How to select your top aid package -- Page 2

And don't assume the school is providing accurate estimates, Case says. Amherst surveys students every three years to recompute average expenses. Assess how reasonable a given figure is by breaking it into monthly and weekly allowances.

- advertisement -

Splitting the award letter components into common categories based on who has to pay for what can help in determining net family cost. First, separate scholarships and grants from loans and work study. Next, take the total cost of attendance and subtract the grant and scholarship totals. This leaves the net cost, which includes any work and loans the students would be expected to assume, as well as the calculated parent and student contributions.

Or, determine the net student cost by deducting the expected family contribution and the total grants and scholarship help from the total cost of attendance. The resulting figure is the student's responsibility -- a real eye-opener for a teen whose heart is set on a certain school.

A family conversation might go something like this, says investment adviser Harold M. Simansky, author of "College Costs How Much?!" an evaluation workbook: "If you go to the University of Connecticut, your loans are going to be nonexistent, your work study nonexistent. Or you can go to Bowdoin College in Maine, where work study is 11 hours a week and you'll have $30,000 in loans, or $300 a month for the next 20 to 30 years."

Of course, details like these aren't likely to be highlighted on financial aid award letters. That's where online evaluators can help:

• American Education Services' Award Analyzer can be used to determine which school is prepared to give the most aid. Analyses can be stored for future reference.
• Lunch-Money.com offers a "real price tag" Financial Aid Award Evaluator that calculates your contribution, including monthly payments, for various loan packages.
• Sallie Mae's College Answer Web site has an Online Award Analyzer that provides estimates of monthly payments for different loan amounts, as well as multiple financing scenarios.

In store for all four
Here's where a chat with a financial aid officer can really pay off. Is the pattern of self-help (work study and loans) going to remain steady for future years of school? What's the average student debt at graduation?

Case also advises families to learn more details about work study, such as how easy it is to find a job on campus, whether assistance is available when jobs seem nonexistent, and how voluntary jobs such as internships may effect the work-study requirements. (Amherst, for example, will replace work study with a scholarship once to allow for an internship.)

Another question for worldly wise students: Can institutional aid be taken with me if I study abroad?

More schools equal more options
With a bunch of schools in the aid package mix, one institution's generosity may well stand out. You might approach another school to see if they can match the package awarded elsewhere, says Simansky, who adds, "Schools hate it when families try to negotiate."

Rothbaum advises approaching it not as a negotiation but as a, "Can anything be done?" request. It's a good time to bring up any special circumstances the school may not be aware of, such as parents caring for a sick relative. Schools "want to make it an affordable option," he adds.

Another reason for applying to several colleges is that you never know which one -- it may be the priciest -- will come through with more aid. "It's the great paradox," says Simansky. Some of the most generous schools when it comes to giving grants are in fact private schools."

That's why he recommends focusing on the big issues, such as size of school, proximity to home and what to study, first. "Eventually, the price issue is seen in the context of other decisions."

Melissa M. Ezarik is a freelance writer in Connecticut.