Loans

Do You Really Need a College Financial Aid Consultant?

Would you pay $200 to save $10,000? Or $25,000? Or $40,000? Let me start off by saying that hiring a college financial aid consultant is not absolutely necessary. Many families manage to put in the time and effort to research the financial aid process, and end up doing just fine. Having said that, I’ve seen firsthand how being uninformed and making mistakes when it comes to financial aid can lead to devastating consequences.

A friend of mine (we’ll call him Rob) is a prime example. He hired a “financial aid consultant” to help him navigate the bewildering financial aid system when his oldest son was applying to colleges. I don’t know the exact qualifications for the man who showed up at Rob’s house to “help” him, but, he was clearly not qualified. Rob’s son was subsequently admitted to the expensive private school of his choice (which was no surprise, since it wasn’t a selective school), and they paid full price for the privilege. The son graduated, and now, 4 years later, both Rob and his son are still struggling every month to cover the payments on over $80,000 in student loans. I look incredulously at Rob and ask him, “What were you thinking?!?” His response: “We just didn’t know.”

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Scholarships are Excellent Source of Financial Aid

If you are getting ready to attend college I’m sure you are wondering how on earth you are going to pay for it. Even graduating high school students are more and more often finding that they need to contribute in some manner to their college educations. Whether you will be taking out student loans, applying for scholarships or grants, or praying for some sort of work study program to come along there are a few things you need to know about financial aid at the college level.

First of all, financial aid can be a tricky beast. For this reason it is best to apply early and keep records of everything you send to the financial aid office. The information age has made things easier on one level and yet has eliminated the personal factor on other levels. However, if you own a personal computer you will find that Internet is an excellent source for financial aid and scholarship information. While the government offers a wide array of financial aid resources, there are many opportunities for you to get an education that do not revolve around government funding. You simply need to spend the time finding them.

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