The Choice has invited Laura Perna, an author,  professor at the University of Pennsylvania and researcher in college finance and affordability, to answer your questions about paying for college in the blog’s Guidance Office, a forum for college applicants and their families seeking expert advice.
We hope the moderated Q. and A. session, which began on Monday, will help you and other readers of this blog have a better understanding of college costs and financial aid.
We have included answers that would be most relevant to prospective international students. Please visit The Choice for the complete series.
The questions we’ve posed are based on readers’ submissions. Some answers have been edited, including for length and style. â€" Tanya Abrams
Financial Aid for International Students
I’m an international student and I’m interested in applying for financial aid at an American college. Can you please give details on the way you determine whether or not to give financial aid to international students (I am specifically aiming at the Ivy League here.)
â€" Curious Junior
As Mark Kantrowitz indicated in Part 3 of his responses to questions about the Fafsa, some colleges award institutionally funded grants to international students.
Each college creates its own policies and practices for awarding its institutionally funded aid. EduPass lists colleges that award financial aid to international undergraduate students.
Federal financial aid is generally available only to American citizens, American nationals and permanent residents of the United States. The U.S. Department of Education identifies a small number of exceptions.
The Impact of Financial Need on the Admissions Process
Does the pursuit of financial aid reduce the chances of admission versus a full-paying student Most likely we will be pursuing a private school and, as you know, it is extremely expensive.
â€" Jeffrey Wolf
The most important consideration in the college admissions process is a student’s academic record. Some colleges do not consider a student’s financial need in the admissions process, but others do.
Colleges that use need-blind admissions policies typically communicate this practice on their Web sites. At need-aware colleges, self-paying students who meet the college’s academic requirements may have an edge in the admissions process.
Avoiding Student Loans
My son will be a senior next year. I believe he will qualify for financial aid, but I’m wondering if there is a way to avoid having to take out student loans. I will not be able to take out loans on his behalf and I don’t want him to have to start his post-college years saddled with debt. I have heard that some schools are removing student loans from their financial aid packages. Is this a growing trend Is it possible to get financial aid without loans
â€" Elizabeth
About 50 colleges have adopted no-loan policies over the past decade. (Some of these colleges amended their programs in the wake of the Great Recession.)
Colleges with a no-loan policy generally meet 100 percent of undergraduates’ financial needs from sources other than loans. These colleges also tend to have relatively low admissions rates.
At most colleges, loans are a typical part of the financial aid package. The Institute for College Access and Success calculated that two-thirds of students who graduated from four-year public and private colleges in 2011 used student loans. The average amount of student loan debt for those who borrowed was $26,600.
Availability of Merit Aid
Do all schools (public and private) offer merit aid, as well as need-based aid I am told that public institutions do not offer merit aid and that not all privates do. I have looked on some school’s sites, and when addressed, some say “no merit aid,†but then refer to school grants (which do not have to be repaid). What is the best way to determine each school’s policy on merit aid before applying
â€" Sherry Meryl
Individual colleges â€" both public and private â€" determine their own policies for awarding institutionally funded grants and scholarships. Simply noting whether a college is public or private reveals little about whether the college awards aid based on criteria other than financial need.
Not all colleges offer merit-based aid. Individual colleges also vary dramatically in the resources that they allocate to institutionally funded grants and scholarships. The best source of information is the Web site of a college’s financial aid office. Many colleges and universities provide information about the types of aid they offer to students (including no-loan policies) and the criteria they use for awarding this aid.
Appealing a Financial Aid Award
My daughter will be attending college next year. Her older brother left school because of poor grades. We had taken out a parent loan for him so we cannot afford to do anything for our daughter. We never could save much for either child’s college fund as we have always just scraped by. Can we call the financial aid office at the school she would like to attend and request that they review her aid request in light of this There is nowhere on the form to include information like this.
â€" Mary
You should certainly contact the financial aid office if your ability to pay college costs changes because of your personal or financial circumstances. Some colleges provide information on appealing a financial aid award on the financial aid office’s Web site. You should also contact the financial aid office if you are having difficulty paying college costs even with your financial aid award.
After leaving college, you should contact the loan servicer if you encounter challenges repaying a student loan.
Applying Early Decision
If you would like to apply early decision to a particular school but you won’t be able to attend unless its financial aid package meets your needs, how can you avoid the problem of getting admitted but not getting enough aid to be able to go
â€" Steven Koller
When you apply for admission through a college’s early decision program, you are promising to enroll if admitted. Because of this binding commitment, you should only use the early decision option if you are certain that this college is your first choice and if you can commit to attending the college regardless of the financial aid award.
As Greg W. Roberts, the dean of admissions at the University of Virginia, discussed in part 2 of his responses to questions about early admissions, early applicants who receive insufficient aid should contact the college’s financial aid office. There is no guarantee, however, that the financial aid package will change.
The inability to compare financial aid awards from different colleges is one of the criticisms of early decision programs. When financial aid is a critical part of the college decision-making process, early action programs may be a better alternative.
Like early decision, early action requires students to submit their applications relatively early in their senior year but, unlike early decision, students who are admitted via early action may wait to compare financial aid awards from different colleges and decide not to enroll.
Early decision programs typically permit students to apply for early decision at only one institution, whereas some early action programs allow students to submit more than one early action application. Not all colleges offer early admission. Colleges provide information about the availability of these options on their undergraduate admissions Web sites.
How Graduation Rates Affect College Costs
I want to suggest something to consider for those looking at large public institutions: The four-year graduation rate matters, a lot. Most of my daughters’ friends at four-year public schools here in California will not be out in four years because they can’t get into the classes they need. The budget situation has been dire here. So the private colleges may end up being the better deal, between better aid, and better four-year graduation rates.
â€" Mother of 3
Among the many strengths of the American higher education system is its size and diversity. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Digest of Education Statistics 2011, about 21 million students were enrolled in nearly 4,600 degree-granting colleges and universities nationwide in fall 2010. These 4,600 institutions include public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit institutions.
With the benefits of size and diversity, however, also come the challenges of complexity. Colleges vary both across and within these three broad categories in many ways, including their net price and graduation rate. The report indicates that six-year bachelor’s degree completion rates are higher, on average, at private nonprofit colleges (65 percent) than at public colleges (56 percent) and private for-profit colleges (28 percent).
Graduation rates also increase with the selectivity of the college. Of the four-year colleges that accepted fewer than 25 percent of applicants in 2004, an average of 87 percent of those students completed a bachelor’s degree in six years. (The average was 82 percent at public four-year institutions and 91 percent at private nonprofit institutions.)
On average, published tuition and fees (the sticker price) are lower at public four-year colleges (for both in-state and out-of-state students) than at private nonprofit four-year colleges. But tuition and fees at public colleges vary by state, with lower published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges in Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico and higher tuition and fees in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Vermont and New Hampshire. The U.S. Department of Education’s College Navigator is one source for finding the average net price and the graduation rate at particular colleges of interest.
The Choice is no longer taking questions. However, if you would like to further discuss paying for college, please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments box below.
No comments:
Post a Comment