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:
you can do it on your own or not.
are giving the most financial aid.
and you not getting ready to retire, you are living beyond your means.
"Thirty percent of the people I deal with have no savings for
college and have no plans to save. They are living pay check to pay
check. A dramatic number of people are living above their means."
want to hear this. One family had to move to a smaller home to pay
for college."
come, first serve so don’t procrastinate.
estimates
that 90 percent of financial aid forms are turned back due to error,
which means 9 out of 10 applications get bumped back in the
first-come,
first serve line-up, says Simme.
take their first offer. Many colleges offer less and expect to
negotiate.
"The colleges don’t want you to know this," says Simme,
"but
many will under-award you or mis-award you." Parents need to learn
when to say a financial aid package is unacceptable and how to
negotiate.
When seeking professional help in the financial aid process, watch
for promises. "If someone is guaranteeing you a particular amount
of money in return for a fee, that’s one thing that you might want
to stay away from," says Simme, who offers a simple satisfaction
guarantee. "Anybody who has any expertise in the area or is a
good risk is going to do a very simple satisfaction guarantee,"
he says.
financial
aid officers of colleges speak at high schools, he warns, "90
percent of what they say is good, and 10 percent is not good. It can
be dangerous to your wealth."
"I fit the position of being able to play the game," he says.
"The guidance counselors either don’t know or can’t be
quoted."
Princeton-Hightstown
Road, Windsor Business Park, Building 3A, Suite 210, Princeton 08540.
Kevin Simme, president. 609-799-2500; fax, 609-799-5648. Home page:
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— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
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