Blog Spot

Evaluating Your Scholarship Offers
05/18/2008

When it comes time to choose between the scholarship offers you've received, you'll want to be sure to compare apples to apples. If you don't, you may end up choosing the lesser award. In particular, you'll want to look out for the following:

First, scholarships usually apply toward just the tuition. Only occasionally is room and board covered. It would be very tempting to examine the cost of tuition only when evaluating an offer, and forget that you'll still need to pay R&B.

That room and board can vary greatly between campuses - as much as $4,000 difference for one year. And just because one school's room and board costs more doesn't mean the amentities are nicer. We've seen newer facilities and better food on campuses that cost less than older buildings and broken laundry facilities.

So unless your student plans to live at home, include the cost of room and board as you're comparing your scholarship package.

The following is typical of a scholarship winner in evaluating his offers. From five different schools, tuition ranges from $8,430 (state school) to $23,125 per year. Room and board ranges between $5,380 and $8,000. Notice that the least expensive tuition also comes with the most expensive room and board!

By totaling the cost and subtracting the scholarships offered, one gets a much better picture of the final costs for attending each of the colleges. And those scholarships certainly do help, don't they?!

					State Univ.
Tuition	17,450	20,300	23,125	19,750	8,430
Room & Board	5,380	6,700	7,400	5,664	8,000
Books & Fees	1,200	800	1,705	1,036	1,000
Total Cost	24,030	27,800	32,230	26,450	17,430
Scholarships Given	8,500	7,000	17,000	10,500	7,000
Final Tuition	8,950	13,300	6,125	9,250	1,430
Final Cost	15,530	20,800	15,230	15,950	10,430

If you look at the tuition alone, the state school is so much less expensive than the others. But when you include room and board in the comparison, you might find yourself looking more seriously at the three private schools that differ by just $5,000 a year.

*This table is an excerpt from the college worksheet supplied through the Scholarship Prep program - just one of the many helps and tips our members receive!

Next time: Something else to look out for when comparing your scholarship packages.

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