Aimee Calderon, CFP®

My first-born child will soon spread his wings and leave the nest.  He will be attending a private university in Southern California and living on campus.  Naturally, I worry if he is fully prepared and know that I am not quite ready, but time marches on.  Below I have provided a few tips that we learned through the college application and admissions process that may be helpful to you or to someone you know.

My son applied to 6 small private faith-based universities in California and Arizona, none of which were particularly difficult to get accepted into.  Please note that the tips below are specific to these types of colleges and will not be applicable to some state schools or highly competitive colleges.

1.    Create a spreadsheet. The application and admission process can be confusing and different for every school.  It is important to stay organized. We created a spreadsheet where we tracked the cost of the schools my son applied to, the scholarships and other aid he was being offered, and the next steps needed for each individual application.

2.    Apply early. All of the colleges my son applied to offered a free application period (usually ending around October 1st) during the fall of his Senior year.  Some of the schools even offered extra early admission scholarships. 

3.    Fill out the FAFSA. Even if you don’t think you will qualify for true financial aid (federal grants), the individual schools usually require a FAFSA to be completed before making an aid offering which will include scholarships and loan opportunities.

4.    Develop a relationship with the admissions counselor. Some of the admissions counselors reached out and contacted me, some contacted my son, and some didn’t initiate any contact.  If I had not yet been contacted, I would reach out to them and initiate the conversation. While they may start conversing with your child, not all 17 and 18 years olds are equipped to have financial aid discussions.

5.    Be a salesperson.  While it doesn’t come naturally to me, I realized when talking to the admissions counselors that I needed to “sell” our family and situation.  I first explained some of our financial situation that was hidden from the FAFSA.  For instance, I have three kids and some of them go to private school.  This expense does not show up on the FAFSA.  The private universities that my son applied to appreciate the fact that we are sending younger siblings to private school and therefore take that into account when looking at our “expected family contribution”.

6.    Pay attention to how loans are offered.  If your child qualifies for a subsidized or unsubsidized loan, this will be available to them at any school. While you may decide to use a loan, you do not necessarily need to consider it as part of the financial aid offer.  Some schools include it in the offer, and it may appear that they are giving you more money, but don’t be fooled.

7.    Negotiate.  Beyond the initial offer from the financial aid departments, most universities’ admissions counselors have some flexibility in awarding more aid.   I openly told some schools that other schools were offering my son additional grants and asked if they could offer more aid to stay competitive.  Each school that I did this with came back and offered more money. 

Once you have done this work, sit down and examine your spreadsheet.  Like my son, most kids have whittled down their options to a couple schools during this process.  While I do not have the answer to making this process necessarily easy or by any means “fool proof”, these steps did at least make it manageable and less daunting. My son was able to choose his school based on solid information and can now move forward with as much confidence as possible heading into his first year of college.

If you have any questions regarding college education planning for your own children, or even your grandchildren, feel free to give us a call. We would be happy to help.