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SAN FRANCISCO COLLEGE DEBT
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College Financial Aid
College financial aid is an integral part of college applications for a lot of San Francisco families as not everybody can afford a college education. That is why most Americans apply for student's financial aid by sending in their FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on January 2 or after. The process of securing educational financial aid in San Francisco, however, not easy and rather complicated. It is not user-friendly at all and that is why a lot of families lose out on a portion of or sometimes all of the aid that they are eligible for.
Sometimes families in San Francisco do not even attempt to apply because they don't know how to or that they should because they wrongly presume that they are not eligible. Some people get easily demoralized by the sheer amount of paperwork that goes into the college financial aid process. The problem is that there are far more qualified people than there are desks in American colleges and universities. Therefore the system works at doing away with all but the most qualified, persistent and knowledgeable applicants.
An alarming state of affairs is brought to our notice by the US Department of Education statistic that most applications for student's financial aid are rejected because of errors and inconsistencies - not eligibility! The grants for college financial aid are given out on a first-come, first-served basis and the applications have a deadline. Therefore by the time a lot of these people apply again the aid is used up or they miss the deadline. This results in losses of thousands of dollars for families.
As this is the scenario a family with one or more college-bound child will have a lot of trouble paying for them as the costs keep rising. Many fall into the error of listening to the advice of only one source of information like guidance counselors, financial aid officers or sometimes even their personal accountants. The problem is that not all these families can avail of the right kind of information that they need.
Guidance departments are facing one of their worst crises ever. There is a massive crunch and sometimes a counselor finds himself saddled with as many as 800 students. That is a truly staggering statistic and paints a grim picture of the current scenario. The result of further reductions in budgets has led to schools delegating even more responsibilities on guidance counselors. They have to take care of matters other than guidance and that leaves them with even less time for their students. In spite of these difficulties guidance counselors do manage to give students advice regarding careers and selection of colleges and courses. However they are often found wanting when it comes to advice about college financial aid they are found wanting. There needs to be more information on aspects of educational financial aid that will help families save thousands of dollars every year.
San Francisco Counselors do not have the time and are short of the qualities and expertise to show families how to reduce their Expected Family Contribution (EFC.) The lower this figure is the better the chances of securing a higher amount of college financial aid. This is the minimum the government settles on as the amount a family will pay for college based on the FAFSA. Also, families need to know legal financial aid strategies and how to avoid a battery of assessments that will cost them dearly to put their child through college.
