In addition to educational opportunities in the field of game creation and design, there are now scholarships for those who play. Play you say? Yes, you play, it pays! Now, I share a 20^th century parent’s natural concern for my 21^st century children who are engulfed by screens throughout their day. But all those hours spent indoors could be a potential scholarship goldmine. For all the young gamers (and their parents) out there, there are whole crops of college scholarship opportunities, degree programs, and entire gaming institutions that seem to have popped up overnight.

Programs in Game Design and Creation:  For years now, some schools have offered courses and even degrees in this field; the fact that you can now secure scholarships for gaming is rather new. For students interested in development, an entire gaming academy has been established at University Texas Austin.

A recent New York Times op-ed shared a controversial view on educational loans: it is fine to borrow and never pay them back. A few days later, a rebuttal piece criticized author Lee Siegel and the New York Times for their “deeply irresponsible op-ed.” At College Coach, we are passionate about providing the best advice available with respect to college aid, and we felt we had to provide our own perspective for those families who might have read Siegel’s original piece.

We see no reason why families should take on huge amounts of debt for an undergraduate degree. Contrary to what Siegel assumes, lower and middle class families do not have to borrow huge amounts of money to get a good education. College Coach finance experts work with families every single day to determine how much they can afford and, if borrowing is going to be part of their college financing plan, how to be successful in repayment.

Families that have the most success paying for college are the ones who approach the process as a family. Most people agree it is important to start talking to your children early about the importance of attending college, but what about talking about how to pay for it?

Let’s face it – looking for additional funds to cover college costs is like a part-time job, so it is wise to start as early as you can. Despite this, most of the families I speak with start searching during their senior year in high school.

Consider what would happen if you started looking for scholarships when your child was six years old? How about when your child was ten? Most families aren’t thinking about college at this point, and with less competition, your chances may actually be better at securing one of these scholarships than if you wait until your child reaches high school.

Many high school seniors and their families selected for financial aid verification are currently wondering “What could the Financial Aid Office possibly want now?” May 1, the national deadline to deposit at your chosen college is looming in the not-so-distant future, and yet some students are still submitting additional information to the aid offices on their college list. “Didn’t we already send them this?” families may wonder as they jump through what they perceive to be another hoop on the road to receiving financial aid. Remember, the financial aid process is an exchange of information for dollars: your financial information for financial aid dollars. Don’t be discouraged! Your financial aid offer is on the way, but you may have a few extra steps to take.

Common questions from students who are selected for verification include:

The CSS Profile Non-Custodial Parent Waiver Process

If you are a regular reader of the College Coach blog, you know that students are not required to include information about their non-custodial parent (NCP) on the FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid). There are institutions, however, that do collect this information. Approximately 400 colleges and universities require students to complete a second application called the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile, and most of these require students to have their NCP submit income and asset information as part of the student’s aid application.

Financial aid officers understand that getting this information may be difficult or impossible for some students. Since failure to complete the non-custodial parent’s part of an aid application may result in the student losing institutional financial aid dollars, colleges have a process by which the student can request that the requirement to include NCP information be waived.

How Many Years Can I Receive Financial Aid for College?

It takes 4 years for a student to complete a typical undergraduate degree, right? Not necessarily. Today, students are taking longer to graduate for a variety of reasons, from a decline in personal and institutional resources to indecision about choice of major at the time of enrollment. If you’re currently weighing options for a fifth year (or more) of college, we’ve provided a few things to consider as you manage your college payment plan.

150 Percent Rule for Subsidized Direct Student Loans: A new federal regulation may impact students who receive Federal Subsidized Direct Loans. These programs are now available for only 150 percent of the semesters that the college publishes as the typical time it takes students to complete their degree or certificate. This “150 percent rule” means students in a four-year degree program will be eligible for subsidized student loans for the equivalent of six years.  Eligible fifth and sixth year students should be able to benefit from this loan program as long as they meet the college’s definition of Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and are on track to graduate within this time frame.

Question: If I’ve had credit issues in my past, will I still be able to get a loan to pay for my child’s college education?

College Coach’s college finance experts get asked this question frequently and there is no simple answer. Unfortunately the true answer is that it depends. Credit issues can certainly impact your ability to borrow and to earn a competitive interest rate on an education loan. This doesn’t mean that you should rule out using student loans as part of your paying for college strategy.

Find a Co-Borrower

Many education loans for parents are available with a co-borrower. If you have a friend or family member who is willing to back your loan, you may be able to get a loan even with poor credit.

Spend 10 minutes speaking with the parent of a high school senior and I guarantee that I will spend some time dispelling some half truths that have emerged from today’s college financing process. Anecdotal stories – you know the thing you heard that happened to your neighbor’s son’s friend’s cousin – all seem to have these magical happy endings that we desperately want to replicate.

Here are some top financial aid chestnuts that travel the fine line between myth and reality.

“Students can walk into a bank and get a student loan”

The Sibling Factor: How EFC and Financial Aid Packages Can Change

When I worked in a Financial Aid Office, there was something that I could count on without fail every year. Whenever a student’s sibling graduated from college, I would inevitably get THE CALL from parents wondering “where has our financial aid gone?”

Behold the Sibling Factor: the effect on financial aid awards when siblings enter or leave undergraduate study. Parents might be delighted at the effect of a second child entering college (packages may increase). They get panicked, however, when a sibling leaves undergraduate study, and aid amounts for remaining undergraduate children decrease. (The other most common reason for changes to financial aid eligibility is a significant change in family income.)

While most scholarship applications are filed in the senior year, is there a way students can get ready for them any earlier?  Similarly to how an early PSAT can help prep students for the SAT, the scholarship search process also has a route for preparing for those scholarship applications early on.

I always recommend students begin the scholarship search process sophomore and junior years before applying to colleges— there’s no need to wait until the senior year to learn something one might have been better off knowing earlier.  Many scholarships have eligibility requirements that need lead time (50 hours of community service, a portfolio, or experience at sea, for example).  Becoming familiar with those scholarship requirements early can maximize one’s options later.  So act early, and give yourself the gift of time: