RSC - Blog-48 http://www.collegeprepexpert.com Blog-48 Sat, 18 May 2013 05:01:07 +0000 http://www.collegeprepexpert.com/ en weekly 1 Blog Posting How to Avoid Blindly Paying for College with Student Loans http://www.collegeprepexpert.com/blog/financial-aid/avoid-paying-for-college-with-student-loans http://www.collegeprepexpert.com/blog/financial-aid/avoid-paying-for-college-with-student-loans#comments 2011-09-12 09:00:00 A low-income family receives a financial aid offer from their local college and notices that it includes student loans. They accept the offer – and the loans – without question.
 

Why?

 

Well, consider this fact: 70% of families making less than $28,000 per year never heard of Pell Grants. Unfortunately, they’ve probably heard of student loans, a standard and acceptable part of higher education. People expect to pay them. They probably even know a few people struggling to pay off their student loans.

 

So why aren’t people aware of Pell Grants? Banks and colleges do a much better job advertising student loans than the federal government does promoting gift aid.

 

Why Families Don’t Appeal Financial Aid Offers

 


  1. Families don’t know they can appeal. Fortunately, RSC lets our families know when it’s a good idea to ask for more money.

  2. Families don’t know how to appeal. Awards letters can be confusing, which is why RSC’s Appeals and Special Circumstances letters are written by counselors who understand the appeals process.

  3. Loans are placed in the awards packages as need-based aid. They’re offered to low-income and middle-income students as a matter of course. The college then considers this part of meeting their need – even if adding to the student’s debt.


 

Parents run into difficult questions when it comes to appealing financial aid offers, such as:

 


  • When should you take a subsidized student loan?

  • What’s the percentage of financial aid your selected colleges typically give out?

  • Do you know when you should accept a college’s offer?


 

If you don’t know the answer to these questions, you might want to consider hiring RSC to help you throughout the financial aid process.

 

The Financial Impact of Student Loans

 

In 2011, the average college student graduated with $27,000 in student loan debt. Given a steady increase, today’s high-school freshman can expect to owe $49,000. Between 1999 and 2009, student loan debt tripled, from $15 billion to $45 billion – per year.

It’s no wonder 15% of college graduates default on their loans, ruining their credit for years to come. It’s no wonder so many graduates move back home with mom and dad, or take any job they can just to pay down some of their debt.

 

It’s also no wonder that students determined to go to college and get a good education accept loans. After factoring in their expected family contribution and financial aid, the average family still has to come up with $12,000 to pay for college. Grants and scholarships only cover 1/3 of most families’ total cost of college.

 

That makes student loans very tempting.

 

Which explains why RSC makes financial aid help a standard part of all our programs. We want our students to have to borrow as little as possible to pay for their education.

 

Which leads us to one last question – do you know how successful the average RSC financial aid appeal is?*

 

*RSC’s average successful appeal gets our students more than

$4,000 in additional aid each year, though amounts of $10-, $15-,

even $20,000 are not unheard of. We annually save our families a

combined total of more than one million dollars.  

 


 
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