Tuition financing is still expensive and financial aid is still challenging to land, but help is available. From crowdsourced college tuition financing loans to tuition freezes, here are some methods to pay for college, reduce expenses, boost your savings and score more financial aid.
As the White House drives higher education organizations to control their expenses, more colleges and universities are seeking methods to help families understand and reduce their expenses, says Daniel Reed, vice chairman of government issues for the California Association of Student Financial Aid Administrations and senior financial aid officer for Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego. “I think the trend is going that way towards freezing college tuition or at least reducing the amount of college tuition that increases by year,” he says.
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Several public college systems, including the University of California and Iowa State systems, have already suggested college tuition gets frozen for the year to come. Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is even going so far as to offer a full four-year grant to all enrolled 2014 learners.
One financial aid change will affect reliant children of single and same-sex parents. Under 2013 law, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the papers that the government uses to evaluate financial need has based a family’s financial aid package primarily on the income and resources held by the college student and, if single, the mother or father or lawful protector who claims them as a reliant. This means that in cases of single parent and same-sex marriage that aren’t government recognized, financial details on only one parent has been evaluated.
Starting with the 2014-2015 school year, the FAFSA will gather details on both legal parents, regardless of marriage status or sex. Though the Department of Education states that “most learners will be unchanged,” the change could considerably affect government aid offers for some learners to pay for college, says Barmak Nassirian, director of government policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, a research and advocacy nonprofit organization for approximately 420 public four-year schools.
