Finding a path through the financial aid jungle

By Ray Weikal

Anna Faltermeier/Sun Tribune
Like many other high school seniors this time of year, Winnetonka senior Jennifer Ross is at work putting a financial aid package together for college. Ross was recently accepted to Loyola University in Chicago.

Jennifer Ross’s thumb drive, the size of a fingertip, contains months of hard work and her entire future.

A senior at Winnetonka High School, Ross is one of thousands of Northland high school seniors who are navigating their way through the financial aid jungle, searching for a way to pay for college.

Over the last several months, Ross estimates she’s spent hundreds of hours trying to piece together the package of scholarships, grants, loans and family contributions needed so that she can attend Loyola University this fall in Chicago.

It’s all, Ross said, a bit much sometimes. The nation’s college financial system may not be in a crisis (see story on this page), but for students like Ross it can feel that way.

“It was hard to bear down and get it all done,” she said. “I spent countless hours putting it all together. I filled out a lot of scholarship applications. I filled out all them that applied to me.”

Ross is tall and serious and well-spoken. She has a 4.0 grade-point average and will graduate third in her class. Her financial aid epic started last fall as she whittled down her college choices.

“I wanted to go to school in another city, so I could learn to stand on my own two feet,” Ross said.

Ross was impressed with Loyola University’s academic program. She wanted that challenge, had bore down through four years of high school with that goal in mind.

But the ring nearly slipped away. With tuition, fees, room and board, students at Loyola are looking at a $35,000 annual bill. It was just too much, Ross said.

“My family’s income wasn’t really enough to put me through the colleges I wanted to get in to,” she said.

At that point, Ross was looking at the University of Missouri. It’s a fine school, Ross said, but she’d worked too hard to settle for a state school. That’s when her focus and determination kicked in, the same qualities that earned her straight-A marks in college-level classes at Winnetonka.

Ross started doing her homework on financial aid, digging up more grants and scholarships, spending her off hours in the high school counseling office filling out forms. Everything got stored on her thumb drive.

Eventually, Ross was able to get her family’s contribution down to about $14,000 a year. A lot of money, but not out of the question.

“My parents have saved for it, and I’m going to work it off,” Ross said.

Ross is an ideal example of what high school seniors have to do to get enough money to pay for college, according to Cindy Butler, a financial aid expert for Metropolitan Community College. Unlike Ross, a lot of MCC students don’t have scholarship options.

“Many of our students have to borrow more money,” Butler said.

Student loan debt, according to Butler, is becoming a major issue. She’s seen more students financially leverage their futures, fail to finish their degrees and get stuck with the bill.

“We have great concern that our students are getting in o debt,” Butler said. “We don’t like to see them borrow excessively.”

Rich or poor, good grades or bad, all students need to do their homework to get the best financial aid packages, according to Butler. College financial aid offices are the best place to get good information, she said.

“We definitely give them the information, but it’s up to them to use it,” Butler said.

Ross, for her part, wishes more were done to educate high school juniors before their financial aid ordeal.

“I really didn’t feel prepared for what I had to go through,” she said.

Where to get help:

- www.finaid.org — According to Metropolitan Community College’s Cindy Butler, this Web site is one of the best when it comes to getting good information about college financial aid. It’s comprehensive and easy to understand. 

- Educational Opportunity Center, 3100 Main St., Kansas City — Run by MCC, this center at 31st and Main streets offers free services to any family in the Kansas City area. Learn more at http://mcckc.edu/stuServices/eoc/. 

- College financial aid offices — Every college and university has a staff dedicated to helping their students pay for school, according to Butler. Students need to make these people their best friends, Butler said.

Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.