一条给支付大学学费的父母的信息

if you've been watching a lot of these convey Dios for students well this is one for your parents so grab your adult and bring them into the room to listen okay parents listen up if you're like a lot of other parents one of your big buoys is paying for your kids college and believe me every parent feels this way whether they've been to college themselves or your kid is the first and the family to go to school I know this I write about personal finance and money a lot here's six questions along with answers that may help first is College really worth it the answer is yes absolutely despite what you hear not going to college is not a good decision for most students sure there are other paths but the facts speak for themselves college grads earn a million dollars more over their lifetimes on average than kids who only graduate from high school clearly is a good investment for most students - can my family afford College the answer is also yes no matter how much money you make you can't afford College but here's the problem every year millions of financial aid dollars go untapped just left on the table because people don't apply for it sometimes it's because families just think it's too expensive and they assume that college is out of their reach but here's the thing there is a lot of financial aid out there this isn't just a myth and it comes in the form of grants and scholarships which is money you don't have to pay back and also work-study which is working during school and then loans which is money your child does have to pay back but the most important thing for you as a parent to know is that you need to fill out the financial aid forms particularly if your income is low much of the cost if not all of it will be covered by financial aid the Big Kahuna of all the forms is called the FAFSA remember that name because that's the most important form you need to know about it's the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the FAFSA is it's just the key to the money by filling it out you're opening the door to all these grants and loans and jobs and it's money from the federal government the school your state and private scholarships and even families who have a higher income they shouldn't not apply because they think they won't qualify filling out the FAFSA is important for you too because you may be eligible for lower cost loans I have to be honest here filling out the FAFSA is not fun it is a bit of a pain but you have to do it and you have to fill it out every year beginning in January first the forms become available and also the the thing about the forms is that aid is often handed out on a first-come first-served basis so you want to fill it out as soon after January 1st as possible another form you may need is called the CSS a lot of private schools and some public require this form as well basically check out the Khan videos about all of these forms to get a sense of exactly what you need to do another question I'm asked a lot is how do I find the best school at the lowest cost and this is a bit of a trick question because a more expensive college may actually have more financial aid to dole out so in the end it could cost you about the same as the one with the lower sticker price and this is so important for you to know because again the key to getting that money is filling out the FAFSA that way you'll know what each school will actually cost you parents want to know is it really wise to have my kid go into debt for college it seems like a huge endeavor and going into lots of debt seems like a scary idea but the truth is realistically your child will probably have to take out some loans most students do 70% of students do and your job as a parent is to make sure the amount of loans they take out is reasonable and do it in a really smart way the best loans you want to look to our federal student loans it's best if possible to stick with these federal loans they're called Federal Direct Loans they used to be called Stafford loans and they tend to have very low interest rates recently it was four point seven percent federal loans are better deals than private loans which charge much higher rates of eighteen percent or more the other big benefit of federal loans is that they offer a variety of repayment plans that'll make it easier to pay back after graduation now as a parent you might wonder should you take out loans to send your kid to college you might feel guilty but the truth is unless you're in really great shape yourself financially it's not a good idea to go into deep debt to pay for your kids college the point to keep in mind is remember your child can borrow for college but you can't borrow for your own retirement or financial security if you do think borrowing makes sense federal PLUS loans for parents are definitely worth looking into the interest rates tend to be lower than the rates on private loans there's a good website studentaid.gov slash Plus which can give you some information and finally when do I start talking to my kid about paying for college the answer is as soon as possible if you can starting at the beginning of high school is great but honestly you now that you're watching this video it's the time to start you want to get your kid in the right mindset you want to make sure he realizes grades are really counting now toward college and mostly you want him to know that there are a lot of choices out there there's some really good tools in the Department of Education to figure out what you'll be expected to pay and what's the right school for your kid but most of all being positive and stressing that you're in this together really goes a long way a long way to life ultimate goal of seeing your child graduate from college