months earlier. This is a special advantage to students who are applying to college under an early decision plan. PROFILE applications are available in the Career Center in early fall.

The Number ONE Rule of Financial Aid: Get Your Forms in on Time!

During the admissions process, students are notified of the colleges' award of financial aid. Normally, this aid is allocated in three ways:

Grant: Money applied directly to college expenses which does not have to be repaid, in essence, a gift. Grant money comes from both the federal government and from the college's private sources.

Loan: As part of a "financial aid package", a loan may be offered to pay part of college expenses. Loan provisions vary in interest rates, repayment schedules and forgiveness clauses, depending on their sources.

Work-Study: Often the financial aid package involves a student job, usually on campus, to help defray expenses.

Some families choose not to accept loans or work study provisions of the financial aid package when they feel they can find better terms somewhere else. For example, interest on a home equity loan may be fully deductible from taxes, while other loans are not. Students may be able to find off-campus employment that provides more revenue than the campus job, especially in heavily populated areas.

Importance of Filing the FAFSA

Many families have heard that their circumstances will most likely preclude their receiving any need-based financial aid. Therefore, they see no point in completing the FAFSA. However, this is an uncertain world. Sudden loss of income, due to lay-off, illness, or death can literally change circumstances drastically overnight. A FAFSA already filed can be quickly amended, even after usual deadlines, but colleges will not accept a new FAFSA report past their deadline. In addition, even though a family's application for aid in a previous year has been refused, an additional student in college will halve their expected per pupil contribution, and may nudge them over the line of eligibility. Filing the FAFSA may not yield results, but the potential rewards far outweigh the relatively small amount of time spent.

Merit Scholarships (non-need-based), are usually granted on one of the following bases:

Some outstanding performance such as a high score on the PSAT/NMSQT taken junior year, the winning of an essay or oratorical contest, or a superb talent. The sources for such scholarships may be campus-based, national, state, or local. Amounts and conditions vary widely.

The armed forces offer ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) scholarships which pay for tuition, books and fees for all four years at participating institutions. Admission is very competitive and recipients must serve as military officers on active duty, then on reserve for several years, depending on the service chosen and policies in effect at the time.

Some colleges offer incentive scholarships to attract students of a high caliber than they usually do. These are often called presidential scholarships.

Athletic scholarships are granted to outstanding athletes by colleges in Division I and Division II of the NCAA. Students need not excel scholastically, but recent stringent regulations require a relatively strong college preparatory course load in high school. Also, scholarships usually don't continue if the student becomes unable to compete due to scholastic deficiencies or injury.

There is a large body of other scholarships, loan and fellowship funds available to students willing to do a fair amount of research and application. Some are tied to an intended major, others have to do with racial or ethnic origin, fraternal organizations, unions or employers of parents or students, veterans groups, religious affiliation, and handicaps or other unique applicant characteristics. We keep financial aid reference books and fliers about these programs in the Career Center. They are also listed on the PHS website and on WTCH.

Local organizations give scholarships to our graduates. Need is not necessary in all cases, though each donor has a unique set of requirements, some of which are set by the terms of wills. Application packets will be issued in the early spring to each student. (Check your Regional Calendar for dates.)

Local scholarships

• Money donated by organizations in the community
• Most recipients are chosen by the organization
• Given in May after financial notification from colleges
• Every senior receives application packet at scholarship assembly, check Region calendar for date.

Tuition Savings - The New England Regional Student Program (RSP) enables residents of the New England states (CT, ME, MA, NH, RI, VT) to pay significantly reduced tuition at out-of-state public colleges and universities within New England if they pursue certain academic programs not offered by their home state's public institutions.

All 80 public colleges and universities in New England participate voluntarily in the RSP. Together, these two-year and four-year institutions of higher education offer hundreds of academic programs and majors at reduced tuition to New England residents. In addition, RSP undergraduate applicants receive admissions preference over other out-of-state applicants at the participating colleges and universities. Interested students can determine which reduced tuition programs are available in a particular academic year by checking the current APPLE BOOK, which is available in the Career Center.