SayEducate

Handy tools to help high school seniors: we provide what you need to take the stress out of college planning.

The Last Hurrah

Today’s high school seniors are busy enjoying their final year of schooling, taking in frosty football games and thinking about what they will do over their Christmas break. SATs, writing projects, and applying to college are some of the other activities consuming time right now with the next few months being especially critical in planning life beyond high school.

Graduation is just seven months away and two months after that today’s high school seniors will become tomorrow’s college freshmen.

Let’s take a look at what you can do now to make going off to college as stress free as possible.

College Planning Is A Family Event

Preparing for college involves much more than the prospective student. Parents need to get involved as they are the ones providing the bulk of the financing while offering guidance on the schools to visit, scholarships offered, and financing options available. Even siblings cannot be forgotten as family decisions will impact them. Hey, you won’t have your little brother or sister pestering you for awhile, so you might as well enjoy their company while you can!

Busting The Stress With Helpful Tracking Tools

As you probably know all to well, the final year of high school isn’t as rosy as you may have thought it would be. Seniors still must finish up course work, take college entrance exams and deal with raging hormones. The thought of planning the next four years of life while handling the crisis of the moment can seem daunting; that is why we have developed free tracking tools to take the edge off of college prep.

Four tracking tools for college planning:

1. Student aid tracking worksheet — a worksheet to record and track your financial aid information (excel file).
2. College budgeting worksheet — an automated file to plan and budget college aid and costs (excel file).
3. College cost comparison worksheet — compare colleges by cost and amount of aid awarded (excel file).
4. College spending sheets — use these spending sheets to track daily - weekly - monthly spend (PDF).

Please visit this page to find the four tracking sheets and related planning tools.

Starting Your College Search

Of course, at the same time you are taking a look at your financial picture, you’ll want to begin your college search. Chances are you spent the summer between your junior and senior year visiting some campuses, but narrowing that list down to a manageable three or four schools will make college planning a whole lot easier.

Use a financial aid checklist to balance college search with student financial aid options for a clearer picture of your schooling options. Parents need to remember that Stafford loans and private student loans are two forms of student aid that have opened up educational opportunities for millions of students.

Finishing The Race In Style

With the tracking tools at your disposal, college planning becomes less of a stress and much more of an enjoyable experience. You still need to consider your college major and meet with your guidance counselor, so plan wisely now to create fond memories that will last a lifetime!

Higher education is routinely defined as those undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral level classes taken at a university; the course study always leads to a degree. On the other hand, continuing education classes may encompass some of the same courses of study, but without a degree issued. In many cases, taking several of these classes will result in a certificate awarded.

Much like college-level studies, tuition for continuing education classes can get expensive. Whereas a Stafford loan would cover many degreed programs, most certificate programs would not be covered. But, there is a way to finance continuing education classes: through private student loans. Please read on and we’ll take a look at an alternative financing option for continuing education students.

Stafford Loans Don’t Cover Most Continuing Education Courses

Stafford loans are great as they can provide the financing students need to complete their higher education. Certain restrictions — such as availability for full time students only — has shut off this option for most continuing education students, making private education loans their only choice.

Fortunately, private education loans are there to help continuing education students pay for the courses they want to take.

Private Student Loans And How They Work

Unlike Stafford loans which come with strict eligibility requirements and borrowing limits, private education loans are easier to obtain. Banks and other financial institutions are the providers for these types of unsecured student loans.

The following are some of the important attributes of private student loans:

• You may borrow as much as $30,000 for the school year, depending on your tuition  costs and related expenses. Of course, continuing education students probably aren’t going to come anywhere near these thresholds, but the upper limit can come in handy to cover expenses incurred when taking highly specialized courses.

• Funds are disbursed directly to you. You pay the college and no parental intervention is necessary. As most continuing education students are beyond their college years, this level of independence is welcome.

• Repayment options are quite reasonable. Many lenders will allow you to wait six to twelve months after graduation (or completion of course study) to start making your first loan repayments. You can take as long as 20 years to pay off your debt.

Financial Convenience — Who Can Put a Price on That?

Ultimately, the convenience of a private education loan could be the deciding factor when choosing this financing option. Borrow within your means and get the education you need right now!

We have some good news and some bad news for you. First the good news: President Bush signed legislation that has recently gone into effect to help families cope with rising college costs. In a nutshell, aid amounts have been increased while Stafford federal student loan rates have dropped. Now for the bad news: The new law only goes so far as many American families will still have to borrow money to pay for their student’s higher education.

Federal Financial Aid or Private Student Loans?

Although the news is both good and bad, families still have some strong options at their disposal. Financial aid is widely available in the form of both federal student loans and private student loans. Is there a difference between these two college loan choices? Yes, so let’s take a look at how these options work and what they can offer for you:

Stafford Loans – Named for Senator Robert Stafford of Vermont in honor for his work in higher education, Stafford loans is the federal guaranteed student loan program managed by the U.S. government. College loans are backed by the federal government and, therefore, carry a lower rate than private loans. Strict eligibility requirements and borrowing limits are two important attributes of these types of loans.

Private Student Loans – As the name implies, these loans are offered by private financial institutions, such as banks. Private student loans can be used in place of Stafford loans or as a supplemental loan. Undergraduate and graduate students can borrow as much as $40,000 annually or up to the full cost of annual tuition and expenses less financial aid received, whichever is less. Because this type of college loans is unsecured, rates are usually set much higher than federal student loans.

A Two-Tier Student Lending Plan

Both private student loans and Stafford loans allow students to wait until after graduation before repayment on the loan(s) is required. Many students take a look at federal financial aid first and use private student loans to fill in the gap between what they can borrow and their actual expenses. This two-tier financing approach allows borrowers to secure low rate federal student loan aid while limiting what they will need to borrow from banks or other private student loan providers.

Shop and Compare Private Student Loans

Worth noting is that when it comes to private student loans, each lender sets their own terms, rates, and qualifications. Therefore it pays to shop and compare before choosing private financing.

Higher Education Is Within Your Reach

Although the borrowing aspect of financing your education can seem daunting, it does provide options that allow you to get a college education in the first place. Carefully examine your choices to come up with the best financial aid package that is right for you. Please visit the SayStudent website for aid information and free, downloadable tools.