If the financial aid you are awarded is not enough to cover all of your educational expenses, here are some other options to consider:
Family Resources
Do you and your family have assets that you can use to pay your college expenses. This could include cash, savings, education savings plans, retirement plan loans, home equity loans, etc. If not, is there enough money in your monthly household budget to reasonably cover the out of pocket expense if you could divide it into three or four equal monthly payments? If so, there are payment plan options that you may wish to consider.
Scholarship Searches
While you are encouraged to continuously search for scholarship opportunities before you begin college and throughout your education, we advise families not to count on scholarship funds unless you have actually been awarded a scholarship. Scholarships are very competitive. Search for scholarships, but prepare to cover your costs without the scholarship dollars.
Our Scholarships website has a lot of valuable information to help you begin your scholarship search efforts.
Loans
Many families find that they need loans to cover their educational costs. Federal Direct subsidized and unsubsidized loans are the loans that are recommended first, before resorting to private loan options.
If the federal loan options are still not enough to cover your needs, we encourage you to visit our private loan webpage to help guide you through the process. There are private student loan options (and federal or private parent loan options) that can help you and your family obtain the resources you need to cover your out of pocket expenses.
