Students finding it difficult to pay for college may be eligible to participate in the federal work-study program at their school. Formerly known as the College Work-Study Program, the FWS provides funds for part-time employment, enabling needy students to earn income to pay for their postsecondary education. FWS can effectively reduce your college costs.

Participating Schools

According to the U.S. Department of Education, more than 3,400 schools participate in FWS, paying students wages equal to at least that of the federal minimum wage. As of this writing, that minimum is currently set at $7.25 per hour. Your school, however, can pay you above minimum wage if they choose to do so.

To be eligible for federal work-study, students must file a Free Application for Student Aid or FAFSA as part of the application process involving FWS. Likely, if you’re a student in need, you already filled out the FAFSA when you enrolled in your school. In the event that you did not, you’ll need to do so. Your tuition could be reduced too.

Employment Opportunities

Under FWS, students may be employed directly by the school; by a federal, state, or local public agency; work for a private nonprofit organization; or find employment with a private for-profit organization. Speak with your college advisor to determine eligibility.

Participating institutions must use at least 7 percent of their Work to help students who are employed in community service jobs. These include: reading tutors for preschool age or elementary school children; mathematics tutors for students enrolled in elementary school through ninth grade; literacy tutors in a family literacy project performing family literacy activities; or emergency preparedness and response.

School Participation

Participating schools are required to apply each year for FWS funding. If your school doesn’t reapply annually, then its program will come to an end. Schools enrolled in FWS generally pay half of students’ wages with the federal government picking up the other half. However, if you’re a math or reading tutor, then the government may pay up to 100 percent of that amount. As a student you won’t necessarily know the source of your funding, but such tutoring opportunities underscore government policy for encouraging such work.

Is federal work-study right for you? It can be. Especially, if you want to limit your student loan liability and leave college with a minimum amount of debt on hand. Plus, you can gain some work experience, a resume building opportunity that can prove invaluable as you seek to launch your career.

When parents divorce, children lose out in a number of ways. That loss is evident in the financial pressures families face even if one or both parents remarry. A recent study conducted by Rice University shows that children of divorced parents may miss out on some college financial aid, even if their parents remarry.

Parents who stay married are able to meet 77 percent of their children’s tuition costs and contribute an additional 8 percent of their income to meet their college expenses according to the study. The Rice University study was led by Ruth N. Lopez Turley, an associate professor of sociology at this Houston school.

Diverted Funds

Divorce forces many parents to divert funds for their children’s education to cover other expenses including the need to maintain two separate households. Following a divorce, parents meet 42 percent of their children’s tuition costs and contribute about 6 percent of their income. The study surveyed 2,400 undergraduate students and was published in SAGE Publications’ June 2011 issue of its “Journal of Family Issues.”

Should parents remarry, children only fare moderately better than those who remain divorced. The study reveals that remarried parents meet 53 percent of their children’s tuition costs, but contribute just 5 percent of their income. The study found that the numbers remained low even as the income levels of the remarried parents rose, matching incomes of the earlier marriage.

Blended Families

Remarried parents often must deal with issues not apparent in other situations including blended families and sometimes children who are the product of a new marriage. Diluted funds mean that children of divorced parents will have to settle for less. The researchers concluded that such students are then forced to explore financial options, sometimes at the expense of furthering their own education.

Another problem children of divorced parents face is obtaining financial aid. The FAFSA document is the most significant way students can qualify for help, but researchers have determined that children who are in families where their parents stay married receive the best aid packages.

Resource

Journal of Family Issues; Contributions to College Costs by Married, Divorced, and Remarried Parents; June 2011

How do you measure college value?

Jaw dropping annual higher education costs in excess of $40,000 and even $50,000 or more has many middle class families wondering how their sons and daughters will be able to get an education, particularly if they have the grades and background prized by Ivy League universities and boutique, private colleges.¹ Fortunately, the “sticker price” on the window isn’t what most students pay. Importantly, many schools offer generous financial aid packages for eligible students, driving down the cost of private education below what many state schools charge.

College Values

Consumers Digest has surveyed more than 2,000 four-year colleges and universities in a bid to uncover the best values in higher education. Yale University ranked first among private institutions in the survey which looked at several factors besides price such as freshmen GPA, high school rank and standardized test scores. Truman State University in Missouri finished tops among public universities while Grove City College in Pennsylvania was first among private liberal-arts colleges.

“Expert opinions and solid recommendations are two of our strengths,” says Randy Weber, publisher of Consumers Digest. “And we applied well-developed standards and thorough analysis to this examination of our country’s higher-learning institutions to help parents and students find schools that will meet families’ performance and financial requirements.”

College Costs

Consumers Digest chose 100 schools among the 2,000 surveyed to create its “Top 100 College Values” list comprised of 50 public universities and 25 private institutions and 25 liberal-arts colleges. Before financial aid is considered, CD found that annual tuition is $47,156 at private colleges/universities and $26,344 at public colleges/universities.

Top 5 Values in Public Colleges and Universities

1. Truman State University (Kirksville, Mo.)
2. University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, Minn.)
3. SUNY at Geneseo (Geneseo, N.Y.)
4. Appalachian State University (Boone, N.C.)
5. California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo, Calif.)

Top 5 Values in Private Colleges and Universities

1. Yale University (New Haven, Conn.)
2. Princeton University (Princeton, N.J.)
3. Rice University (Houston)
4. Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.)
5. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)

Top 5 Values in Private Liberal-Arts Schools

1. Grove City College (Grove City, Pa.)
2. Williams College (Williamstown, Mass.)
3. Pomona College (Claremont, Calif.)
4. Amherst College (Amherst, Mass.)
5. Claremont McKenna College (Claremont, Calif.)

As always, meet with your school’s financial aid department to determine college costs. Private scholarships can reduce your “sticker price” further, perhaps helping to shave tens of thousands of dollars off of the cost of higher education. You can view the complete list of “Top 100″ schools by picking up a copy of the June 2011 issue of Consumers Digest.

References

¹ Southern California Public Radio; One Year Of Public College Can Now Cost $50,000 In California; Bill Chappell; Nov. 2010

² PR Newswire; Consumers Digest Names Top 100 College Values; May 2, 2011

Education Advantage – Open to people diagnosed with hemophilia A, this Baxter Healthcare Corporation opportunity is for students working toward their bachelor’s degree. Education Advantage will award a $15,000 per year college scholarship to one student and several $1,000 merit scholarships to more students. The application deadline is April 1, 2011.

Disabled War Veterans Scholarship – Co-sponsored by AFCEA Educational Foundation and Microsoft Corporation employees, this college scholarship is open to active-duty service personnel, honorably discharged U.S. military veterans, reservists, and National Guard personnel who are disabled because of wounds received during active-duty combat service in Afghanistan or Iraqi. The application deadline is April 1, 2011.

Healthy Lifestyles Scholarship – Established in 2008 to honor the memory of Joan Whitworthe, an occupational therapist, this opportunity is open to students who are high school seniors or first-year college students and under the age of 25. No formal application is required, however answering a pair of essay questions and submitting your completed work to “Stay Fit” by April 30, 2011 will put you in the running for this $5,000 college scholarship.

Women in Technology Scholarship (WITS) Program – Offering multiple college scholarship opportunities for up to $2,500, WITS is for young women whose careeer path is in information technology or a related field. Your GPA, extracurricular activities and community involvement are among the determining factors weighed by the committee when considering your application and essay. The application deadline is April 1, 2011.

AICPA/Accountemps Student Scholarship – If you are majoring in accounting, finance, or information systems then this American Institute of Certified Public Accountants & Accountemps opportunity may be right for you. Up to five students will be selected and awarded a $2,500 college scholarship. The application deadline is April 1, 2011.

Women In Transition Scholarship – The Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting is behind an opportunity for women who are the family’s main breadwinner and are seeking to better themselves by returning to college to pursue a degree in Accounting. This scholarship will enable the recipient to receive up to $16,000 spread over four consecutive years based on the successful completion of course work. This year’s recipient will be announced by the end of June, but you must get your application in by April 30, 2011.

Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adult’s 2011-2012 College Scholarship Program – If you or a loved one was diagnosed with cancer when you were at least 15 years old, then the Ulman Cancer Fund college scholarship opportunity is for your consideration. The application deadline is April 1, 2011. Recipients will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship spread over two semesters.

SayCampusLife.com does not endorse specific scholarship opportunities and we encourage our readers to avoid those requiring appliction fees or numerous strings attached. We review each opportunity posted and assume the information presented to us is correct. If in doubt about a particular scholarship, then scratch it from your list.

Buick Achievers

Unlike some scholarships, Buick Achievers is renewable for four years, leading to a possible scholarship of up to $100,000 for recipients. Under this arrangement the GM Foundation plans to welcome new groups of 100 students who will receive renewable scholarships of up to $25,000 each year.

Another group of students, 1,000 to be precise, will be awarded $2,000 college scholarships, renewable for up to four years. Select majors are eligible and include design, technology, mathematics, engineering, technology, science, business administration and marketing. Annual scholarship funding is expected to rise, projected to reach $18 million after four years.

Community Involvement

Dan Akerson, GM Chairman and Chief Executive Officer explained the reasons behind the GM Foundation’s most recent scholarship offering. “As a company, and as a nation, we have a responsibility to support opportunities for higher education. The Buick Achievers scholarship will help foster the next generation of leaders destined to develop future innovative solutions to global issues.”

Regular SayCampusLife.com readers know that college education costs continue to spiral higher and at a faster clip than inflation. These days, families have to diligently explore their options, securing grants, scholarships and making wise, careful use of student loans. In addition, school selection and working while going to college can help reduce costs. Naturally, we’re all about sharing the latest college scholarship opportunities with you.

Applicant Requirements

Applicants for the Buick Achievers scholarship must be high school seniors or high school graduates planning to start college for the first time in Fall 2011. Students must enroll in full-time undergraduate study at an accredited four-year college or university for the entire 2011-12 academic year; and demonstrate an interest in the automotive industry. Applicants must be citizens of the United States of American and be permanent residents. Other qualifying criteria for Buick Achievers consider includes being a first-generation college student, a female, a member of a minority group, a military veteran or a dependent of military personnel.

The deadline is March 31, 2011; applications and related information are available at BuickAchievers.com. Since 2005, the GM Foundation has provided more than $26 million in educational funding.

“The Best 373 Colleges,” is out and this edition (2010, Random House/Princeton Review Books) includes two more schools — Austin College in Sherman, Texas and University of Missouri-Columbia. Go back a number of years, 1998 for example, and 311 colleges were featured. The 2011 edition marks 18 years of “best colleges” updates and I just happened to receive a copy for my perusal.

Best Colleges

So why might you be interested in this book anyway? That’s a good question considering that there are thousands of colleges and universities across the United States and Canada. The Princeton Review limits their selection to four-year schools although Deep Springs College, a two-year institution, is included. That California school limits itself to 26 students who enjoy a full expenses paid education. Importantly, students usually transfer to Ivy League and other top educational institutions once they have completed their studies.

The Princeton Review bases its school selection on internal data which reveals the schools students are considering and other factors including reputation in academic circles and their own research and interviews to determine which schools to include. Not every school with an outstanding academic pedigree is included — administrators must agree to allow the Princeton Review to conduct anonymous surveys of its students. Most do, but some do not.

And it is those 122,000 student surveys which tells the reader a lot about each school. Certainly, information about student enrollment, academics, admissions ratings and financial aid ratings are very helpful, but what sets The Best 373 Colleges apart is the input received from currently enrolled students themselves. Think about it: the material students get from the schools can be beneficial, but that information doesn’t include unbiased reports from students.

Informative Lists

That means in addition to sharing detailed information about each school, this reference book also makes good use of “Top 20” rankings and lists including the following:

• What school has the least accessible professors? That would be the University of Toronto with Rutgers (New Brunswick) second.
• Who has the best campus food? That’s Bowdoin College. On the opposite end of the food spectrum is the United States Merchant Marine Academy.
• Naturally, Columbia University, Barnard College, Eugene Lang College and New York University rank as having the best college town as all four schools are located in the city that never sleeps — New York City. Pity the students who attend Tuskegee University — they give their school the lowest marks when it comes to college town life.

College Ads

One addition to this edition are the advertisements from 15 colleges and universities. Those full-page ads are stuck in the very back of the book and are from the schools themselves. The Princeton Review is quick to point out that the schools with ad copy are not chosen based on a financial contribution or due to their advertising. The “School Says…” section starts on page 819, after the reviews.

My favorite section of the book can be found on page 52 — the 100 best value colleges for 2010. Two lists of 50 private and 50 public colleges and universities are featured including some of the most expensive schools in the land. What makes each of these a value? That would be in student aid especially if you’re eligible to receive the funding necessary to help contain your college costs.

Adv. — Is college costing you more than what you can afford? Sallie Mae can help, by providing a Smart Option Student Loan designed to close your financing gap.

That means the family is looking at paying more than $40,000 per year for college over the next four years if “junior” follows through with attending nearby Duke University and living on campus. But, before he does that I think I’ll share with his family my copy of Barron’s Best Buys in College Education (2010 | Barron’s) first.

That reference book, which was first compiled in 1990, has been updated in 2010 for its eleventh edition. As always, it features high quality colleges and universities, priced at levels most families can afford. That’s good news because sticker shock seems to be a generally expected occurrence these days.

Best Buys

Find a first-class education at a price you can afford is the tagline for this book which offers a state-by-state breakdown of “best buys.” Though I now live in North Carolina, I decided to see which schools in my native New Jersey are listed and found the two I expected to appear: The College of New Jersey in Ewing and Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Both these schools offer above average education without busting the bank, although families will take note that when living on campus the cost for each school can increase to more than $20,000 annually for in-state students. But, that amount is half what a New Jersey kid would pay at Princeton which is what this reference book is all about: finding equivalent education and paying less for it.

Detailed Information

“Best Buys” gives detailed information about each school, but starts out by sharing five “quick lists” to help narrow down the selection. Those lists feature schools with 20,000 or more students, 1,000 or fewer students, colleges charging under $15,000 annually, schools dominated by single-sex enrollment and colleges with chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, the national honor society.

Enough information is presented about a school to help prospective students narrow their list quickly. Barron’s explains whether the school is in an urban, suburban or rural location, who controls the college, breakdown of enrollment by gender, graduate enrollment, student/faculty ratio, freshmen profile, faculty profile, tuition and fees, room and board, freshmen financial aid, campus jobs, application deadline, financial aid deadline and admissions information.

Further, Barron’s tells a story about the college to give the reader an important backdrop on how the school formed and important factors students look at including facilities, special programs, campus life, how many students return for their sophomore year, payoff (pay attention to this section, parents!) and bottom line — what an education at that school has to offer.

The Bottomline

Best Buys offers something college-bound families need to know and that is a top-notch education can be had for less money. Skyrocketing tuition means students need to explore all of their options, Best Buys in College Education makes it easier to narrow that list down.

Adv. — Are you coming up short financially this semester? A Sallie Mae Smart Option Student Loan is one option to consider to help you close the financing gap.

College is supposed to be the great equalizer. At least that what is what academic experts would have us believe when it comes to attending college and leaving school enriched and with a job-enhancing degree in hand.

Is college unaffordable?

Emmeline Zhao, commenting on The Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog, cites a report recently submitted to Congress as evidence of a downward educational trend for financially-challenged students. That report, developed by the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance and titled “The Rising Price of Inequality,” noted that inadequate grant aid is keeping some students away from campus.

Sinking Enrollment

The study revealed some startling statistics including that enrollment in four-year colleges for low-income students sunk from 54 percent in 1992 to 40 percent in 2004 and for moderate-income students that rate dropped from 59 percent to 53 percent over the same period.

According to Zhao, the net price for attending a four-year public college in 2007 for a low-income student was $10,620 — 48% of family income — up from $7,570 — 48% of family income — in 1992. The cost for a moderate-income student increased over the same period to $14,650 — 26% of family income — from $8,790 — 22% of family income.

Family Matters

Most telling in the report was a survey where students whose parents were “very concerned” about college costs chose not to apply to four-year schools at all, one-third the total of poorer students in fact. But if their parents didn’t express concern about college costs a full 90 percent enrolled in a four-year college.

So, are community and other two-year colleges the answer for low-income students? Apparently not as this group of students is three times more likely to finish college if they enrolled in a four-year college from the start. Saving money at a community college apparently does little to encourage these students to transfer to a four-year college in a bid to earn their bachelor degree.

Persistence Rates

The report also looked closely at the persistence rate of low-income students who attend a four-year college beginning with their freshmen year. Of the group who entered college in 1995, 78 percent finished school. That number dropped to 75 percent for students who began college eight years later. The rate for moderate income students held steady at 81 percent.

What solutions were offered? The main one, of course, is financial aid with the group recommending that it be increased and broadened. The report studied public universities, but noted that private colleges do a better job of welcoming lower income students to their schools and offering more financial aid.

With college costs continuing to outpace inflation, the number of students of limited financial means who may decide against attending college will probably continue to rise. Financial aid is important, but so is holding down costs across the board.

Adv. — Financial aid shortfalls need not keep you from attending college. Private student loans, as offered by Sallie Mae, could be the best option for students seeking help.

A recent survey of students who did not complete their college education revealed that many had a difficult time balancing work, study, and family responsibilities.

On Wednesday, The New York Times published an article – College Dropouts Cite Low Money and High Stress – which explained how difficult it is for some college students to finish their schooling.

Granted, a significant number of students come from families who can pay for their education and don’t have anywhere near the financial pressures many of their classmates are facing today. But, a large number of students receive no financial aid and cannot count on family support and they’re the ones most at risk for dropping out of college.

Public Agenda

The Times based their article on a report from the nonpartisan Public Agenda group, an organization founded in 1975 by author and social scientist Daniel Yankelovich and former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance. Public Agenda’s mission is to find out what average Americans think about a variety of issues including religion, politics, education, immigration, and foreign policy.

Public Agenda surveyed more than 600 people, all of whom were between the ages of 22 and 30. This is important to note because high school grads who complete their college education in four years time are usually 22 when they finish. The survey compared people who started their higher education and did not complete it with those who obtained either a two- or four-year degree.

Uninterested Students?

The survey threw out the idea held by many that students who drop out of college aren’t interested in completing their education. In reality, a majority of students must juggle work and school, with some also raising families.

Public Agenda says that six of ten who dropped out received no support from their families while six out of ten people who did complete their education were able to rely upon their families for financial support. Most of those who quit school said that it was too difficult for them to support themselves and pay for their education, thus they had to prioritize making a living right now while delaying or canceling their college plans.

Each of the people surveyed was also asked to rate twelve possible changes that might help them complete school. The top answers included qualifying for student aid, trimming college costs, child care, and offering more classes at night and on weekends. Surprisingly, interest in online classes was low and not many cited the college application process as being an important enough factor to hold up their education.

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