PAYING FOR COLLEGE
Notes from call with Patty @ Bright Horizons
In general the last few years have seen a purse-tightening from the government. Money is harder to come by than it was. Financial aid rules were reauthorized and tweaked in ‘23, and the OBBBA changed student loans in ‘25.
Need-based aid
The goverment looks at 20-25% of your AGI and 5% of your non-house, non-retirement assets. That’s about what they say you can pay, and they generally offer aid based on the difference between that, and tuition.
Student loans
- All students must fill out the FAFSA. It’s due in June of the student’s senior year, but can be done as early as October.
- Federal government is getting rid of subsidized loans as of 2026. That means they’ll gather interest while you’re still in school.
- Federal loan interest rates are set in April and last for a year.
- Any student can, without a cosigner, get $5500 their freshman year, $6500 their sophomore year, and $7500 their junior and senior years.
- Parent loan program is changing significantly. It used to be that they’d do a quick check to make sure you’re paying your bills, and then the parents would be able to borrow everything needed (even, say, $95k/year to go to Harvard). Now though, it’s different:
- Banks do a full credit check, looking at asset ratio, &c.
- Max parents can borrow is $20k/year up to $65k per child. nasfaa
- The Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority (MEFA) has its own loan program. MA residents and people coming to school in MA are eligible.
- MEFA.org has student loans, but need a parent cosigner. 10y, 15y, interest only while child is in school.
- Parents information not considered in loans for graduate school.
Other
- College board has specifics on salary.
- Federal governments look at how many kids you have, but it’s different than before. Used to be they’d look at how many kids you had in school and just divide your burden to pay in half. Now you have to appeal to the schools directly. For example, if one kid goes to WPI and the other to Northeastern, you’d need to talk to both schools to let them know about your need.
- Many high schools have honors and awards ceremony. See :w
Scholarships
- scholarships.com and goingmerry.com are good portals for searching scholarships.
- High schools often have an honors ceremony where people mention which scholarships they got. It’s a good way to find local scholarships