How Can I Make College Affordable?

• Student loans may be necessary to help fund the cost of your education. Know what you are getting into before deciding to take on student loans:

  • Example: $20,000 student loan debt = $230/month for 10 years.

• Scholarships

  • Merit (directly from the school)

  • Private & Local Scholarships

• In-State Public Colleges

  • Usually the lowest “sticker price”

  • AIM High Initiative: grants (up to full tuition) available for students with financial need who plan to attend one of Illinois’ public 4 year institutions. 

  • See chart at the bottom of this link for costs of Illinois public colleges

  • See THIS LIST and THIS LIST of out-of-state colleges that offer special scholarships for Illinois residents. (These lists are not maintained by JHHS, but crowd sourced from area high school counselors.)

• Community College

  • Harper (1-2 years) = approx. $5,500/year

  • Community colleges w/ housing

  • Take summer courses at Harper

• Become a Resident Advisor (RA) after freshman year

  • Free room & board

• Consider an apprenticeship

  • Some companies will offer a job and pay for you to complete your 2-year (and sometimes 4-year) degree. 

• Graduate in 4 years (or less!)

  • Meet regularly with your academic advisor and map out your degree completion plan

  • Entering college with AP or dual credit may allow you to graduate early or add an additional major or degree

• Want to "Stretch Your Dollar?" and find some other ways to make college more affordable?

Financial Safety Schools

As you finalize your college list, it is important to include at least one financial safety school. A financial safety school is a school that you know you can afford. Use these steps to determine if your schools of interest are financial safety schools.

• Estimate your Monetary Award Program (MAP) Grant

  • Only if you attend a college in Illinois

  • Use the MAP Estimator

• Use the information from above and each school’s Net Price Calculator to determine cost of attendance at all colleges you are considering

Net Price Calculator

• Net price calculators are available on a college’s or university’s website and allow prospective students to enter information about themselves to find out what students like them paid to attend the institution in the previous year, after taking grants and scholarship aid into account.

• Click Here to use a tool that will take you directly to a college’s Net Price Calculator

Online Tools to estimate your cost

Here are some tools you can use to estimate your cost, compare schools based on value (cost, graduation rate, average student loan amount, etc.), and more!

• College Scorecard 

• FinAid.org

• CollegeData.com

• TuitionFit.org

• CollegeRaptor

• MyIntuition

Scholarships

Scholarships are a great way to help pay for college. Do the work to earn the money!

Students should look for scholarships in the following ways:

• Check the Admissions and Financial Aid webpages of the colleges you are considering. Look for automatic merit scholarships or others that may require an application.

• All local scholarships received by the JHHS College & Career Center are posted in Naviance. Contact with Mr. Chiakulas or Mrs. Anne, College & Career Assistant, with questions!

• Ask your parents to check whether their employer offers scholarships to children of their employees.

• Use online scholarships searches such as College Board or Fast Web.

Remember, scholarships are meant to be free money given to the student. Beware of anything that guarantees money, costs money to search, or asks for personal financial information.

Colleges That Meet 100% of Need

Colleges Meeting 100% of the Student’s Financial Need: A college or university that promises to make sure every penny of an accepted student's demonstrated financial need is covered through grants, work-study, scholarship, and in some cases, federal student loans.

• Here is a list of colleges that meet 100% of student’s financial need