Helping your children pay for college without becoming buried in debt is a daunting task. With the cost of tuition rising every year, the thought of covering the cost of college without relying on loans can seem impossible—especially as a single parent. According to 2023 statistics from Forbes, the total student loan debt for private and federal loans in the U.S. is around $1.75 trillion.
For the 10.9 million single-parent households in the United States (as of 2022 data from the United States Census Bureau) the cost of college can be even more intimidating. As a single income household, making ends meet can be even more challenging, not to mention squirreling away money for your children’s college tuition.
Fortunately, there are many resources designed to help parents—single or otherwise—cover the cost of college without taking on too much debt.Read on for seven resources that can help single parent households prepare for the cost of college.
StudentAid.gov
StudentAid.gov, the office of Federal Student Aid’s official website, may already be on your list of websites to visit. In addition to being the place where you’ll find and fill out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) application, the StudentAid website also provides plenty of helpful resources and information regarding federal and private loans, grants, and repayment plans.
The website even includes a Loan Simulator, which can be used to help you calculate projected loan payments and explore repayment options that will better fit your financial needs.
Wherever your child is on their college journey, StudentAid.gov is a great resource for information and education.
Going Merry
Scholarships are one of the best ways to pay for school without taking on too much debt from private or student loans, and there are plenty of options available for the children of single parents. But if the idea of filling out scholarship application after scholarship application seems exhausting or if you just don’t have the time, Going Merry makes that simple.
Once you create a free account, Going Merry matches you to scholarships that your child may be eligible for directly from their website. And the best part? Going Merry uses auto-fill applications, which means you won’t have to spend hours typing the same information into every application form. You can even apply for multiple scholarships at the same time.
Going Merry can be a valuable resource for single parents and their children who may need some assistance searching for scholarships.
Edvisors
Edvisors is a popular blog for college-bound students that provides helpful resources for financial planning. Using this website, single parents can compare loan lenders, search for scholarships for their children, and find articles on budgeting and money management all on an easy-to-use website.
Have a question about college financing that you can’t seem to find the answer to? You can also use the Ask the Edvisor tool to ask questions specific to your needs and request more information. This too can be a great resource for helping single parents budget and finance their children’s college education.
CashCourse.org
CashCourse.org is a blog that provides free financial education resources for new and returning college students. You and your college-bound student can find answers to real-life money questions, take online financial education courses, and access helpful articles on topics relevant to the college experience all on their easy-to-navigate website.
Be sure to check out their customizable financial tools like the Budget Wizard to help you build a personalized budget that works for your and your family’s financial needs.
Colwell Law Single Parent Scholarship
The Colwell Law Group scholarship is open to single parents and children from single-parent households and awards $1,000 to current college and university students. Eligible applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and are asked to complete an essay that discusses how living in a single parent household has affected them, their life, and their education.
ReWritten Scholarship
The ReWritten Scholarship is intended for children raised in fatherless households, and the award amount ranges from $500 to $5,000. Eligible applicants must be enrolled or planning to enroll in a college or university and are asked to complete a written statement that discusses their financial need and their education goals.
This scholarship is open to single parents and children from single-parent households and awards $1,000 to current college and university students. Eligible applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale and are asked to complete an essay that discusses how living in a single parent household has affected them, their life, and their education.
529 Plans
A 529 Plan is one of the most effective ways for parents to set aside money for their children’s college expenses. These state-sponsored college savings plans can be used to set aside money for a designated beneficiary’s qualified educational expenses, such as books and tuition. The funds in a 529 account can also be used to pay for apprenticeship and internship costs on a case-by-case basis.
The plans, which are investment accounts similar to Roth IRAs (in that they allow you to invest after-tax money in mutual funds, ETFs and other types of investments), come with important tax benefits and can be established when your child is born. Money can be squirreled away in a 529 Plan throughout a child’s life and when the account beneficiary is ready to attend college, the funds can be withdrawn for qualified educational purposes. And the added bonus? The withdrawals are exempt from federal and state income tax.
To learn more about 529 plans and the many different ways single-parents can approach saving for their children’s college costs, tune into our show Single Mom Sessions with Mia Taylor this Friday at 2 p.m. Pacific Time. On this week’s show, Mia will sit down with Patrica Roberts, chief operating officer Gift of College, Inc. and author of Route 529: A Parent’s Guide to Saving for College and Career Training with 529 Plans.
Roberts has helped thousands of families avoid millions of dollars in student loan debt over the past 25 years by sharing her expertise about planning ahead for higher education expenses.
Roberts is also a first-generation student who repaid over $75,000 in student loan debt, a fact that motivates her to help others achieve higher education with as little financial stress as possible. She is also the proud mom of a recent debt-free college grad, having saved a little at a time directly from her paycheck at work into a 529 college savings plan. Her son, Ben, wrote the foreword to her book, Route 529, which she dedicated to her single mom.
Don’t miss our Livestream YouTube chat with Roberts this Friday on Single Mom Sessions with Mia Taylor!
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