Navigating College Financial Aid

Navigating College Financial Aid

By: James Brickner

Line Editor

Around this time of year, with college application season winding down, parents of college-bound students frequently come running to me, panicked over what might be one of the most confusing aspects of the entire college application and subsequent acceptance process – cost.

Now there are probably a million ways to approach this topic. But before I go into some of the details (or “tricks” as they may be called), I feel it is best to start with the most important components of how financial aid works.

FAFSA

The first step is to fill out FAFSA, the “Free Application for Federal Student Aid,” which is both a means to obtaining government sponsored funds for college (like grants and loans) but also tends to be one of the ways colleges determine whether a student should also receive institutional aid. This can be done via their website at http://fafsa.ed.gov.

I would recommend all students who are planning to attend any sort of university (private, public, or junior/community college) to fill out the FAFSA as soon as is possible. This is because certain states and universities have early deadlines for receiving information from FAFSA when it comes to how they allocate financial aid to students in their state. These deadlines can be as early as October 1st, 2016, as in the case of Washington state, although locally, University of the Pacific and the state of California (the Cal Grant) have priority dates of January 15th, 2017 and March 1st, 2017 respectively. Earlier is always better, though!

So applying early is absolutely critical when it comes to paying for higher education. In previous years, FAFSA required data from the student’s (or their guardian’s) most recent tax return, and the sometimes obscenely early filing dates required by some schools has historically made obtaining accurate financial and tax data extremely difficult to obtain. This would mean that a student entering college in Fall 2017 would need tax information from their 2016 return.

This year, however, the FAFSA application allows the use of tax return information from the previous cycle. This means that for students entering in Fall of 2017, FAFSA eligibility will be based on 2015 tax records, which is a welcome change.

Cost as a Factor

Now unless your student applied for early action (which has become increasingly popular), it is highly unlikely that a university has already reached out to show interest in admitting them.

If this has happened, then congratulations! However, generally, most universities do not send out acceptance letters in January or February, because most are still evaluating the hundreds and thousands of applications they receive.

But when those acceptance letters start rolling in, that is the cue for parents and guardians to start researching estimates of tuition and accommodations (as well as books, food, etc.) that will be needed at each admitting college. In doing so, it is easy to see what the overall cost of each university will be over the time it takes to complete a four (or five) year degree program.

Likely, this will lead to a fair level of concern, because the overall ticket cost for just a year at some of these private universities can be as high as $60-70,000. For University of the Pacific, for example, the university estimates that costs could reach $57,000 per year, per student once housing, food and materials are included. Astronomical!

But all is not lost!

Although these costs represent a significant burden, most students who attend universities do not end up spending anywhere near what the estimates state. Why is that?

Well, remember FAFSA? FAFSA is primarily used to determine how much cost a given family can afford to pay, out-of-pocket, to attend college. And while government aid in the form of grants and loans may not have kept apace of the rising costs of a college education, it still tends to offset much of the cost.

Your student’s FAFSA tells the universities exactly how much you can afford to pay. Typically, anything more than the amount you can afford will be covered with funds from your state (or the state of the university), the federal government, or via loans. And most universities like to help their needy students out, through additional institutional grants, scholarships, and merit-based aid.

Some schools, like University of the Pacific, offer something like the “Gap Grant” or scholarship which is awarded by the university to cover the gap between what students can afford and what they have received from financial aid alone. Other universities offer price matching: whatever money you can pay towards your remaining balance, the university will attempt to match. These options vary from university to university and some awards are not publicly broadcast by the financial aid office.

It ends up that the best way to determine whether a college or university is affordable is to contact the financial aid office (after FAFSA has been completed and processed) and see what kinds of assistance is available from the institution.

Upcoming Deadlines

Here are a few important deadlines to keep in mind when it comes time to apply for financial aid.

It is important to note that for FAFSA, deadlines given tend to be tentative: if aid money is still available (and it typically is well into the new year) there is still a chance to obtain some. So even if FAFSA is filled out late, some aid money could come through.

January 15th, 2017 – University of the Pacific – FAFSA priority deadline

January 15th, 2017 – University of San Francisco (USF) – regular admissions application deadline

February 1st, 2017 – Notre Dame de Namur (CA) – priority admissions application deadline

February 1st, 2017 – University of San Francisco (USF) – FAFSA deadline

February 15th, 2017 – University of the Pacific – regular admissions application deadline

March 1st, 2017 – California Dream Act Application – due date

March 1st, 2017 – Cal Grant – FAFSA deadline

March 2nd, 2017 – California – FAFSA deadline

April 17th, 2017 – Modesto Junior College – priority registration date

Apr. 24th, 2017 – San Joaquin Delta College – admissions application deadline

Rolling – Modesto Junior College – admissions applications