FAP653: College tuition hikes again, conferences, Matthew Ebel

Student Financial Aid News
+ Chronicle: Financial aid to college students has increased by 82 percent over the past decade but still falls short of covering the average price of a college education, as the cost of attending the nation’s public universities has continued to outpace inflation, family income, and sources of grant aid, according to two new surveys from the College Board.
+ More than $130-billion in grants, federal loans, Work-Study funds, and education tax credits and deductions was distributed to undergraduate and graduate students in the 2006-7 academic year, one of the surveys found, while students borrowed an additional $18-billion from state and private lenders to pay for their education.
+ But aid from the federal government, though still a major source of financial assistance for many students, is not keeping pace with rising costs, according to a report on the survey, “Trends in Student Aid.”
+ Federally subsidized Stafford loans, in which the government pays the interest on a loan while the student is in school, accounted for less than a third of total student aid in 2006-7, down from 54 percent 10 years ago.
+ Pell Grants, which provide need-based assistance to low-income students, covered 32 percent of tuition, fees, and room and board costs at the average public four-year college, down from covering 54 percent of such costs 20 years ago.
+ And federal loans altogether made up less than half of all undergraduate aid in an increasingly complex web of financing options, the survey found.
+ Private student loans, by contrast, now represent nearly a quarter of all education loans, up from 6 percent a decade ago, the survey found.
+ While students at community colleges received 34 percent of all Pell Grant dollars in the 2005-6 academic year, they received 9 percent of all assistance from the federal campus-based aid programs, 7 percent of subsidized Stafford loans, 6 percent of unsubsidized Stafford loans, and 1 percent of all federal PLUS loans (for parents), the survey found.
+ The survey on college pricing, meanwhile, found that the average cost of a college education rose faster than the inflation rate this year, particularly at public four-year institutions. In-state tuition and fees at public four-year institutions during the 2007-8 academic year increased 6.6 percent from 2006-7, the survey found, while the price for out-of-state students rose 5.5 percent.
+ In dollar amounts, those increases meant that the average cost of tuition and fees for in-state students was $6,185, or $381 more than last year, the survey found. For out-of-state students, it was $16,640, or $862 more than the 2006-07 figure.
+ At private four-year institutions, tuition and fees increased 6.3 percent from last year, with the average cost of tuition and fees reaching $23,712, or $1,404 more than last year.
+ Public two-year institutions posted a 4.2-percent increase from last year’s amount, averaging $2,361, or $95 more than last year.
+ The increase in tuition and fees this year at the nation’s four-year public colleges was in keeping with a trend that has persisted for three decades, according to the survey. From 1977-78 to 2007-8, the rate of growth in the price at such institutions has been faster than at private institutions, and the dollar gap between the cost of tuition at the two types of institutions “widens every year even after adjusting for inflation,” the survey found.

Scholarship Update
+ The John F. And Anna Lee Stacey Scholarship Fund For Art Education
+ In accordance with the will of the late Anna Lee Stacey, a trust fund has been created for the education of young men and women who aim to make art their profession.
+ open to United States citizens only, both men and women, single or married, irrespective of race creed or color. The age limit is between 18 and 35 years. Appointments will normally be for one year and the amount available for distribution will approximate $5,000.00. At the discretion of the Committee, this may be awarded in quarterly installments to one or more applicants.
+ Application period opens November 1
+ Details at our free college scholarship search site

Jobcast
+ Reviewing how to make the most of conferences
+ Business cards are a must
+ Understand your personal brand
+ You know when, what I do
+ Watch Mitch Joel live at PodCamp Boston
+ Take a picture or make notes on cards you receive
+ Don’t categorize attendee lists in advance – okay to set goals, but also expect surprises
+ Define a goal for what you want to get out of the conference
+ Participate in online communities before the conference and create your own working group

Podsafe Music
+ Matthew Ebel, Lost My Way
+ From the album Goodbye Planet Earth

Reminders

+ Financial Aid Podcast Show Notes at FinancialAidNews.com.
+ Discuss this episode at the Financial Aid Forum!
+ Private student loans
+ Stafford loans | Other federal student loans
+ Student loan consolidation at StudentLoanConsolidator.com
+ FAFSA tutorials and free help
+ The Financial Aid Podcast is a publication of the Student Loan Network.

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