Top 10 Questions to Ask College Financial Aid Offices

Las Vegas, NV (April 22, 2015) — As college admission letters arrive, high school seniors across the country are comparing financial aid award letters and deciding where to go to college. To help students and their families make one of their biggest financial investments, Mark Kantrowitz, Senior VP and Publisher of Edvisors.com and author of Filing the FAFSA, has prepared a list of the top ten questions students and their families should ask college financial aid administrations.

“We provide free, continually-updated information and insights to help students and their families navigate the complexities of paying for college. A popular topic is understanding financial aid award letters, which are often very confusing, making it difficult to compare one school to another. Edvisors.com teaches students and their families how to interpret these letters and arms them with right questions to ask, helping them make more informed financial decisions,” said Kantrowitz.

According to Edvisors.com, the following are some of the top questions students should ask financial aid administrators about college costs and financial aid:

1. Do you meet full demonstrated financial need or is there an unmet need? Unmet need is the difference between the student's demonstrated financial need and the student's financial aid package.
2. How does the college reduce the need-based financial aid package when a student wins a private scholarship? Scholarship displacement can affect college affordability.
3. Do you practice front-loading of grants? Front-loading is a financial aid strategy used by colleges to award more grants and scholarships to a student in his/her first year of attendance. In subsequent years, the college will reduce the amount of grants and scholarships and offer more self-help aid, such as student employment and student loans.
4. What percentage of students graduate with debt and what is the average cumulative debt at graduation?
5. How does one appeal for more financial aid if the financial aid award is insufficient or the family’s financial circumstances have changed or will change?

To access the full list of questions and related information, visit https://www.edvisors.com/fafsa/after-submitting/award-letter/#ten-questions-to-ask-the-college-financial-aid-administrator.

About Edvisors

Edvisors publishes free web sites to help students and families plan and pay for college. Every year, millions of students and their families turn to the company's flagship site, Edvisors.com, for timely, accurate information, advice and tools that help them confidently make the best decisions about paying for college. At the Edvisors ScholarshipPoints.com site, students earn points and enter scholarship drawings (the site has awarded more than $750,000 to date). StudentScholarshipSearch.com is a large free online database of scholarships with an easy-to-use scholarship matching tool. Founded in 1998, Edvisors is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. More information can be found at www.edvisors.com.