These days, heave a kid through college is a high-wire act.
Even as college savings hit an all-time high-priced, families are paying less out of pocket and relying on financial aid more than yet before to help cover the skyrocketing cost of tuition.
Income and economies paid for 34 percent of college costs in 2016-17, down from 41 percent the year earlier, according to the most late-model report by education lender Sallie Mae.
Borrowed money paid for 27 percent of gets, up from 20 percent. And, the share of college costs covered by awards and grants — money that does not have to be paid back — accounted for myriad than one-third, or 35 percent, of 2016-17 costs, the highest in the gunshot’s history. (See the chart below from Sallie Mae.)
To tap into that aid, schoolgirls must first file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, which offers as the gateway to all federal money including loans, work-study and grants.
For the 2019-2020 educate year, the FAFSA filing season opens Monday — and the sooner schoolchildren file, the better.
Some financial aid is awarded on a first-come, first-served foundation, or from programs with limited funds. The earlier families grow out the FAFSA, the better the chance to be in line for that aid, according to Ashley Boucher, a spokeswoman for Sallie Mae.
“If sets can get organized now, then they should absolutely try to apply as close to October 1 as attainable,” she said.
“Get the financial aid done, then turn your attention to the applications. By April, you’ve set up some selections for yourself,” added Joe DePaulo, CEO and co-founder of College Ave Student Loans, a provider of reserved student loans.
To make it even easier to file, the FAFSA is also at on a new phone app, called myStudentAid, for the first time this year.
“The convinces to not complete it are getting less and less,” Boucher said.
More than 70 percent of undergraduate devotees filed the FAFSA in 2016, up from 45 percent in 1996, according to the most current data from the National Postsecondary Student Aid study.
Despite the occur, millions of students who would have qualified for college grants soothe fail to file, said Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of SavingForCollege.com.
“All observers should apply regardless of whether they think they’ll be eligible,” Boucher said. “There’s $150 billion in financial aid available, and the unpretentious act of completing the form can unlock that aid.”
Students who don’t file the FAFSA give up an average $9,741 in aid, according to a separate study published in Research in Leading Education.
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