If you or your student is in college, pay close attention to the tuition bill and financial aid packet that still may be sitting on your desk or in your “in basket.”

The reason: The college loan landscape has changed drastically this year. Even if your family’s personal financial circumstances have remained the same, you may find that financial aid package to be much different mix of assistance programs as compared to previous’ years.

While some changes at the national level were intended to provide more low-cost lending opportunties to students; other changes happened because of fallouts from the mortgage and credit crisis.

And some programs that Michigan college students used to rely on don’t exist any more.

If you have any more loan applications or financial aid paperwork to finish up for the 2008-09 school year, Dan Wansten of Professional Education Services, a financial aid consulting firm in Grand Rapids, is reminding college families that it’s in their best interest to finish that task as soon as possible.

Why?

Here are some of the headlines in recent months:

• Columbus Dispatch reported in May that all colleges in its area “have received more student appeals for financial aid, including pleas from families asking for consideration because of a drop in income.”
• CNN reported in April that dozens of lenders have pulled out of the student loan market because of a combination of higher borrowing costs and lower subsidy from the government. “Lenders can’t lend at these kinds of spreads and expect to meet the rise in demand that we’re seeing from students for this upcoming season,” Jack Remondi, Sallie Mae’s chief financial officer.
• Detroit News reported in April that officials at Michigan colleges and universities were busy making changes to their school loan programs because how the funding would work out.
• USA Today reported in April that the credit crunch will make it harder for many families to pay for college in the fall. Of particular note: a foreclosure by the parents can make them ineligible for certain loans.
• Detroit News reported in Feburary that the MI-LOAN program, which was created in 1990 to help bridge the gap between federally subsidized loans and the rising cost of tuition, has been “suspended indefinitely.”

Do I have your attention yet?

Turn off your iPods, log out of your Facebook, open up your college’s financial aid handouts and get ready to take some notes.

Class is about to start.

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