Are Refund Checks Real?

By: Shanice Miller, founder of DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

After one of my last posts, I've been getting a lot of questions about college refund checks. One of the most common questions that I received was, "Can you really get refund checks back from the college? Is that really true?" The answer is yes.

What do you think happens when you get more money than it costs to attend college? It's just like when you overpay a bill. Or like when you purchase something that costs $5 and you only have a $20 bill. The store does not get to keep the difference. You get the change back. The same applies when you go to college and get more money than what it costs to attend. You get the change back. With college, the "change" that you would get from that $20 bill is in the form of a refund check.

The college will give you refund checks when you get more money than what it costs to attend college. No, I don't mean have your grandparents or parents make a bigger payment than what you need, of course that will work too, but that defeats the purpose. You get more money than what the college costs by winning scholarships.

Parents, Are You To BLAME For Student Loan Debt???

Student loan debt is getting out of control!

According to the Wall Street Journal, "Americans are borrowing more to pay for college." By the beginning of 2012, Americans owed $904 BILLION in student loan debt which is an 8% increase from just last year. So who is to blame for all of this student loan debt?

Are colleges to blame for this excessive student loan debt?

With rising tuition and fees which cause the students to borrow more just so they can stay in college and get a degree to hopefully get a "good" job when they graduate, it is a possibility.

Or is it the government's fault for all of this student loan debt?

The government should be increasing the amount of grants given to students to help balance out and help the students keep up with the increasing college costs, right?

Actually, the PARENTS are to blame for student loan debt!

When I was in college, I encountered too many students who chose the college they attended just because their friends were going there or the campus looked nice or "it was far away from home." The truth of the matter is soon-to-be college students don't really take into consideration the cost of the college. At that age, they are just so excited to go and are only thinking with their emotions. The mounting student loan debt that they sign up for each year isn't quite real yet. It just seems like another form that they have to fill out in order to take college classes. It doesn't get "real" until Sallie Mae sends them a paper in the mail stating that their first student loan payment will be due 6 months after graduation and by that time it is too late. They have acquired $30,000 or $60,000 or even $120,000 in student loan debt (not including interest) and don't know where they are going to get the money to pay it back with the entry-level positions that they have accepted.

Parents, you HAVE to be the ones to think logically in this situation. Sit down with your soon-to-be-college student and have them understand the cost of attending the college they want to go to. Compare it to the costs of some of the other colleges that they were accepted into as well. Have your child understand that the cost of attending the college is for each year, not the entire 4 years. So if you have to take out student loans in the amount of $15,000 this year, you need to multiply that by 4 (at the very least) so their total student loan debt will be $60,000 that they will have to pay back, not just $15,000. Even tell them how much the monthly payments will be that they will have to pay back so they understand and are aware. Parents, you MUST get your child to think about the future, not just the present. Right now, they are just signing a paper. But in the future, that signature is going to cost them more than they ever imagined.

By: Shanice Miller, Founder of DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

Can You Go To College For FREE?

Over the years, a lot of people have asked me, "How can I get free money for college?"

My reply: "It's simple to get free money for college."

You can get free money for college using one of two methods. Either you can win and receive scholarships or join the military. I chose to get free money for college by using the scholarship method, but for some people the military might be best.

I have a few friends who decided to go the military route to get free money for college, but even within the military route, you have different choices.

Military Option to Get Free Money for College #1:

I had one friend who wanted to go to Columbia Law School. She received a full scholarship for her undergraduate studies but had to take out loans for her law school education. When she graduated, she realized just how much money in student loans that she took out and enlisted in the military. The military is giving her free money for college by paying back all of her student loans for her in exchange for her agreeing to practice law in the military and she loves it. It was a guaranteed job that she got. She didn't have to worry about going on interviews or applying for positions or having to pay back her loans.

Military Option to Get Free Money for College #2:

I went to school with one person who was already enrolled in the military and he wanted to become a dentist. Since he was already enrolled, they paid for his school and gave him a stipend each month, but he had to commit to serving in the military for a certain amount of time after he graduated. (Also, the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD has a similar program for people that want to become medical doctors. Here, you can get free tuition and a starting salary of $65,000 while you are attending classes, but you have to commit to being in the military for 7 years after you finish your residency).

Military Option to Get Free Money for College #3:

There are military schools (for example, the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD) where they pay for your tuition, room, and board plus you get a monthly stipend just for attending the military school. Once again, you have to commit to serving a specified amount of years after graduation in the military.
For some people, the trade off is worth it--- sign up for 4 or 7 years or more in exchange of avoiding $100,000 or $250,000 or more in debt. Do you think it's worth it? Leave your comment in the box below.

For more information on going to college for free, visit: http://www.debtfreecollegegrad.com

By: Shanice Miller, Founder of DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

Are You Like the Brady Bunch With More Than One Child Going To College At The Same Time?

Maybe you are like the Brady Bunch. With six kids, the Brady Bunch was bound to have at least two, if not more, kids in college at the same time. I wonder how the parents in the Brady Bunch coped with having to pay for two kids in college, while at the same time still having to pay for the four younger siblings as well. The costs can really start to add up especially when you have to pay for more than one kid in college at the same time. Luckily for the Brady Bunch, I think the oldest children were only in high school, but they were bound to go off to college some day.

Or maybe you aren't like the Brady Bunch and only have two kids, but they are close in age: like only a year or two apart. Or could you imagine having three or more kids all a year apart in age? Or maybe you have twins. They will definitely be going to college at the same time.

Families--- whether big, like the Brady Bunch, or small--- can end up with the same question if they have kids that are close in age: How will I be able to afford to pay for my children's college costs at the same time?

Well parents, you can get some help if you have two kids in college at the same time. If you apply for financial aid and show that you have two kids in college at the same time, you can get a break. For example, say you have only one child attending college. Your household income is $150,000 and you have assets totaling $500,000. With just one child in college, the way that the formulas are constructed, it says that you can afford to spend $50,000 (hypothetically speaking). So with one child attending a $40,000 school, you wouldn't get any financial assistance. BUT, if you have two kids in college at the same time, you would get $30,000 in financial aid versus getting $0 in financial aid.

So what should you do if your kids aren't twins and don't enter at the same time? If your kids are one, two, or three years apart, you might want to ask the oldest child to take a year off after high school so that your children can be in college at the same time (or so that you can at least have a few of their college years overlap).

If you have a question pertaining to college and paying for college, feel free to contact me at: shanicemiller1@gmail.com

By: Shanice Miller, Founder DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

High Income Parents CAN Qualify for Need-Based Financial Aid

One of the biggest MYTHS is that students that have parents with high incomes (high incomes referring to parents making $80,000 or $100,000 or more!) cannot receive financial aid.

There are parents all over that do NOT fill out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) because either 1) they think they won't qualify for financial aid because they make too much (or have a lot of assets) or 2) they filled out financial aid forms before and only qualified for loans. When high income earners don't know the "loop holes" that you can use when filling out your financial aid forms, they will only qualify for loans. Can you see why so many people that earn a lot of money think that it would be a waste of time to fill out financial aid forms? I sure can! It's all because they don't know the rules to the "FAFSA" game.

So GREAT news for Parents that are 6 figure earners: You CAN qualify for need-based financial aid. One of the ways that you can qualify for financial aid is by choosing a college that uses the Section 568 formula. With the Section 568 formula, you can take all of the money sitting in your bank account and pay down or pay off your mortgage. Doing this will help qualify you for need-based financial aid. Whereas, if you would have kept the money just sitting in your bank account, you most likely will have received $0 in need-based financial aid.

One thing to remember, the financial aid forms are always based on the previous year (just like your taxes) so you have to really think about the right time to do these things. For example, if you take all of the money out of your bank account in the beginning of the year, say January 2013, it will not be taken into consideration for your child's financial aid award letter for the 2013-2014 school year because the 2013-2014 financial aid award letter is based on your income and assets from 2012.

To find out more ways how you or your child can graduate college debt free and get financial aid, visit: www.debtfreecollegegrad.com

By: Shanice Miller, founder of DebtFreeCollegeGrad.com

3 Exclusive Tricks to Graduating Debt Free

Everyone dreams of college, but no one thinks about how you will graduate debt free?

Graduating debt free is a BIG problem because high school students don't think about the costs associated with going to college. Although children and students don't take the cost of attending college into consideration and don't think about graduating debt free when they are first starting college, the parents NEED to. Students are graduating college with enormous amounts of debt. This debt is putting a hardship on children after they graduate, making moving out and purchasing their own homes or cars more and more difficult. These things wouldn't be difficult to obtain if the students would have graduated debt free. So I am going to share with you 3 of my exclusive tricks that I used that helped me graduate college 100% DEBT FREE!

Exclusive Trick to Graduating Debt Free #1: Scholarships

I cannot STRESS this trick enough. Scholarships were the difference between me owing money to the college each semester and me graduating debt free and getting money back from the college. Scholarships essentially helped me graduate debt free. Most people think scholarships are only for people with good grades. That is a BIG MYTH. Merit scholarships, or scholarships for people with good grades, is only ONE type of scholarship that is available for students to apply to to help them graduate debt free. There are a lot of merit scholarships that you can apply for and win, especially for students at the top of their class. However, you may not get the most merit scholarships from the top schools. Some schools may give you more merit aid than others based on how you rank and if they see you as a "desirable student." Colleges will compete to get the best students and they do this by giving the most merit aid (aka giving the student a full-ride scholarship so the student will graduate debt free). There are other types of scholarships besides merit that you can get. Usually these scholarships are based on community service performed, extracurricular activities that you are involved in, intended college major/ career, or any other hobby or interest that your child has. Scholarships played a big part in helping me graduate debt free.

For tips on winning and receiving scholarships for college so that you can graduate debt free visit: http://www.debtfreecollegegrad.com

Exclusive Trick to Graduating Debt Free #2: Community College

Community colleges can really help you graduate debt free. Community colleges usually get a stigma of being the place that students don't really want to go or think about when they are picking a college to attend. People think community colleges are for students who don't have good enough grades to get accepted into a 4 year university. They call it the "dumb school" or the "13th grade." That can be further from the truth. If you think you are going to get an easy "A," you're wrong. I went to a 4 year university my first semester, then decided to switch my major. When I spoke to my adviser about my new major, she couldn't offer me any advice besides "students that pick that major usually switch to a different college." So that's what I did, I switched. I applied to another university, but they were taking too long to get back to me. The beginning of the new semester was nearing and classes were filling up quickly. I didn't want to waste a semester not doing anything so I signed up at the community college. To my surprise, a lot of my professors at the community college were either doctors or the same professors that taught at the 4 year university that I wanted to attend. They definitely graded me the same that they would grade the other students in their courses at the 4 year schools.
Now that those stigmas and myths are out of the way, my exclusive trick to graduating debt free #2 is to go to a community college. Community colleges are very inexpensive to attend in comparison to in-state or out of state colleges and universities. If you start off at a community college first, you will save a lot of money on room and board (by commuting to school and staying at home with your parents) and on tuition costs (since tuition at community colleges are about half the price of in-state colleges). Saving this money can help you graduate debt free. After you spend your first 2 years there, getting the basic courses out of the way, you can transfer to your desired 4 year college.

Exclusive Trick to Graduating Debt Free #3: In-state Colleges

Attending a college that is in the same state as your residence is usually cheaper than attending a college that isn't in the same state as your residence. Saving money here can also help you graduate debt free. If you are planning to move to a different state when your child is in high school (maybe you are moving because there are better state schools in another state) you should check out the college's rules for being considered a resident of the state. Some colleges will ask if you have been a resident of the state for the past 12 months in order for you to qualify for in-state tuition.
I used these 3 tricks (along with a few others) to graduate college debt free. Let me know (in the comment box) some things that you would do to cut college costs so that you (or your child) can graduate debt free.

By: Shanice Miller, founder of debtfreecollegegrad.com