The College Financing Support Center

Every person is unique, but when you face a challenge like financing a college education, you are never alone. Countless others before you have faced the exact same problem and have survived and thrived. The following guide is designed to help you navigate your journey with the best information and resources that helped other survivors when they faced the same challenge.

TSC has scoured the Internet and assembled the links to the very best loan default resources: articles, forums and tools that can help you make better decisions and take action to overcome the range of financial, emotional and other challenges you may face.

As you'll see, we always welcome your ideas and suggestions to make this Guide to College Financing even more helpful to survivors like you.

JUST FOUND OUT 

Survivors Say: Best Resources for Coping with College Finances

• Education Portal: Financing Your Education
  
• Learn Financial Planning: How To Save For College
  
• Students.gov: Pay For Your Education
  

The Big Picture    

Many people have struggled with the problem of how to pay for a college education and have come up with solutions that have worked for them. Tuition costs have been steadily rising and paying for four years of college can amount to a substantial financial burden.

The Center for College Affordability & Productivity

However, as investments go, it can produce some outstanding returns.

About.com: Higher Education Results in Higher Lifetime Income

As you go through four years of college and perhaps on to graduate school, you can expect your financial picture to change, which means your financial plan will have to be adjusted as you go. On graduation, you may have accumulated substantial debt in the form of student loans, which you will now have to think about paying back.

Salllie Mae: College Answer - Repaying Student Loans

For some, their college years and the period immediately following, is a period of financial hardship, but that need not be the case. With careful and realistic planning you can overcome those challenges and emerge with a manageable amount of debt that post-college earnings can soon whittle down.

Online College Blog: 100 Money Saving Financial Calculators for College Students and Parents

Your Survivor Experience

Your overall objective is to graduate from college with as little debt as possible. This will require effort. It’s easy to simply borrow the money to pay your college expenses, but it can take a bit of effort to track down other sources of money.

• About.com: Finding Money For College - Identifying Needs and Resources
• College Finance 101: College Life
• The Smarter Wallet: Paying for College - How to Pay for School on Your Own

Your World

Worries about financing a college education come in three parts. First, before you go, you’re straining to come up with money to pay for it. When you’re there, you have to watch every penny. After you graduate, you have to start thinking about paying back all those student loans. When you think about it, that’s more than a decade of worrying about college finances.

• Baldwin Wallace College: Counseling Services - Depression & Suicide
  
• Pay Check City: Top 10 Stocks for College Grads
• ABA Journal: Emphasis on Money Can Be Source of Depression in Law School

College Finance Myths

• “I can’t afford to go to school.”
  
• "The college with the lowest price will be the most affordable."
• "You can't afford college, or you can't afford the college of your dreams."
• "Strong SAT scores alone will get me admitted in to highly selective colleges."

Information and Recommended Links for Survivors

• American Consumer Credit Counseling: College Advice
• My Money
• Credit Abuse Resistance Education

Types of College Financing

Live Cheaply

Every dollar you save on living expenses is one more dollar you don’t have to earn or borrow. Living cheaply doesn’t automatically mean a poor quality of life.

College Answer Guy: How to Make College Cheaper

You can live cheaper and healthier by cooking your own meals rather than snatching something from a fast food restaurant. A stove and refrigerator, a cookbook or two from a used bookstore, and a couple of pans can have you eating hearty.

Helium: Cooking Inexpensively on a Student Budget

Budgeting

• Bank Rate: Budgeting for College Student
  
• E Campus Tours: Frugal Living - Tips for Surviving on a College Budget

Constant scrimping and saving can get on your nerves. You’re young. You want to have fun and here you are living like a miser. So, to cheer yourself up, you’re tempted to splurge. Then, you end up with even less money than you had before, so you splurge again. With credit card companies practically shoving their cards into every student’s pocket, you have enough splurge potential to put yourself into serious debt. The problem is not getting a student credit card, it’s keeping it under control.

Macleans OnCampus: Universities Make Big Bucks on Student Credit Cards

How do you control the urge to splurge? You don’t. You plan for it. You include treats and entertainment in your budget. The trick is that for every indulgence, something else has to be trimmed a little. Walk instead of taking the bus for a week and you have a tiny boost to your entertainment budget. Here are a few ideas about how to have fun on the cheap.

• Qvisory: Tools For Life - How To Save While Splurging
• Suite101:  College Student Credit Cards

Creating a Support Circle

• Set up your TSC Survivor Profile
• Join support groups of other survivors or set up your own
• Interact and provide updates on your profile or our forums
• Keep in touch with Mom and Dad. Don’t forget your e-mails or phone calls mean a lot to some people

Insurance & Work Matters

Insurance Matters

Welcome to Mom and Dad’s world. Up till now you may have never had to think about insurance – other than car insurance. Now you may be moving out on your own for the first time in your life, and a lot of responsibilities, insurance included, are being dumped in your lap.

Student Finance Domain: Student Insurance for College Students

So, what kind of insurance do you need? The truth is, you may not need much. You may still be covered under your parents’ policies as long as you use their home as your permanent address. Have them read over their policy to see what coverage it extends to college students. You should also call up the agent. Have him spell out the details. Whatever your parents’ policy doesn’t cover, will be something you’ll have to provide on your own. For instance, some policies will cover you if you live in a dorm, but not if you’re living off-campus.

Insurance Compared: Student Insurance Explained 

Health insurance is the most important type of insurance to carry. The college you’re attending may offer some type of student health or injury insurance. Before buying coverage on your own, check to see what kind of plans the university offers. 

About.com: Student Health Insurance Needs

Here’s a guide to some of the types of coverage college students may require.

Delaware  Insurance: A College Student's Guide To Insurance [PDF]

Work Matters

Working may be one of your best options, although balancing work and studies can be a real challenge.

• CNN Money:  Should Your Kid Work in College?
  
• The UWM Post: Working and Going to School Without The Stress
  

Every dollar you earn is worth much more than its face value because it becomes one dollar less you have to borrow. If you consider that borrowed money saddles you with accumulated interest and loan costs, what you save can be substantial.

Family Education: Working Your Way Through College

Start Your Own Student-Run Business

Nation Talk: Student Business Ideas Wanted For National Competition

Health-care Providers Who Can Help

Maintaining good health is vital for your college success. You can’t afford to be missing classes or taking off work because of illness. Mom’s not going to be there to look after you, so you’re going to have to look after yourself. Some medical services may be available at your college, but you may find some answers to medical questions at these sites.

• Medicine.net 
• Web MD

The Emotional Rollercoaster

When you’re away from home for the first time and on your own, you may experience uncertainty and homesickness. On top of that, the stress of meeting academic challenges and perhaps working a job as well can leave you weary and depressed. If you experience periods of depression, you’re part of a significant majority of college students.

• Social Work Today: Depression on College Campuses - The Downside of Higher Education
  
•  American Psychiatric Association: Healthy Minds - College Statistics

Just because it’s relatively common, depression can’t be ignored. If you’re feeling depressed, don’t brush it off. Seek help. The college will probably have services available, or you might try some of these online resources.

Web MD: Online Depression Resources

Books Survivors Recommend

• Paying for College
• Paying for College Without Going Broke 
• The Scholarship Book
• Winning Scholarships for College: an insider’s guide

What Survivors Wish They’d Known

• Those college loans can really build up over four years and it can take a long time to get free of them unless you get a really good job
• I could have saved a lot of money if I’d just stayed away from fast food
• Start looking early if you expect to get a good summer job
• I wish I’d cut up my credit card once I realized I couldn’t handle it
• I didn’t apply for a scholarship, because I didn’t think my grades were good enough. That was a mistake.

Dealing with College Finance: Information and Recommended Links for Co-Survivors

How you can help

• Assist your friend or family member by seeking out sources of college funding that they may be unaware of.
• Encourage them to apply for every grant or scholarship they may qualify for. Don’t let their false modesty cut into a potential source of college funds.
• Help the college student find either part-time work or a summer job.

What to say   

• "There’s no reason why you can’t go to college. Thousands of kids do it every year.”
• “Would you like me to write a reference for you?”
• “It’s not hopeless. You just have to plan carefully.”
  

What not to say   

• “I guess you’re going to have a wild time in college this fall.”
• “What do they teach you in college, anyway?”
• "College, that’s a waste of time. Get a real job.”

Things you can do for a survivor everyday

College finance survivors have a multitude of problems to solve. Everything from dealing with the financing to facing the prospect of living in a new and strange environment far away from home. On top of that they will have plenty of academic work piled on, much more demanding work than they ever had to do in high school.

It puts a lot of stress on a young person. Anything you can do to help ease their feelings of isolation and loneliness will be very much appreciated. Dropping them a card, sending them an e-mail or giving them a phone call can help them feel connected to home. A few dollars for a special treat on a birthday or special holiday can chase away the college blues.  

Build a support network

• Set up your TSC Co-Survivor Profile
• Help the survivor locate reliable sources of financial advice
• Join with others who have gone through the search for college funding. Pooling information can provide a valuable asset for the whole group.

How to help a survivor meet day-to-day challenges

If you’re a college student, make a point of looking up friends and fellow students from your hometown who may be at your school. By connecting with the familiar, both of you may end up feeling a little less lonely. If you have a friend attending another college, send them an occasional e-mail.

Once you’ve completed your college education, you need to take stock of where you stand financially. How much money do you have? What is the total amount of your student loans? How much interest is being added? When will you have to start paying them back, and how much will your payments be? Would it make sense for you to consolidate your loans?

• Sallie Mae: Repaying Your Student Loans
• Loan Advise: Student Loans
• CBS News: Student Loan Payback Strategies

Add your living expenses and you have a rough guide to how much you need to earn. After navigating four years of college finance you should be pretty good at economizing, so here are a few money-saving tips to get you on your way into your post-college life.

E How: How to Handle Your Student Loans After Graduation

If the loan total seems overwhelming, you might consider options that guarantee to forgive part of your loan if you volunteer for certain eligible programs like the Peace Corps.

Scholar Point: Are You Eligible For Student Loan Forgiveness?

Give back

With your experience in putting together the funding for a college education, you can be a big help to students who are just starting out. Look for opportunities to address college bound students in your community, and share your knowledge with friends and acquaintances.

Defaulting on Student Loans

You had a job, but you lost it and now it looks like you won’t be able to meet your next loan payment.

• Say Campus Life: I Can't Repay My Student Loans
• University of Washington: Loan Repayment Basics
• Kiplinger.com: How to Repay Student Loans
  

Student Loan Default

Whatever you do, do not simply stop paying your loan. Get in touch with your lender as soon as possible and explain your circumstance. Here are some ways to deal with the problem:

• About.com: Will Bankruptcy Get Rid of My Student Loans?
• FinAid: Defaulting on Student Loans
  

Declaring bankruptcy may rid you of other financial obligations but it won’t touch your student loan. Meanwhile the interest will be steadily accumulating. Defaulting on a student loan can ruin your credit rating for years to come, interfering with your chances of obtaining other loans, like mortgages or car loans. For any loan you are able to obtain, expect to pay top interest rates.