Parent PLUS loans are just one option for parents to help cover the costs of college. To help you decide if this is a good option for your family, take a look at the following tips on applying for and managing your Parent PLUS loan.

1. Determine if it’s the right choice for you

What I mean by this is, Parent PLUS loans are solely in the name of the parent, and cannot be transferred to the student. Before applying, make sure you know that you’ll be responsible for paying it back. If you’d rather be a cosigner on a loan in the student’s name, then your best option would be for your student to apply for a private student loan.

2. Don’t stress about credit

PLUS loans have minimal credit requirements when compared with private loans. The check does not take credit score into account, and only looks back 5 years to determine if there are any adverse credit issues during that time.

If you did have an issue during that time, don’t fret! You have the ability to appeal a declined PLUS loan if you have extenuating circumstances. For more on what constitutes an extenuating circumstance, read A Parent’s Credit and PLUS Loans.

If you’re still declined for credit reasons, your student becomes eligible for more Direct Stafford Loans, increasing to the independent student loan limits.
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The financial aid process can be tough to navigate, and like many students out there, you may not know all of the ins-and-outs. To help you make the most of your financial aid, we compiled a list of some noteworthy facts.

1. You must maintain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP)

To stay eligible for financial aid, there are certain criteria you have to maintain. Many students know about the qualitative measures such as minimum GPA, but there are also quantitative criteria students must meet. For example, a student must not exceed 150% of the credits required for their program of study, and this includes attempted credits. This means that too many withdrawals, failed, or incomplete courses can impede your eligibility for financial aid. Make sure you know your school’s SAP policy to keep your financial aid on track or check out this example from the University of Minnesota.

2. Males must register with the Selective Service

Some students don’t realize this until it’s too late, but in order to receive financial aid, male students 18 and older must register for selective service. If you don’t register by the time you’re 26, you will be unable to receive federal financial aid funds. After that, it’s incredibly difficult to regain eligibility, if at all.
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Developing good saving habits starts when you’re young, but many students don’t know where to begin. While we know it can be tough to save money when college expenses keep growing, every little bit helps. Below are five ways to help you save right now and better manage your money.

1. Automate your Saving

If you receive a regular paycheck from a part-time or on-campus job, see if you can allocate a portion to automatically deposit in a savings account. It doesn’t have to be a lot, but by putting a little bit away into a separate account, you’re more likely not to spend it and can even earn interest on the savings.

2. Use your Tax Refund Wisely

Did you just get your tax refund or are you patiently awaiting its arrival? It might be tempting to spend all of the “extra” money right away, but don’t! Put it directly into your savings account to build interest for when you really need it. That doesn’t mean don’t treat yourself to something nice, just keep it reasonable.
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February 25 – March 2, 2013 is America Saves Week, and to kick things off, student loan giant Sallie Mae released a national study on how Americans save for college. In “How America Saves for College: 2013” the statistics show that although most families are optimistic about their college savings, few are taking advantage of their options today. According to the study “Most college savers remain optimistic about their ability to save and plan to increase their savings in the next five years, though two-thirds don’t have a plan to achieve their goals.”

How Families are Saving

Much of the data has been compiled into an infographic, which shows a variety of ways families save, and the types of accounts they’re using. Of the families saving for college, only 27% choose 529 college savings plans. Other savings vehicles include general savings accounts, checking, investments, and even retirement accounts.

Best Ways to Save

Parent-Owned Accounts
Savings in the student’s name is assessed at a much higher rate than parent savings when applying for financial aid. While a maximum of 5.6% of parent assets count against a family, a whopping 20% of a student’s assets are used in financial aid calculations. When possible, keep funds out of the student’s name, and take advantage of incentivized savings vehicles over checking accounts, for example.
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Great news for student loan debt holders who are struggling to pay those loans every month. Have you heard of the Income Based Repayment (IBR) program, or the “Pay as You Earn” plan? Well if you haven’t, you might want to listen up.

To give you a little history- the US Department of Education implemented an Income Based Repayment (IBR) program in 2007, which aimed to help borrowers pay off their student loan debt, relative to their earnings. However, the program wasn’t cutting it as the student debt number continued to rise to $864 billion in federal loans and most students out of college were landing low paying jobs.

The improved version of this program, also referred to as the “Pay as You Earn” plan, is designed to address this issue and will launch on December 21st, 2012.

This plan is designed to do two things:

1. Reduce the cap on monthly payments from 15 to 10 percent of discretionary income.
2. Accelerate the time it takes for students’ loans to be forgiven from 25 to 20 years.

Here is an example of potential savings with this improved plan for a household of 1 with an income of $45,000/year and $60,000 in loans:

To qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” program:

• You must have taken out a federal student loan after October 1, 2007 AND have taken out at least one loan on or after October 1, 2011 (Private student loans do not apply).
• Use the IBR calculator to determine if you are eligible for the Income Based Repayment Program.

The Department of Education estimates that at least 1.6 million borrowers qualify for the “Pay as You Earn” plan, but very few are aware that it exists, so spread the word and share this important information with your peers! Learn more about Income Based Repayment.

With millions of students putting in the effort to search for scholarships, it seems a shame not to share the findings! That’s why StudentScholarshipSearch.com asked students, just like you, to suggest their scholarship lists – and the results were fantastic! Students picked topics that were important to them, created their lists, and now they’re being shared with you!

From scholarships for southpaws to no essay scholarships, and scholarships for single parents, it’s never been easier for students to find scholarships relevant to them. To find a student scholarship list relevant to you, head on over to StudentScholarshipSearch.com and get started!

We should also mention that if you’re a student who has put a lot of time into researching scholarships, you can share your list, too. Suggest a list and help other students find scholarships – after all, why reinvent the wheel?

Finding scholarships is tough. With so many students looking for aid, many often get discouraged and stop applying. However, searching for scholarships has never been easier. Recently relaunched, the new StudentScholarshpSearch.com allows students to find scholarships quickly and easily, no registration required!

With Student Scholarship Search, you can find scholarships for all sorts of things like state scholarships, scholarships by interest or even by career. The important thing when searching for scholarships is to look for what’s unique to you. Are you a 6’5″ girl? Search for tall scholarships. Do you live in Hawaii? There are scholarships for that too. Searching for scholarships is more effective when you narrow down your criteria – it’s less overwhelming, and you can be more productive.

To make it even easier, you could always use the scholarship matcher, which identifies applicable scholarships based on 5 simple questions like your GPA or gender. Or you can check out scholarship lists created by other students with your interests.

With thousands of scholarships in one place, you can now spend less time hunting, and more time winning money to help get you through school.

Head on over to StudentScholarshipSearch.com to see what scholarships you can find!

Every year we get the same question, so here is your answer:

For the 2013–2014 year, the FAFSA will be green, with a purple section for parents.

For the current year, 2012–2013 the FAFSA is orange.

In previous years:

• 2011–2012 FAFSA was Yellow
• 2010–2011 FAFSA was Blue

For detailed information on completing the FAFSA, visit FAFSAonline.

Students who have received financial aid in the past know the drill – the financial aid office receives the funds, applies them to the student’s account for tuition, room and board, and other expenses, then returns the remainder to the student. In the past, students have been given the option of receiving the refund by check or direct deposit, but this year, there’s a new option across many campuses – a pre-loaded debit card.

The problem

These debit cards (often endorsed by the school) may seem like a great idea up front (easy, right?) but students are warned to be cautious if selecting this method. These cards can come with high fees that can eat into your federal aid funds! Not ideal for cash-strapped students. Fees include things like “$0.50 to swipe the debit card using a PIN number, inactivity fees of $10 a month starting as soon as six months and overdraft fees as high as $38 per transaction” according to the Huffington Post.
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Did you know that 93% of Freshmen have off-campus jobs? Paying for college and living expenses is tough, that’s why we want to help you make money during the school year! It’s not always easy finding steady employment, but there are plenty of odd jobs for college students to earn cash, such as:

• Babysitting
• Mowing lawns
• Shoveling snow
• Delivering food
• Being a bike courier
• Stuffing envelopes

The options are seemingly endless! For more ideas on great jobs for college freshmen (both on and off campus), check out our recent infographic, Freshmen Jobs: Ways to Earn & Save Much Needed Cash.

While you’re there, let us know how you make money while in school!