At a recent financial aid workshop held at Western Hills Middle School, many students and their families gathered in the auditorium, listening to a panel of guest speakers who were on hand to help them decipher the ins and outs of applying for and securing financial aid for their students' post-secondary education.

Each panelist spoke for approximately 10 minutes on a different aspect of the process and a question and answer session took place at the end for any clarifying questions.

Noel Simpson, Deputy Director and CFO of the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA) gave some tips about educating oneself when it comes to borrowing money for education.

“There are several tips and principles before you borrow that are appropriate in borrowing any amount, either for your home or your car, it’s the same types of principles,” he said. “We’ve heard horror stories of folks who have borrowed too much money. They graduate with a degree and borrowed $100,000 but only are making $30,000. There are some decisions they could’ve made to lessen the amount that they borrowed and take advantage of some of the financial aid programs available at the federal level, at the colleges and at private institutions across the country. It is critical for you all to think very wisely about that and only borrow what is absolutely necessary to pay for your education.”

He reminded the audience to remember that when in school many times interest on loans is going to accrue and to consider what their career goals are and what the potential income levels are for those types of careers. He encouraged students to think before borrowing about their post-graduation goals such as travel or buying a home, and how their debt will impact or impede their ability to fulfill those types of goals.

“Always consider the free money first because that is the money that does not have to be paid back,” he said. “There are federal direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans and there are loan limits to how much you can borrow early on and in total and limits are different depending on whether a student is dependent or an independent student. With subsidized loans the interest while you are in school will be paid for by the government. With unsubsidized loans you will need to pay for the interest when you leave school. There is also a Parent Plus loan that is available to parents to help pay for the amount of unmet need that you’ll need to pay for college. There are also private loans and state-based loans.”

 He noted RISLA is a state agency that provides not only the college planning center but also has loan programs for both students and parents with competitive rates.

Simpson introduced Stacy Crooks of the College Planning Center, who discussed what the center does and how it can help parents beginning as early as sophomore year.

“We talk about the college search, the admissions process, SATs, where to start, and filling out the common application,” Crooks said. “Then October 1 comes the financial aid season starts. We fill out any forms with you that you need for your college applications. We will fill out the FAFSA form and the CSS profile form which get sent to the colleges and the colleges will generate a financial aid award letter. Those award letters come directly from the colleges your child gets accepted to.”

Crooks said families are welcomed back to the college planning center to help decipher their letters to determine the best deals, which colleges are giving them the best money and will explain what types of loans are available to help. Families are welcome to come all the way through college to continue to update their financial aid plans as the years go on.

She emphasized the importance of knowing all of the financial aid deadlines for all of the schools a student is applying to and she explained how schools use a family’s Expected Family Contribution (EFC) number to determine their own financial aid packages, subtracting the EFC from their own costs to determine a family’s “need,” even though the family may actually need more money than that to cover costs.

“There is always a gap, you never get 100 percent funding and you are responsible for the EFC and whatever the school doesn’t give you,” she said, noting that the gap can sometimes be filled with grants, work study, scholarships and loans, and encouraged families not to spend their retirement money to fund their child’s education.

Gail Mance-Rios, Deputy Director of the Division of Higher Education Assistance then presented the audience with questions families should be asking about financial aid such as what the requirements are for maintaining grants and scholarships, which might include maintaining participation in a sport or maintaining a particular GPA. A second question mentioned was what level of financial aid a family can expect to see from a school in subsequent years if their own financial situation doesn’t change dramatically. Finding out how the colleges treat outside scholarships, whether to reduce loan amounts, to replace their own funds, or to fill in the gap between financial aid awards and family contributions was another question and how much is the average debt expected at graduation, especially given the projected salary for the degree. She reminded that the parent loans support the students, but is being borrowed by the parents and must be repaid by the parents. She encouraged parents to ask about tuition payment plans which may help families in paying for their tuition without a student loan or as a means of supplementing a student loan.

In regards to whether or not parents should fill out the financial aid forms every year, even if they do not qualify for aid the first year, or think they won’t, Mance-Rios felt that having a baseline form on file, and updating it each year is good to do in case of unexpected changes in a family’s situation which would call for re-assessing their financial need. Some examples of an unexpected change might be parental divorce, loss of a parent, or an unexpected natural disaster such as a hurricane, which changes one’s living situation or financial situation.

She encouraged parents to include their children in the financial conversations and also encouraged students to take as much advantage of dual and concurrent enrollment programs and advanced placement courses in high school for free if they are able, in order to get credit while in high school in order to reduce the cost of college.

Mance-Rios gave a couple of extra tips, letting parents know that colleges charge a health insurance fee, which might be able to be waived if they are covered under their parents’ health insurance. She also told them to look at their homeowners’ insurance policies to see if students’ materials are covered while at college, such as laptops, which are expensive to replace.

Shannon Gallagher is the President of the Rhode Island Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators and a financial aid officer at Brown University. She presented the audience with an overview of the types of aid and the differences between them, such as need-based aid (grants, work study, scholarships and loans) and merit-based aid which is based on one’s admissions application and not on finances. She noted that no two award letters look alike, and encouraged everyone to read each letter received carefully and be sure to understand what types of aid are being given.

“Some schools have their free money broken down separately from the loans, and others lump them all together,” she said.

She also encouraged anyone with special circumstances or changed situations from their most recent tax filing and FAFSA filing to approach the financial aid office with their story.

“If your hours were cut, your job or marital status changed or if you have medical expenses not covered by insurance, those are types of things that qualify for re-assessing your financial aid package,” she said. “Financial aid officers’ best part of their job is when they are able to help families. We may not always be able to help, but we will always try.”

For more information about the College Planning Center of Rhode Island, visit the website at www.risla.com/college-planning-center.