Affording College: Top 5 Articles of the Week – May 3, 2013

Welcome to yet another edition of our weekly round up. This is now our fourth, so we’ve been doing this for over a month. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun! This week we bring you several excellent articles from around the world of affording college.

College Value

• What is a college degree worth?. Tom and John Mills, investment advisers and financial planners, offer yet another article that champions the value of a college degree. While it can be tempting to skip college and start working immediately due to high costs, time and time again statistics show that earning a college degree is a much smarter plan for your career in the long term.

Financial Aid

• Tips for Negotiating Financial Aid for College. Paula Faris with ABC News reports with some tips on negotiating financial aid for college. Did you know that you can appeal your first financial aid package? Do you know how costly tiny mistakes on your application can be? This article offers many more useful tidbits of advice on the subject.
• Federal Student Aid Application Gets A New Look, And It’s A Big Deal. Samantha Gonzalez at Campus Progress details the new look of the FAFSA application. The big change? FAFSA will now collect income and information from a students’ legal parents regardless of whether the parents are married or are a same-sex couple, as long as those parents live together.

Student Loans

• When to Get Student Loans. The Student Loan Network offers an excellent piece on when to get student loans. Student loans are critical for many in their quest to finance their higher education. However, it can sometimes be daunting to figure our when, where, and how to apply for student loans. This great article makes that much simpler.

Affording College

• Doesn’t Anyone Graduate from College in Four Years Anymore?. Nora Ligurotis at Your College Kid shares the story of her son Matt, who took five years to graduate from Kansas University. “Victory laps” as they have been called may seem like a great idea for students, but can be incredibly expensive. As such, it’s best to figure out how to avoid taking an extra year. Talking to advisers, considering class loads and summer school are all things that can help both students and parents avoid being on the hook for another year of tuition.

That’s all we have for this week, have a great weekend!