Do you want the good news, or the bad news?
Good news: 83% of students in Gen Z believe that a college education is important.
Only 53% of them believe that paying for college is realistic.
So, how can you help bridge this gap for your children? This may seem obvious, but starting to engage with this process as early as possible can be the difference between success and stress when your student is going off to college.
Here are three essential tips for making sure that you stay on top of this process:
Set Realistic Expectations: How many times have you heard something like “If you can dream it, you can achieve it”? Lots, right? It feels good and it is the kind of wide-eyed optimism that we naturally want our kids to experience as they grow and mature. Unfortunately though, this kind of thinking can do more harm than good in the college admissions process if it is not carefully balanced with a dose of financial realism. As soon as you start discussing college with your kids, make sure they are aware of the financial reality of your situation and that they are calibrating their college choices towards that reality. It can be quite heartbreaking for a student to work hard to achieve their goal of getting into a “dream” school, only to learn that the school was never a realistic financial option for your family.
Read Up: Paying for college can be an absolutely overwhelming process, especially if you jump in late in the game and with a limited amount of background knowledge. Fortunately, there are some great books out there that can give you insider knowledge that will help you get the most out of the system. The Price You Pay for College by Ron Lieber is a great place to start. He demystifies the process and gives several actionable strategies that can help you maximize merit aid and efficiently “shop” for the right school. Who Gets In and Why by Jeffrey Selingo. The “Buyers and Sellers” portion of this book is an absolute goldmine for those trying to set realistic expectations for their students. If nothing else, do some research on the Buyers/Sellers concept before you get too far in planning. Where You Go is Not Who You’ll Be by Frank Bruni. The message of this book is a simple, but powerful one. You can have a great college experience anywhere and a lot of the competitive stress of the college admissions process can do more harm than good. This is a great read for parents that have students that already have a “dream school” in mind.
Run The Numbers. Early and Often: There is no reason to guess when it comes to paying for college. You should have a pretty good grasp of your own finances, and there are tools that allow you to understand what your financial aid situation should look like and what certain colleges will cost you. A strong approach to understanding your financial aid situation is to use the Federal Financial Aid Estimator and then an Expected Family Contribution Calculator to get an idea of what you can expect from the FAFSA when it is time. These tools are not exact, but they are a good starting point, and running these numbers with your student can have a very positive impact on their expectations. From there, you can also use Net Price Calculators for schools that your student is interested in. Again, these are estimates of what you’ll have to pay, but having these numbers will help you make sure you are on the right path. Here are examples from the University of Florida (Go Gators!) and the University of Southern California. Just Google the name of the school you are interested in, and Net Price Calculator, and it should take you right there.
Bonus Tip!: There are some great Facebook groups that you can follow to learn from others who have gone before you. A few favorites: Paying for College 101, Paying for College for High-Income Families 101, College Admissions Advice for Awesomely Average Kids, and, of course, Future Finders LLC.
The fact is that paying for college CAN be realistic for just about any family. It just requires that you get an early start on the process, stay realistic about colleges you pursue, and educate yourself about the process and your family’s position in it. Following these easy tips will allow the process of paying for college to be one that brings your family closer together, and gives your student a valuable lesson in the economics of the real world.
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