[00:00:00] Right. Welcome. Good morning everyone. My name is Julie Shields Rutyna, and I am the Director of College Planning education and Training at MEFA. And this morning we’re gonna talk about how you can help your students understand their financial aid offers and. If the families pay the college bill and I happen to think this is such a, a critical time for students and families, um, as part of this college decision.

So let’s get started.

Um, a couple of things. If you need to, uh, leave at any point, just know that we will be sending the link to the recording and the slides to you. Um, you can also share those with other colleagues who weren’t able to make that this morning. If you have questions as we go along, please throw them in the q and a and I’ll make sure to get to those at the end.

And [00:01:00] you have control of your audio. And if you would like to use the live transcript feature, you can press that CC button at the end of your, at the bottom of your screen. Alright, a few things upfront. If you don’t know MEFA, hopefully you do know MEFA and you, um, you know, use our resources. Um, but we have been around since 1982 helping families plan, save and pay for college.

And we’re doing the same thing today. Uh, we have, uh, private student loans. We have the state’s college saving plans, the U Fund 5 29 plan, and the U plan. Uh, prepaid tuition program as well as attainable, which is an able program for people with disabilities to be able to save money. And we also have so many resources.

And for you as a counselor, as someone who provides guidance to students and families around the college process and, um, all of that, [00:02:00] please feel free to use MEFA, come to our website, um, use, come to our webinars like this. Um. Utilize all our materials and let us know. Call us, email us if there are other things that we can be doing for your students.

Uh, we have so many resources, but we’re always open to, um, ways that we can be helping you. So we wanna hear from you and we love our relationship with, uh, school counselors. So today we’re gonna talk about understanding and comparing financial aid offers, which is not always super easy. Then we’re gonna talk about, um, methods to paying the college bill.

How, how are families doing that these days? And then we’ll give sort of a timeline and, um, what’s next and all of the resources that students and families can use to make a good college decision. So let’s. Talk about it, you know, from seeing these, when students bring them to you, that, [00:03:00] uh, it’s not always easy to understand financial aid offers because they all look a little different.

There is, uh, there’s a movement for a standard award offer, but, and some colleges, you know, use that or you use those guidelines and some can look alike, but. They still look all over the place. So what do students usually see in a financial aid offer, or what should they see and if they don’t see, they should go looking for the information?

Um, number one, they should see the costs somewhere. Uh, if not right on the offer, then they should really make sure they can, they can find those costs for the year where, when they will be starting. So they’ll have an understanding of what they’re working with. And then they definitely are going to see the types of aid that have been offered, and those aid types can be grants and scholarships, the best kind money that’s just awarded to them.

Work study. It can be on here. And loans, just the federal student loans in [00:04:00] my mind should be on here because those are the ones that are awarded to the student. The student is the sole borrower. There’s no credit check. It’s a definite that they can get those loans. Um, so that’s what you should see in the way of loans.

And I’ll also make a point that. A work study award while fabulous, because that will allow the student to work on campus and pay for their everyday weekly expenses as well as maybe books and some transportation, um, shampoo, all of those things. Um, they’re not gonna get that work study upfront. They are gonna receive that when they work.

So when they’re figuring out the college bill and when the parents are figuring out that bill, they have to know that work study will come during the year and be there for them. All that. You know, weekly paycheck, but it won’t be there upfront. And the award offer really will show the source all the aid from all the different sources.

So I always, I think of it like the financial aid office is like the air traffic [00:05:00] controller and they’re, they’re taking it all. So they’re taking the federal aid, the state money, and their own institutional aid and putting it all on this offer. And, um, so the sources come from federal government, state.

And the colleges and universities themselves. Um. Usually a student will be asked to accept this offer by May 1st, you know, the same as the college decision deadline. So from now till May 1st, you know, your students have a lot of work to do to look at these, compare and make sure that they are making an affordable decision as well as a great decision for other reasons.

Um, you can see the last bullet. Sometimes we still see that a college will put a plus loan. In the award offer, and I never liked that because I think that yes, that that’s an option for a family and that’s. Maybe that’s what they’ll do. But when students are comparing offer to offer, you just want to compare the [00:06:00] definite money and then think about how you might fill that gap.

A plus loan being a, an option. Um, so when doing this comparison, we usually say, put anything like that aside. A plus loan does, um, have a credit check. Um, so it’s one option of how the family might pay the college bill. Plus there’s a little something extra this year with the new. Regulations from the OM three bill that came out this year.

Um, as of July 1st, plus loan limits for families, um, are going to be re uh, well, there’s gonna be a limit. There never was a limit on a plus loan. A parent could usually borrow up to the cost of attendance, minus other aid. There is a limit going forward and the limits are that, uh, 20,000 per year and 65,000 in total for student.

So let’s just say a family decides, okay, we need $20,000 to fill the gap. [00:07:00] They’re gonna run out of that plus loan eligibility junior year. So well, they’ll have a 5,000 left for senior year, but wouldn’t be able to continue to borrow. So we just think that families should spend some time really thinking about those options and, and, um, so knowing that upfront.

All right, so another piece you’ll see from your students is these award totals are gonna vary across all of the different colleges. And that’s for a number of reasons. So here’s an example. Let’s say the three colleges in this example costs 45,000. The families Student aid index, the amount that they.

Have to pay toward college. Um, in the financial aid formula is 5,000, so the student eligibility is $40,000. College A has given a financial aid offer that will meet that full need. Um, so that is the cost minus the student aid index. And this, uh, college a has given a [00:08:00] $40,000 award, which is great. The family would need to come up with $5,000 to make sure that the student could go there.

But you’ll see colleges b and c. Did not quite meet the full need of the student. And in addition to the family having to come up with the student aid index amount, 5,000 college B left a gap of seven and college C left a gap of 15. And so families, when they do this comparison, and I’m gonna show you a tool in a minute, really.

Put all the awards next to each other with the costs minus the eight. And they can see this very clearly about what they would need to come up with to pay this bill each year. Um, that’s going to be make the affordability clearer. So I think you can encourage the students that this is a really good exercise to do.

And this is the one that put that parent plus loan in there that I suggest pulling out for the comparison and then knowing that that’s a, an option for how they would fill [00:09:00] that gap. Alright. Some other things to know about the, the aid that’s on the award offer colleges. Some colleges just do need-based aid, like the Ivy League colleges and a lot of the colleges that compete with the Ivys, their programs are just based on need, based on the financial aid forum information, all of that.

But most colleges out there, um, also award merit-based aid and sometimes a combination. So it’s important for a student to understand what’s a merit-based award and what’s a need-based award. And the reason for that is if a student accepts an offer, an admission to a college, they don’t just wanna know they’re gonna be okay for this one year.

They wanna know they’re gonna be good for the four years. Um, and that means understanding, is this aid gonna carry over? So with a merit based award, that means that was awarded based on. Probably mainly their grades, their grade point average, they fell high in the admissions pool. Could be [00:10:00] athletic, it could be artistic, uh, could be because they meet some other great criteria that the school is really looking for.

But that merit based award is based on their merit. And so, uh. One thing that’s tied to that often is that the student does need to keep a certain grade point average, like a 3.0, 3.2, so that’s good for a student to understand upfront. As long as you keep this grade point average, you’ll get this merit-based award each year and something else.

That’s just important sometimes because the school wants you to feel great. You should about the merit-based aid that you’re receiving. They might send a separate letter saying you’ve won this presidential award, the Dean’s Award, uh, for $40,000. It’s, we’re so excited to have you. That feels really good.

And it is really good. Um, but. That letter, you really wanna see the award offer with that letter because it might be 10,000 a year and I just have seen those letters go out. That can be slightly misleading. Um, [00:11:00] so that’s why it’s good to compare the award letter and that 40,000 might be 10,000 a year in the merit.

And a student knowing I really have to work hard, keep that grade point average to make sure I can keep this aid on the need-based side. That’s based on the FAFSA information, maybe the CSS profile information, if a college required that. And so what a student wants to understand about that is that as long as their financial situation stays the same, they will probably receive a similar need-based award in the coming years.

Um, but if they. Come from a family that has fluctuating income, all of that, it’s important to talk to the financial aid office to get a sense of, am I gonna be able to count on this for the four years? So those are important conversations to have. And we talked about the federal student loans that a part of that aid package.

Um, and I. I believe these, they should be in the aid package. They are loans, but they’re special. The student is the sole borrower. There’s no [00:12:00] credit check. Um, there’s a fixed interest rate that changes annually, so this is the one for this year. We’ll change again. For next year. But once a student borrows a loan at a certain interest rate, it’s fixed.

It stays like that for the life of that loan. And there are two parts of this loan, sometimes subsidized and unsubsidized. The subsidized portion means the federal government is paying the interest while the student is in school. So that’s really a great deal. Um, the unsubsidized just means same interest rates, same everything else, but.

The interest does start accruing immediately. So when the student graduates and has to start repaying six months later, the interest that accrued on that unsubsidized does get added to the, uh, principal of the loan, and then the student goes and pays from there. Um, it is possible for students to.

Payments on the interest while in college. So that doesn’t happen. But either way, the student doesn’t have to start repaying until six months after graduation. And these are the [00:13:00] amounts, the maximum amounts that a student is eligible for, for the different years. Freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior. If a student takes all of this, um, they’ll graduate with about $27,000 in debt.

And that will be about a $300 payment on the regular repayment plan. Although they will also have the option of a, an income contingent repayment plan, um, in which they can send in inf, have information come about their income each year and pay an amount that is a small percentage of that allowing the student to.

Take a job for their, that’s good for their career, but might not pay as well when they first start out or move and get an apartment with some friends and then have a manageable payment, things like that. So they have a choice of those two repayment plans going forward. Um. The way this works for a student is once they [00:14:00] accept the aid offer in May, the college will then direct the student to go to the student aid.gov website where the student will read, it’s called an entrance interview.

They’ll read and learn about what the loan is, what the terms are, what they’re signing up for. So they’ll know that putter of their aid is an award, is a loan. Um, and then they sign the promissory note there, and that all happens through the college. And then the college puts that credit on the bill. So that’s already there by the time the family has to think about how they’re gonna fill any gaps.

Alright? And so then once a family, um, you know, really compares those award offers, um, they’ll want to look at the college charges. Financial aid, subtract financial aid, enrollment, deposit and figure out what is that balance due. And this is a calculator that I think is great, um, to use with students or have students families use on their own.[00:15:00]

You can use the QR code or you could just type in on me a’s website college cost calculator. And this is where a student can add the schools the fees. All the aid and look and see, okay, now what is the bottom line? If I go to this college, we have to come up with 5,000. If you go to this college, we have to come up with 10.

If you go to this college, we have to come up with 20. And where is that affordability line? Um, but really important to know that and know that upfront before you send in that deposit on May 1st. And when you’re looking at the results of that calculator, okay, this is what’s gonna cost us. That’s the net price.

Um, family can really think about what can we afford? Yep. We looked, we can help you out. And we can give you five or we can give you 10. Oh, once it gets to 20, then. I have to think about, that’s for four years. We’ll probably have to do that for four years and [00:16:00] ooh, I have your brother and sister coming up.

You know, it’s just the affordability conversation happens and it’s always good to maybe have the student really think about the different colleges. I know this is your first choice, but how about your second? They gave you more money. What do you think of that? Do you wanna go back and visit accepted students day?

Do you have questions? Why was it your second? Do you think you could get the same education there? Those are all the conversations that, um, families can be having. Uh, at the kitchen table is what I like to say. Students could also maybe think about potential graduate school. Um, do they know, do they happen to know their major?

Are they in an engineering program? Um, so all of those things come into play and I’ll give a couple of examples. We have a couple of engineering programs, um, right here in Massachusetts that I see the data that they put out about their program, and it’s really great. You know, high percentage of students [00:17:00] graduate and graduate into jobs immediately that start paying $80,000 in upwards.

Now, is that a guarantee? No. Is every student gonna get that? No, but that does show a likelihood of, of. A possibility that a student might be able to borrow a little extra if this really is the first choice, maybe be able to pay that off just a consideration. On the other hand, let’s say a student is gonna go into a profession, um, where they know they’re gonna need a master’s teaching, counseling, um, then that could factor in where they know they’re probably gonna go to grad school almost immediately and might.

Want to really think about keeping debt down at that undergraduate level for that reason. And there are 25 more scenarios a family could have. Um, but these are the types of conversations that, um, we can talk [00:18:00] with, with students and families about. Um, another thing a student can do with these awards. So let’s say there’s a top choice college, um, but the student received.

More aid from some other schools and the others seem more affordable. Is it worth making an appeal for more aid? I think it usually is. However, uh, it is true that there are circumstances that are more likely to end in a positive appeal, um, than others. And this is a great webinar that we just had and you can review, you can go watch it, um, on demand on our website.

Um. Financial aid administrators from different colleges, from state Curry, Endicott Simmons. Talking about what, what types of things do they look at when they look at appeals? So they definitely look at if a family has a drop in income or assets, any change there, unreimbursed medical expenses, new household expenses, changes in family size.[00:19:00]

Those are all things that. Immediately the financial aid officer would, would wanna know about and see if they could make any changes. Um, you know, there are some other appeals just like we received, you know, more, more money from another college. Um, and this is our first choice that may not end in a positive appeal.

Um, it’s not definite, but. It may be worth asking because, um, sometimes a college, if they know, oh, we could give this student 1000 more or 2000 more, that would kind of fill in that gap and make a difference to have the student that we want come here, let’s see what we can do and, and work with the family.

So, um, I wouldn’t be as, uh, I would just manage your expectations around that and know that. That is not a definite type of appeal at all, but sometimes, um, the financial aid office could figure out a way to, if you have [00:20:00] a small gap to help you out with that. Um, usually if it’s not due to a big financial change and you come back and ask for 10,000 or $20,000, usually that’s.

Not gonna work, um, for an appeal. So I just say that to you upfront too. Um, and the format, just find out what is the format for each school or for the, I shouldn’t even say that, for, for the school, because really, um, you would wanna be appealing for the, the college that you’re most interested in, in, um, in going to, uh, there might be a school appeal form.

There might be, um, a. Just an email. Um, they might want some, uh, documentation from a third party. Uh, so take a look at that and I’m just realizing that I didn’t have my name there, so, oh, and it still didn’t, alright. I.[00:21:00]

Alright, so then what are the methods to paying the college bill? How is a family gonna do this? Um, private scholarships, so. There are places where students can look for outside scholarships and bring those in to help pay that bill. So I always tell students to look to you as their school counselor because you know the process at your high school.

Does your high school have a form they can complete? And then that puts them in the running for a number of scholarships and that are given out an award night in the spring. So, um. Hopefully students sign up for all of that. They should also look to community organizations, especially those that they might be involved with, foundations not-for-profits, and maybe parents, employers.

Um, for, for many years I was part of a CVS uh, scholarship. Program and, um, [00:22:00] you know, CVS has a scholarship for children of employees going to college across the country. So, um, just something to know if, if a parent works at CVS look into that. Um, I should also say that there is scholarship. Searches online and we’ve, um, given a few here, college board.org, fastweb.org where a student can go in, type some information about themselves and get a list of scholarships that they can look into that narrows what’s out there.

Um, and students should definitely, that is definitely a worthwhile task to just take a quick look at that and they should never pay. Uh, for a scholarship search because, or pay to apply for a scholarship because, um, yeah, just that’s, that’s not how this should work. Um, I’ll also add that if. You as counselors or if you wanna share this with your students, [00:23:00] that MEFA puts out a lot of articles about scholarships.

You know, we, we post articles about upcoming scholarships with deadlines upcoming in May. That happens almost monthly. Uh, we also, on Instagram, post information about any scholarship we hear about. We have a lot of people write to us to say, would you? Promote our scholarship. So we have a lot of scholarship information, um, coming from MEFA, so not a bad idea for students and families to follow us on Instagram and, um, be part of mi a’s email curriculum, which will send emails about, you know, we just wrote an article about scholarships with many deadlines, things like that.

Um, and same for, for all of you? Um, yeah, that’s what I’ll say there. All right. Another way that families can pay for college. And truthfully, this is my favorite way. I [00:24:00] talk to counselors. I talk to students who are juniors and seniors in high school, but I also talk with families who have babies and little kids, um, and really encourage saving even a small amount from an early age.

So, um. The words getting out. I see more and more family saving, and if families have any savings, um, they’re always happy. I’ve never heard a family say, I wish I didn’t save. So here are all the ways that a family can save 5 29 college savings plans, prepaid tuition plans, and then a whole lot of, uh, other ways like savings, bonds, stocks, CDs, bank accounts, other investments, contributions from family members.

So any of that would be the first place to look before thinking about, um, any other way to pay for college. If you’ve saved great and now you’re gonna get to use it. And this, um, is information, you’ll have these slides, so I won’t go [00:25:00] into it in too much detail. But if a family has saved in the U Plan prepaid tuition program, um, which has real benefits for students who end up going to one, the one of almost 70 colleges here in Massachusetts, huge benefits, um, to keep that very affordable.

But even if not my, um. On a personal level in my family, one of my, my daughter went to school in Pennsylvania, my son in New Hampshire. So, and I had saved in the U plan, uh, but I still got to take that money out with Consumer Price Index in interest that accrued over the years, and I still got to use it to pay, um, for some of their college.

So it was still a good thing for me. But, uh, if you attend to Massachusetts College on that you plan list, it’s really great. And they would just, uh. Call and withdraw their funds. And then, um, if a family has saved in the U fund college investing plan, that’s the, [00:26:00] the, um, MEFA 5 29 plan. With Fidelity, they would just call and get their money out and decide how much money they wanna take out, um, each year.

And something else that, um, I think is really great for families to know about is that colleges all, I think all, or at least most have a monthly payment plan, um, that allows families to pay not on the typical schedule of once in the summer and, you know, once in July and then once in December for the spring semester.

That’s kind of the typical. Billing cycle. Uh, but all colleges have this monthly payment plan, and what it is is that there’s usually a fee, like $75, but it’s not interest or anything, it’s just you pay and then you get to split up your tuition payments over the course of nine 10. 12 months and families will hear about [00:27:00] that as soon as they make their deposit in May.

Then the school starts sending information and we’ll send information pretty quickly, uh, to say, if you wanna join the monthly payment plan, here’s how that works. And families can sign up and they could. Start their 12 month payment if they want, uh, or to choose nine months. And, um, so that’s a, that’s a nice way to pay, spread out the cost and not be borrowing a loan.

Um, if a student has not heard about that from the college that they’re going to, they should just call the college and ask about a monthly payment plan. And then college costs are so high these days. We know, um, that sometimes when, when families compare those award letters and have that gap, sometimes their savings won’t cover it all.

Even joining the monthly payment plan isn’t really gonna be enough. So they might need to borrow an educational loan [00:28:00] and. Any loan that we’re talking about right from this point forward, uh, is more like a normal loan in that, um, there is a credit check and, um, the student isn’t gonna be able to borrow on their own because they’re gonna, you know, young, they don’t have a.

Uh, oh, you know, full paying job usually. Um, so they usually need a co-signer or need to be on the loan with, with their parents. Um, so it’s important to, for the family to know their credit history. We wanna encourage families. Borrow only what’s needed. You know, utilize all of those other ways to pay first.

So you keep that borrowing down because you really are thinking you, if you do it this year, you’re probably gonna have to pay it for four years. And, um. Really, really important to understand all of these things just as you would if you were shopping around for a mortgage or a car payment. You wanna understand is it a fixed or variable interest rate?

What is that interest [00:29:00] rate that you’re gonna pay? Um, and know that if it’s a student and parent on the note together, you’re both responsible for the repayment of this loan. Um, one thing to know as you’re shopping around is if you make multiple inquiries on different. Loans from different places within a, a short period, like a two week period that counts as only one, um, inquiry on your credit report.

So that’s great. There’s so many more details to understand about comparing loans. Um, and so we do have two webinars, June 4th and July 14th, um, that families can sign up for, you can sign up for, to learn more about the nuances of that. One I’ll just say is that out there, loan organizations market their loans, um, and sometimes say things like, um, borrow an educational loan as low as 3%, but it’s really [00:30:00] good to understand that as low as literally means that one loan, you know, can, can have a 3% rate, but based on a family’s credit score.

Loans can, the loan you get as a family could have a much higher rate. Um, so you really wanna have an understanding of what is your rate. Um, when you’re comparing these loans and the comparing loan options, webinar gets, gets all into that for families. So I think that’s great. Um, and this is a calculator on the MEFA website that I like, um, be, and you know, MEFA has loans as well.

Um, so. We are one of the places that that families can, can look to, to make a decision on the best option for them. And this calculator I love, I use it with families all the time where they can just go in and put in the amount they wanna borrow, how many years before graduation and [00:31:00] what their credit is, or an estimate, and then they get a chart of.

Here are all the me a loan options, and here’s what the exact payment would be while the student is in school. Once the student graduates, what’s the interest rate? What’s the A PR? What’s the total cost of borrowing on this loan? And I would say that this type of a little exercise calculator is so important to do no matter where you’re gonna borrow a loan because.

What it shows you is no matter, before you actually sign on the dotted line for a loan, you should understand all of this to be picking the right option for you. So this is how I, I talk to families and I know as counselors you have an enough going on to, um. Probably not get into these nitty gritty details with, um, with families, but sort of good to high level, be able to caution them and say, you know, be out there, find, find a loan that’s gonna work for you.

Here’s a [00:32:00] calculator that might work for you. Um, talk to the college. Those kinds of things. And this is just an example because all your families will do this differently, but let’s say a family has a $20,000 balance due. Here’s how one family might pull that 20,000 together. Uh, some student savings, the student has worked over the last few summers.

Parents have some savings in this case. A parents might decide we’re gonna use a payment plan for part of it. We just paid off one of our cars and we have $500 extra a month. I’m gonna do that 10 month payment plan, that’s $5,000. And then this family might say, eh, I’m gonna borrow an educational loan for 10,000.

And that keeps the, the payments sort of manageable that we think we can do that for the four years. So what’s next? Um, if a student, if you have a student come to you with an, an acceptance and have they have not received a financial aid offer, [00:33:00] encourage them to please file the fafsa. Um. But much of the institutional aid is gone at this point, but you can always submit the FAFSA and be eligible for, for federal aid.

And as we know, for example, this is huge. Community colleges in Massachusetts are free, and that’s tuition and fee free, I should say. And that’s wonderful. I’m. Elated about that. Um, but students still need to file the FAFSA to get it. That’s the process, because they need to make sure they apply for any federal money they’re eligible for before the state kicks in that money.

So, fafsa, fafsa, fafsa, uh, for anyone who has. You know, um, any financing questions, and especially if they are planning to go to community college, they’re gonna get stopped and they’re gonna have to file it at some point anyway. Um, again, just like nationally, most colleges are gonna ask, um, oh, I’m sorry.

The Massachusetts Financial Aid deadline. Yes. For state aid, they need to do that FAFSA before May [00:34:00] 1st. And then federal aid, you know, can be all, all year long. Um, let’s see. Anything else? Just what, what we’ve already talked about payment plans open to all and private loans open to all. And so the timeline, um, they will pay an enrollment deposit, uh, by the college deadline, usually May 1st.

Uh, the typical timeline is the fall semester bill is sent in June or July, um, and due in July or August. Um. Although educational loans have gotten pretty speedy, the technology is pretty good these days. We usually say to families, apply for an educational loan at least two weeks before the bill deadline, um, just in case there’s some back and forth with paperwork or whatever.

And then the college will probably let families know about payment plans and they can sign up for those. Alright, a word about the wait list. Oh, [00:35:00] students love to hear, have an acceptance, feel sad about a de denial, but some get on the wait list. And so here are just a few, a few tips that, that we say, and you probably have your own because you deal with this all the time, but just wait.

Lists are long these days and there’s, there’s no way to know if a student will get accepted. Um. From the wait list and the, a piece of negative information is that many students who are accepted from the wait list may not receive a whole lot of financial aid, so they should think about that. Um, and they should definitely switch their thinking and put an enrollment deposit down at another school that accepted them, and that’s usually non-refundable.

However, if a student is still really interested in that. College where they’re on the wait list, they should formally accept their spot. Write a note to the admissions counselor and add in if there are any [00:36:00] new grades, awards they won near graduation time. Um, and from what I’ve heard, and you probably know this too, continue to be in touch with the admissions office every couple of weeks.

I’m still interested. I still wanna stay in this wait list if they really do, because as time passes. Students make decisions. The wait list does get smaller, and letting the college know that you’re still interested can be a really great thing. Keeping that financial aid piece in mind. Um. So that’s that and any other resources.

Once a student is accepted at a college, um, the financial aid office is a really great resource to call, email, to ask about, you know, can I count on this award for the whole four years? Um. I received this $2,000, um, scholarship at graduation for being a good community servant. Is that gonna affect my [00:37:00] financial aid?

And a word is, um, most colleges, um. Will not let it affect financial aid until all unmet need is met. If all unmet need is met, they usually allow a family to, uh, lower work study or the loan before it affects the scholarship. So it goes like that. So unless a student receives a $20,000 private scholarship that starts to, um, get, you know, be higher than that, it usually will be allowed to just meet that unmet need.

Um, also to ask about, to appeal changes in family circumstances, stay in touch with that financial aid office and I’d say follow their lead. If they like phone calls, fine, if they like email, if they have a chat, if you have a certain counselor, follow those directions. And, um, but, but that office is a great one to be in touch with for the most specific information about that.

College. Um, [00:38:00] and I will just share with you, um, here are upcoming. Institute webinars. So you can look at that QR code. And we have, we always record these and you can watch them on demand, receive professional development points for them. And this other QR code is a link to share MEFA resources with families.

And I’ll say it again. We want to help you help your students. We know you have so much on your plate, so let us know if there are other things that we could, uh, share with you that would. Make your jobs easier, and here are all the handles, um, and ways to find us. Um, and I’ll add that, um, you know, I mentioned Instagram being a great place to find us for scholarship information.

MEFA has a podcast as well, and we cover a wide variety of topics on that podcast. It’s called the MEFA Podcast, and you can find it wherever you, um, get your podcasts. And again, if I can’t say [00:39:00] it enough, call us, write to us. Um, we want to help you and we wanna hear from you. So thank you so much. Alright, let’s see if we have any questions.

I, let me just see.

So the question is, does MEFA send scholarships for students outside of Mass? Um, so yes. I mean, we, MEFA doesn’t have any of our own scholarships. Um, but yes, we promote scholarships, uh, that we hear about all over the country. For example, uh, MEFA Pathway, which is our, uh, free web portal, uh, for students in grades six through 12.

We have a scholarship search in there, and that includes scholarships from all over the country. Um, yes, so, so [00:40:00] I guess the answer is yes, uh, for students who go to school in Massachusetts or, or elsewhere. Thank you. And I don’t see any other questions. I’ll wait just 30 seconds in case, um, there’s something outstanding.

But otherwise, I wish you all a great day and thank you for being here. And I will send the recording and I’ll send the slides for you as well.

Well have a, have a wonderful day and I hope to see you all again soon. Bye.