Don't Overlook What Community Colleges Can Offer

When the stock market slammed to the financial basement like an elevator in free-fall, it wasn't only American's retirement savings that slipped into memories of better times: Wall Street's crash also affected college plans for thousands across the country.

In addition to traditional, invested educational savings plans, many parents also looked to the stock market to build a portfolio for their children's educations. When stocks fell both steadily and unceremoniously, that fall left a number of families wondering where they would come up with the money to send their kids to college.

Some experts advise students to seek help through grants and scholarships, but most of that help is already aimed at kids from disadvantaged households. Students whose college savings disappeared when it was time to head for those ivy-covered halls found themselves in a pickle: The money their parents had saved was gone and they make too much to qualify for most financial aid. For tomorrow's college freshmen, there was no time to wait for a recovering market. The options for these kids, especially at a time when tuition and fees are ascending may be a combination of borrowing and working their ways through college. Both may prove to be more difficult than imagined.

Although parents with good credit can borrow through federal programs, they may find the going tougher than in previous years when loans were easier to obtain.

For mom and dad to borrow enough to help pay tuition and books, they must have squeaky-clean credit and be prepared to spend years paying the money back. Student loans, once fairly easy to obtain, are many times more difficult to obtain these days, leaving some kids unable to qualify. That leaves one final option to fund college straight out of high school — joining the job force.

It used to be that working one's way through college was both common and honorable. Many of this country's most successful citizens held down jobs while in school, or labored in the civilian world first and then used their savings to obtain their degrees. High school kids continue to save their after-school job money for college, and many enter the military and take advantage of the GI Bill. Campuses have work-study programs and college towns often have many hourly-wage jobs aimed at a willing-to-work student population.

Hard times call for changing the game plan. As the cost of education continues to rise, many find they can't necessarily depend on savings to make the leap directly to a four-year institution. Parents must grapple with crippled retirement plans as their kids look to their own future, making traditional college choices less likely. It's always good to have a Plan B, but in this time of financial uncertainty, having well thought-out options isn't simply a smart idea, it's a matter of survival.

REPRINTED FROM THE JACKSONVILLE DAILY NEWS.

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