Paying For Your Education

Almost 50 million Americans have cumulatively borrowed more than $1.5 trillion to attend college. Roughly one-third of all adults aged 25 to 34 have a student loan. In Education without Debt businessman and philanthropist Scott MacDonald examines the real-life impact of crushing levels of student debt on borrowers and what can be done to fix this crisis. Weaving together stories of debt-impaired lives with stories of personal success achieved with the essential help of financial aid, MacDonald reveals the devastating personal and societal impact of the debt problem and offers possible solutions. He explores the efforts of colleges and private philanthropists to make education affordable and relates his own experience of funding financial aid for need-eligible students at five universities. Education without Debt is a must-read book for anyone concerned about the rising cost of education and what to do about this critical policy and societal issue.

In the last 20 years, tuition has increased by a factor of more than 200 percent, which is 3 times the increase in earned income of the average family. It takes from 25 to 30 percent of a family's yearly after tax earnings to pay for a single child's college education. Utilizing their access to college counseling, admissions, and financial aid professionals at colleges and universities across the country, this father and son team have developed a program to make paying for college manageable. They enlighten, motivate, and encourage students and their parents to follow a set of 10 principles designed to help families get a handle on saving and financing a college education. Their mission is to reassure and to help families of every income level and at every stage of preparation to plan a strategy for paying for college.

Every year, more than 20 million students and parents file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the gateway to federal, state and school financial aid. Families often worry about making costly mistakes, but this step-by-step guide provides expert advice and insights to: · Maximize eligibility for student aid · Avoid common errors · Complete the form quickly, easily and accurately Praise for Filing the FAFSA: I found Filing the FAFSA to be an up-to-the-minute, accessible and readable resource for those with a keen interest in the current federal application for student financial aid. –Nancy Coolidge, Office of the President, University of California Families need a guide that breaks down the application form into logical sections. Filing the FAFSA is an important tool in removing some of the mystery surrounding the financial aid process. –Verna Hazen, Assistant Vice President and Director, Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships, Rochester Institute of Technology With the plethora of information on the subject of completing college financial applications, it’s reassuring to find a guide that students, parents and even guidance counselors can look to for useful and accurate information. –Carlos Adrian, Associate Director, Financial Aid Compliance, Office of Financial Aid and Scholarship Programs, Syracuse University As a long-time financial aid professional, I am always looking for helpful tools to assist families in understanding the sometimes overwhelming process of applying for student financial aid for college. Filing the FAFSA is a tool that successfully combines the presentation of detailed information with easy to follow flow charts and summary boxes to guide families through the application process. It is filled with helpful hints and is a valuable resource for families navigating the complicated world of financial aid. –Diane Stemper, Executive Director, Office of Enrollment Services, Student Financial Aid, Ohio State University

Americans now obtain college degrees at a higher rate than at any time in recent decades in the hopes of improving their career prospects. At the same time, the rising costs of an undergraduate education have increased dramatically, forcing students and families to take out often unmanageable levels of student debt. The cumulative amount of student debt reached nearly $1.5 trillion in 2017, and calls for student loan forgiveness have gained momentum. Yet public policy to address college affordability has been mixed. While some policymakers support more public funding to broaden educational access, others oppose this expansion. Noting that public opinion often shapes public policy, sociologists Natasha Quadlin and Brian Powell examine public opinion on who should shoulder the increasing costs of higher education and why. Who Should Pay? draws on a decade’s worth of public opinion surveys analyzing public attitudes about whether parents, students, or the government should be primarily responsible for funding higher education. Quadlin and Powell find that between 2010 and 2019, public opinion has shifted dramatically in favor of more government funding. In 2010, Americans overwhelming believed that parents and students were responsible for the costs of higher education. Less than a decade later, the percentage of Americans who believed that federal or state/local government should be the primary financial contributor has more than doubled. The authors contend that the rapidity of this change may be due to the effects of the 2008 financial crisis and the growing awareness of the social and economic costs of high levels of student debt. Quadlin and Powell also find increased public endorsement of shared responsibility between individuals and the government in paying for higher education. The authors additionally examine attitudes on the accessibility of college for all, whether higher education at public universities should be free, and whether college is worth the costs. Quadlin and Powell also explore why Americans hold these beliefs. They identify individualistic and collectivist world views that shape public perspectives on the questions of funding, accessibility, and worthiness of college. Those with more individualistic orientations believed parents and students should pay for college, and that if students want to attend college, then they should work hard and find ways to achieve their goals. Those with collectivist orientations believed in a model of shared responsibility – one in which the government takes a greater level of responsibility for funding education while acknowledging the social and economic barriers to obtaining a college degree for many students. The authors find that these belief systems differ among socio-demographic groups and that bias – sometimes unconscious and sometimes deliberate – regarding race and class affects responses from both individualistic and collectivist-oriented participants. Public opinion is typically very slow to change. Yet Who Should Pay? provides an illuminating account of just how quickly public opinion has shifted regarding the responsibility of paying for a college education and its implications for future generations of students.

A “bracing and well-argued” study of America’s college debt crisis—“necessary reading for anyone concerned about the fate of American higher education” (Kirkus). College is far too expensive for many people today, and the confusing mix of federal, state, institutional, and private financial aid leaves countless students without the resources they need to pay for it. In Paying the Price, education scholar Sara Goldrick-Rab reveals the devastating effect of these shortfalls. Goldrick-Rab examines a study of 3,000 students who used the support of federal aid and Pell Grants to enroll in public colleges and universities in Wisconsin in 2008. Half the students in the study left college without a degree, while less than 20 percent finished within five years. The cause of their problems, time and again, was lack of money. Unable to afford tuition, books, and living expenses, they worked too many hours at outside jobs, dropped classes, took time off to save money, and even went without adequate food or housing. In many heartbreaking cases, they simply left school—not with a degree, but with crippling debt. Goldrick-Rab combines that data with devastating stories of six individual students, whose struggles make clear the human and financial costs of our convoluted financial aid policies. In the final section of the book, Goldrick-Rab offers a range of possible solutions, from technical improvements to the financial aid application process, to a bold, public sector–focused “first degree free” program. "Honestly one of the most exciting books I've read, because [Goldrick-Rab has] solutions. It's a manual that I'd recommend to anyone out there, if you're a parent, if you're a teacher, if you're a student."—Trevor Noah, The Daily Show

"The most talked-about education book this semester." —New York Times From the author of Coming Apart, and based on a series of controversial Wall Street Journal op-eds, this landmark manifesto gives voice to what everyone knows about talent, ability, and intelligence but no one wants to admit. With four truths as his framework, Charles Murray, the bestselling coauthor of The Bell Curve, sweeps away the hypocrisy, wishful thinking, and upside-down priorities that grip America’s educational establishment. •Ability varies. Children differ in their ability to learn, but America’s educational system does its best to ignore this. •Half of the children are below average. Many children cannot learn more than rudimentary reading and math. Yet decades of policies have required schools to divert resources to unattainable goals. •Too many people are going to college. Only a fraction of students struggling to get a degree can profit from education at the college level. •America’s future depends on how we educate the academically gifted. It is time to start thinking about the kind of education needed by the young people who will run the country.

Named one of the best books of 2021 by NPR New York Times Bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice pick “Masterly . . .represents an extraordinary achievement: It is comprehensive and detailed without being tedious, practical without being banal, impeccably well judged and unusually rigorous.”—Daniel Markovits, New York Times Book Review “Ron Lieber is a gift.”—Scott Galloway The hugely popular New York Times Your Money columnist and author of the bestselling The Opposite of Spoiled offers a deeply reported and emotionally honest approach to the biggest financial decision families will ever make: what to pay for college—a decision made even more confusing because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Sending a teenager to a flagship state university for four years of on-campus living costs more than $100,000 in many parts of the United States. Meanwhile, many families of freshmen attending selective private colleges will spend triple—over $300,000. With the same passion, smarts, and humor that infuse his personal finance column, Ron Lieber offers a much-needed roadmap to help families navigate this difficult and often confusing journey. Lieber begins by explaining who pays what and why and how the financial aid system got so complicated. He also pulls the curtain back on merit aid, an entirely new form of discounting that most colleges now use to compete with peers. While price is essential, value is paramount. So what is worth paying extra for, and how do you know when it exists in abundance at any particular school? Is a small college better than a big one? Who actually does the teaching? Given that every college claims to have reinvented its career center, who should we actually believe? He asks the tough questions of college presidents and financial aid gatekeepers that parents don’t know (or are afraid) to ask and summarizes the research about what matters and what doesn’t. Finally, Lieber calmly walks families through the process of setting financial goals, explaining the system to their children and figuring out the right ways to save, borrow, and bargain for a better deal. The Price You Pay for College gives parents the clarity they need to make informed choices and helps restore the joy and wonder the college experience is supposed to represent.

Every parent wants the best for their child. That’s why they send them to college! But most parents struggle to pay for school and end up turning to student loans. That’s why the majority of graduates walk away with $35,000 in student loan debt and no clue what that debt will really cost them.1 Student loan debt doesn’t open doors for young adults—it closes them. They postpone getting married and starting a family. That debt even takes away their freedom to pursue their dreams. But there is a different way. Going to college without student loans is possible! In Debt-Free Degree, Anthony ONeal teaches parents how to get their child through school without debt, even if they haven’t saved for it. He also shows parents: *How to prepare their child for college *Which classes to take in high school *How and when to take the ACT and SAT *The right way to do college visits *How to choose a major A college education is supposed to prepare a graduate for their future, not rob them of their paycheck and freedom for decades. Debt-Free Degree shows parents how to pay cash for college and set their child up to succeed for life.

Intended for adults involved in continuing education, this book provides information on securing financial aid. Chapter 1 discusses use of the book. Chapter 2 examines why adults are involved in postsecondary education. College application is the focus of chapter 3. Chapter 4 offers suggestions for cutting the time and costs of acquiring a college education, such as credit by examination, credit for prior learning, and external and nontraditional degree programs. Chapter 5 answers 10 questions about financial aid eligibility, availability, and college costs. Chapters 6 and 7 describe federal, state, college and university student aid programs. Twelve paths to financial aid are discussed in chapter 8, including employer tuition aid; aid for the unemployed, low income adults, women, older adults, minority students, disabled persons, and public servants; tax breaks; the military; child care services; aid from religious organizations; and aid for nursing or health professions. Chapter 9 is a step-by-step guide through the process of searching and applying for financial aid. Sections 10 through 12 contain a directory of sources of financial aid information, a glossary of financial aid terms, a 1982-83 financial aid form, and a worksheet for financial aid eligibility. (YLB)