{"id":29887,"date":"2020-05-03T12:59:46","date_gmt":"2020-05-03T17:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/blog\/prep\/?p=29887"},"modified":"2020-09-11T20:39:55","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T20:39:55","slug":"top-tips-college-financial-planning-during-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/pre-college\/top-tips-college-financial-planning-during-high-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Tips for College Financial Planning During High School"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As your child enters high school, you\u2019ve undoubtedly started to think about the costs of college. Figuring out how exactly to pay for college and navigate the financial aid system can be overwhelming, but you don\u2019t have to do it alone.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Keep reading for our top tips on how to take stock of your finances and involve your child in financial conversations early on in high school.\u00a0<\/span><br \/>\n[ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kaptest.com\/study\/college-prep\/college-admissions-the-complete-guide-to-fafsa-and-financial-aid\/\"><b>GOOD TO KNOW:\u00a0<\/b>The Ultimate Guide to FAFSA and Financial Aid<\/a> ]<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-0  el_before_av_heading  avia-builder-el-first  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >college financial planning tip 1: talk to an accountant<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The early high school years are the perfect time to speak to an accountant or financial advisor to avoid financial moves that could unexpectedly impact your aid. Considerations including the following can have meaningful consequences:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In whose name an asset is held (parent, student, or other relatives)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When distributions are received from a 529 plan outside of the immediate family<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Income fluctuations year to year (from employment or investments)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your home equity<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Be wary of schemes that promise to help you hide your assets or reduce your EFC through complex or drastic financial maneuvers. Even setting aside the ethical implications, it will be a better use of your time to focus on finding affordable colleges that will be generous with families like yours rather than to try to game a complex system to eke out a few thousand dollars.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example, lawmakers and college officials are alert to a scam where parents give up guardianship of their high school-aged children to render them independent students without assets. Some colleges have even said they will not provide financial aid to students they determine have used such dubious approaches to obtain financial aid for which they are otherwise ineligible.<\/span><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-1  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >college financial planning tip 2: Involve Your Child in the Financial Discussion<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nPaying for college is often best approached as a family endeavor, and the first couple of years of high school aren\u2019t too early to begin the conversation.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This may be one of the first times you have frank discussions about finances with your child about what is and is not affordable. Some parents make it clear to children that their college choice will depend on whichever school will cost the least. Other parents present more of a cost-benefit analysis\u2014for example, explaining to the student that they could also afford a car if she chooses the less costly option of a four-year public college over a private college. Some parents encourage their child to work full-time in the summer to earn a certain amount in order to make college work financially. Perhaps you <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">could<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> pay for college in full, but you want your child to have some financial responsibility, so you expect them to contribute a certain amount or take a small loan (even if it\u2019s from you, interest-free).<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">These are difficult conversations to have because many high school students are not longterm planners and don\u2019t generally have extensive experience with these financial concepts. Here are some of the discussion topics you should introduce early with your child.<\/span><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >college financial planning tip 3: think like a consumer<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nThe financial aid system is complicated\u2014that is in part because colleges and universities are trying to allocate their dollars fairly so that families can afford their education. But it\u2019s also because colleges and universities have their own business considerations to keep in mind. Different students are asked to pay different prices so that colleges can maximize their revenue while admitting a diverse class.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of demographic, economic, and other trends, many colleges are having difficulties with their business model. You may have seen news stories about small colleges shuttering their doors because their enrollments were down and they could no longer make it work. As a result, competition for students is getting more intense. Colleges need and want you to say yes! This is why net prices are not actually growing as fast as the published prices. There is often more \u201cdiscounting\u201d available.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Families should act like consumers in the college process and know that they have buying power. In other words, while you\u2019re applying to get in, you should also be aware that you\u2019re offering something to the college that they want and need. When you are empowered with that information you\u2019ll be able to find the school that will offer the best value.<\/span><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-3  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_heading  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >college financial planning tip 4: talk about who pays for college<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nAs with most everything, who pays for college and how much they pay varies family to family and household to household. Though there is no right answer for how you and your family should divide the cost of school, you may be interested in some of the available data to give you an idea of trends happening across the United States.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A recent study by Sallie Mae, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">How America Pays for College (2019)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, surveyed college-going students and their families and found the following:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">43% of college costs were covered by family savings and income (34% from parents\u2019 income and savings, and 13% from students\u2019).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Both parents and students borrowed money to cover education costs. On average, parents borrowed 10% of the total amount due while students borrowed 14%.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">28% of the cost of college was covered by scholarships and grants won by the student.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The final 2% was covered by relatives and friends.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">According to the same study, 39% of families say parents made the decision on their own and 24% say students made the decision on their own. Thirty percent of families make the decision together. Parents tend to be more confident in their financial planning choices (84%) than students (78%).<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Of course, the numbers in this study show trends, not requirements \u2013 a good conversation starter about how to cover the cost of school.<\/span><br \/>\n<div  style='padding-bottom:10px; ' class='av-special-heading av-special-heading-h3    avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_promobox  '><h3 class='av-special-heading-tag '  itemprop=\"headline\"  >college financial planning tip 5: discuss the value of a college education<\/h3><div class='special-heading-border'><div class='special-heading-inner-border' ><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\nOf course, choosing a college is a big decision, one that encompasses not only a family\u2019s finances but also your student\u2019s and your collective values and future goals. College is where critical reasoning and life skills are developed, career paths are forged, and lifelong friendships established.<br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">But given that it\u2019s such a big financial decision, one that could either lead to a great return on investment or a long-term struggle with student loan debt, families will want to approach the college decision in as level-headed a manner as possible.<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For now, get your child acquainted with the concept of \u201creturn on investment.\u201d A higher cost requires a higher gain to achieve the same ROI as a lower-cost investment. Getting a college education leads to higher earnings and lower unemployment rates in the long-term. It also provides many other benefits that may be less tangible and whose value is specific to the student\u2014factors like campus culture, diversity, and opportunities for extracurriculars or professional development. Encourage your student to start thinking about what\u2019s most important to your family in the college decision.<\/span><br \/>\n\t<div   class='av_promobox  avia-button-no   avia-builder-el-5  el_after_av_heading  el_before_av_sidebar '>\t\t<div class='avia-promocontent'><p>\n<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sabrina Manville and Nick Ducoff are the co-founders of\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edmit.me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Edmit<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, which helps families make great financial decisions about college. This post was excerpted from their book,\u00a0<\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Better-Off-After-College-Paying-ebook\/dp\/B0817BTSH9\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Better Off After College: A Guide to Paying for College With More Aid and Less Debt<\/span><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As your child enters high school, you\u2019ve undoubtedly started to think about the costs of college. Figuring out how exactly to pay for college and navigate the financial aid system can be overwhelming, but you don\u2019t have to do it alone.\u00a0 Keep reading for our top tips on how to take stock of your finances [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29888,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[129],"tags":[154,152,155],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33803,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29887\/revisions\/33803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpapp.kaptest.com\/study\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}