When you’re planning for college expenses, you want to keep the student loan amounts - whether for parents or students - as low as possible. What are some ways to do that?

• Start researching college financing options the summer before your student is a high school senior. It is actually beneficial to start this research when the student is still in 10th or 11th grade (remember my tip on the scholarship searches?). If you have some knowledge on how the financial aid system works and what assistance might be available to your family, you’ll be able to set up a long-range plan for the college years. (And you’ll be sure to meet all the appropriate deadlines because you know about them ahead of time.)
• Some families benefit from strategic financial planning. That’s where they meet with a company such as Professional Education Services of Grand Rapids to make long-range decisions for their household and business accounts and tax benefits. “Many people waste financial aid because of where their money is,” said Dan Wansten of PES.
• Shop around not only what schools are a good fit academically, but which ones are most likely to provide a financial aid package that best fits your circumstances. Mr. Wansten said the offers of scholarships, grants, lower-cost loans and other programs do vary from one college to another. We noticed that situation too, when my daughter was applying for college. All of the schools my daughter applied to offered her some scholarship money. Only one offered a renewable scholarship.
• Apply for any available scholarship that fits your circumstances, even the $500 awards. My daughter and I have noticed there is very tight competition for even the smaller funds. But you won’t win any scholarships if you miss the deadlines. Any free money you can get will reduce the money you have to borrow.
• If the situation makes sense for your family, consider buying a home in the college town where the student can live and rent out spaces to roommates. Mr. Wansten said depending on how this is arranged, the money from the rent received can be enough to cover your student’s room and board in addition to any other financial benefits.
• Consider having your student work as a resident adviser while an upperclassman. Mr. Wansten said this is a good option because, in addition to the advantages of being an on-campus job, resident advisers often get breaks on housing costs.
• There’s also the possibility of going part-time to college. My husband lived at home, commuted and part-timed classes for his university degree while working part-time. The disadvantage, Mr. Wansten said, is that off-campus and part-time students don’t have as many opportunities to network with other students and professors. “These are the people who can help you five to ten years from now,” he said about those educational and professional contacts. The other concern I have for part-time students is whether they remain eligible for health insurance under their parents’ workplace policies - be sure check with your personnel office to see how this applies to your circumstances.
• You can transfer to another college. Many community colleges, including, Monroe County Community College have transfer arrangements with four-year universities, and residents of Monroe County, Mich., have discounted tuition at MCCC. But you need to stay in contact with your four-year college about required early courses in your major if 2 + 2 is your plan - or you could end up with 2 + 3, whereupon the community college savings just evaporated. A semester or a year at a community or in-state public college also can give you a chance to regroup and keep full-time student status if financial aid packages don’t work out elsewhere or you didn’t like the college you started at.
• Select a two-year program instead of one that will take four or five years to complete. An associate’s degree, depending on your major, can lead to some pretty good-paying jobs.
• Worst case scenario - dropping out, with plans to return later. By the time those students are able to financially return to college, many have in the meantime taken on more family or adult responsibilities. I’ve seen enough people take on that challenge to know that it’s not pleasant to be working, raising a family and attending college. It would be a really bad situation to drop out even for a semester if you would lose eligibility for a scholarship along the way. (I stayed motivated to finish my degree on time because I didn’t want to lose a partial four-year scholarship I earned while in high school!)

This is the last post in a series. For more information on this topic, follow my College financing 08-09 thread and also check out my college financing sidebar.