Deciding whether to go to college, to continue in education for 4 more years, is one of those really big crossroads decisions that people face in life. It is an emotional, social, spiritual, intellectual and fundamentally a financial decision. It is an investment decision, because you are putting money into your brain asset now in order to earn far greater (hopefully) returns throughout the rest of your working life. The risk with this investment is of course debt. Some fortunate folks start out with enough money, from parents or whoever, to finance their intellectual investment without borrowing. Most folks however will have to take on some debt. Private colleges can mean up to $100,000 or more. It is always best to have an investment repayment plan worked out ahead of enrolment and college financial aid offices can help.
Realistically as part of your investment plan you must ask yourself how many scholarships can you gain? Scholarships are the best kind of money in that they are FREE! No repayments means you would be crazy not to put lots of effort into gaining all the scholarships you can. Colleges tend to provide money on two bases. Firstly money according to your needs which is directly related to your parents income and how many of your brothers and sisters will need investment money too. Your investment plan needs to answer two questions here. Will your parents contribute financially (all colleges assume they will)? Will you repay them or is it free money?
Merit-based financial aid is based on your grades and your activities from high school. Private colleges are much more likely to give out large merit-based scholarships than public colleges since the private schools usually have more donors who set up scholarships in their names or contribute to a certain scholarship fund. These institutional scholarships can cover up to half of your tuition, or more, every year.
Like any intelligent investor you need to investigate all possible sources of finance. So get on the Internet and search the local charitable organizations such as the Knights of Columbus and the Humane Society. Every little helps as they say and free money will save you a lot in debt repayments over the years in college and after.
Any savings you have should be used only when all other monies have been put into your education. Why? Well because they continue to earn interest of course. But surely the time will come when you need to take a loan. First port of call has to be the Federal Application for Student Aid (FAFSA). There you will find out which loans you qualify for and you can then work out a repayment plan. A good tip when doing investment planning is to estimate your future income, then reduce it by 20%. Then estimate your expenditure and increase it by 20%. This will ensure that your expectations are never high to cause anxiety when not met.
