CHOOSING AND PAYING FOR COLLEGE WITH EYES WIDE OPEN.

Hello Friends,

For many families, the economic downturn is wreaking havoc on finding the money to pay for college. There is no better time than now to choose colleges wisely, and thus avoid enormous debt later on.

Many families were planning to use home equity loans to cover college costs. Unfortunately, these loans have all but dried up. In fact, the value of many homes is at or below what is owed on them. There is nothing left to borrow against, and banks are simply not going to lend money in these cases. Another sign of these tough times is that jobs are precious and simply hanging on to them is important.

So, the most important aspect for parents and students to focus on right now is choosing the best college value. This is not to say everyone should choose the lowest cost college, regardless of the match it is for the student. That would be silly and potentially disastrous. However, anyone about to be paying for college needs to wake up and understand that the cost of a student’s education will end up being repaid in the form of loans. In many cases these will be huge loans. What kind of jobs will the students have that can pay enough to cover such debt?

It does not have to be this way, and you need to take control of this matter immediately. If a state school will result in half the cost of a private college, you’d better give this a closer look. Is the education quality similar? Upon graduating, what are the prospects for a job and at what expected salary? What kind of loans will you be saddled with upon graduation?

There are lots of ways to evaluate and compare schools. I like the following two websites because they get into financial details : www.usnews.com/sections/education/index.html
and www.kiplinger.com/reports/best-college-values

Every family facing the enormous cost of college needs to take action. Doing it sooner than later could save you lots of angst and money.

Please contact me if you want some assistance sorting this out. Many of our recent contacts with students and parents have been via video conferencing – we use Skype which is available free to both PC and MAC users. All it takes is a camera-equipped computer and a broadband connection and voila we are meeting face-to-face in the comfort of our homes or dorm rooms. Go to my "BrenMar Tips" page for a step by step way to start using Skype.

Students love Skyping, since it fits in nicely with their busy schedules, and the time they save by using video conferencing, versus driving to a meeting, is important to them. Skype also meets their desire to "go green", as it saves gas, too.

Parents like it because it is efficient and allows them to connect with BrenMar on short notice, especially during the college acceptance season.

Using video conferencing technology, we can immediately assess and address your situation and choices - and likely save you serious money.


Good luck!