How to Organize Your College Financial Aid to Avoid Any Accrued Debt

One of the worst feelings for any college student is knowing you can accrue a lot of debt from the money you spend during college. What if we told you there are easy ways to avoid this unnecessary debt? These ways of organizing your college financial aid will lift so much weight off of your chest and alleviate so much stress that can come with just your education and studies alone.

At Send Your Kids to College, we want to make sure you’re prepared in case this ever happens, or god forbid, hopefully you’ll never have to think about it happening. When it comes to college planning, helping you with your financial aid is at the top of our priorities, and we have plenty of resources to help you with it.

In this blog, we will break down how you can organize your college financial aid to avoid any accrued debt over time, and how we can prepare you so it never happens.

ALWAYS Start With Signing Up for FAFSA

If there’s one thing we know about how to organize your financial aid well and efficiently, it’s through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Students and parents should fill out a FAFSA application every year when attending college. It helps determine your eligibility for federal grants, work-study opportunities, and federal student loans. 

A big mistake we know many people have made is that they might assume they don’t qualify to apply for FAFSA. Even if you don’t believe or expect to receive financial aid from this, you should still consider applying because it can open the door to other types of federal, state, and institutional assistance from the college you are going to attend. Read up on FAFSA on our website to learn more!

Knowing the Difference in the Type of Money You Receive

Not every type of financial aid for college is going to be the same, and it’s important that you know the differences. For you, grants and scholarships are two big examples of where you might get aid, and it’s money you don’t need to repay, provided that you meet the applicable requirements. If it’s a loan, that must be repaid and can include added interest. 

When the time comes for you to review a financial aid offer, both parents and students should take a look at any grant or scholarship, and then consider other employment opportunities. For student loans, they should be reviewed as just a tool of financing and not free money. If you plan to accept a loan, before doing so, ask yourself if you really need that money. Borrowing money can create more risk and put more burden on you after graduation.

Take Advantage of Your Local State Financial Aid

This part is mainly for people who plan to attend college here in New York State and for anyone who will attend colleges like SUNY schools or otherwise. The New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC) administers programs such as the Tuition Assistance Program and Excelsior Scholarship, which are all a big help!

For the upcoming academic year, if you’re a NY resident and are eligible, you will be allowed to attend a SUNY or CUNY college tuition-free through the Excelsior Scholarship, again, if you meet all requirements. Review all requirements carefully because certain states can have specific obligations that you need to follow.

Build a Budget Plan and Track Your Debt

When your college years get underway, it’ll be on you to budget through a plan and track any debt you do collect. Create a four-year plan that projects how much you will be spending on everything you plan to pay for. After that, compare your expenses with scholarships, your savings, grants, employment income, or other forms of financial aid.

Creating a plan is going to reveal a lot of gaps in what you plan to spend money on, and everyone has those gaps; nothing is going to be clean. And look, there’s a chance you might not have even picked your preferred college of choice by the time you’re reading this, and that’s fine! Just make sure you have a plan.

Don’t Ignore Scholarship Opportunities and Other Local Resources

Send Your Kids to College is here to be your primary resource for college planning! We provide so much for people yearly before they start school. Students and parents should continue to research on their own, but we can’t recommend enough that you take some time to look at our website and see what we provide.

Look at scholarship opportunities after freshman year, take a look at local resources that can help relieve you of needing to take a loan, or if a financial aid package does not cover what your family needs, there are always going to be other options. You can find a way to readjust your aid by finding part-time employment or asking your college about other payment plans.

For families here in Buffalo and Western New York, we have you covered all the way. We have access to organizations that can help you navigate the college financing process. Having a plan and allowing us to help you make it will go a long way. Take a look at all our different pages, and when the time comes, if you want to learn more, give us a call or reach out through our contact form. Talk soon!