Ask Coach Taylor? – How Do I Secure Financial Aid?
February 17th, 2010 - byCoach Taylor – Your blog talks a lot about Financial Aid and its availability, but how do I get started securing Financial aid for my student-athletes?
Fantastic question. Unfortunately I am not the best person at NCSA to answer this question. I am going to turn things over to NCSA’s financial expert, Bob Shriner.
Maximizing your financial aid award package is a top priority for countless high school students and their families. The difficult part is learning some tips for how to go about accomplishing this. Remember, you want to think of this as a business; the more revenue streams you can tap into, the more likely you are to receive a positive end result.
Here are some places to check when looking for scholarship and grant opportunities outside of what the college or university is offering.
- Websites such as collegeboard.com and fastweb.com.
- Community Groups such as the Kiwanis Club, Lions Club, or Rotary Club.
- Parents’ employers (Some companies provide grant opportunities for their employees’ children).
- Local alumni chapters of the college you will be attending.
- Local bank managers. They will most likely know what local funds are established that you may be able to apply for.
Families will also want to be prepared to ask schools three important questions to help determine how affordable each college may actually end up being. Keep these three questions in mind when speaking to any financial aid office at a college or university.
* 1) What percent of a student’s need will you fund?
This will tell you how much of your need you can expect to have covered by the school when you receive your financial aid award package.
* 2) Does your school stack monies?
If a school does stack funding this means you will be able to add additional forms of financial aid from outside sources on top of what the school has already offered you. The benefit of stacking reveals itself when you can add additional aid to the point where your financial award exceeds your need exhibited. This means your out-of-pocket expenses are being cut.
If a school does not stack funding, they will replace funding. In this situation a school will look to fund only up to the need you exhibit at that school. Any outside financial aid awards will simply replace other awards you would receive from the school. In this case you will not be able to benefit as much with a decrease in out-of-pocket expenses.
* 3) What is your funding breakdown (packaging policy)?
This asks the school to let you know how much funding you can expect to be provided from grants, loans, and work study.
An Example:
School A:
Cost: $30,000
EFC: $10,000 (Need: $20,000)
Funds up to: 100% of need
Funding Breakdown: 50% Grants, 30% Loans, 20% Work Study
Anticipated award in grant money: $10,000
School B:
Cost: $30,000
EFC: $10,000 (Need: $20,000)
Funds up to: 100% of need
Funding Breakdown: 80% Grants, 10% Loans, 10% Work Study
Anticipated award in grant money: $16,000
In this example, you can see, although the sticker price of each school is equal, you can expect to receive a much different amount of grant monies from each of these schools.
Some of this information can also be found by looking on princetonreview.com to learn more about the statistics and data for the colleges you are in contact with. By asking these questions, you will be able to learn valuable information from schools that will help you evaluate each school based on how affordable it will actually be for you. This will take you one step closer to finding the right fit academically, athletically, and financially.
Send your recruiting questions to askcoachtaylor@ncsasports.org
If you would like to speak with a NCSA Recruiting Coordinator about your personal recruiting situation, call 866-579-6272.
