How To Get Money For College

Summary: The cost of attending college has become prohibitive for many families in the United States. As the economy continues to spiral downward, the question of how to obtain money for college is becoming an overwhelming issue for our young adult population.

The cost of attending college has gone through the roof, and the financial burden of acquiring a college education in the United States in the year 2008 has become cost prohibitive for a great proportion of American families. As our economy continues to struggle, unemployment, according to U.S. Government statistics, has now risen to over 5% for the first time during the first decade of the 21st Century. The question of how to obtain money for college has become a most pressing issue for the young adults in our country.

Requisite Money for College Outdistances the U.S. Economy

The college tuition issue has been a concern for years. Some forty years ago, the middle and lower income families could turn to state colleges. While I was fortunate to get help on an athletic scholarship, friends of mine were not as lucky. When we took the S.A.T. college entrance exam in our junior year in high school, our main concern was not money for college, but getting accepted at the college of our choice. We were young and naïve and we let our parents worry about money for college. Believe me; they did worry about money for college and how they could possibly make ends meet and still pay for their children's education.

Our task as high school seniors was to maintain our grades and score well enough on our entrance boards to gain admittance to the college of our choice. Money for college was our parents' concern. At that time, our college scores were sent to four schools. I had mine sent to the following schools: Notre Dame, St. John's, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and St. Francis of New York. At no time during this process was I concerned with how I would obtain money for college.

My high school scores were good enough for admission to three of the four colleges (waiting list for M.I.T.). While I was able to go to the school of my choice on an athletic scholarship, my friends were caught in a dilemma as to how they would obtain money for college, as private college education costs were on the rise. In those days of the late 60's, the state colleges were still offering college tuition costs for a pittance, and money for college was not so great an issue as it is today. The New York City college tuition costs in 1967 were less than $50 per semester, so that the mid to lower income families could afford to send their children to these schools if they had the grades.

Over the past forty years, the required money for college has continued to escalate, and the fees are now rising faster than both the inflation rate and the amount of financial aid offered to students.

Pell Grant Does Not Offer Sufficient Money for College

With concerns over money for college in the forefront of higher education, the cost of acquiring a college education continues to spiral out-of-control. The U.S.Government has recognized the crisis related to money for college that students face today, and has it increased the Federally-funded Pell Grants. This increment is simply a drop in the bucket for families struggling with the current prohibitive college costs, as the average student pays an extra $525 more in money for college than they did last year at the same educational facility.

To make matters worse, students are taking additional semesters in order to a get their degree. Additional semesters translate into need for additional money for college. With the costs of low-term loans, the required money for college has driven the college graduate into a post-graduate malaise laden with debt. The most recent figures indicate that the tuition cost is up over 4% from last year. Increases in college tuition costs, coupled with room and board increases represent approximately a 6000% increase in costs over a forty year period, and today's college student is not adequately armed to handle these ever rising need for money for college.

Money for College an Issue for Live-At-Home Students

In the old days, most students yearned to go away to college with little regard for money for college. The psychology of going out-of-town to get your education was that you would become a more rounded, and educationally and socially complete young adult. There was never any documented evidence to support this contention. However, the requisite money for college was considerably more for out-of-staters as compared with in state residents. Today, the students who live at home and travel to school every day by automobile or using public transportation are not insulated from the need for money for college.

The required tuition money for college for in-state residents who receive no aid of any kind has risen nearly 6% over a one year span, while the college tuition costs of two-year community colleges has risen almost 7%. If that is not an overwhelming burden for students, add into the mix the additional amount of time it takes them to complete their accreditation. For college students matriculating in a public university, it often takes six years for them to finish their schooling, while private school students may take five years to complete their education. One of the reasons for the extension of time on their education is that the students need to work in order to raise money for college.

Some Out-of-the Box Remedies for Money for College

Students and their parents need to be creative and to do thorough research in seeking out opportunities to obtain money for college.

For example, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offers scholarship money for college to low-income students who graduate from high schools in the Washington DC area.

The Jackie Robinson Foundation gives scholarships of up to $7500 to minority students who demonstrate leadership ability and who need money for college. The Youth Survivor College Scholarship money for college is offered by the American Cancer Society to students who are survivors of cancer.

State Farm Insurance offers money for college in the amount of $2500 through their Hispanic Scholarship Fund for student majoring in education.

Solvay Pharmaceuticals offers money for college in the form of scholarships for two years of higher education to students who have cystic fibrosis.

Sallie Mae Funds offer scholarship programs based on financial need for money for college.

The Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of hearing awards money for college to students with bilateral pre-lingual hearing loss in the moderate to profound range.

The New York Times offers up to $7500 each year in money for college for students in New York City.

Some colleges are taking matters into their own hands in order to alleviate the college tuition crisis that is currently threatening our higher educational system today. Colleges are devising novel grant programs to aid their students cope with the rising need for money for college.

One such example of college administrators working to benefit their students is Penn State. The Penn State nursing program has applied for and received $149,000 from the Pennsylvania Higher Education Foundation and Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania to help students defray their need for money for college. It is the administration's hope that this assistance with the college tuition will help keep the students from dropping out because lack of money for college.

There is an increasing need for nursing in today's society as people continue to live to an older age, and it is hoped that this college tuition assistance will have a ripple effect in that it will indirectly benefit both the health care system and its consumers. The grants represent money for college well spent.

The University of Kansas has announced that, as a remedy for escalating requirements for money for college, the university's Endowment Association has donated $1.9 million toward the enhancement of college entrance scholarships in order to assist their students with money for college. The total student assistance package will be increased 10% this year to provide additional money for college. University officials have pledged to find out-of-the-box solutions to help students manage their college costs.

Other institutions are looking at similar ways to help students raise money for college. Students who drop out of school because they are no longer able to meet their tuition fees are not helping themselves, and the harm done will eventually be felt in various sectors of our society. It is only through education that our society will continue to grow and flourish. Our political and educational leaders need to continue to provide resources so that students who are now being crushed by the cost of their college education receive the assistance they so deserve.

Overview: The prospective college applicant today has an arsenal of resources at hand to assist in the college search. The most recent addition to this cache is the Internet, where websites can be accessed in order to support the student through the online college search.

Today's prospective college students have a distinct advantage in their search for appropriate college settings than did their forbearers. Students currently have the traditional support of parents, school educators, professionals and associates who already have successfully negotiated the college search experience.

While these conventional resources were also available to previous generations, there is a new addition to the college resource arsenal that has changed the manner in which the college search is being conducted. Students are now implementing the services of the Internet in order to conduct a comprehensive online college search that will provide them with all the information they need in order to make intelligent decisions regarding their college future.

Online College Search - Looking for a Certain Location

The online college search has brought the college selection process for prospective college students into the 21st Century. The students can utilize the traditional assistance of their parents and school administrators in their online college search, and there is no reason for students to feel that they are alone in the process of the online college search. Where, however, do students best begin their online college search?

Students can commence the online college search process by checking with a reliable search engine on the Internet for topics that will lead to identification of colleges. Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, and AOL can provide this initial information as the students embark on their online college search. You can request "online college search" to commence the process, and you'll receive dozens of websites that can aid you in your online college search.

After you have begun your online college search by "Googling" the topic "online college search" for the sites, you can then breakdown your search into categories. For example, let's say that your search has produced the website of www.freecollegekit.com, you may wish to continue your online college search as to location.

This method could be advisable for a variety of reasons. You could have relatives or family friends living in the vicinity, or it could be a health-related issue. It could also be a simple case of a preference of area in which to pursue your college studies.

You can conduct your online college search via location by inserting into the database on the website the zip code or zip codes for the names of the colleges within those geographical areas. Once you acquire these names, you can access the websites of the schools in order to obtain more information about them.

As an example, suppose you insert the zip code 11419 into the database. You would access schools in and around that zip code. Schools such as St.John's University, York College, Queens College and La Guardia College could be accessed from the database in your online college search.

You can just as easily conduct your online college search by state. If you are interested in attending a school in Kentucky, then you would put the State of Kentucky into the database by location, and you would be able to access that information for your online college search.

Your online college search can then be modified by city within the state. If your online college search inputs the city of Lexington into the Kentucky database, then one of the main schools that will be accessed is the University of Louisville.

Online College Search - Looking for a Certain Major Field

You can also conduct your online college search by inputting the major field of endeavor into the database of the college search website. Today, many of our prospective college students have a good idea of their major field of interest. If a student has made a decision as to a particular field of study, they can seek possible matches as to schools through an online college search. If you access a website such as www.gotocollege.com, you can input any one of hundreds of subject titles. You'll find this procedure to be one of the best ways to conduct your online college search. If you have a preference for a field of study, it is in your best interest to find out the schools who have your particular discipline included in the school's major field of study curriculum. It makes no sense to limit your online college search by location, if that particular location does not feature educational institutions that have the field of study that you wish to pursue.

For example, let us start with the scenario of a high school senior from the State of Illinois who has an interest in accounting. We have a student with an 85% average from a public school in a suburb of Chicago. The student has a 1052 on the College Boards, and he can produce a creditable list of recommendations from teachers, leaders in the community and professionals in the field of accounting, including two CPA's.

The student, whom we shall name George for purposes of this pedagogical example, can commence his online college search by logging onto an established search engine and keying in the phrase "online college search." Once George has selected a website, he will enter the name of his field of interest into the database, and await the findings.

Once his online college search has revealed those schools with accounting as a major field of study, then George can refine the parameters of his search by reviewing accounting schools by state. Once George has this information, he can continue to conduct his online college search by inputting a city, county, or zip code into the database.

By the end of George's initial foray into the online college search, he will have obtained the exact information he was seeking. George now has all the colleges that have accounting as a major field of study that are located within a specific quadrant of a particular state in which he would like to pursue his educational goals.

He can subsequently present this information to his school college advisor at their next meeting. From this point, it will become a case of meeting the criteria for the schools of his choice, and following through with each and every detail of the application process.

Online College Search - Recommended Sites

The online college search has already paid dividends for prospective college students who have utilized the technological advancements forged by the Internet system. The following is a listing of some of the most notable websites for access information for an online college search:

• Online College Search by location - www.collegesurfing.com • Online College Search by location - www.findtheRightSchool.com • Online College Search by location - www.collegeview.com • Online College Search by location - www.Search-Schools.com • Online College Search by location - www.collegenavigation.ed.gov • Online College Search by location - www.collegesearch.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.princetonreview.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.college-search.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.anycollege.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.gotocollege.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.EarnMyDegree.com • Online College Search by Field of Study - www.ucas.ac

Background: The subprime mortgage crisis in America today has been the catalyst in the credit crisis that many American families are now facing. College loans must still meet the needs of families unable to finance their children’s education.

The foundation of our American society lies in the education of our young people. The world is progressing at breakneck speed, and we must ensure the education of our youth in order to keep pace with countries all over the world. The technological advances of the Internet system have brought the world closer on a communication level, and the financial crisis we now face threatens the very economic foundation that our country’s values are based upon.

Our young people depend on their parents for financial support in order to continue their education through the college level, and college loans play an important part in the continuing education of our young people.

College loans have always been the foundation of our higher education. These college loans have historically come on the form of both Federal college loans as well as private loans. These subsidises in the form of college loans would support the college education of those youth who were not afforded scholarships and who could not otherwise pay for their education.

The present financial crisis in America has been spurred by the subprime mortgage crunch. In the past, students readily took on college loans in order to pay for their education. Many of these students never even realized that the money had to be repaid. These students were born into an age where credit cards paid for everything, and overabundance and excess was commonplace.

The notion that students would be held accountable for payments on these college loans was the furthest concept from their minds. Credit card debt was the norm for students, who amassed huge amounts of debt. The college loans were just more of the debt that needed to be repaid.

With the advent of the credit crunch, people who had taken out subprime rate mortgages on their homes found themselves unable to meet the payments, and foreclosures became rampant throughout the country. Investors who habitually supported the college loans securities are somewhat reluctant to continue their support today.

The Federal government has recently taken substantive steps in order to alleviate this crunch. The interest rate has been lowered in the hopes of stimulating the dying mortgage industry. If investors do not contribute to the college loans industry as in the past, there will be fewer funds available for student college loans. Without these college loans, fewer students will be able to attend college. This is an inevitable fact since there are more students than ever seeking to attend college, and the number that will receive college loans will be drastically cut if investments drop.

College Loans - Government Call to Action

Both the colleges and the college loans industry recognize that efforts must be made in order to assure investors of the solvency of the college loans structure. Although there are no tell-tale signs of any panic on Wall Street, there is always that chance.

Therefore, the Federal Government has taken action in their college loans programs to ensure that the confidence of the public remains unshaken. Two of the more popular Federally-funded college loans programs, both the Federal Perkins College Loans and the Federal Stafford College Loans programs, reflect the Federal Government’s recognition of a call to action.

Additional Stafford college loans are offered to families in which no need has been established. The main difference lies in the fact that the Stafford College Loans program established on a needs basis accrue no interest until six months after graduation, while the Stafford College Loans that are non-needs classified have interest charged upon the disbursement of the funds.

The State of Michigan has always been known for its prestigious higher education institutions. Colleges such as University of Michigan, Michigan State, Wayne State, and the University of Detroit are just a handful of examples of the State of Michigan’s dedication to a level of excellence with regard to higher education.

However, there may be trouble lurking on the horizon for this state as one of its state college loan programs, the Mi-Loan program, has had its operations put on hold during the second calendar month of 2008 because of the national credit problems.

The Mi-Loan program could no longer borrow money to give college loans to students at a reduced rate of interest, and there currently are fears that borrowers in the private sector might also cut back on their college loans investments. The problem with accessing these student college loans is that, generally, the college loans are backed up by bond insurance issued by banks. The banks have become reluctant to assume this risk, so the State now is faced with paying lenders a high rate of interest in order to secure the bonds.

The Mi-Loan program for college loans is one of the largest in the State of Michigan. The following information regarding a few of the Michigan schools and the amount of college loans their students have tied up in Mi-Loan will illustrate how widespread the effect of their possible closure could ripple:

Michigan State University has 316 student college loans for over $3 million.

• Western Michigan University has 242 student college loans for almost $2.5 million.
• Aquinas College has 134 student college loans for almost $1 million.
• Calvin College has 300 student college loans for over $3 million.
• Grand Valley State University has 580 student college loans for over $4 million.

If the higher education system is to continue to thrive and produce the leaders of tomorrow, then investors must continue to support the college loans industry. The private college loans companies must recognize the seriousness of the subprime mortgage crisis facing America today, and they must take all steps within their power to ensure financial assistance to America’s students.

Chase, in particular, has led the cavalry into the financial crisis fray by offering to give college loans to students for any uncovered portion of their expenses after Federal college loans have been secured. This is the type of teamwork in the college loans industry that will propagate confidence among investors in the field, and solidify the industry once again.