Hi y’all!

This post is just meant to give you a quick introduction to basic facts about college, FAFSA, tuition, and student loans. In upcoming weeks we will be going into more detail about each, so this is just meant to serve as an introduction!

Definitions:

Associates Degree: 2 year degree, or 30 college credits, that is only granted at Community Colleges. Do Not think about For-Profit schools, I’ll explain why next week.

Bachelor’s Degree: 4 year degree, or 60 college credits, you can go straight into a 4 year school and earn this, or you may go to community college first and transfer into a 4 year later on. There are a million ways to do college right, and there is no one way to do it! Always keep that in mind.

CC or Community College: This is a 2 year college that offers an Associates Degree. You can complete an associates degree in about 2 years, and if you desire, you can transfer into a public university or college

College: This is a bachelor granting institution that does not have a graduate school affiliated with it, most of the time these are private institutions that while they do offer much more individualized learning and attention, usually run you about 60k a year.

University: This is an institution that grants Bachelor’s degrees as well, but also has graduate school options where you can also get a master’s or doctorate, or an MD (a 4 year graduate school to get your Medical Degree to become a doctor of medicine).

Tuition:

Tuition is calculated by credit hour + student fees, so if you go part time, you will pay less tuition, but if you decide to go full time, here’s about what you can expect without FAFSA:

CUNY Community College: $4,800/yr

4-year CUNY School: $6,930/yr

SUNY 4 year: If you live on campus: $22,920/yr

If you live off campus and commute: $12,810

New Jersey Tuition Comparison between Colleges

(Example: Rutgers is about $15,407/yr however, if your parents make under 48k a year, it’s more like $12,108/yr)

If you want to go to a state school in another state, tuition and room/board usually runs about $30,000

Private universities and colleges run you a staggering $60,000 a year.

This is why FAFSA is so important: FAFSA will not only be awarding you need-based aid and scholarships, but it is also the only way you should take out student loans.

A Note about Student Loans: I know many of y’all have been scared away from them, or heard stories about how they’re free money, and both of those are wrong. Student loans are a smart way to go because usually having a 4-year bachelor’s degree means you will earn more money than someone with a 2 year associates or no degree, so in the long run, student loans may be needed to help you get a higher paying job.

You do not have to pay back student loans until 6 months after your graduation, though if you need to, you may defer them for another 6 months.
You can make income-adjusted repayments, which is the most recommended especially for student loan forgiveness, and will be a ratio of your income.
For instance: If you have a job that pays 60,000 a year, your Federal Student Loan repayments will be under $200/month. It’s something that I have just budgeted into my expenses, and Jane will be telling us more about that as well.
While student loans might be the only way to get a bachelor’s, you still always want to take out as little money as possible because of a little thing called compound interest. (Here’s a video of how student loans work).
You cannot have student loan debt forgiven, even if you file for bankruptcy, so make sure that the loans are used investing in your future, and unfortunately, not on a dope pair of sneakers etc etc.

FAFSA: Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

This form is what determines the amount of financial support you will get AND for federal grants such as the Pell Grant.

This form is filled out annually by current and prospective college students to determine the amount of aid you get for tuition. The form collects personal and financial information from students and parents. You will get your financial aid package after being accepted into college.

Only 45% of eligible students fill out this form which means— more money for those who do! Your mission for me this week is to make sure you have all of the information you need to fill it out. Here’s a link to the check list, but I’ll also list it here:

Your social security card and state ID/driver’s license
Your parent’s federal income tax returns from 2018 or 2019.
If you had a job last year, the company probably sent you a tax form called a W2, find it if you can, but it’s not the most important.
Records relating to any unusual family financial circumstances- such as marital status, living situation changes, etc.
Example: high medical expenses, unusually high dependent care costs (e.g. special needs sibling or an elderly parent), death, divorce, salary reductions, and job loss.
Title IV Institution Codes for each school you are applying to. You can get this code from the school’s website or you can just use this handy FinAid’s Title IV School Code Database

Here is a link to a full video of a walk through of how to fill out FAFSA forms.

Click here for a more in-depth post about FAFSA!

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