Save, save, save!!!! Parents and students need to have the nitty-gritty talk right now!!

Paying for College
1

I just had a student PM me about finding a scholarship to fund his last $2000 for his education at his desired school.

The rest of his costs were covered by the school, grants, and state funding.

His parents can’t help because they have no savings. So he is saying he will be declining the offer. Wow! This was one of the best deals I had heard of and he can’t come up with the money because he didn’t realize that he needed to work!
I suggested extended family help.

So, there are a lot of knowledgeable parents and former high school and college staff on this site who can help you, but please help yourself FIRST!

Open a savings account in high school and learn how to save and balance your budget. Put 1/2 of your birthday money in that account.

If your parents haven’t started a college savings plan for you (529), then ask your parents to open an account where they can have an automatic deduction taken out ($10 a week if possible!). It really doesn’t have to be hard. Ask them what they can pay for your college.

Please don’t assume full rides because you will be valedictorian!

You need money for your personal expenses; don’t expect the college to fund your
Crest, Deodorant, Tide, Bounce, Listerine, Bandaids, hair bands, Suave, memory sticks, clickers, backpacks, etc.

Please find a part time job to help you with your basic expenses. Or, hit up Grandpa and grandma for some change when you mow their lawns, trim their trees, repaint their shed, rake the leaves, recycle their recyclables, build the compost bin, etc. There’s always something you can do to earn some cash.

Please don’t get stuck like this kid!^

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I just had a student PM me about finding a scholarship to fund his last $2000 for his education at his desired school.
The rest of his costs were covered by the school, grants, and state funding.

His parents can’t help because they have no savings. So he is saying he will be declining the offer. Wow! This was one of the best deals I had heard of and he can’t come up with the money because he didn’t realize that he needed to work!
I suggested extended family help.


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Is this last $2000 for direct school costs after aid for this semester? If so, then he needs more than that.

Did his parents apply for Plus and declined? If so, there’s more loan money available.

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he can’t come up with the money because he didn’t realize that he needed to work!
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We’ve seen this before on CC. Some kids truly think they should have a free ride and not have to work AT ALL.

4

From what I understand, this is for direct school costs.

He said his parents couldn’t apply for loans. There are other factors, that’s why he pm’d me.

5

If his parents apply for a PLUS loan and are denied, he will be able to access the independent student levels of direct loans, which would be $4,000 more per year. Assuming that he hasn’t already.

6

Wow, that is so sad if he doesn’t go. Amazing when a brilliant kid can’t make it work when they have an amazing offer. Hope he works it out.

Funny enough, we had dinner a couple weeks ago with a stepbrother’s son and his friend because they were in our area. One is a rising college senior, one a sophomore. We were talking about college costs and they seemed to have no clue as to how their educations were being funded. Both were told by parents that you had better work and save as much as you can. They are doing that, and apparently hungry judging by the amount of dinner they ate. Happen to know that stepbrother and his wife are stretched to the limit despite savings, and had to get a second mortgage on their home. Many young people have no real concept just how much college costs these days.

Glad to know our daughter is well informed because we started talking long before applications went in last year.

7

I hear you Aunt Bea, people tend to forget that we have a whole population of students who are US citizens, with parents that are non citizens, who are not eligible to get loans in the US.

Not every school has deep enough pockets as they can loan a student money.

8

I thought if a student has a savings account they get penalized more harshly on financial aid - is that right?

9

I don’t agree. That is, I don’t agree that people should explicitly save for college, rather, they should pay off debt and have money available for emergencies and set things like college.

I have to say, if this kid was living what we see as the “standard poor life” that is, free or reduced lunch, chances are his parents buy him fancy sneakers and he has an iPhone. Just saying that is true where I live, more often than one would expect. If the kid contacted the college and his parents could create a payment plan, the college might work with him.

Assuming that is $2,000 over two semesters, that would be $40 per week for 50 weeks. Most families that aren’t true poverty level can scrape that up, possibly by switching what they eat (my parents went to pasta and meatballs many times per week when my dad was laid off) and possibly by getting hand-me-downs from relatives instead of clothes shopping. I wore a dress of my cousin’s to my prom. I got hand me downs from my older siblings and my cousins.

If he did not expect to work at all during college, he was not educated about work study. If he didn’t apply for work study, he should reach out to the college as soon as possible.

I am assuming that, if he didn’t contact them already about cancelling, he would have already accepted his spot? It is possible that if he did accept, even if he rescinded, he could call up their counseling center and see if anything can be done for him.

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The student bank accounts aren’t typically very large in amounts to reduce aid that significantly.

11

Turns out it was $2000 per semester and the student “didn’t know he was supposed to work” to help contribute to his expenses. He expected a “full” ride.

12

That’s very sad. Is this a kid who expected everything just to be handed to him or did he just really have no clue? Either way $2000 for a college education isn’t unreasonable. Perhaps he can delay entering until spring and save it up this fall? If it’s a semester thing then it’s manageable for a kid with a job.

13

Would a job each semester cover the expenses?

14

A gap year (or semester) and taking a job would solve that.

15

I don’t know if a job would work as I don’t think he feels he should work (?). He didn’t appear to like the idea of having to work each summer or during the school year so that he could “focus on his studies”. That’s just my take on it. He wanted a full ride and has no savings and his parents don’t have savings nor can they apply for loans. (By hook or crook, most students would have gotten that amount together to go to a good school. His take on it was that he should have gotten a “full ride”~he basically was asking me how to find more money that didn’t involve working).

He will be going to another school closer to his home since he won’t have to work or live on campus, or contribute anything. But the school that he wanted to go to seemed to be a “better” school. If he had worked over the summer, he would have been able to go with any work savings.

16

So he’s being given a “gift” and he doesn’t want to do his part… Then he’ll live with the results. I guess some people you can’t help much.

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^^^Exactly!

18

He probably wasn’t aware that his almost full ride may have had income tax consequences.

19

What did he do all summer if he didn’t work?

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Good question @Madison85^^^
Maybe felt entitled?

I just don’t understand why neither children, nor adults, haven’t set aside money in a savings account. It baffles me why people don’t have, at least, rainy day funds or emergency accounts.