003. A Framework For Affording College with Scholarships and Financial Aid

Paying for college is a patchwork quilt approach – a tightly integrated matrix of funding sources to address most, if not all, known college costs. Learn about what options are available for your family to help your college-bound teenager afford a path to their brightest future.

A Framework for Affording College With Scholarships & Financial Aid 

In this episode we’ll talk about… 

  • The difference between merit and need-based financial aid
  • Types of family financial profiles
  • A comprehensive framework for affording college
  • Strategic tips for applying to scholarships

This is the second half of our two-part series on college finances! We’re joined again by Raymond Van Buskirk, the Financial Expert at Bright Futures Consulting, to walk us through the important details on financial aid opportunities and eliminate the “I wish I would have known”.  

Listen to the episode here.

For the blog version of this episode, click here

[02:43] The difference between merit and need-based financial aid

[06:33] Subsidized versus unsubsidized loans

[08:26] Should families consider both merit- and need-based aid?

[09:27] The difference between scholarships and financial aid

[11:23] Types of family financial profiles

[19:30] A framework for paying for college

[21:20] Responsibly approaching student loans

[26:48] Tax strategies

[30:10] Types of scholarships

[31:31] Save on tuition by saving time with dual-credit or AP courses

[32:48] Tips for applying for scholarships!

[37:43] Asking family for financial assistance

Self-Accepted Homework

We can’t talk about college admissions and transitions without giving you homework. In this episode, Dr. Beth Dennard gives you these tasks:

Related Articles, Resources, & Content

The 27 types of family financial profiles consist of 3 levels (high, medium, and low) on each of these dimensions. Use the chart below to begin to begin to determine your family financial profile: 

  1. Does your student have a strong record of performance academically and/or do they have a unique or special talent? 
  2. Do you have funds outside retirement, investment properties, CDs? 
  3. It’s hard to assign actual income brackets here because there are a number of factors at play. For example, if your income is over $150,000, but have 2 children in college at the same time, you might actually be considered medium or low. 
Academic Assets Income
High 
Medium
Low

[elementor-template id=”5290″]