Overview

'Paying for College: Before, During and After' takes a new, more helpful approach to understanding a confusing topic. In this 2018 edition, author Mark Bilotta recommends that students and families step back and look at the entire process of funding a college education which, for many, could span two or three decades! Think about it. When you add up the years of saving (before), enrolling (during), and repaying loans (after), it could be a financial commitment of more than thirty years! The author walks his readers through each step of this process, in short, easy-to-understand chapters, ending most chapters with additional resources and where to turn for more details. One good example of this effective approach comes in Chapter 12, 'Loans: How to Borrow.' He asks readers to first think in terms of their anticipated annual salary after graduation. By doing this, he shows his readers what they can afford as a monthly loan payment without sacrificing their financial security. He then works backwards and demonstrates what dollar amount they can reasonably borrow for their college education. Armed with this information, students and families can then use online tools like net price calculators to get early estimates of their financial aid awards at a specific college and determine whether that specific college is a good financial fit for them. If it is a good financial fit, it stays on their application list; if not, they move on with their search. Ultimately, the goal is to get students and families to determine a college's affordability well before they have to deposit at a specific college. Additional chapters are designed to help students who are already enrolled in college make sound financial decisions, exploring topics like reverse transfer, or challenge exams. These are just a few examples of how the author takes each important topic and simplifies it so that students and families can make more informed financial decisions. If you're looking for a more thorough, easy-to-understand approach to paying for college in the long run, whether you're a student, parent, school counselor or financial planner, this 2018 Edition of 'Paying for College: Before, During and After' is for you!

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9781977985477

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Mark Bilotta has been in the field of higher education for almost 30 years. He started in college admissions, working at the College of the Holy Cross and Worcester State University. He then served seven years on the President's Cabinet at Assumption College as Executive Assistant to the President where he oversaw public affairs as well as government and community relations. During that time, he also served as Secretary to the Board of Trustees. In 2006, he was named CEO of the former Colleges of Worcester Consortium, an association of 13 public and private colleges and universities that provided shared academic, administrative and student affair services for 35,000 students and 16,000 faculty and staff. At the same time, he oversaw a Massachusetts statewide network of TRIO and GEAR UP programs that serves more than 14,000 clients, mostly low-income, first-generation college goers. Mark currently serves as President of the Board of that statewide network, now called Massachusetts Education and Career Opportunities, Inc. (MassEdCO). A strong consumer advocate, Mark launched an independent complement to the federal College Scorecard called CollegeValue(R). This free, online college-rating tool measures the value and risk of enrolling at a specific college at a specific net price and has been compared to the Kelley Blue Book. In addition to his writing and website work, Mark continues to present to local, regional and national audiences of school counselors, parents and students about the need to choose colleges that are both good academic and financial fits.

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