Yes, it’s that time of the year..thin envelopes, thick envelopes, cost of attendance, financial aid, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans and the dreaded PLUS loan plug (for the uninitiated, the Parent PLUS loan is often the way that financial aid offices get their offers to balance out). Here are three activities from our Paying for College unit that I used recently with AVID students at Mountain View High School to lessen the anguish of this process and prepare them to analyze their own award letters: 

• Calculate: What’s the Value of A College Education?: We read incessantly about the cost of a college education but this activity focuses on its value. In this activity, students analyze a chart to discover the difference in wages and employment rates depending on one’s educational attainment. Led to some great classroom discussions about whether this education premium would increase or decrease in the future. Students also put together a complete list of the non-economic values of a college education.

• Calculate: How Much Should I Borrow for College?: Students learn about a rule of thumb for the appropriate amount to borrow for college. They then select a major that they are interested in to discover what recent graduates in that area of study are able to earn. Finally, they go to a Student Loan Calculator to determine the average debt that students at that specific school incur and how that compares to their expected salary. I found that students enjoyed exploring other colleges during this activity with one noting that at many of the elite private schools (e.g., Harvard and Stanford) had less debt than those at publics.

• The Fine Print: Financial Aid Package: Ultimately, students need to be able to compare financial aid packages described in their award letters. In this activity, students analyze two award letters (one simple and one complex) and then answer ten multiple choice questions which provide an excellent check for understanding.

These activities do a great job getting students to answer three critically important questions before going off to college. I am looking forward to this week’s class when students will be evaluating their actual award letters.

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.