Music Sumi Das: Athena Scott is an aspiring song writer, headed to the University of California at Riverside in the fall 2009. Elena Scott: How was school today? Athena Scott: It was good. Sumi Das: For the last year, her mother Elena Scott has been dealing with the financial stresses that most parents of high school seniors face, how to pay for a child's college education. Elena Scott: First I was stressed to figure out which university she will get in. Second I was thinking okay if we don't have the money then we have to have loans and then that will mean that I will have to work over 65 to repay them. Sumi Das: At the end of the 2008, Elena started applying for need-based financial aid. Elena Scott: The application process is long. They have to apply to different schools. It's a huge process. You start probably September and then you will know in April if you're in. Sumi Das: Rick Grisel is the Executive Director of College Buzz and a former admissions officer. He advises high school seniors on the best ways for finding financial aid. He says that Scotts were smart to consider tuition assistance. Rick Grisel: Need-based aid has increased by 82 percent over the last ten years and that means that the funds are there for folks to go out and get. Sumi Das: But he warns endowments vary from school to school, so not every college can give out aid. Rick Grisel: You have many schools out there with smaller endowments who don't necessarily have enormous financial aid budgets and who may be a bit restricted in their need-based aid. Sumi Das: The good news, the Scotts received financial assistance in April. Elena Scott: For UC Riverside it's about 25,000 a year, including housing and transportation, everything, books, it's about 25,000. So far for this year, we got 16,000, which is an incredible amount. Sumi Das: That's 16,000 per year for the next four years, but if you're a family without a plan, Grisel offers these tips. First, apply for FAFSA, otherwise known as the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This is the strategy the Scotts used and Grisel says make sure you apply early. Rick Grisel: The Federal Application for Federal Student Aid also known as FAFSA is released every January 1. And students and families need to submit at the soonest possible after it's available January 1. The longer students and families wait, the more need-based aid is given away and once the pool dries up, it dries up. Sumi Das: FAFSA is run by the Department of Education. The DOE takes into account all of the financials of a particular family from income to assets and comes up with what they call an Expected Family Contribution or EFC. Colleges then take the EFC and create a needs calculation. Now, if you're denied aid from the college of your choice, that's not the end of the story. Grisel recommends writing a letter of special circumstance. Rick Grisel: Writing a letter of special circumstance is simply a way of telling the institution that their needs calculation was erroneous in some way for your particular family. So, go ahead and write a letter of special circumstance that outlines exactly why that needs calculation is off. Sumi Das: Finally Grisel says build a relationship with the admissions and financial aid office. Rick Grisel: Build relationships with admissions officers and financial aid officer wherever possible. These are the folks that will advocate for you and help you get more money if you need it. Sumi Das: For the Scotts they'll still need to pay about $50,000 in student's loan after Athena graduates. But both mother and daughter believe it's an important investment. Elena Scott: I'm hoping she's going to be a very famous singer. She's writing her songs and one day, we're just going to sit down and laugh that we were worried about, you know $50,000. So, that's the good part. Sumi Das: For MoneyWatch.com, I'm Sumi Das.
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