Monday, January 09, 2023
One of the most stressful events for families is trying to manage the cost of college. Erin DeMaggio of the College Planning Center joined GoLocal to discuss some of the strategies and resources available to destress and close the gap in financing.
DeMaggio has worked with thousands of families during her tenure at the Center — one of the programs offered by the Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA).
RISLA is a free service to help Rhode Islanders prepare, plan and pay for college.
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“At the College Planning Center, we try and have these conversations early with our Juniors, whether in the office or in the high schools, of not only focusing on schools that are an academic a fit — reach schools, too, and safety schools — but also thinking about that in terms of affordability of these schools,” said DeMaggio.
With high school seniors receiving or soon to receive college acceptance letters and financial aid offers from their schools of interest, the College Planning Center works to help them tackle the sticker shock of what they may be expected to pay.
DeMaggio says there is a wide range of financial resources to help offset the cost.
“So there are so many scholarships out there. I think often students we’re working with on our common application, getting all our financial aid in — and they get everything in and they say, ‘ah I’m done that was stressful,’ and I’ll say, ‘no, you’re not.’ You think you’re done — no you’re not. Outside scholarships are an amazing way to further close that gap,” said DeMaggio.
She points to two resources for scholarships:
Knowledge for College Scholarship
https://www.rischolarships.org/
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