The Abc's of College Financial Aid - 2018 Edition: A Reference Q&A School Finance Guide for Students and Parents

I have made it my mission in life to assist parents and their children to navigate the challenging and complex processes of student finance for over 25 years. My passion stems from my personal experience of having been a first generation high school graduate going to college back in the early 80's who had no idea how financial aid process worked. After high school, I completed the paper Free Application for Federal Student Aid because I was told to do it by my counselor. I went to the college financial aid office. I was instructed that I would get a loan for $2625.00 and my parents needed to borrow a PLUS loan. The total cost per term was approximately $3500.00 for a total of $7,000.00 for the year. As a result, I did not go to college right away because I did believed that I could afford it. I was too proud to ask if there were other options. I did not know what questions to ask. I just did not understand the process. I gave up and walked away. After 9 years of going to college and working, I finally decided to go back to school full-time. I got a job at the financial aid office as a work-study and learned how the process worked, I looked up my old file to see the total tuition cost with books to go to the university per term. The cost was varied from $300 to $1000 per term for books and tuition. What I failed to tell the clerk or the clerk failed to ask me was where I was going to live. The clerk assumed I would be living in student housing and quoted me the cost of living on campus. I lived approximately 25 miles from the university and was planning to commute to college. Fortunately, my ignorance and embarrassment as a young high school kid and the clerk's misinformation set me down a different path. A path that was meant for me to be able to achieve amazing opportunities and impact the lives of many students and their parents. In this book where I commit to pay it forward, I provide answers to questions on financial aid processes and funds, guidance on career exploration and where to go to get information to help you not make the same mistakes others have in your journey to getting college financing. This book was designed to give you and your parents a base foundation to feel confident when you are starting to approach your high school counselors and financial aid personnel at colleges and universities.