Financial Aid Myths: Fact & Fiction

Soccer field sidelines are filled with parents sharing their college expense stories and sometimes “nightmares” that can create misinformation circulating through the community.    Depending on the listening parent’s effort to validate or debunk the information gleaned can determine how useful the shared experience will be in guiding their own children. Here’s a few common myths:

Student Debt = Future Income Spent Today

Know the terms (i.e. repayment, interest rates) and possible consequences of taking student loans for college–essentially bringing future income into the present. (FYI: colleges are not obligated to disclose the terms of the loan BEFORE accepting them as part of a student aid package.  Students MUST ASK.  Also, students are not forced to accept student…

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When a Letter of Recommendation Isn’t Just a Letter of Recommendation

Now, that school’s back in session (or about to be back in session), and the excitement of choosing colleges for application can be wearing thin (given that everyone who discovers or knows you’re a senior is asking where you’re applying), so what’s next?  Well, parents, since about July have been asking us about letters of…

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How to Make the Most of A Campus Tour: Creative Marbles in Chicago

All colleges have basic features: classrooms, residence halls and dining commons, people.  How education happens at a college depends on history and culture (i.e. the attitudes, beliefs and values–which can be shaped by history.)   Exploring colleges from multiple perspectives–academics, social life and the culture–will help students and parents make more confident choices about where…

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“Why Do You Want to Go To College?” Has New Meaning

“How do employers look at college names?”  is a typical question parents ask us, when trying to narrow their senior’s choices for application.   Two meanings emerge from this question: What’s the value of a college degree? How, if at all, is value different for different colleges? The value in college question will be answered differently…

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Changes to Subsidized Direct Student Loans for Fall 2012

For Fall 2012 and future Fall 2013 Subsidized Direct Loan Borrowers: The Federal Government will no longer withhold interest during the six-month grace period before loans go into repayment.   According to Federal Student Aid, “the interest will be capitalized (added to the principal amount of your loan) when the grace period ends.”  Borrowers do not need…

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Guest Post: Study Abroad from a Parent’s Perspective

By: Lisa Dalton, parent of a senior at the University of Oregon, and sophomore at Washington State University CMC Note: There are alternatives to “studying” abroad, including service projects that many universities arrange, as well. _______________________ If you are in the midst of college tours with your high school senior, or you have a student…

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