FYInance

Posts Tagged ‘College Planning’

Interview with Dan Evertsz, a college planning specialist of the Bay Area. Going to college is getting more and more expensive. Many students graduate from school each year but not all of them go to college. While it is competitive to get accepted to a college of your choice, it is also hard to afford to go to college that you want to go to. Some people have to settle for cheaper colleges such as community colleges. You can save for college by opening college savings accounts such as the 529 plans or other types of educational savings accounts. Reference Point hostd by Dave Kocharhook (host and producer).

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College Planning is becoming more and more expensive. There are many people who need to find funding in a very difficult economy. In terms of borrowing, it is harder to get a student loan. Dave Ramsey is here to give you his view on how to pay and save for college. But, Dave is not a fan of getting a student loan anyway. He much prefers for you to go to a college that you can afford. If you do not have the money for expensive schools, go to your local state school, community college, etc. You can even pay cash for it. Statistics show that 6 millions of students are borrowing $50 billion dollars in loans.

Try to get a scholarship!

Dave advises that you should take the ACT, the SAT, etc  a few times. The scores will come up when you learn how to take the tests. The higher you score, the more scholarships you are going to be able to apply for. You can apply for them online. They are easy to apply for and they can save you a lot of money.

Dave Ramsey talks about college planning, paying off students loans and getting the degree debt free on Fox Business Networks “Money for Breakfast.”

The state of the economy seems to turn from bad to worse. The economy is bad for many people even for young people who have not even begun to start their career.While the stock market is not doing so great and the oil prices fluctuate, many people are suffering long term.

Below, we interviewed a young lady who is a grade A student and looks like she has a great future in front of her. However, even she is struggling in this economy.

How is the economy for you?

“The economy is definitely a problem for me and the people that I know. We are all struggling to make ends meet and the future seems bleak right now. I may have to take out a student loan just to pay for living next semester.

Also, I worry that the college degree that I am earning will be useless and that there will be no jobs in the future. I definitely worry that I will be poor for the rest of my life and that is a terrifying prospect for a twenty year old.”

Nowadays, it is not uncommon for students to think like this bright young lady. Many students think that they will need to get even more student loan to be able to survive but then they think what for? When they graduate, there will be no job especially if their parents are struggling to find a job themselves. To help you child, if you are able to, think about setting up a college fund for him or her. It will really make his or her life much more at peace. You can research on http://529-plan.info for more information on college planning.

A while ago we discussed the 529 plans a little. I hope that some of you have had a chance to read up on college planning and the importance of having 529 plans. Bear in mind that a 529 plan is a college plan so for the purpose of this post, we will refer to 529 plans, we mean 529 plans and other educational plans. We will discuss the differences between a 529 plan and other college plan another day.

Why do we need a 529 plan?

If you are a student facing tough times in this economy, you would wish that you had a 529 plan. A 529 plan is a college plan that your parents or grandparents had saved up over a long period of time with tax benefits for you. When you withdraw the funds for college, you don’t pay taxes as long as you use the funds for college and qualified educational expenses.

We have here a story of a student who is going to college and is struggling to pay his bills while making grades at college. We have heard before that you can spend all of your time working to make ends meet but then you won’t have time to study and your grades will drop. If you have a college plan, you will be able to spend more time studying and not having to worry so much about money.

One student’s story of how he is struggling to be able to go to college

“I just graduated from high school and will be attending college this fall so I am in need of quite a bit of money. With this in mind, I went out to search for a job. At the beginning of my summer break, I applied to over 24 places and got offers from only 2.

I worked as a delivery driver for Domino’s Pizza (they were the first people who offered) so I used up a lot of gas at work. Luckily, my employer helped pay for some of my gas, but the high gas prices still dug into my already small pay check (pizza delivery drivers are tipped employees so they don’t get full minimum wage).

Everything was going fine until a had an accident while delivering and, even though I was going only about 15 mph at the time of impact, I totaled my car and could no longer work for Domino’s.

I have put in several more applications to other places, but so far I have no job. Even Pizza Hut, who employs my sister and I know desperately needs help, hasn’t hired me yet. Now I fear that I may not get another job because I will be leaving my hometown for school. Granted, I haven’t had a lot of work experience, mainly because I wanted to keep my grades up so I could graduate valedictorian. I focused on getting into a good college, but because of the slow economy, I haven’t been able to keep a job to pay for my education.”

Thank you for sharing this story. Again, if you want to do some research into 529 plans or other college savings plans, this is a good website www.529-plan.info with lots of useful information of how to save for college and educational expenses.

When the economy is slow, it is tough being a student. Not only tuition are expensive, books are expensive, lab equipments and other accessories are expensive, housing is expensive (and the list goes on) but there are other factors that makes being a student when the economy is recessionary very difficult.

A story from a student in the slow economy

Here is a story from a student whose life has changed because of the economy:

“Well, basically, I am going to school full time (online) so money was tight before, but now my family and I eat everything at home. We don’t go anywhere unless absolutely necessary and it is one big trip to many stores near each other. My husband and I are also now working online to make more money to just make ends meet. This takes away from my studies so I am having to stay up long nights just to do my courses. So basically it is school and work, no play at all.”

Thank you for sharing your story. There are so many other students in the same boat or in even worse situations. Money is hard to make when the economy is slow and anyone who is supporting themselves while going to school will have to work extra shifts to earn more money.

Financial planning helps students in slow economy

Some students are fortunate enough when their parents set up a college plan or a 529 plan for them. We will discuss collage planning and the 529 plans another day. But if you want to read about 529 plans, there are websites such as these ones http://www.sec.gov, http://www.morningstar.com, or http://529-plan.info for a more basic explanation of what a 529 plan is. A 529 plan, if a student has one, will usually help him or her throughout his or her college life so that he or she does not have to work extra hard, in the evenings and weekends to make ends meet and still have free time to study.