November 3, 2025 • 51 mins
The financial aid process begins by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). What are the main sources students and families can use to fund college tuition and how can you maximize financial aid? Learn more about How to apply for scholarships, How to Win Scholarships, when to get started, what to expect from financial aid Choosing an Affordable College. The specific combination of funding sources varies by family income, student's academic record, and type institution.
ASharpe Outlook is broadcast live Mondays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). ASharpe Outlook TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
ASharpe Outlook Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/asharpe-outlook--6643730/support.
ASharpe Outlook is broadcast live Mondays at 8AM PT on K4HD Radio - Hollywood Talk Radio (www.k4hd.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). ASharpe Outlook TV Show is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
ASharpe Outlook Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/asharpe-outlook--6643730/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek
(00:22):
the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any
suggested ideas.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in to a Sharp
Outlook on P four HD Radio and talk or TV.
I am Angela Sharp, your host our arm chair discussions
with industry experts will give you the steps, tools and
information to be successful in business and to prepare you
to be your best self. Hello, I'm Angela Sharp, and
(00:57):
welcome to a Sharp Outlook. Do you have a student
that will be graduating next year in June or maybe May,
or do you have one that's in the eleventh grade
that might be soon graduating. Do they have a dream
to go to college and do you have the financing
(01:17):
to be able to help them to go to college. Well,
that's what we're going to talk about today, how to
pay for college so that your student can go to
college and live their dream. What are the main sources
students and families can use to fund college tuition, and
how can you maximize financial aid For many the financial
(01:40):
aid process begins by completing the free application for Federal
student aid, but there are a lot of different options
that are out there, and our guest today is very
knowledgeable about that and he's going to help us be
able to discover all the different ways to be able
(02:01):
to get funding an aid for your student's college tuition,
how to apply for scholarships, how to win scholarships, win
does get started, how to get started, and choosing an
affordable college. Students and families use a variety of sources
to pay for college, the tuition, personal income savings, scholarships, grants,
(02:26):
and loans. The specific combinations of funding sources varies by
family income, and the student's academic record is really important
and the type of institution that they're wanting to attend.
I want to bring doctor Stephen Jones to our show
(02:47):
so that we can talk about this. We had doctor
Jones on back in July talking about how your student
can study and be able to get better grades and
be able to pass their tech. Well, today this is
the now that they're passing the test, and memorizing their
information and ready to go to college. Now we need
(03:08):
to inform you parents how to help your student be
able to get into college as we know. Doctor Stephen
Jones is the Associate Dean for Student in College of
Engineering and Villanova University. Is a succesful author, speaker, and
a college readiness and student retention expert. Doctor Jones is
(03:30):
currently the president of SAJ Publishing. Is also the associat
Dean of Student and Strategic Programs in the College of Engineering.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Doctor Jones WelCom sharp out, I guess I could still
say good morning to everybody.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I think, Yeah, this is a wonderful topic.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's always good to talk about how to pay for
college for me because I want to try to send
as many college students of college as possible, and it
is possible. One of the things that I think it
should be clear that this whole idea of funding college
doesn't start when you get to high school.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
That it should start.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Early, and when your child is born, you should have
thoughts about how I'm going to pay for college, where
I'm going to invest. There are different resources that you
can pay put money into an account starting that early,
and it'll accumulate over time so that by the time
we get to high school, you have some pool of
funding to think about. And I think this is important
(04:36):
because a lot of times, especially in the African American community,
when kids get into middle school, children get into middle school,
the parents start telling them, I don't have money to
send you to college. I don't know how I'm going
to do this, and so just by sending that message,
it can delay a child's interest in even going further.
(04:57):
So one of the things I would like to say
today is to the parents, don't tell tell your child
that you don't have enough money. There are over six
thousand colleges in the United States, both four year colleges
and two year colleges, and we just need to find
and find the right one for you, the right one
that fits you and your income situation, so that you
can be successful at this goal. And I think hopefully
(05:20):
it'll start today.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yes, absolutely, yeah. And that's what's so important about that, because,
like you said, of a child, here's you tell them,
I'm not going to have the money to send you
to college. It's just going to well, it's gonna they're
gonna have a downer, and it's going to make them
difficult to even continue to focus or even be energized,
(05:43):
because that's you know, stepping into their dream and saying
you're not going to be able to have that dream.
You're not going to be able to do the things
that you've always wanted to do since you were six
years old. And so, yeah, please don't tell those children
something like that, because there are options. You may not
have it all, but there are other sources. Let's find
(06:04):
out what the combinations can be. They help you do
that so that you don't have to have that talk
with your children. So tell us about some of the
different options that are out there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yes, so everyone is allowed to apply for the Federal
Financial Aid that's FAFSA. I know the policies around how
much of that money is available these days has changed,
but there still is money available from the federal government,
and many states actually use that FASSA form the information
(06:41):
that it provides to determine how much aid that state
is going to give to you as well. So if
you ignore the fats of the form, you may be
missing out on opportunities. They get funding from the federal
government as well as from your state because they're using
that form to determine how much money they're going to
give to you overall. So that's kind of the foundation
(07:03):
of beginning the whole process. And one of the things
I would say to you is talk to your school
counselor about that form. Your school counselor might have sessions
at the school on completing the financial aid form. I
know here in Philadelphia we have sessions all over the
city around how to complete that form. We have something
called a Philadelphia College Roundtable that helps with filling out
(07:26):
that and we educate others on how to help those
individuals that fill out their form. So there's always someone
out there to help. You just have to sometimes dig
into meeting with the counselor at your school or the
vice principle at your school to find out what resources
are available. And I will say also, don't wait until
junior year to get started getting this information. So the
(07:48):
first year that you're in high school, used to start
gathering all this information about the FABS of form, the requirements,
the information that you're going to have to provide, the
information that your students is going to have to provide
if their school has a regular financial aid workshop at
the school. Start going ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh grade.
(08:08):
So it'll gather so much information on what you need
to do to get access to that information.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I think that really works.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
It keeps you on task with how things are changing,
rather than waiting to the senior year and now, oh
I thought I needed this, but I needed that to
find these funds that are available to you.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that's important. I know when I was a little
girl a long time ago, I was in the sixth
grade and knew I wanted to go to college. But
back then, we had a lot of counselors. We had
a lot of college prep. They started talking to us
about that in the sixth grade, and so we had
(08:50):
a lot of motivation that was going on. You know
back in those years. I don't know whether they have that,
like I said, with the funding and things, some of
them don't even have, you know, counselors anymore. But you
know there has to be you know, right now there's
so much tech. Go look online or something and find out,
(09:12):
but you know that that information is available.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I also would say go to your local state legislator's
office and find out what kind of resources and information
that they know. In Pennsylvania, we have FEA, which is
our state federal financial aid, but they also coordinate with
FASA and so they work together. They have seminars throughout
the state, so you maybe go into your state legislator
(09:40):
or senator's office or counselor on person's office you can
find out what's available as well.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, the fund. You know, information, Like I said, information,
information is power, and the more you know, the more
power you have to be able to make good decisions
because you get all of the data that you need
to be able to analyze and come up with a solution.
What's the total cost of attendance and what expenses does
(10:11):
it cover? What's the cost now? I know it was
really a lot cheaper when I went to school. What's
the cost now?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I mean the cost pushing room and board can go
anywhere from twenty five thousand to ninety five thousand for
one year in college, and so it is a big
investment that you have to consider what.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Is affordable to you.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
The colleges are supposed to give you an idea of
what amount of aid that you're going to get each year.
If a college does not do that, then you risk
the possibility of the second year you thought you had
x amount of money and now it's changed in the
second year. So have that conversation with the Financial Trade
(10:57):
Office about how much they can tell you about what's
going to happen over the next four years. You know,
will there be increases that go along with the increases intuition,
because you know, tuition can increase three to five percent
per year while you're in college. So if you've gotten
a certain amount of a certain amount of financial aid
(11:17):
and then tuition increases, but that financial aid doesn't increase,
you have to make up the difference, and you have
to know what is your true ability to make that difference.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Sup Will they tell you that you know when you
first supply, Will they be informed enough to be able
to tell you, Yeah, there might be some increases, but
this aid that you're receiving right now will not, you know,
increase proportionately.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
If that's the way that they operate at the financial
aid level. It will be determined by how the institution is.
There are some institutions that are not raising tuition right away.
They may wait one or two years. But the odd
thing about that students feel that when you don't raise tuition,
the quality is going down. So there's a delicate balance
(12:08):
OF's what you want to do with that, because you
don't want to lose students because they can no longer
afford your institution, But they also don't want to send
the wrong message.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Is there some way you can kind of negotiate while
you're you know, discussing, they aid, and get a rate
lock in?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Well, you can, Well, there's certain different types of scholarships,
so this scholarship will determine what that will be throughout
the time that you're in school. So you're right, I mean,
it would lock in. Maybe the most that we're going
to give is thirty thousand dollars a year. You have
to come up with a difference whatever that might be.
But I would say always make sure whatever the scholarship is,
(12:54):
whatever they aid, is that you have documentation, that you
have proof to what was said, what was committed, so
that those things don't go away. You know exactly what
they're going to be, and you can prepare for the
subsequent years and how you're going to be able to
fund your education. So it again, it just depends on
(13:14):
the institution. A lot of institutions have something called the
Presidential Scholarship and the presidential scholarship pays for everything. It
pays for housing, it pays for tuition. There might be
a stipend that goes along with it on a monthly basis.
Those are for the top top school students who applied
to various schools that are able to receive that presidential
(13:37):
But it's a wonderful resource, and again it depends on
the university's funding. Place like Penn State might have thirty
of them, whereas a private school might only have ten
of them, So it just depends on the institution. This
year we started considering everyone for scholarships. Used to be
(14:00):
you had to apply for it. Now we're just looking
at your profile and your information to determine who we
want to bring in and maybe interview for these scholarships.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Now, do most of the scholarships or in financial aid,
do they also pay for, you know, additional fees like
specific courses that might be something wasn't part of the
regular plan, but you realize now you have additional courses
that you want to take because of the path you're going.
(14:34):
Would that it cover that? You know, would it cover
you know, lab fees or books? Food?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, everyone has a maximum a number of credits that
you can take per semester.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
And so.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
If you're within that range or whatever the maximum is
at that institution, they're not going to charge you extra
for courses because they're not even going to allow you
to take more than that amount of course. Is why,
because they don't want you to fail. They have a
history of a student with this amount of courses will
have can still have success, and they want to overburden
(15:13):
the student with too many credits where they don't have
enough time to even study, so they're kind of maximizing
that out for each semester. Okay, And I have actually
told some students I'm sorry, no, you go ahead now.
I wouldn't say I have depending on the student's circumstances
(15:35):
if they're struggling with a semester, I have told students
to maybe consider dropping down to four classes instead of
five just for that one semester to work their way through,
because you'd rather get through the semester without having a
failing grade on your transcript than to have a failing
grade and now your scholarship is at jeopardy because you
(15:57):
didn't maintain the GPA. And that's another point. I guess
that some scholarships require that you must maintain at three
point oh to keep the scholarship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Mm hmm. Yeah, and that is important, you know. That's
why I say even you know, their academics is very
important to be considered when they are considering what school
they're going to and you know, what kind of aid
they're going after. There's so much more funds available for
students that are in the four point o range than
(16:30):
maybe the two point five range, and so it's very
important to you know, get that, get that academic and
get that, you know, get your scores, get your test,
you know, do what you can to make sure that
you are a student that is achieving excellence because it
opens so many more doors for you than if you're
(16:53):
just average and just trying to get by. So that's
that's really really important.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I would say that don't so some students need to
start at community college. If you know that your child
has a two point five two point seven, it might
be better for them because you're looking at their study habits,
you're looking at how much they invest in reading their books.
You know your child, as your child can fully engaged
(17:23):
in the learning process, and you don't want to spend
forty thousand dollars for your student not to make it
through the first semester in college, so it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Plus, it's more affordable for them to.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Start at a community college and then transfer into a
four year institution. There may be some agreement. For example,
Community College of Philadelphia has an agreement with Temple University,
and all the credits that they take at the Community
College of Philadelphia will transfer into Temple, so they only
(17:58):
have two additional years after they earn their associate degree.
That's a worthwhile way of investing because you want to
see whether your child will actually put forth the effort
to be successful in college.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Right yeah, especially if during high school they really weren't
as focused as they may have been, didn't have good
study habits, didn't have the maturity. I mean, to be honest,
some of them just really have spent too much time
maybe clowning around and didn't realize, you know what, this
(18:34):
is a good time. It's a fun time, but you're
getting ready to make a step into adulthood, and now
you really need to start getting serious about the future
because you're going to be older a lot longer than
this moment right now, and I don't think you know,
a lot of youth understand. You hit that age twenty one,
(18:54):
you've grown and all of the pressures of adulthood, you know,
comes down on you, and you haven't thought about it,
you haven't planned for it, you haven't worked towards it,
and then there you are not knowing what to do
and just you know, making a lot of bad decisions.
So you need to understand when you come in as
(19:16):
a sophomore in high school, you have three more steps
to becoming an adult and getting into a situation where
you need to be making decisions for the rest of
your life. Selecting a career. You should be thinking about
that a lot sooner than senior. Great, you really need
(19:41):
to be thinking about it because you are stepping into
and that's when things become serious and you don't get
as many considerations that, oh, they're just a kid. No,
they don't think about that anymore. Now you're an adult
and need to be making better Does some schools offer
(20:03):
merit based scholarships?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yes, most s colleges do offer merit based scholarships based
on your your GPA from high school, your overall grades,
activities that you've been involved with, a lot of leadership
kinds of things. We want to see students who can
be leaders within our organizations on campus. Volunteerism is big
(20:27):
a lot of times when they're looking at volunteer activities
of students who are applying. We've had students who started
their own organization and supported other young people. So anytime
you kind of take initiative, start your own organization or
start your own business, things like that stand out for
(20:51):
the institutions. One of the things that we're in the
business of is making sure students graduate. We are evaluated
from our crediting agency in terms of how students are
graduating from our institutions, and also we are competing in
a way against other institutions in terms of their house
students are graduating from their institutions. So we want to
make sure that we're giving you the best experience that
(21:13):
we possibly can while you're while you're enrolled at our institutions.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, one of the things is you're applying for a scholarship,
is there are there requirements to renew that scholarship. Most
most of you know you don't have to think about
it anymore m hm.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So the financial aid will have office will have control
of what's happening with that scholarship for the most part,
and they will know whether there are certain requirements, whether
there's a GPA requirement or some kind of volunteer requirement
that goes along with it. They'll be aware of that
and keep track of that. So it's important to follow
(22:04):
whatever guidelines. The guidelines of a scholarship will be given
to you upfront in the expectation. Now, some scholarships, if
you are fall below the GPA that they require, they'll
have like a probation semester and where they'll give you
an opportunity to work at it better and so that
(22:25):
you can improve your GPA. So how do you improve
your GPA? You must have better study habits. You must
manage your time better. You must get help from your
professors when you need help. You need see if there's
a We have something called learning support services at our university.
A lot of university have something similar where they want
(22:46):
to show you how to study, how to organize, how
to plan your day. I say this is so important
because I recently had a class of our new students
and I asked them how many have a daily planner?
I would say only five percent of the class had
a daily planner. So I'm like, how did you get
through high school without a daily planner? So I just
(23:08):
want to highly recommend to those who are listening to
have your child have a daily planner. It can be
something that they hold in their hand I get minds
from Staples, or it can be something that you have
electronically that will give you notices. But having something that
tracks you how you're using your time, I think is
really important. It shows that you're organized and you're planning
(23:31):
for your success.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, and believe it or not, it's something that that's
a habit you're going to be using for the rest
of your life. Whether you're at work, whether you have
your own business, whatever it is, you're going to have
a planner because you're going to be planning your day
for the success of your own business. You're going to
be planning the day of meeting deadlines on your job.
(23:53):
But you're always going to be using a planner for
all of the meetings and all of the do dates
and all of the people you need to call. So
that's a habit that they probably already have. They're planning
to call this friend, this friend, this friend, watch TikTok.
This time, you just need to grow up your planner
so that it has, you know, some things that are
(24:17):
going to give you the values you need so you
can succeed in your study habits while you're in school.
Because it is the foundation and the basic of your
very future, your future job, your future career, your future direction.
It's not something you take lightly. It's a decision you're
making for the rest of your life. Now, some of
(24:39):
us we take paths two or three different ones, but
you have the basic foundation. It gives you the you know,
the little stems that you can go in different directions,
but you at least have to set up that foundation.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I was looking at the number of you know, some
of the the family contributions that are there, and I
was looking at in the years between twenty three and
twenty four, rental income and savings had to cover and
estimated forty eight percent of the college cost for their families,
(25:17):
and then they had to borrow. So parents need to
get engaged. Also, like you said, don't start when they
are sophomore in high school. Start Okay, maybe the eighth birthday,
tenth birthday, but you need some people all to start
(25:37):
a funding you know when the child is born, you know,
when you're just putting away some money every month to
be prepared for that college. So that is something you know,
maybe you parents don't know about young parents that are
that are out there listening. You know, can how does
(26:00):
that work? You know what kind of vehicles is it?
I know they used to have college insurance plans where
you can.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, they have something called the five twenty nine plan.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Most states have this where you can invest in this
five twenty nine plan not have to worry about taxes
and accumulate money to save for your child. And so
I would suggest everyone takes a look at that for
their state and how they can invest in that so
they can have a next stage that's developing over time.
(26:36):
And you know, if you have a lot of schools
have state schools, so they can use that toward any school,
whether it's state school or private college or they all
have ways that they can accept that money to ensure
that it's helping to pay for your student's education. And
(26:58):
one of the other things I was as a tip
that I would say to the parents and the students
is to have a scholarship day. And that's like one
hour each week that's a scholarship time. That's when your
son or daughter is doing a scholarship search, sending out letters,
meeting deadlines for the scholarships, organizing their schedule if they
(27:22):
have interviews for the scholarships. So I think it's important
to have like one set aside day and hour that
you're focused in on these scholarships because a lot of
students lose money because they don't have a specific day
in time. They don't apply to the scholarships on time,
and they don't have time to do the essays and
so forth. So if you set aside that time, you're
(27:45):
in a better position.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I was wondering are there still because I know when
I went to school, we had grants that you could
apply for, so I was able to go to school
grant and those were funds that you know, if you
met the academic requirements, you didn't have to pay back.
So do they still have grants?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
They still have grants, and also they have alumni who
donate to the institution and that they're able to use
those funds for grants. So a lot of times those
grants are in specific departments like our business department or
our fine arts department or our engineering department or nursing department.
They have their own grants that they're able to give
(28:31):
out that's named after someone literally that's giving them money
or put they've put five hundred thousand dollars into an account,
and the interest off of that pays for the ongoing
student grants that go out throughout the years. So it
just depends on that. Sometimes states have their own grants.
(28:55):
So the main thing is meeting the requirements and knowing
that there is a requirement and that that does involve
having a calendar of how you're going to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. So there are there are resources,
you know, so that people are saying, well, I'm never
going to be able to go to college, there's opportunities,
there's funds, and just think you're leaving money on the table.
Nobody leaves money on the table. You know, if there's
money there, go get it, you know, don't let it
(29:28):
just sit there and just go away. Go get the
money and let it, you know, be able to make
your life so much better and help you help you
meet those streams that you want.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
One of the reasons why I wrote my scholarship book
was because I realized a lot of people don't know
how to get started and following and finding scholarship books.
So it was kind of my catalyst, and I did
seminars and so forth on these topics, and I wanted
to provide with a resource. So the book actually has
one hundred different scholarship websites that you can go to,
(30:06):
and it's a great resource that way.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, the first time I talked to you, if you well,
back in twenty twelve or twenty thirteen, I got your
books on studying and then the one on getting you know,
some financial aid and things like that. And well, I
don't have that book anymore because I gave it to
someone for their children. They actually the children are benefiting.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I actually have an addition of mede to it. I
have a I have a podcast like you similar that.
I took the topics on scholarships and put that in
a scholarship book as a QR code, so people can
now listen to me talk about how to find financial
aid or you know, how to write a letter or
(30:56):
a scholarship. So I've done that in all three of
the books, the Studies Skilled Books and the Parents Book
have these QR codes. In them that you can actually
listen to me talk about the topic of time management
or how to organize yourself or how to plan for
your future. So I'm pretty excited about that kind of
take it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
And when they go out there a website, they're able
to be able to get this information, Am I correct?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yes, they can go to doctor Jones books dot com
to take advantage of those as well as some schools
purchase it for hundreds of students and I work with
them to do an invoice or they want to pay
my credit card, I can do that or cash out.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
These days, this is a whole other world out here.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I was looking at that with the little QR
codes and things. Makes it so so efficient to be
able to go in and look at those videos and
be able to see what to do and give you
you know, because some people they don't want to read
through a lot of stuff. They're just used to looking
at reels and videos and stuff like that. So yeah,
(32:06):
this is an opportunity to just go out to that
website and you know, get that information and just download
them step by step by step by step until you've
finished that application and you get that award. Letter in
the mail and you're happy and dancing around the house.
I mean, that's that's the whole goal was to give
(32:28):
you an opportunity to to meet those dreams and to
do those things you know, I know, like financial the scholarships.
I mean, I hear about like my own granddaughter, she's
in school from a basketball scholarship. So you can get
them through sports, you can get them through what other skills?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And oh yes, yeah, yes, there's there are lots of them.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
There's everything to use every day.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Places like home Depot, Coca Cola, McDonald's, companies that you're
using every day are giving scholarships. Your parents may work
at a place where they have a scholarship. Sometimes parents
forget that they have a scholarship at their job, or
they may have it through a credit union that they
(33:18):
belong to their scholarships that are available there. So that's
why it's so important to have a day that you're
focused on it because it can take lots of lots
of searching to find these things, but it's worth the
investment of your time and you might get a few rejections,
but you also are likely to get a few acceptances
(33:41):
of your requests for scholarships, but you have to.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Be in the game. In other words, to win them,
you have to have submitted.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
And I've even seen where a scholarship went to one
student and they decided not to accept the scholarship, and
then the scholarship goes to the next student. You still
have to be in the game to get it, to
make sure that you're applying, meeting the deadline, with everything
to take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, yeah, I mean especially you know when you mentioned
the cost of getting this education, I would be writing everybody,
whether I was qualified or not. I don't care if
they react. I just want to take a chance. I
would be writing everyone, especially if it's in an area
that I have interests. If it's in you know, healthcare
(34:31):
or you know, the arts or something like that, I
would definitely be right filling it out, you know, And
once you learn how to do it, it just becomes,
you know, almost automatic to how to do the next
one and the next one. And another thing. Parents can
also get tax credits for the money that they spend
(34:53):
for their children's higher education expenses. And we're all looking
for a tax write off, so this is something else
that can can be a way of being able to
make sure that your student is able to go to
(35:15):
school and go to you know, do the things that
they want to do. And then of course there's always
loans too, but and I'm saying that they're bad, it's
an opportunity, but check.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Your rate.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
At the rates, so make sure it's not something that
is going to be going up and down and up
and down, and make sure it's something that's very affordable.
Can you can you still pay that loan in bad times? Yeah,
you're doing you can do it great, But you never
know what life has to bring and what happens if
(35:52):
someone in the family, you know, becomes unemployed or becomes ill,
will you still be able to you know, make those payments.
So you know, I guess maybe at a last resort
that would be an option, but I would definitely be
looking at all the various ways that are available. And
(36:14):
if you start early, my goodness, you'll find all the opportunities.
Like I said, like your state there in Pennsylvania, I
know most of the other states because even the small
smaller states that I've worked in, and they have all
of these different opportunities. So it's a matter of just
doing some research and I know, everybody's got some kind
(36:37):
of AI on their phone. Put your AI to work,
find out where all these scholarships and things are, and
then get busy.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
And I like to add to that, there are associations.
So I'm the advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers.
It's composed of college students and pre college students. So
middle school, elementary school, middle school, high school are part
of this big organization that's called the National Society Black Engineers.
(37:11):
They offer scholarships to students not only when they are
applying to college, but when they're in college, you can
still apply for more scholarships. So there's a society of
Women Engineers. There's a society where it span professional engineers.
There's engineering societies mechanical, electrical, chemical, but I'm imagining that
in the same bin that they have those. There's a
(37:33):
National Nursing Association, there's a National Black Nursing Association. There's
sororities and fraternities that are focused on different aspects of professions.
So those are other places that you can apply for funding.
As I've said earlier, make sure you know the deadlines
and make sure two three weeks ahead of time you're
(37:55):
submitting your application, because sometimes the agency that you've for
organization that you submitted this scholarship to will say oh,
we're missing one element. But if you submitted it at
the deadline, then they're not going to call you. There,
I say, you just missed the opportunity because you didn't
do everything you need to do. So get in and
ahead of time, so they need to tell you, oh,
(38:18):
you need this additional essay. They have time to require
and request the additional essay or whatever it might be
that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm thinking to myself, I would definitely have
it in there at least sixty days before the deadline,
just in case they now do ask for some additional
information and you've got to do some research or whatever
you like. You said, the deadline's important because if you
(38:48):
miss it, I'm sorry, they're not going to They're not
going to open that window and say, Okay, we'll give
you a chance. No when it's closed close, And it's
because they have rules and regulations they have to follow.
It's not personal. They just have to follow the rules.
And if they say the deadline, then it has to
(39:10):
be in there by that deadline because it needs to
be a competitive thing where everybody applied at the same
time and then they begin making their decisions. People straggling in.
Then you've taken away from what they consider the fairness
of the allotment of the funds. So, yeah, you just
(39:31):
got to follow some of the rules. Just follow the rules.
Make sure the lines are complete, and make sure the
lines are complete, and you can't use a spell checker
so that it does look as if you know, you
are ready to go to college and you are completing
this so you know, to the best of your ability,
(39:53):
and you were mentioning yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah, no,
back to that, It is very important. I know when
I've been in management and I've had to read you know,
information from someone that's applying for something or or you
know reports that I've expected or something like that, and
(40:16):
you know there's misspelled words, there's you know, the sentences
aren't connecting correctly and different things like that. Well, that
just really just turns off even completely reading the rest
of this information, because if I mean, it causes someone
to evaluate you without really knowing who you are. They're
(40:39):
evaluating you based on what you have presented to them,
and what you presented represents who you are, So you
need to put your best foot forward and make sure
your presentation really does, you know, reflect who you are,
and you are a person that's wanting to achieve excellence.
(41:01):
So give them excellence to look at and then they'll
they'll know you're serious. But not paying attention to something
as simple as spelling when there's all kinds of tools
out there that can check and make sure that it's
correct and you won't even check it, then that that
(41:21):
does not, you know, appear very kindly for you. So
that's that's that's really important. So when you need to
have it in all time, you need to make sure
that it's accurate. You need to make sure that there
aren't spelling and sentence scares.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That's really important, and it also sets a president for
how you conduct yourself when you're in college that you're
paying attention to detail, that you're spell checking things that
you're submitting, and that plays out further when you get
into corporate America that there is an expectation that you
can communicate effectively in writing or and speaking, that you
(42:01):
have that ability. So all these are training grounds for
the future that you're expecting to see yourself in and
when you submit that essay because you've actually thought about
what you're about to write, it sounds so much better.
It sounds so much enticing to the person that's reading
it because it looks like and it feels like you
(42:22):
took time to think about what you wanted to say.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
I had a couple more questions. I wanted to know,
how are the housing costs covered? If if it's not
including your scholarship, are there ways that they can get work,
you know, while they're only you know, at the university,
or you know, what kinds of things can they find
(42:50):
just to cover their housing costs.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Well, there's tuition room on board, so the overall financial
aid package will include money towards that, and then there'll
be amount of balance that may be left over. If
it's covered, it's covered.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
What some students have done is they have worked when
they get in their sophomore junior year, they have worked
as resident assistants in the residential halls, and then that
way their housing is covered because they've been working as
a resident assistant. So I've seen a number of students
take advantage of that and save you know, thirty forty
(43:24):
thousand dollars because they actually worked while they were at
their college. So that's you know, and then like you said,
with loans, if you have an outstanding balance, you know,
you could get a loan or maybe if you have
enough of a grant, it'll cover that. There used to
be a time years ago where a lot of students
(43:47):
got refunds because they had an over amount of financially,
but not as many of those are going out as
there have been in the past because the cost of
college alone is so expensive.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I do remember. There was always it wasn't it wasn't
small money either. There was always money oh left over
on my grant. It was like, oh wow, I got
a few thousand dollars here.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
In school. Yes, so yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Now they're probably a lot tighter, but back then, you know,
there were there were a lot of, you know, wonderful
perks that were offered for you going to school. What
other recommendations do you have to assist students that need
financial assistance?
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Well, believe it or not, some students have done go
fund me where they just had created GoFundMe and send
it out to all their uncles, aunts, cousins, church members
to help them fund their college experience and sometimes that's
been beneficial in terms of, hey, one of your church
(45:03):
member is so excited about you being in college, they'll
give you five hundred dollars every year that you're in
college and every year that you're succeeding in college. So
it's kind of like putting it out there for people
to make an investment in you. My daughter did it
in a really creative way that she was doing her
dissertation for her doctorate degree, and she created an account
(45:26):
with all the books that she needed and so she
sent it out to everybody, kind of almost like, what
do you call it? We have that event before the.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Baby's born where you actually give out gifts, you get gifts.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
They yeah, so baby shower.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Now they have a system where you can list all
the different gifts that you want and to send it
out to people and they just pay the thing that
they can afford. So she did the same thing with books,
the books that she needed funding for and then they
could just go on and the book was automatic shipped
to her.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
So it was wonderful we see save hundreds of hundreds
and hundreds of dollars because she really needed books and
that was a creative way to get that done.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Yeah, books were really expensive even back in my days,
so I know they're probably you know, pretty expensive now,
and just covering those books and lab costs and different
things like that, you know, all of that, you know
needs to be taken into consideration. And but you know,
(46:39):
just listening to you, it's like, there's no reason for
anyone wanting to go to college not being able to
go to college, because there's just so many different options
and opportunities to be able to get funding. It just
takes some grit and some time and going after it.
(47:01):
Like I said, don't leave money on the table, do
something about it and make it happen for yourself. Definitely, definitely.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Here's another tip that I give out, and that is,
for example, the school District of Philadelphia has the section
of its website for scholarships, but all those scholarships aren't
specifically for Philadelphia students. There are other kinds of scholarships,
So go on that website, go on other school district's
(47:30):
websites to see what scholarships they have information about, or
what resources that they have. A lot of the states
themselves have a section of the state website where the
part of education offers scholarship information, so you can go
there as well all the colleges that you're applying to.
You may have four or five colleges that you're applying to,
(47:53):
go through the scholarship portion of their website because there
may be other scholarships that aren't specifically targeted to that
university that you can apply to.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
M Yeah, I mean, I know, I hear people that
are you know, born in Ohio, but they end up
going to Pennsylvania and different things like that. And you know,
are they recruiting these students, you know, to come to
their school or or you just decide I'm going to
go to that school because I want to live in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
That's a good question, A good question. So we have
alumni associations all over the country at Villanova, and we
will have different events where the alumni will recognize will
will be the person that represents us at the various
high schools in the local area at the various college fairs.
(48:49):
They will help us with that. And then we have
admission staff that do the same mission staff that go
all over the country recruiting students.
Speaker 4 (48:58):
I would say, because.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
We're filled up right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, A large
portion of our schools that or students that apply to
Villanova are from Virginia through Connecticut because they know our school.
But we do have students from as far as Hawaii
and Africa and South America. We have students from all
over the world that come to Villanova from China, from India,
(49:23):
so we have representation from all over the world. We
keep our doors open to anybody that wants to apply.
But yes, we are doing a lot of outreach to
make this happen. It's not just happening by advertisement. We
have to physically send people to certain places to the
recruitment effort.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Okay, So in other words, when you hear of a
college fair, you need to rush there and make sure
you get all the information that is available to you.
Doctor Jones, thank you so much for being here today
and sharing this information with the parents of those students
who want to attend school. And thank you for listening today.
(50:04):
And you can contact doctor Jones at his website and
get even more information. And as usual I'd like to say,
do what you can to help your child meet their
dream and whatever you do, stay informed. I want to
(50:26):
thank you for joining us on a sharp outlook we
have been informed and energized to take the next steps.
We have posted links to websites and videos to learn
more on today's topic. Please join us again next week
for another thought provoking conversation right here on key for
HD radio and Talk for TV. Listen to the podcast
(50:49):
on all the podcast apps, and until next week, stay informed.
This program is designed to provide general information with regards
to the subject matters covered. This information is given with
the understanding that neither the hosts, guests, sponsors, or station
are engaged in rendering any specific and personal medical, financial,
legal counseling, professional service, or any advice. You should seek
(00:22):
the services of competent professionals before applying or trying any
suggested ideas.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Hello, and thank you for tuning in to a Sharp
Outlook on P four HD Radio and talk or TV.
I am Angela Sharp, your host our arm chair discussions
with industry experts will give you the steps, tools and
information to be successful in business and to prepare you
to be your best self. Hello, I'm Angela Sharp, and
(00:57):
welcome to a Sharp Outlook. Do you have a student
that will be graduating next year in June or maybe May,
or do you have one that's in the eleventh grade
that might be soon graduating. Do they have a dream
to go to college and do you have the financing
(01:17):
to be able to help them to go to college. Well,
that's what we're going to talk about today, how to
pay for college so that your student can go to
college and live their dream. What are the main sources
students and families can use to fund college tuition, and
how can you maximize financial aid For many the financial
(01:40):
aid process begins by completing the free application for Federal
student aid, but there are a lot of different options
that are out there, and our guest today is very
knowledgeable about that and he's going to help us be
able to discover all the different ways to be able
(02:01):
to get funding an aid for your student's college tuition,
how to apply for scholarships, how to win scholarships, win
does get started, how to get started, and choosing an
affordable college. Students and families use a variety of sources
to pay for college, the tuition, personal income savings, scholarships, grants,
(02:26):
and loans. The specific combinations of funding sources varies by
family income, and the student's academic record is really important
and the type of institution that they're wanting to attend.
I want to bring doctor Stephen Jones to our show
(02:47):
so that we can talk about this. We had doctor
Jones on back in July talking about how your student
can study and be able to get better grades and
be able to pass their tech. Well, today this is
the now that they're passing the test, and memorizing their
information and ready to go to college. Now we need
(03:08):
to inform you parents how to help your student be
able to get into college as we know. Doctor Stephen
Jones is the Associate Dean for Student in College of
Engineering and Villanova University. Is a succesful author, speaker, and
a college readiness and student retention expert. Doctor Jones is
(03:30):
currently the president of SAJ Publishing. Is also the associat
Dean of Student and Strategic Programs in the College of Engineering.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Doctor Jones WelCom sharp out, I guess I could still
say good morning to everybody.
Speaker 4 (03:50):
I think, Yeah, this is a wonderful topic.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
It's always good to talk about how to pay for
college for me because I want to try to send
as many college students of college as possible, and it
is possible. One of the things that I think it
should be clear that this whole idea of funding college
doesn't start when you get to high school.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
That it should start.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Early, and when your child is born, you should have
thoughts about how I'm going to pay for college, where
I'm going to invest. There are different resources that you
can pay put money into an account starting that early,
and it'll accumulate over time so that by the time
we get to high school, you have some pool of
funding to think about. And I think this is important
(04:36):
because a lot of times, especially in the African American community,
when kids get into middle school, children get into middle school,
the parents start telling them, I don't have money to
send you to college. I don't know how I'm going
to do this, and so just by sending that message,
it can delay a child's interest in even going further.
(04:57):
So one of the things I would like to say
today is to the parents, don't tell tell your child
that you don't have enough money. There are over six
thousand colleges in the United States, both four year colleges
and two year colleges, and we just need to find
and find the right one for you, the right one
that fits you and your income situation, so that you
can be successful at this goal. And I think hopefully
(05:20):
it'll start today.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yes, absolutely, yeah. And that's what's so important about that, because,
like you said, of a child, here's you tell them,
I'm not going to have the money to send you
to college. It's just going to well, it's gonna they're
gonna have a downer, and it's going to make them
difficult to even continue to focus or even be energized,
(05:43):
because that's you know, stepping into their dream and saying
you're not going to be able to have that dream.
You're not going to be able to do the things
that you've always wanted to do since you were six
years old. And so, yeah, please don't tell those children
something like that, because there are options. You may not
have it all, but there are other sources. Let's find
(06:04):
out what the combinations can be. They help you do
that so that you don't have to have that talk
with your children. So tell us about some of the
different options that are out there.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Yes, so everyone is allowed to apply for the Federal
Financial Aid that's FAFSA. I know the policies around how
much of that money is available these days has changed,
but there still is money available from the federal government,
and many states actually use that FASSA form the information
(06:41):
that it provides to determine how much aid that state
is going to give to you as well. So if
you ignore the fats of the form, you may be
missing out on opportunities. They get funding from the federal
government as well as from your state because they're using
that form to determine how much money they're going to
give to you overall. So that's kind of the foundation
(07:03):
of beginning the whole process. And one of the things
I would say to you is talk to your school
counselor about that form. Your school counselor might have sessions
at the school on completing the financial aid form. I
know here in Philadelphia we have sessions all over the
city around how to complete that form. We have something
called a Philadelphia College Roundtable that helps with filling out
(07:26):
that and we educate others on how to help those
individuals that fill out their form. So there's always someone
out there to help. You just have to sometimes dig
into meeting with the counselor at your school or the
vice principle at your school to find out what resources
are available. And I will say also, don't wait until
junior year to get started getting this information. So the
(07:48):
first year that you're in high school, used to start
gathering all this information about the FABS of form, the requirements,
the information that you're going to have to provide, the
information that your students is going to have to provide
if their school has a regular financial aid workshop at
the school. Start going ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh grade.
(08:08):
So it'll gather so much information on what you need
to do to get access to that information.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And I think that really works.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
It keeps you on task with how things are changing,
rather than waiting to the senior year and now, oh
I thought I needed this, but I needed that to
find these funds that are available to you.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, that's important. I know when I was a little
girl a long time ago, I was in the sixth
grade and knew I wanted to go to college. But
back then, we had a lot of counselors. We had
a lot of college prep. They started talking to us
about that in the sixth grade, and so we had
(08:50):
a lot of motivation that was going on. You know
back in those years. I don't know whether they have that,
like I said, with the funding and things, some of
them don't even have, you know, counselors anymore. But you
know there has to be you know, right now there's
so much tech. Go look online or something and find out,
(09:12):
but you know that that information is available.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I also would say go to your local state legislator's
office and find out what kind of resources and information
that they know. In Pennsylvania, we have FEA, which is
our state federal financial aid, but they also coordinate with
FASA and so they work together. They have seminars throughout
the state, so you maybe go into your state legislator
(09:40):
or senator's office or counselor on person's office you can
find out what's available as well.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Yeah, the fund. You know, information, Like I said, information,
information is power, and the more you know, the more
power you have to be able to make good decisions
because you get all of the data that you need
to be able to analyze and come up with a solution.
What's the total cost of attendance and what expenses does
(10:11):
it cover? What's the cost now? I know it was
really a lot cheaper when I went to school. What's
the cost now?
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I mean the cost pushing room and board can go
anywhere from twenty five thousand to ninety five thousand for
one year in college, and so it is a big
investment that you have to consider what.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
Is affordable to you.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
The colleges are supposed to give you an idea of
what amount of aid that you're going to get each year.
If a college does not do that, then you risk
the possibility of the second year you thought you had
x amount of money and now it's changed in the
second year. So have that conversation with the Financial Trade
(10:57):
Office about how much they can tell you about what's
going to happen over the next four years. You know,
will there be increases that go along with the increases intuition,
because you know, tuition can increase three to five percent
per year while you're in college. So if you've gotten
a certain amount of a certain amount of financial aid
(11:17):
and then tuition increases, but that financial aid doesn't increase,
you have to make up the difference, and you have
to know what is your true ability to make that difference.
Speaker 2 (11:28):
Sup Will they tell you that you know when you
first supply, Will they be informed enough to be able
to tell you, Yeah, there might be some increases, but
this aid that you're receiving right now will not, you know,
increase proportionately.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
If that's the way that they operate at the financial
aid level. It will be determined by how the institution is.
There are some institutions that are not raising tuition right away.
They may wait one or two years. But the odd
thing about that students feel that when you don't raise tuition,
the quality is going down. So there's a delicate balance
(12:08):
OF's what you want to do with that, because you
don't want to lose students because they can no longer
afford your institution, But they also don't want to send
the wrong message.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Is there some way you can kind of negotiate while
you're you know, discussing, they aid, and get a rate
lock in?
Speaker 3 (12:31):
Well, you can, Well, there's certain different types of scholarships,
so this scholarship will determine what that will be throughout
the time that you're in school. So you're right, I mean,
it would lock in. Maybe the most that we're going
to give is thirty thousand dollars a year. You have
to come up with a difference whatever that might be.
But I would say always make sure whatever the scholarship is,
(12:54):
whatever they aid, is that you have documentation, that you
have proof to what was said, what was committed, so
that those things don't go away. You know exactly what
they're going to be, and you can prepare for the
subsequent years and how you're going to be able to
fund your education. So it again, it just depends on
(13:14):
the institution. A lot of institutions have something called the
Presidential Scholarship and the presidential scholarship pays for everything. It
pays for housing, it pays for tuition. There might be
a stipend that goes along with it on a monthly basis.
Those are for the top top school students who applied
to various schools that are able to receive that presidential
(13:37):
But it's a wonderful resource, and again it depends on
the university's funding. Place like Penn State might have thirty
of them, whereas a private school might only have ten
of them, So it just depends on the institution. This
year we started considering everyone for scholarships. Used to be
(14:00):
you had to apply for it. Now we're just looking
at your profile and your information to determine who we
want to bring in and maybe interview for these scholarships.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Now, do most of the scholarships or in financial aid,
do they also pay for, you know, additional fees like
specific courses that might be something wasn't part of the
regular plan, but you realize now you have additional courses
that you want to take because of the path you're going.
(14:34):
Would that it cover that? You know, would it cover
you know, lab fees or books? Food?
Speaker 3 (14:44):
Well, everyone has a maximum a number of credits that
you can take per semester.
Speaker 4 (14:51):
And so.
Speaker 3 (14:53):
If you're within that range or whatever the maximum is
at that institution, they're not going to charge you extra
for courses because they're not even going to allow you
to take more than that amount of course. Is why,
because they don't want you to fail. They have a
history of a student with this amount of courses will
have can still have success, and they want to overburden
(15:13):
the student with too many credits where they don't have
enough time to even study, so they're kind of maximizing
that out for each semester. Okay, And I have actually
told some students I'm sorry, no, you go ahead now.
I wouldn't say I have depending on the student's circumstances
(15:35):
if they're struggling with a semester, I have told students
to maybe consider dropping down to four classes instead of
five just for that one semester to work their way through,
because you'd rather get through the semester without having a
failing grade on your transcript than to have a failing
grade and now your scholarship is at jeopardy because you
(15:57):
didn't maintain the GPA. And that's another point. I guess
that some scholarships require that you must maintain at three
point oh to keep the scholarship.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
Mm hmm. Yeah, and that is important, you know. That's
why I say even you know, their academics is very
important to be considered when they are considering what school
they're going to and you know, what kind of aid
they're going after. There's so much more funds available for
students that are in the four point o range than
(16:30):
maybe the two point five range, and so it's very
important to you know, get that, get that academic and
get that, you know, get your scores, get your test,
you know, do what you can to make sure that
you are a student that is achieving excellence because it
opens so many more doors for you than if you're
(16:53):
just average and just trying to get by. So that's
that's really really important.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I would say that don't so some students need to
start at community college. If you know that your child
has a two point five two point seven, it might
be better for them because you're looking at their study habits,
you're looking at how much they invest in reading their books.
You know your child, as your child can fully engaged
(17:23):
in the learning process, and you don't want to spend
forty thousand dollars for your student not to make it
through the first semester in college, so it's not a
bad thing.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
Plus, it's more affordable for them to.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Start at a community college and then transfer into a
four year institution. There may be some agreement. For example,
Community College of Philadelphia has an agreement with Temple University,
and all the credits that they take at the Community
College of Philadelphia will transfer into Temple, so they only
(17:58):
have two additional years after they earn their associate degree.
That's a worthwhile way of investing because you want to
see whether your child will actually put forth the effort
to be successful in college.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Right yeah, especially if during high school they really weren't
as focused as they may have been, didn't have good
study habits, didn't have the maturity. I mean, to be honest,
some of them just really have spent too much time
maybe clowning around and didn't realize, you know what, this
(18:34):
is a good time. It's a fun time, but you're
getting ready to make a step into adulthood, and now
you really need to start getting serious about the future
because you're going to be older a lot longer than
this moment right now, and I don't think you know,
a lot of youth understand. You hit that age twenty one,
(18:54):
you've grown and all of the pressures of adulthood, you know,
comes down on you, and you haven't thought about it,
you haven't planned for it, you haven't worked towards it,
and then there you are not knowing what to do
and just you know, making a lot of bad decisions.
So you need to understand when you come in as
(19:16):
a sophomore in high school, you have three more steps
to becoming an adult and getting into a situation where
you need to be making decisions for the rest of
your life. Selecting a career. You should be thinking about
that a lot sooner than senior. Great, you really need
(19:41):
to be thinking about it because you are stepping into
and that's when things become serious and you don't get
as many considerations that, oh, they're just a kid. No,
they don't think about that anymore. Now you're an adult
and need to be making better Does some schools offer
(20:03):
merit based scholarships?
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Oh?
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Yes, most s colleges do offer merit based scholarships based
on your your GPA from high school, your overall grades,
activities that you've been involved with, a lot of leadership
kinds of things. We want to see students who can
be leaders within our organizations on campus. Volunteerism is big
(20:27):
a lot of times when they're looking at volunteer activities
of students who are applying. We've had students who started
their own organization and supported other young people. So anytime
you kind of take initiative, start your own organization or
start your own business, things like that stand out for
(20:51):
the institutions. One of the things that we're in the
business of is making sure students graduate. We are evaluated
from our crediting agency in terms of how students are
graduating from our institutions, and also we are competing in
a way against other institutions in terms of their house
students are graduating from their institutions. So we want to
make sure that we're giving you the best experience that
(21:13):
we possibly can while you're while you're enrolled at our institutions.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Okay, one of the things is you're applying for a scholarship,
is there are there requirements to renew that scholarship. Most
most of you know you don't have to think about
it anymore m hm.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
So the financial aid will have office will have control
of what's happening with that scholarship for the most part,
and they will know whether there are certain requirements, whether
there's a GPA requirement or some kind of volunteer requirement
that goes along with it. They'll be aware of that
and keep track of that. So it's important to follow
(22:04):
whatever guidelines. The guidelines of a scholarship will be given
to you upfront in the expectation. Now, some scholarships, if
you are fall below the GPA that they require, they'll
have like a probation semester and where they'll give you
an opportunity to work at it better and so that
(22:25):
you can improve your GPA. So how do you improve
your GPA? You must have better study habits. You must
manage your time better. You must get help from your
professors when you need help. You need see if there's
a We have something called learning support services at our university.
A lot of university have something similar where they want
(22:46):
to show you how to study, how to organize, how
to plan your day. I say this is so important
because I recently had a class of our new students
and I asked them how many have a daily planner?
I would say only five percent of the class had
a daily planner. So I'm like, how did you get
through high school without a daily planner? So I just
(23:08):
want to highly recommend to those who are listening to
have your child have a daily planner. It can be
something that they hold in their hand I get minds
from Staples, or it can be something that you have
electronically that will give you notices. But having something that
tracks you how you're using your time, I think is
really important. It shows that you're organized and you're planning
(23:31):
for your success.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Yeah, and believe it or not, it's something that that's
a habit you're going to be using for the rest
of your life. Whether you're at work, whether you have
your own business, whatever it is, you're going to have
a planner because you're going to be planning your day
for the success of your own business. You're going to
be planning the day of meeting deadlines on your job.
(23:53):
But you're always going to be using a planner for
all of the meetings and all of the do dates
and all of the people you need to call. So
that's a habit that they probably already have. They're planning
to call this friend, this friend, this friend, watch TikTok.
This time, you just need to grow up your planner
so that it has, you know, some things that are
(24:17):
going to give you the values you need so you
can succeed in your study habits while you're in school.
Because it is the foundation and the basic of your
very future, your future job, your future career, your future direction.
It's not something you take lightly. It's a decision you're
making for the rest of your life. Now, some of
(24:39):
us we take paths two or three different ones, but
you have the basic foundation. It gives you the you know,
the little stems that you can go in different directions,
but you at least have to set up that foundation.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
You know.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
I was looking at the number of you know, some
of the the family contributions that are there, and I
was looking at in the years between twenty three and
twenty four, rental income and savings had to cover and
estimated forty eight percent of the college cost for their families,
(25:17):
and then they had to borrow. So parents need to
get engaged. Also, like you said, don't start when they
are sophomore in high school. Start Okay, maybe the eighth birthday,
tenth birthday, but you need some people all to start
(25:37):
a funding you know when the child is born, you know,
when you're just putting away some money every month to
be prepared for that college. So that is something you know,
maybe you parents don't know about young parents that are
that are out there listening. You know, can how does
(26:00):
that work? You know what kind of vehicles is it?
I know they used to have college insurance plans where
you can.
Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, they have something called the five twenty nine plan.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
Most states have this where you can invest in this
five twenty nine plan not have to worry about taxes
and accumulate money to save for your child. And so
I would suggest everyone takes a look at that for
their state and how they can invest in that so
they can have a next stage that's developing over time.
(26:36):
And you know, if you have a lot of schools
have state schools, so they can use that toward any school,
whether it's state school or private college or they all
have ways that they can accept that money to ensure
that it's helping to pay for your student's education. And
(26:58):
one of the other things I was as a tip
that I would say to the parents and the students
is to have a scholarship day. And that's like one
hour each week that's a scholarship time. That's when your
son or daughter is doing a scholarship search, sending out letters,
meeting deadlines for the scholarships, organizing their schedule if they
(27:22):
have interviews for the scholarships. So I think it's important
to have like one set aside day and hour that
you're focused in on these scholarships because a lot of
students lose money because they don't have a specific day
in time. They don't apply to the scholarships on time,
and they don't have time to do the essays and
so forth. So if you set aside that time, you're
(27:45):
in a better position.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
I was wondering are there still because I know when
I went to school, we had grants that you could
apply for, so I was able to go to school
grant and those were funds that you know, if you
met the academic requirements, you didn't have to pay back.
So do they still have grants?
Speaker 3 (28:10):
They still have grants, and also they have alumni who
donate to the institution and that they're able to use
those funds for grants. So a lot of times those
grants are in specific departments like our business department or
our fine arts department or our engineering department or nursing department.
They have their own grants that they're able to give
(28:31):
out that's named after someone literally that's giving them money
or put they've put five hundred thousand dollars into an account,
and the interest off of that pays for the ongoing
student grants that go out throughout the years. So it
just depends on that. Sometimes states have their own grants.
(28:55):
So the main thing is meeting the requirements and knowing
that there is a requirement and that that does involve
having a calendar of how you're going to do it.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely. So there are there are resources,
you know, so that people are saying, well, I'm never
going to be able to go to college, there's opportunities,
there's funds, and just think you're leaving money on the table.
Nobody leaves money on the table. You know, if there's
money there, go get it, you know, don't let it
(29:28):
just sit there and just go away. Go get the
money and let it, you know, be able to make
your life so much better and help you help you
meet those streams that you want.
Speaker 4 (29:42):
Well.
Speaker 3 (29:43):
One of the reasons why I wrote my scholarship book
was because I realized a lot of people don't know
how to get started and following and finding scholarship books.
So it was kind of my catalyst, and I did
seminars and so forth on these topics, and I wanted
to provide with a resource. So the book actually has
one hundred different scholarship websites that you can go to,
(30:06):
and it's a great resource that way.
Speaker 2 (30:09):
Yeah, the first time I talked to you, if you well,
back in twenty twelve or twenty thirteen, I got your
books on studying and then the one on getting you know,
some financial aid and things like that. And well, I
don't have that book anymore because I gave it to
someone for their children. They actually the children are benefiting.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
I actually have an addition of mede to it. I
have a I have a podcast like you similar that.
I took the topics on scholarships and put that in
a scholarship book as a QR code, so people can
now listen to me talk about how to find financial
aid or you know, how to write a letter or
(30:56):
a scholarship. So I've done that in all three of
the books, the Studies Skilled Books and the Parents Book
have these QR codes. In them that you can actually
listen to me talk about the topic of time management
or how to organize yourself or how to plan for
your future. So I'm pretty excited about that kind of
take it to the next level.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
And when they go out there a website, they're able
to be able to get this information, Am I correct?
Speaker 3 (31:24):
Yes, they can go to doctor Jones books dot com
to take advantage of those as well as some schools
purchase it for hundreds of students and I work with
them to do an invoice or they want to pay
my credit card, I can do that or cash out.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
These days, this is a whole other world out here.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Yeah, I was looking at that with the little QR
codes and things. Makes it so so efficient to be
able to go in and look at those videos and
be able to see what to do and give you
you know, because some people they don't want to read
through a lot of stuff. They're just used to looking
at reels and videos and stuff like that. So yeah,
(32:06):
this is an opportunity to just go out to that
website and you know, get that information and just download
them step by step by step by step until you've
finished that application and you get that award. Letter in
the mail and you're happy and dancing around the house.
I mean, that's that's the whole goal was to give
(32:28):
you an opportunity to to meet those dreams and to
do those things you know, I know, like financial the scholarships.
I mean, I hear about like my own granddaughter, she's
in school from a basketball scholarship. So you can get
them through sports, you can get them through what other skills?
Speaker 3 (32:48):
And oh yes, yeah, yes, there's there are lots of them.
Speaker 4 (32:55):
There's everything to use every day.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
Places like home Depot, Coca Cola, McDonald's, companies that you're
using every day are giving scholarships. Your parents may work
at a place where they have a scholarship. Sometimes parents
forget that they have a scholarship at their job, or
they may have it through a credit union that they
(33:18):
belong to their scholarships that are available there. So that's
why it's so important to have a day that you're
focused on it because it can take lots of lots
of searching to find these things, but it's worth the
investment of your time and you might get a few rejections,
but you also are likely to get a few acceptances
(33:41):
of your requests for scholarships, but you have to.
Speaker 4 (33:43):
Be in the game. In other words, to win them,
you have to have submitted.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
And I've even seen where a scholarship went to one
student and they decided not to accept the scholarship, and
then the scholarship goes to the next student. You still
have to be in the game to get it, to
make sure that you're applying, meeting the deadline, with everything
to take advantage of it.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, yeah, I mean especially you know when you mentioned
the cost of getting this education, I would be writing everybody,
whether I was qualified or not. I don't care if
they react. I just want to take a chance. I
would be writing everyone, especially if it's in an area
that I have interests. If it's in you know, healthcare
(34:31):
or you know, the arts or something like that, I
would definitely be right filling it out, you know, And
once you learn how to do it, it just becomes,
you know, almost automatic to how to do the next
one and the next one. And another thing. Parents can
also get tax credits for the money that they spend
(34:53):
for their children's higher education expenses. And we're all looking
for a tax write off, so this is something else
that can can be a way of being able to
make sure that your student is able to go to
(35:15):
school and go to you know, do the things that
they want to do. And then of course there's always
loans too, but and I'm saying that they're bad, it's
an opportunity, but check.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
Your rate.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
At the rates, so make sure it's not something that
is going to be going up and down and up
and down, and make sure it's something that's very affordable.
Can you can you still pay that loan in bad times? Yeah,
you're doing you can do it great, But you never
know what life has to bring and what happens if
(35:52):
someone in the family, you know, becomes unemployed or becomes ill,
will you still be able to you know, make those payments.
So you know, I guess maybe at a last resort
that would be an option, but I would definitely be
looking at all the various ways that are available. And
(36:14):
if you start early, my goodness, you'll find all the opportunities.
Like I said, like your state there in Pennsylvania, I
know most of the other states because even the small
smaller states that I've worked in, and they have all
of these different opportunities. So it's a matter of just
doing some research and I know, everybody's got some kind
(36:37):
of AI on their phone. Put your AI to work,
find out where all these scholarships and things are, and
then get busy.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
And I like to add to that, there are associations.
So I'm the advisor for the National Society of Black Engineers.
It's composed of college students and pre college students. So
middle school, elementary school, middle school, high school are part
of this big organization that's called the National Society Black Engineers.
(37:11):
They offer scholarships to students not only when they are
applying to college, but when they're in college, you can
still apply for more scholarships. So there's a society of
Women Engineers. There's a society where it span professional engineers.
There's engineering societies mechanical, electrical, chemical, but I'm imagining that
in the same bin that they have those. There's a
(37:33):
National Nursing Association, there's a National Black Nursing Association. There's
sororities and fraternities that are focused on different aspects of professions.
So those are other places that you can apply for funding.
As I've said earlier, make sure you know the deadlines
and make sure two three weeks ahead of time you're
(37:55):
submitting your application, because sometimes the agency that you've for
organization that you submitted this scholarship to will say oh,
we're missing one element. But if you submitted it at
the deadline, then they're not going to call you. There,
I say, you just missed the opportunity because you didn't
do everything you need to do. So get in and
ahead of time, so they need to tell you, oh,
(38:18):
you need this additional essay. They have time to require
and request the additional essay or whatever it might be
that's necessary.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah. Yeah, I'm thinking to myself, I would definitely have
it in there at least sixty days before the deadline,
just in case they now do ask for some additional
information and you've got to do some research or whatever
you like. You said, the deadline's important because if you
(38:48):
miss it, I'm sorry, they're not going to They're not
going to open that window and say, Okay, we'll give
you a chance. No when it's closed close, And it's
because they have rules and regulations they have to follow.
It's not personal. They just have to follow the rules.
And if they say the deadline, then it has to
(39:10):
be in there by that deadline because it needs to
be a competitive thing where everybody applied at the same
time and then they begin making their decisions. People straggling in.
Then you've taken away from what they consider the fairness
of the allotment of the funds. So, yeah, you just
(39:31):
got to follow some of the rules. Just follow the rules.
Make sure the lines are complete, and make sure the
lines are complete, and you can't use a spell checker
so that it does look as if you know, you
are ready to go to college and you are completing
this so you know, to the best of your ability,
(39:53):
and you were mentioning yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah, no,
back to that, It is very important. I know when
I've been in management and I've had to read you know,
information from someone that's applying for something or or you
know reports that I've expected or something like that, and
(40:16):
you know there's misspelled words, there's you know, the sentences
aren't connecting correctly and different things like that. Well, that
just really just turns off even completely reading the rest
of this information, because if I mean, it causes someone
to evaluate you without really knowing who you are. They're
(40:39):
evaluating you based on what you have presented to them,
and what you presented represents who you are, So you
need to put your best foot forward and make sure
your presentation really does, you know, reflect who you are,
and you are a person that's wanting to achieve excellence.
(41:01):
So give them excellence to look at and then they'll
they'll know you're serious. But not paying attention to something
as simple as spelling when there's all kinds of tools
out there that can check and make sure that it's
correct and you won't even check it, then that that
(41:21):
does not, you know, appear very kindly for you. So
that's that's that's really important. So when you need to
have it in all time, you need to make sure
that it's accurate. You need to make sure that there
aren't spelling and sentence scares.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
That's really important, and it also sets a president for
how you conduct yourself when you're in college that you're
paying attention to detail, that you're spell checking things that
you're submitting, and that plays out further when you get
into corporate America that there is an expectation that you
can communicate effectively in writing or and speaking, that you
(42:01):
have that ability. So all these are training grounds for
the future that you're expecting to see yourself in and
when you submit that essay because you've actually thought about
what you're about to write, it sounds so much better.
It sounds so much enticing to the person that's reading
it because it looks like and it feels like you
(42:22):
took time to think about what you wanted to say.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
I had a couple more questions. I wanted to know,
how are the housing costs covered? If if it's not
including your scholarship, are there ways that they can get work,
you know, while they're only you know, at the university,
or you know, what kinds of things can they find
(42:50):
just to cover their housing costs.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
Well, there's tuition room on board, so the overall financial
aid package will include money towards that, and then there'll
be amount of balance that may be left over. If
it's covered, it's covered.
Speaker 3 (43:04):
What some students have done is they have worked when
they get in their sophomore junior year, they have worked
as resident assistants in the residential halls, and then that
way their housing is covered because they've been working as
a resident assistant. So I've seen a number of students
take advantage of that and save you know, thirty forty
(43:24):
thousand dollars because they actually worked while they were at
their college. So that's you know, and then like you said,
with loans, if you have an outstanding balance, you know,
you could get a loan or maybe if you have
enough of a grant, it'll cover that. There used to
be a time years ago where a lot of students
(43:47):
got refunds because they had an over amount of financially,
but not as many of those are going out as
there have been in the past because the cost of
college alone is so expensive.
Speaker 4 (44:00):
Mm hmmm.
Speaker 2 (44:01):
I do remember. There was always it wasn't it wasn't
small money either. There was always money oh left over
on my grant. It was like, oh wow, I got
a few thousand dollars here.
Speaker 4 (44:17):
In school. Yes, so yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
Now they're probably a lot tighter, but back then, you know,
there were there were a lot of, you know, wonderful
perks that were offered for you going to school. What
other recommendations do you have to assist students that need
financial assistance?
Speaker 4 (44:41):
Well, believe it or not, some students have done go
fund me where they just had created GoFundMe and send
it out to all their uncles, aunts, cousins, church members
to help them fund their college experience and sometimes that's
been beneficial in terms of, hey, one of your church
(45:03):
member is so excited about you being in college, they'll
give you five hundred dollars every year that you're in
college and every year that you're succeeding in college. So
it's kind of like putting it out there for people
to make an investment in you. My daughter did it
in a really creative way that she was doing her
dissertation for her doctorate degree, and she created an account
(45:26):
with all the books that she needed and so she
sent it out to everybody, kind of almost like, what
do you call it? We have that event before the.
Speaker 3 (45:37):
Baby's born where you actually give out gifts, you get gifts.
Speaker 4 (45:43):
They yeah, so baby shower.
Speaker 3 (45:48):
Now they have a system where you can list all
the different gifts that you want and to send it
out to people and they just pay the thing that
they can afford. So she did the same thing with books,
the books that she needed funding for and then they
could just go on and the book was automatic shipped
to her.
Speaker 4 (46:07):
So it was wonderful we see save hundreds of hundreds
and hundreds of dollars because she really needed books and
that was a creative way to get that done.
Speaker 2 (46:17):
Yeah, books were really expensive even back in my days,
so I know they're probably you know, pretty expensive now,
and just covering those books and lab costs and different
things like that, you know, all of that, you know
needs to be taken into consideration. And but you know,
(46:39):
just listening to you, it's like, there's no reason for
anyone wanting to go to college not being able to
go to college, because there's just so many different options
and opportunities to be able to get funding. It just
takes some grit and some time and going after it.
(47:01):
Like I said, don't leave money on the table, do
something about it and make it happen for yourself. Definitely, definitely.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
Here's another tip that I give out, and that is,
for example, the school District of Philadelphia has the section
of its website for scholarships, but all those scholarships aren't
specifically for Philadelphia students. There are other kinds of scholarships,
So go on that website, go on other school district's
(47:30):
websites to see what scholarships they have information about, or
what resources that they have. A lot of the states
themselves have a section of the state website where the
part of education offers scholarship information, so you can go
there as well all the colleges that you're applying to.
You may have four or five colleges that you're applying to,
(47:53):
go through the scholarship portion of their website because there
may be other scholarships that aren't specifically targeted to that
university that you can apply to.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
M Yeah, I mean, I know, I hear people that
are you know, born in Ohio, but they end up
going to Pennsylvania and different things like that. And you know,
are they recruiting these students, you know, to come to
their school or or you just decide I'm going to
go to that school because I want to live in Pennsylvania.
Speaker 3 (48:26):
That's a good question, A good question. So we have
alumni associations all over the country at Villanova, and we
will have different events where the alumni will recognize will
will be the person that represents us at the various
high schools in the local area at the various college fairs.
(48:49):
They will help us with that. And then we have
admission staff that do the same mission staff that go
all over the country recruiting students.
Speaker 4 (48:58):
I would say, because.
Speaker 3 (48:59):
We're filled up right outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, A large
portion of our schools that or students that apply to
Villanova are from Virginia through Connecticut because they know our school.
But we do have students from as far as Hawaii
and Africa and South America. We have students from all
over the world that come to Villanova from China, from India,
(49:23):
so we have representation from all over the world. We
keep our doors open to anybody that wants to apply.
But yes, we are doing a lot of outreach to
make this happen. It's not just happening by advertisement. We
have to physically send people to certain places to the
recruitment effort.
Speaker 2 (49:42):
Okay, So in other words, when you hear of a
college fair, you need to rush there and make sure
you get all the information that is available to you.
Doctor Jones, thank you so much for being here today
and sharing this information with the parents of those students
who want to attend school. And thank you for listening today.
(50:04):
And you can contact doctor Jones at his website and
get even more information. And as usual I'd like to say,
do what you can to help your child meet their
dream and whatever you do, stay informed. I want to
(50:26):
thank you for joining us on a sharp outlook we
have been informed and energized to take the next steps.
We have posted links to websites and videos to learn
more on today's topic. Please join us again next week
for another thought provoking conversation right here on key for
HD radio and Talk for TV. Listen to the podcast
(50:49):
on all the podcast apps, and until next week, stay informed.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Male Room with Dr. Jesse Mills
As Director of The Men’s Clinic at UCLA, Dr. Jesse Mills has spent his career helping men understand their bodies, their hormones, and their health. Now he’s bringing that expertise to The Male Room — a podcast where data-driven medicine meets common sense. Each episode separates fact from hype, science from snake oil, and gives men the tools to live longer, stronger, and happier lives. With candor, humor, and real-world experience from the exam room and the operating room, Dr. Mills breaks down the latest health headlines, dissects trends, and explains what actually works — and what doesn’t. Smart, straightforward, and entertaining, The Male Room is the show that helps men take charge of their health without the jargon.