How to Find Financial Help to Pay for College

How to Find Financial Help to Pay for College

I once read somewhere that sometimes those who work harder on their applications get through college FREE. There is a lot of truth behind this. Digging deep can bring up money you never thought you’d find.

Scholarship money

Getting a little help from the grandparents without raiding their pockets. A grandparent’s storied past may be one source for scholarship money. Have your grandparents write down places they have worked, clubs they have belonged to, ethnic, and racial heritage going back several generations.  For example, my grandmother was a daughter of the American Revolution.  Military service is another source.  The American Legion (legion.org), The Veterans of Foreign Wars (vfw.org), and Vietnam Veterans of America (vva.org) all sponsor scholarships. To look for matches and scholarship money check out scholarships.com and fastweb.com.

There are many other scholarships out there. To find scholarships for all talents and interests go to www.collegeboard.com/student/pay/ and www.collegescholarships.org/; these addresses will take you right to the search for scholarships.

Then there are those “45 weird scholarships”. My daughter’s best friend earned the Duck Brand Duct Tape scholarship by making a full prom gown and tux for her and her date.  Go to www.duckbrand.com/Duck Tape Club.aspx and read up on this one. She actually looked great and it earned her $3,000 in scholarship money.  Another from the top 45 is the Milk Mustache Scholarship. My nephew was awarded this scholarship. It was a great scholarship!  This one is for the student-athlete.  They take 25 students and photograph they with the milk mustache, award them $7,500 in scholarship money and a trip to Disney World. There’s no stopping you. You can get scholarship money. It just takes a bit of time and work. Be sure to take a look at www.finaid.org/scholarships

Student loans

Important note about students taking out loans; don’t borrow more than what you can expect to earn your first year out of school.  A noted rule of thumb mentioned in Readers Digest, if you earn $40,000 out of school the first year than only borrow up to $10,000 a year.

Careful thought to whom you take out a loan with.  Peer-to-peer lending can get nasty. In some cases the interest rates have ballooned to over 30%.  Take a look at  www.greennote.com and www.tuition.com

Freshmen can take out up to $5,000 in Stafford loans. The top rate of interest is at 6.8%.

Good news for repaying those loans now is the Income Based Repayment (IBR) is based now on student’s current income and not the loan amount. My daughter has just graduated and is in the process of adjusting her monthly payments to her current salary. This certainly helps her to live and breath easier.

Saving while going to college

Here are some other ideas that may not sound as fun or exciting to the newly incoming College Freshman.

Consider attending a local two-year college and living at home. Finish your four-year degree at the college or university you want to hold your degree from.  Doing this can save as much as $40,000 dollars.

And working part-time while attending college can also help pay expenses, as long as you yearn just up to $3,000 you will still be able to receive financial aid. Sign up for a tuition payment plan that allows you to pay monthly rather than having to pay two lumps sums a year.

Finding grant money

I once read somewhere that sometimes those who work harder on their applications get through college FREE.  There is a lot of truth behind this. Digging deep can bring up money you never thought you’d find.

My girlfriends daughter came up with a lot of grant money to get her through college.  There is a great site to dig through if you are just beginning your search, www.collegescholarships.org/grants/101-grants.htm.  You will be pleased to see all areas of humanity are touched upon.