Be Well: How to Prepare for the Rising Costs of College

<div class="block">Dr. Dawn Medley, vice provost for enrollment management and retention at SBU, joined Cheddar News to talk about the rising cost of college tuition and how families can prepare for such a steep financial responsibility.</div>

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We've seen prices for just about everything going up and now you can add college tuition to that list, tuition and room and board are up by triple digits in the last 40 years. So what's driving the sharp increases and more importantly, what can you do to get yourself and your family financially ready? Well, Doctor Don Medley is here with us right now. She is the Vice Provost of enrollment management and student retention at Stony Brook University. So I do wanna start with this new process because it is very different than what we've had in the past. I know they were aiming for this to be easier, but it's new, it is new. Um So a couple of things that people will see differently just from last year to this year. The FAA will not be available until December of this year. Previously been October. And there'll be more steps in the FAA this year. And the way that will work is say, for example, two parents, they file separately, whether they're divorced, whether they just file their taxes separately, the student will go in and they'll have to send the FAFSA information to both parents have both parents verify it and then it will actually go to the school. So, a few more steps in there and we're a little concerned because every time you add more steps, right, there's more things that can break. Yeah, there's room for error right now. How if, if there's a problem, you know, with my paperwork, how can you help me? Our financial aid offices at all of our institutions across the state of New York will be able to sit down beside you and go through the process, but they're not going to be able to look at it from the back end anymore. And so that may be disconcerting for families because they used to pick up the phone call us, we would know where things were hung up. We're not going to be able to see that for a bit. Now, does it matter where in the country you're doing this from? Do we all now have the same, you know, rules of regulations? We do all have the same rules and regulations, but we haven't been able to actually see the F fa and actually see how it's going to roll out. So even the professionals are, are just kind of taking a wait and see and we're doing some deep breathing. That sounds good. Yeah. Ok. So more students are going to qualify for Pell Grants. Yeah, we do believe that it's going to increase the number of students who qualify maybe at a slightly higher income. So we see that as a benefit. One of the things that we see as a deterrent though is families who have two students in college that used to be a benefit for aid that benefits gone away. Ok. Uh, let's talk a little bit about the types of loans that are out there direct versus private. Yeah. So, um, typically what we see is the student fills out the fat, it makes them eligible for a direct loan. You and I have talked a lot about that in the past because those are the federal loans. Um, you will also see banks and mortgage companies encourage you to take out a line of equity credit on your house, borrow credit cards. We don't recommend those loans. Ok, always go with the direct loans because as we've seen those can be deferred, we can have payments suspended. It's much more beneficial and that's where you can get student loan forgiveness. And then you know, the last loan that we always talk about that is a family loan. If you have a family member who can lend you money or do things, those tend to be the lowest interest rates of all. Ok. Now, for a lot of people, uh there was a pause for quite some period of time. We're talking millions and millions of Americans not having to pay back during that time, but August is here and the time is over. Yeah, so I'd be having families really look at their budgets right now because those payments are gonna kick back in. A lot of people chose not to make payments during the pandemic because of income because they just didn't have to because it was zero interest. You know, that's free money at that point in time. But those payments are kicking back in and so families may need to adjust their budget. I always encourage families if they can at least pay the interest on the loans for students while they're in school, that really helps reduce those payments that were gonna see, you know, kicking back now for parents, if this is their first time, you know, their students now just entering college. What words of advice do you have for them in navigating the finances of this? Because it can feel overwhelming. It can I, I actually had a conversation with a high school friend, uh, two nights ago about her senior in, in high school. Um, there are a lot of experts out there. A lot of admissions officers, a lot of financial aid officer don't feel that you have to do all the research on your own. Don't feel that there aren't people out there to help you with the questions, any financial aid officer at any higher education institution can help you with. Your doesn't matter if you're going to go to school there. So maybe we have a student here in Beth page who has decided that they want to go to UCL A, go to the nearest community college, the nearest or your institution and we can help you with your F fa because you know all about it. And in reality, as much as we, we don't have that same breath of knowledge that you do because you're doing it a lot. And I tell people all the time, you know, we walk 50,000 students through the admissions process every year. You're, you're going the first time with one call, the experts. We'll help. Thank you, Doctor Don Medley. We really appreciate your time and your expertise.