By EILEEN SMITH
Courier-Post Staff
As a financial planner, Brian C. Greenberg always believed in
looking ahead.
"Then I woke up in the middle of the night and realized paying
for college was a financial ticking time bomb," he recalled.
Greenberg's daughter, Erica, was a little girl then. Now, she's a
junior at Cherry Hill High School East - and her dad is a certified
college planning specialist.
His advice to other parents is to start planning when children
are young, but avoid keeping funds in the child's name.
"The first $3,500 of savings will reduce financial aid by that
amount," he said. "But if it's in the grandparents' names, it
doesn't count against the student at all."
Rich Woodland, director of financial aid at Rutgers-Camden, gives
more than 25 financial-aid workshops a year for parents of high
school juniors and seniors who are planning to attend college.
"Paying for college is a big expense, like buying a house," he
said. "It's not something you can do overnight."
Woodland said about 70 percent of Rutgers' students receive
financial aid - either scholarships, grants, loans or work-study
arrangements.
He suggests parents break down costs in terms of manageable
chunks obtained through a variety of sources.
"If a private school costs $30,000, parents might look at costs
in terms of thirds - one-third from assets, one-third from current
income and one-third borrowing against the parents' future income,"
Woodland said.
State-sponsored 529 investment plans offer some tax advantages,
but most also include fees. Greenberg recommends that investors make
529 plans a limited part of their college portfolios.
"Approach them with caution and avoid 529 plans if you're going
to need the money soon," he said. "Three to five years is too short
a time span for anything involving the stock market."
The principal at Brian C. Greenberg & Associates in Marlton,
he also is the author of a newsletter, College Funding News, that
offers tips and advice to families.
He notes that opportunities for traditional aid grow harder to
come by as household incomes increase.
"With a household income of less than $75,000, you can expect to
get some sort of financial aid," Greenberg said. "But if it's a
smaller, private school, the limit might go as high as $125,000 or
$150,000."
Those amounts double for parents who have two children in
college. Income is less of an issue when a school is "marketing for
students" - that is, creating financial incentives to entice
academically or geographically desirable students to the school.
Erica Greenberg received such an offer from Marymount University,
a small, private school in Virginia. Tuition discounts of up to
$8,000 aren't unusual when colleges are focused on recruiting top
students.
The biggest drawback in obtaining financial aid is missing
deadlines for submitting paperwork, Woodland noted.
"When you get your college list down to six or eight schools,
make a chart of those schools and what kind of financial aid form
they require," he said. "Filing late is the worst mistake."
Reach Eileen Smith at (856) 486-2444 or esmith@courierpostonline.com
