Uncovering Secrets Of Financial Aid

U.S. News & World Report Offers Strategies For Making College More Affordable

(U.S. News & World Report) 
Talent or major

Students know, of course, that there are scholarships set aside for those with in-demand athletic, musical, or other skills. But they may not realize that there is extra aid for students who choose majors that governments, schools, or donors want to encourage. The federal government is starting to hand out grants of up to $4,000 to low-income students who study math, science, or foreign languages. And many colleges funnel extra aid to students who beef up majors the school wants to strengthen. Kellie Laurenzi, dean of enrollment services at Robert Morris University in western Pennsylvania, says she awards more aid to students who apply to the school's new majors such as actuarial sciences or media arts. "We are trying to entice students" who wouldn't have considered the school before it started those courses of study, she says.

Ethnicity or race

Although court rulings and local laws have made some schools leery of race-based scholarships, schools are eager for diversity of all types and thus use aid to attract students who can bring cultural differences to a campus.

Geography

Many schools try to recruit from far away so that students get to meet all sorts of people. But some schools, like the University of Redlands in Southern California, give bigger grants to locals. "We're about meeting demand," says Craig Slaughter, director of financial aid. "We think kids from Wisconsin will be willing to pay more. But we are competing with the Cal States" (the low-cost in-state universities) for California residents.

Timing of the application

Most schools admit a higher percentage of students who apply early. Only a handful of those schools, however, also give those early applicants better treatment in financial aid. Students who risk waiting and apply along with everybody else at the beginning of the year may lower their odds of admission but raise their chances of getting bigger offers from schools, says consultant Maguire.

High school

If previous graduates from the student's high school performed well at the college, or the high school is known as a tough grader, many colleges bend the rules to offer more merit aid, says Lucie Lapovsky, a financial aid economist who served as president of Mercy College in New York from 1999 through 2004. Colleges also often compare all admitted students from each high school's class to make sure the valedictorian gets more than the student ranked, say, 25th.

A student's desire to attend a particular school

Schools can draw surprisingly accurate conclusions about how much a student wants to attend from indicators such as the parents' college record, whether a student has visited a campus, and even in what order the student listed schools on the FAFSA. A study by educators in the state of Washington showed that the higher the student placed the name of a school on the FAFSA, the more likely the student was to attend-and thus, the less financial aid the school might need to offer. Enrollment managers say only a handful of schools use information on a student's campus visit or FAFSA ranking to determine aid, since most schools don't want to scare students off from doing research they need to make the best college decision.

The growing complexity of and competition for financial aid can't help but be daunting. But smart students like the Breens are succeeding by turning the competitive tables on colleges. The Breens each applied to six schools, to increase their odds of hearing from a school that wanted what the boys, both top students and football players, had to offer. In the mix for each: schools that promise to meet 100 percent of admitted students' need. That strategy was expensive, says their father, Gerard. The family probably spent at least $1,000 on applications and campus visits. But it paid off. Matthew ended up at Georgetown and Ryan at the University of Richmond, both of which meet the full need of their students. "We're going to struggle" to cover the family's EFC of almost $35,000 a year for the two students, Gerard Breen admits. "But they did fantastically. I was really proud."

TIP

Boost your odds of getting aid by applying to schools that compete with your first-choice college and also to those where your grades and scores would put you at the top of the class.

[kpealstrom]

The biggest surprise for this year's students is that they may be eligible for loans, but unable to have them due to changes in the Cost of Attendance [COA] rulings by this Administration. Previously a student could take out loans above the COA, in order to actually have funds for food, transportation, shelter, unexpected class expenses on top of books, tuition and class fees. It is a rude surprise that I'm real sure those collecting on tax cuts don't ever face. In today's America, it is a case of having or doing without -- and the percentage is higher doing without.

[sharncedar]

Hah - a little post-capitalist economics class for the students even before they get into college. These schools create a controlled market with an artificially low supply through government collusion and the "accreditation" system, then raise their prices. Then, in classic post-capitalist fashion, they pretend their mission is to do precisely the opposite of what they are actually doing. So they claim their mission is to make college affordable for students, when their mission is to make as much money for themselves as possible. Or Harvard claims their mission is to give equal opportunity, when their whole college exists as an old-boy network tool for denying opportunity to the excellent in favor of the mediocre with connections. The Cliff Notes are: In post-capitalism, you insist on a public mission which is the opposite of your private mission. In post-capitalism, never, never, never, allow actual free market competition for your products and services while demanding in a sanctimonius fashion free market competition from your employees and suppliers. Any questions?

The joys of education.