Navigating Financial Aid

Friday, Valley Stream hosted four graduation ceremonies in spite of the rain.  Now that graduation is over, summer vacation has begun but college is just around the corner.  If you haven’t been showered with a plethora of money from your school of choice just as I wasn’t, the next thing is to decide if you want to work through school and/or apply for financial aid. FAFSA is a pretty intimidating acronym.  Navigating the financial aid process can  be rigorous if you lack experience.  I decided to work on campus with the ROTC department which was a pretty rewarding experience.  I also decided to take out student loans to finance the rest of my education while I used my work study money to pay my rent.  I should have lived at home while in school since I stayed local at first before transferring to another university in Michigan.  I also deferred my money running from the monthly payments I was not ready to make.  Boy, was that a mistake as the interest began to accrue.  See the graphic below, study it, and most importantly, understand it.






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