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After high school, many of us look to college as the gateway to better, higher-paying careers.
In fact, in some cases, it’s pretty much mandatory if you want to get ahead and build
yourself a better future.
And since colleges know this, they get away with a lot, and it makes me kinda mad!
Despite them promising this brighter future for their students upon graduation, they certainly
are not helping those same students afford to attend, and in some cases, they are being
outright shady about it.
From the absurd cost of textbooks, which could be nearly eliminated if colleges instead opted
to use open-source material, to hidden expenses like housing, parking, transportation, food,
and supplies which add tens of thousands of dollars to the overall college cost, to tuition
prices, which have more than doubled in the last 40 years.
All of this combined equals....well, students being really broke.
But of course, there’s many sources of financial support to help those who can’t afford college
costs pay for their learning expenses.
These include scholarships, institutional aid from the college itself, and financial
aid from the government..
Sounds great, right?
Well, this is where colleges have been found to be a little more than sneaky.
As demand has increased, financial aid programs have been increasing over the years, providing
more than $160.7 billion to help students pay for college.
However, many researchers believe that this increase may actually be prompting colleges
to raise their tuition prices, ultimately negating the help that financial aid provides.
And, even though the vast number of colleges available to prospective students should lead
to more competitive prices, colleges seem to be able to charge as much as they want.
One reason for this is that they don’t leave much time for comparison shopping.
While most students get at least some financial aid, they typically won’t know just how
much until the college accepts them.
This means that they won’t know how much they’ll have to pay out of pocket or through
loans until then.
And the loans they offer can be really dangerous.
One popular for-profit college shut down after it was accused of illegally collecting high-interest
private loans that it marketed to its students.
Your financial aid package may also change over time.
Some schools “front-load” the financial aid to attract freshmen, but then decrease
it after the first year or include grants or scholarships that aren’t renewable every
year.,
But it turns out that college tuition and financial aid packages aren’t set in stone.
You can negotiate with the financial aid office to lower their prices, get a tuition discount,
or ask for more financial aid.
Not a lot of people know this!
Doing this, you may be able to lower the cost by 5 to 15 percent, which can save you thousands
of dollars.
Ultimately, the amount that you earn after college, made possible by a degree, is supposed
to make up for the expense.
While most non-profit schools offer this return in investment, that is not always the case,
especially with for-profit schools.
Some of these have been accused of defrauding their students through false marketing and
providing a poor quality education.
This leaves students in lots of debt without the ability to get the job required to be
able to pay it off.
A report published in 2020 found that only 49% of for-profit schools deliver enough financial
gain to offset their costs, compared to 94% of public and 86% of private non-profit colleges.,
But while you will most likely be able to pay off your college debt over time, no one
wants to be in debt, especially since the average amount of student loan debt per borrower
was $37,500 in 2020.
Luckily, you can also seek financial aid help from outside sources, such as Mos
Finding college funding is a complicated, time consuming process.
There are thousands of grants and scholarships that are hard-to-find, have varying eligibility
criteria, confusing applications, and fluctuating deadlines.
The FASFA application for student financial aid alone consists of over 100 questions and
one study found that over 800,000 students didn’t complete the application, resulting
in $2.9 billion of available financial aid going unused.
In addition, surveys have found that students don't receive enough communication from their
financial aid office, which can lead to further confusion and application errors.
So, sometimes they lie to you and other times they just don't do anything at all.
Look, all these practices suck.
Sorry for the potty mouth!
They’re meant to confuse you, keep you broke, and they often leave you feeling hopeless.
Again, colleges know you most likely need school, and they’re going to take advantage
of that.
Being aware of the shady practices can help you navigate this “post high school” world
a little better.
I love learning and the idea of higher education.
What I don’t love is students being duped.
So, are you planning on going to college?
What are you studying? and are you excited?
Nervous?
Let's talk about it in the comment section below.
Our friends over at Mos, who sponsored this video, are giving students the ability to
hack through those annoying practices and claim more of that financial aid money that
metaphorically gets lit on fire every year.
They’re a banking product built to help students AVOID debt by giving them access
to the LARGEST scholarship pool in America, by matching them with all the financial aid
they qualify for, and helping them to negotiate with their college for more money.
Their customizable debit card comes with no overdraft fees, minimum balance requirements,
or late fees, AND an easy to use, feature packed app that lets you set up direct deposit
in minutes!
If you’re struggling with finding money for school, or you might be soon, check out
Mos by clicking the first link in the description.
Thank you for supporting their great cause, which in turn supports life noggin, and thank
you to Mos for making this video possible!
As always, my name is Blocko, this has been Life Noggin, don’t forget to keep on thinking!