Corrections or additions?
This article by Barbara Fox was prepared for the August 21, 2002 edition of
U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
On the Move
The cost of college is rising at two times the rate
of inflation, says Kevin Simme of College Funding Alternatives on
Princeton-Hightstown Road. “When I started college 20 years
ago,”
he says, “the family contribution was 1/25th of the parents’
income.
Currently, because the formula hasn’t really changed, it is about
1/5th of the parents’ income, factoring in the number of children
and so on. I believe that has to do with the price of college more
than anything else.”
“No matter where you go to school costs are going to continue
to rise because professors need increases in their salaries, overhead
is huge, and schools need to keep dumping money into technology
because
they have to stay up with it,” says Simme.
Simme is a college funding specialist who moved in June from 600
Alexander
Road. He aims to fill the void between the college officer, the
guidance
counselor, and the student’s family. “I help parents with
financial
aid to maximize the aid available and show them how to pay for schools
in the most tax advantaged way.” Some special plans are tax free,
but if the parents don’t set it up appropriately it will hurt them
for financial aid, Simme warns. “Yet if the grandparents are doing
the saving, it is not a problem.”
He offers a free one-hour consultation and speaks at various seminars,
but his per family fee is $895, except when he runs a sale twice a
year for $700.
Simme did not come from a “silver-spoon-in-the-mouth”
background.
But by working three jobs in the summer and being a resident advisor
during the school year, Simme graduated from Houghton College in
upstate
New York in 1985 with only $15,000 in student loans, which he paid
off in three years. He managed his own finances; his father was a
construction worker, and his mother stayed at home with seven children
and a Tupperware business. So when Simme applied to college, he did
his own paperwork. “I was known as a penny pincher, and I saved
a lot of money. And as student government president in my senior year,
I got free room and board.”
He worked in marketing for seven years, first as membership manager
at Central West Jersey AAA and then for a financial services company,
the Guardian. “I saw that most advisors were dealing with people
on how to save money but not on how to pay for college.” Now,
he says, he can help 90 percent of his clients reduce the family
contribution
in a significant way. “I’ve seen clients who earn six figures
actually get some kind of need-based aid. But nine out of 10 fill
out the forms wrong not because they are dumb but because the forms
are so complicated,” says Simme.
“Parents spend a lot of time and money looking for scholarships
when they really should be spending more time looking where the money
comes from,” he says. An important thing for parents to consider:
“Whether you’re applying for need-based aid or merit-based aid
you have to go through the same process,” says Simme. He suggests
parents keep the following in mind:
Do your homework. It’s worth the effort, whether you thinkyou can do it on your own or not.Look at the numbers. Make sure to apply to schools thatare giving the most financial aid.Be more frugal, and start now. If you are not saving,and you not getting ready to retire, you are living beyond your means.”Thirty percent of the people I deal with have no savings forcollege and have no plans to save. They are living pay check to paycheck. A dramatic number of people are living above their means.”Reevaluate your lifestyle. “Sometimes people don’twant to hear this. One family had to move to a smaller home to payfor college.”Get forms in early. The financial aid process is firstcome, first serve so don’t procrastinate.Be absolutely accurate. The Department of Educationestimatesthat 90 percent of financial aid forms are turned back due to error,which means 9 out of 10 applications get bumped back in thefirst-come,first serve line-up, says Simme.Expect to negotiate. The colleges don’t assume you willtake their first offer. Many colleges offer less and expect tonegotiate.”The colleges don’t want you to know this,” says Simme,”butmany will under-award you or mis-award you.” Parents need to learnwhen to say a financial aid package is unacceptable and how tonegotiate.College aid scams generally guarantee a certain award.When seeking professional help in the financial aid process, watchfor promises. “If someone is guaranteeing you a particular amountof money in return for a fee, that’s one thing that you might wantto stay away from,” says Simme, who offers a simple satisfactionguarantee. “Anybody who has any expertise in the area or is agood risk is going to do a very simple satisfaction guarantee,”he says.Don’t take what “they” say as gospel. Whenfinancialaid officers of colleges speak at high schools, he warns, “90percent of what they say is good, and 10 percent is not good. It canbe dangerous to your wealth.”Simme says he is in the position of being able to be truthful.”I fit the position of being able to play the game,” he says.”The guidance counselors either don’t know or can’t bequoted.”College Funding Alternatives Inc., 186Princeton-HightstownRoad, Windsor Business Park, Building 3A, Suite 210, Princeton 08540.Kevin Simme, president. 609-799-2500; fax, 609-799-5648. Home page:www.maximizeyouraid.comNext StoryCorrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
