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Tip
Sheet: Culture & Living Tip sheets highlight timely news and events at Washington University in St. Louis. For more information on any of the stories below or for assistance in arranging interviews, please see the contact information listed with each story. For comments on the Culture & Living news tips service, please contact the editor, Sue Killenberg McGinn at (314) 935-5254 or susan_killenberg_mcginn@aismail.wustl.edu. Resources exist to ease the college debt burden; key is asking for help Media assistance: Andy Clendennen - (314) 935-5293 Source: William H. Witbrodt - (314) 935-5765 Related: Witbrodt's financial aid tips Web site [St. Louis, Mo., May 2002] - Just because you've mailed in your enrollment deposit and "signed on the dotted line" doesn't mean that your opportunities for additional financial assistance or advice from your college or university no longer exist.
And it all starts with one simple step. "If you're still having problems coming up with enough resources to make things work, call the financial aid office and ask for help," Witbrodt says. Witbrodt says there are many resources available to parents and students trying to find ways to pay for higher education. Financial aid offices often offer interest-free student loans, many of which might be geared toward specific students, based on gender, ethnicity, heritage or achievements and accomplishments. When contacting the financial aid office, ask if there is a policy regarding outside scholarships, then request that the college either use the outside scholarships to replace the student loans, or ask the school to add the scholarships to the existing financial aid award, in turn reducing the parent contribution. "(Parents should) find out if the college or university has its own parent loan programs," Witbrodt adds. "Such programs usually offer attractive interest rates and have flexible repayment terms. "Also, some federal or state student loans have 'forgiveness' features. Often if students study in a certain field and agree to work in that field for a certain number of years, a portion of their student loans may be forgiven." Some schools accept payment by credit card. This might be a good way to generate frequent flyer miles to help pay for the student's trips home, Witbrodt suggests. And some schools also offer payment plans on a monthly basis, rather than a semester basis. Leaving 'no stone unturned' Other routes exist as well. Witbrodt says there are several resources for parents and students to use to find scholarships, both on the Web and in your local library or bookstore. Some of these include: The Financial Aid Information Page, www.finaid.org, which is sponsored by the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and provides information on scholarship databases and search services broken down by group. This page also has links to some of the largest free scholarship services on the internet. Some of the book titles out on an annual basis include Complete College Financial Guide, The Complete Scholarship Book and Paying Less for College, among others. These books often list several scholarship, grant and loan opportunities and usually offer information on how, when and where to apply. Overall, there are several programs and plans available to parents and students trying to make ends meet. But Witbrodt emphasizes that the first step is to contact the institution's financial aid office to find out how to take advantage of them. "The time and effort a student puts into looking for outside scholarships is worth it in the long run," Witbrodt says, "because it's been our experience that our students who really leave no stone unturned usually wind up with several outside scholarships." |
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