AN INTERVIEW WITH THE " DEAN DAD "
As he explains this simple concept to (slightly!) relax us all: "After financial aid is applied, for a lot of families, it's about the same price to attend a private college as a public." The difference between “price” and “cost” explained:
Lundquist says the words “price” and “cost,” synonymous to many people, are very different when it comes to their usage in terms of tuition. "Price is the sticker price," he said. "The cost is the net cost to the family after financial aid has been applied." Referring to findings in several recent studies, Lundquist said "actual out-of-pocket costs to most families have gone down over the past 10 years, although the price tag keeps going steadily up." In fact, more students receive financial aid than ever. Last year at private four-year colleges, 89% received an average of $16,265, and at public four-year colleges 76% received an average of $8,735 according to the National Center for Education Statistics. For example, Amherst College has a “sticker price” of $71,300 but the average student receiving financial aid – with an Amherst scholarship grant of $49,467 – paid $19,519, still a lot of money but quite different than the sticker price and based exclusively on each family’s individual ability to pay. How to get to those resources?
At the “window shopping” stage, try colleges’ Net Price Calculators. All colleges have one on their websites that allow you to enter basic financial information about your family and receive an accurate estimate of what your cost would be. This powerful tool can help you eliminate colleges, early on, that likely are out of your budget range. Then you should fill out something called the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) -found at www.fafsa.gov. Families list their assets and liabilities, cash-flow and income, but retirement and home-equity assets are excluded. Lundquist called the FAFSA "the master key to financial aid. It's the form that every college is going to require. It's the form that State and Federal governments require.”
WHAT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE VISIT? Make as many arrangements in advance as you can, including: • A campus tour and information session • A one-on-one interview with someone in the admissions office • Meeting with someone in the financial aid office • Attending a class and meeting with a professor in your area of interest • Connecting with a coach if you are considering playing a sport in college • Make the campus visit your own: Find time to informally walk around the campus to feel the “chemistry” of the school, talk with students, go to the favorite eating spot, read bulletin boards to see what’s happening on campus. • Be Sure To: Use your cell phone – to take lots of pictures! Panoramas, dorm rooms, fitness center, the Campus Green, special places... Whatever is needed to create and preserve an impression.
IF YOU CANNOT VISIT: • Look at virtual tours on college websites • Email the admissions office with your questions • Visit with representatives of the colleges who come to your school • Look at a video/CD produced by the college, if available saratogaTODAYnewspaper.com
Lundquist did it himself, for his daughter. "If it took me 15 minutes, I'd be surprised," he recalled. "It's pretty easy, unless you've got a complicated financial situation." Later, after future college students have narrowed down the list of schools they wish to attend, and applied for admissions to them, Lundquist said it is important to find what each college's financial aid policies are. "And there's nothing standard about that," he warned. “In addition to doing the Net Price Calculator, read the fine print – or ask – about any rules that might affect a student’s financial aid, like maintaining a certain GPA." After the FAFSA is processed, the government will send the applicant a report which shows how much the parent will be expected to pay: a bottom-line number called the Expected Family Contribution. That determination is made without any regard to where the student will ultimately study. A family’s cost isn’t related to a college’s price. "The expected contribution doesn't have any correlation to the college's price, it only correlates to the family's ability to pay," according to Lundquist. If the formula suggests a family can contribute $20,000 a year to their daughter's education, and she attends a community college in New York, no financial aid would be dispensed to the parents or daughter, though they could apply for loans. But if a child is headed to a higher price college, they are eligible for assistance to help with the total cost of attendance. "If your child ends up going to The Sage Colleges, for example, which costs $18,000 more than the calculated family contribution, then they’re going to show financial need," he said. "Their need is $18,000 and the packaging – awarding the pieces of the total aid package – begins there.” “Financial aid offices are there for you.” If the applicant is from a low income background, the school will apply a Federal Pell Grant and a Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant, or SEOG. If they're not low-income, they'll apply an interest-free Federal student loan. "If they're not eligible for a subsidized student loan because their income is too high, they will be offered an unsubsidized Federal student loan, so the government isn't covering the interest rate, but it's still an attractive, competitive rate." They'll then look at state sources of financing. In New York there are two State-based scholarship programs. The first is called Bundy, and it indirectly benefits students because it's given directly to colleges based on the number of residents of New York who are enrolled there. The other is TAP: Tuition Assistance Program. Depending on family income, applicants can get between $500 and $5,000. "The college would then offer a job, and the average pay this year is about $2,000, and then they add all that up." "Remember," says Lundquist, "the FAFSA said we could pay $20,000. So, $6,000 has been covered by outside money – including loans – and the job. Our calculated need is $18,000 which means a $12,000 remaining unmet need. "And now, at the last stage of the formula, a college will apply some amount of institutional money. That doesn't mean that the family will get $12,000 in cash. But the college, for example, would credit you $12,000, which means the family will be charged $12,000 less." "Students are under no obligation to pay grants back," Lundquist said with a smile, "but those fundraisers will be calling asking her to give a gift." Lundquist knows many people are overwhelmed… "We are talking about two of the most important things to parents: their kids and their money. In the college search, look past the price tag and focus on 'best college for my child.’”
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fall 2018 | SARATOGA FAMILY 47