According to student loan servicer Sallie Mae, nearly two-thirds of families (65%) used grants and scholarships to pay for college in 2013, up from 61% in 2012 and up from only half of families five years ago. What’s more, 49% of parents say they’re not regularly setting aside money to college savings, and 70% of those parents say the reason they’re not saving is because they can’t afford to. In other words: more and more families are counting on grants and scholarships to pay for college. This, in turn, means the letter determining where students go to school isn’t the letter of acceptance, but the letter that comes a week or two later, the one labeled “financial aid award.” Unfortunately, this letter is not as easy to read as the one that says, “accepted!” or “declined.” These are the ten most important things you need to know about decoding financial aid award letters. (To read the full article, click through here.)
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