Getting Money for College: Paying for a Private University

You would  think that getting student loans, whether it be federal student loans, a school loan or a grant for college should not be complicated.  Unfortunately, there are many pitfalls along the way and many mistakes that you can make that will cost you thousands of dollars in aid that you should be getting.  

There is a lot of money available in the form of college loans and grants. However, the process of applying for money for college can be quite tedious and it is very easy to make mistakes all along the way.

This article is the seventh in a series in which we discuss the seven most common mistakes parents make when trying to get education loans or money for college.

We have already touched on a number of factors that will affect how much money you get in collage grants and loans. Here is a quick review.

The two primary factors that determine how much money you will get for college be it through federal student loans, private education loans, or grants for college, are the cost of attending the college minus the Expected Family Contribution. The cost of attending college number is what it sounds like – how much it costs for the student to attend college including books, tuition, living expense and pocket money.

The Expected Family Contribution is a calculation the school makes when you fill out a financial aid form and the difference between those two numbers is your financial need. The amount of aid you get from the school is based upon your financial need.

That means the more need the more aid. You will not get 100% of your financial need, but you will usually get some fraction of that number.

One of the things a college planner does is he will help you restructure your financial statement to reduce your expected contribution. This in turn will increase your financial need and since your college finances a fraction of that need, it will increase the amount of money you get in grants and loans for college.

The second thing a college planner does is he makes sure your application is filled out properly since 89% of applications are not filled out properly and most of these mistakes cost parents $1,000 or more a year in missed financial aid. Let’s give an example so you understand exactly what happens.

Let’s say your Expected Family Contribution is $5,000 and the cost of attending the state school is $25,000. That will make your financial need for that school $20,000. State schools usually give about 50% of your financial need so that means you will be getting about $10,000 in financial aid from that school so you will be expected to come up with $15,000 yourself. Not fantastic, but a lot better than $25,000 a year.

Let’s take a calculation for a private expensive school such as Stanford, USC, NYU, or Northeastern University. Again your Expected Family Contribution is $5,000 a year, that doesn’t change, but the cost of the university can be $60,000 a year. So your financial need goes way up to $55,000 a year. Sounds pretty bad even if you get 50% of your financial need, you still need to come up with another $32,500 out-of-pocket. But that is not how it works.

State schools usually meet 50% of your financial need. However, there are some private universities that have a lot of money for financial aid and they can meet 95% of your financial need. In our example, the rich private expensive university costs $35,000 more a year than the state school, but meets 95% of your financial need and will cost you only $7,500 a year.

That means it is possible to send your child to a top level expensive private university and pay significantly less than you would for a local state college. I don’t know about you, but this is the type of information I would like to know before my child applies to schools.

Which private universities meet 95% of your financial need? I don’t know that and they are not advertising or publishing this information. However, a college planner who is experienced working with a lot of students and a lot of schools does know that information. That is part of his job. That is what he does.

There is one other thing a good college planner will know that is critical for you to know when applying for financial aid. Sometimes a college may offer you a financial package that meets 80% of your need. Now is that a good deal – maybe it is or maybe it isn’t?

A college planner will know how much the school usually offers. Very often a school may make you one offer and you can really negotiate for a much better package if you know to do so. Again, this is something a college planner who specializes in getting financing for college will know.

Going to a college or university is extremely expensive. It is around the cost of a home. Paying for college can put you and your child in debt for years. It can make it impossible for you to ever retire and can put a financial burden on your child that will last for decades.

That is only if you have one child. If you have several children that are college bound, the numbers get really high. There are a lot of ways you can knock down the cost of your child’s education to a reasonable level. There is so much money involved here and there is both your future and your child’s future at stake.

It just makes sense to speak with someone who knows how to present your case best and get you the best financial package you can possibly get. That is why I recommend you speak with a qualified college financial planner.

I have arranged for you a free consultation with the leading college planner in the United States. This is risk-free and will cost you nothing and you will find out right away how much you can hope to save when sending your child to a college or university.

I am giving you the opportunity to maximize what you can save sending your child to college and to help you take advantage of this. Go to http://undergraduateloans.org/freeconsult.html and get your consultation today!