1 / 28

Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging. Agenda. Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging. Today we will discuss: College selection Finding the right school How to research colleges from the financial aid perspective Why having the information early is so important

mead
Download Presentation

Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

  2. Agenda Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Today we will discuss: • College selection • Finding the right school • How to research colleges from the financial aid perspective • Why having the information early is so important • What’s coming next

  3. Getting Started Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • What are students looking for? • What schools are they interested in? • Why those schools? • Are they focused on the college’s academic and program offering? • Can their needs be met at a variety of schools? • What is driving their choices? • Understanding what is motivating students’ decision making allows us to provide better information

  4. Getting Started Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • http://nces.ed.gov/COLLEGENAVIGATOR/

  5. Getting Started Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging Detailed information about each category can be found by clicking the + sign

  6. Getting Started Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging Additional search criteria depending on what is important to you

  7. Our Case Study: Jesse Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Case Study: • Maine Resident • Engineering Major • Wants to stay in New England • Expected Family Contribution (EFC) of 2000 • Search narrowed down to four colleges: • University of Maine • University of Connecticut • Worcester Polytechnic Institute • Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  8. Research: A Focus on Financial Aid Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • It is important to research each of these colleges thoroughly • The focus today is on researching colleges from the financial aid perspective • We will focus on: • Cost • Percent of need met • Understanding financial aid awards • Average loan indebtedness and its impact

  9. Research: Cost of Attendance Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Cost of Attendance is comprised of: • Tuition and Fees (direct) • Room and Board (direct) • Books and Supplies (indirect) • Travel (indirect) • Miscellaneous Expenses (indirect) • Most up to date information will come from the college’s web site • We will focus on direct costs: tuition, fees, room and board

  10. Research: Direct Costs Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

  11. Research: Determining Need Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Financial aid offices calculated “Need”: Cost of Attendance (COA) -Expected Family Contribution (EFC) = Need • When determining need, colleges use the full COA including both direct and indirect costs • The EFC is the same for that student at all schools • COA is different at each school so need will be different at each school

  12. Research: Determining Need Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

  13. Research: Percent of Need Met Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Percent of Need Met is the portion of need that the college fills with financial aid: • Scholarships and Grants – both need and merit based • Federal Work-study • Need based Federal Loans – Direct Stafford and Perkins • Colleges are required to report their Percent of Need Met • Keep in mind that they are AVERAGES! • Individual awards can vary dramatically

  14. Research: Percent of Need Met Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • One source of information is Petersons.com

  15. Research: Percent of Need Met Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • One source of information is Petersons.com We’ll also discuss this later!

  16. Research: Impact of % of Need Met Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

  17. What COULD This Mean? Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • These are only AVERAGES! • Students should always apply to colleges of interest, even if the averages are not great

  18. Understanding Financial Aid Awards Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Where does the potential financial aid come from: • Grants and scholarships? • Loans – federal - student and/or parent – credit based? • Each college has flexibility to determine their award philosophy (except for “entitlement” programs) • Some colleges… • build in loans first • do not include any loan • “gap” student • gap and early award of grant funds • have significant “other” funds; others have none

  19. Understanding Financial Aid Awards Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging

  20. Understanding Financial Aid Awards Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Colleges rarely share their awarding policies • The student specific award letter is the only way to know what that student is eligible for • The Petersons information has another piece of information that provides some early insight: Average Loan Indebtedness

  21. Research: Average Loan Indebtedness Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Families borrow loans for two primary reasons: • To cover their EFC • To fill unmet need • Average Loan Indebtedness Upon Graduation • This information is from Petersons

  22. Research: Potential Earning Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Do students understand their earning potential – especially as it relates to the potential debt? • Career Infonet - www.acinet.org/acinet/

  23. Research: How Much Debt is Affordable? Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Salary/Debt Wizard – www.famemaine.com

  24. Research: Monthly Loan Payments Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Impact of Student Loan Debt • Smart choices regarding choice of college impact students for years to come • Life style while in college will also have a significant impact!

  25. Why Does All This Matter? Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • The information helps establish general expectations • What happens when a student has their heart set on a college that is unaffordable? • Emphasizes the importance of financial aid safety schools • Helps students and parents understand need to save, potentially resulted in expanded options

  26. What’s Coming? Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • Net Price Calculator • The HEOA of 2008 requires institutions to post a net price calculator on their web sites by August 2011 • The template has eight data elements for students to enter: age, marital status, children, family size, # in college, parent income for dependency students, living and residency status • Colleges will have to provide estimated total cost, tuition & fees, room & board, books & supplies, personal expenses & transportation, and merit- & need-based grant aid • The end result will be the estimated net price (price of attendance minus grant aid)

  27. In Closing… Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging • The information is meant to provide an earlier understanding of what college is likely to cost • The information is not meant to scare families; it is better they have this information early rather than the spring or summer before they start college • This information can help them make the best decision possible!

  28. Questions? Understanding College Costs and Award Packaging Finance Authority of Maine 5 Community Drive P.O. Box 949 Augusta, ME 04332 1-800-228-3734 education@famemaine.com www.famemaine.com

More Related