The advice in this article is provided courtesy of UVA’s Student Financial Services Office.
Financial aid can seem like a mammoth undertaking at first. When should I start saving? What types of scholarships should I look for? How much fiscal aid do I qualify for? And goodness, all the forms!
We understand how daunting it can be, which is why we’ve broken down some financial aid best practices. Read on for some helpful tips that you and your family can use!
Tips for Parents
College planning can be complicated, and parents are often an integral part of that process. While many tasks are things that you can do with your student, there are others that are better to handle yourself.
- 9th Grade
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- Open a 529 college savings plan for your student. You can learn more about the plan (or review yours if you already have one) at virginia529.com.
- 10th Grade
- Attend financial aid information sessions at your student’s high school — make a list of questions ahead of time and take good notes!
- Keep contributing to your 529 plan as much as you can.
- 11th Grade
- Run each school’s Net Price Calculator (NPC) to get a sense for your student’s possible financial aid eligibility (some schools also use the MyinTuition tool). Each school’s NPC should be located on their financial aid page.
- Learn the financial aid philosophy of the schools your student is interested in. Do they meet 100% of demonstrated need? Are there renewal requirements for any of their scholarships? There can be big differences between schools!
- 12th Grade
- For divorced, separated, or never-married parents, make sure that both parents are clear on their obligations, whether by court order or mutual agreement. The cost of paying for college is the responsibility of both biological parents, and schools will determine financial aid based upon ability to pay, not willingness to pay. This may be a difficult conversation for you and your student, but it’s an important one to have before the student decides where to attend.
Tips for Students
While much of college financial planning is more easily handled by parents or families, there are still tasks that students can start to get a leg up on their to-do list.
- 10th Grade
- Start looking at scholarships you could qualify for. An excellent place to start is with UVA’s Student Financial Services’ site, which lets parents and students search for scholarships, tuition benefits, grants and more.
- 11th Grade
- Make a shortlist of your top colleges, taking into account not only price but also which qualities you need in your ideal school, from location to
- 12th Grade
- Complete the FAFSA early! It’s available by October 1 every year, so we recommend starting to organize your documents by Labor Day to be ready in time. You can complete your FAFSA profile after October 1 each year.
Tips for Families
One of the first and most important things to do as a family is to read about the FAFSA from the Federal Student Aid office. It’s never too early to become familiar with what information the form requires. At the same webpage, you can also create an FSA ID.
Students and families can also begin building a spreadsheet of potential colleges and universities together. Record each college’s cost of attendance, required application forms and deadlines, how much their NPC suggests the out-of-pocket amounts might be, and the email addresses and phone numbers for their financial aid office. Some schools require the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA, for example. Find the right balance in your family on how involved parents need to be with their students submitting the required financial aid documents on time.
Senior year is a great time to begin thinking about the practicalities of college applications. The choice of where a student goes is a family decision! Mortgaging your family’s financial future and sacrificing options for younger siblings so that another can go to an unaffordable school is a major and common mistake. A compromise might be that they can apply, and if the financial aid works out, they can consider it. But if it doesn’t work out, that school must be removed from the list. Remember, it’s four years of costs!
For more information and financial aid tips, please visit UVA’s Student Financial Services or the College Compass overview of financial aid at UVA.