Paying for College - Knowing the Facts Before You Get Started

We have provided for you a 19-page Life Guide  of everything you need to know about paying for college.

Below are the highlights of just some of the information inside this guide.  

If you want your children to benefit from a college education, it's never too early to start saving. Let's face it, a college education is expensive... in fact, it might be one of the largest outlays you ever make. The good news is that families who want to save for their children's college education now have more options available than ever before.

Everything You Need to Know about Financial Aid

Financial aid is money made available to students to help pay their college costs. Financial aid can be in the form of grants and scholarships, which do not have to be repaid, in the form of loans, which do have to be repaid, or in the form of work-study program, which requires the student to work for a specified number of hours each week in return for money to pay college expenses. In addition, financial aid comes in the form of merit-based and need-based financial aid.

See pages 5-10 of Life Guide: Paying for College to if fully understand financial aid.

How much to save?

Since many families are not in a position to fully fund a child's college education from savings, you need to set a college savings goal by understanding the college financial aid options available, deciding how much of the college expenses you will pay from current income and then determining what amount of your child's education you wish to pay from savings.

Once you establish savings objectives, you need to decide which college savings plan or plans you will use for your college savings.

See page 13 of Life Guide: Paying for College to determine how much you need to save.

College Savings Plan Options

While paying for college has never been easy, the increasing costs of a college education make it even more challenging today, Even with the availability of student financial aid programs, most families will still need and want to contribute toward the cost of their child's college education. Fortunately, there are a variety of strategies that can utilized to help save for college costs.

See page 14-15 of  Life Guide: Paying for College to learn more.

Saving for College Vs. Retirement

To what degree can you both save for your children's college education and still provide for your own retirement? That's a question facing many parents today and, while there is no set answer, consider all the possible options before making some tough choices.

See page 16 of Life Guide: Paying for College to read more about your options.

Information from VSA's Life Guide: Paying for College