great so usually i start i guess where they went to college so where do you go to school well i went to the college of new jersey but when i went it was trenton state college ok great so let's just go back in time before we get into financial aid back in high school when your parents involved and when did it all start was a sophomore year junior senior when did you start thinking about college well my parents always said to me that you're going to college so i always knew i was going it was a matter of what college i would go to and since felt like i was a jersey girl so to speak i absolutely wanted to stay in new jersey and in doing so i researched the different colleges and universities in the state to see where i would like to go and since i lived in south jersey i tried to choose a university or college that was in close proximity to my home ok so in working with my parents and making the decision as to affordability and location and major of course my major was psychology and that was something new at that time so i decided on trenton state ok graduate it was a freshman year or did you start later well actually it was freshman year because at trenton state at the time when you're a freshman you declare your major they gave us something called a control sheet and what it was was a pathway all through the first second third and fourth year in order to get a degree in psychology which is great i really appreciated having that because i knew right away  my freshman year i would be studying psychology psych one in two and it gave me the confidence that i chose the right major and then as i proceeded along with concluding my education of course i got deeper into the psychology courses so yeah i started right with freshman year so now you graduate college how do you go from college to director of financial lead for stock university yeah well interesting story because i thought that i would graduate three and a half years that was my plan and i did and the way i did that was i went to college in the summer so i went to summers and that took care of an entire semester so really not realizing it i saved my parents and this is a good tip for everyone i saved my parents an entire semester of tuition fees room board and books ok so i did that and i thought wow three and a half years i'll get al and i will be way ahead of my counterparts because they're not graduating until june i'll get my job and i'll be on my way well what i didn't realize is that with a bachelor's degree in psychology you really can't go very far so i i did apply for jobs and they said ok great resume and all vavle but you do not have a master's degree so we can't hire you sorry so i thought all right then i need to get my master's degree so what i did in that spring semester it was too late to start taking classes towards my master's degrees so i did substitute teaching i became a permanent substitute so i was earning some money and then that summer i enrolled for fifteen credits and i started on my way to earning my master's degree then in the fall i noticed in the local newspaper that there was there were advertisements for then stocked in state college that it was being built in there would be openings in and the like so i applied so i'm naturally right out of college and i'm just starting my way to my master's degree and i was in rolled for master's credits in that fall so i was granted an interview so who entered view me but the first president of the university that's the time because of his no one to interview me there's been no one else there so i was hired and i was to do financial aid career services campus housing and all of that and of course the president at the time said well you don't have your master's degree i see you're on your way but and he wagged his finger you must get your master's degree and of course i certainly did so i did all of those things but as you can imagine the demand was for financial aid because students really do need that assistance to afford college or university so with that in mind i just gravitated and went to the full with the flow and became director of financial aid so how long you've been the director of financial is now forty five years wow yeah yeah so now let's get into financial aid been so the biggest thing that parents always ask is  schools are expensive these days is there anything that stockton university does where the price of the university becomes more reasonable for students yes well stocked it here it stocked in we have institutional grants and we have scholarships so when students apply to the university through the admissions office they should also do their fafsa the free application for federal student aid and by the way now you can apply as early as october first so that's really good and that's coming up so anyone who's a senior out there you want to apply soon after october first what the admissions the office does is they will look at the students grades the s a t s scores high school class rank that sort of thing also look at a student's financial need so everything all encompassing to make a decision as to grant eligibility institutional grant eligibility and institutional scholarship eligibility and the admissions office will notice the student and then we also in financial aid follow up with a complete financial aid package including those grants and scholarships that were offered through our admissions office so we recognize that there certainly is an expense to college or university and we strive to assist to meet that gap as well as we can so it's a combination of the student perhaps working in the summer the family making a contribution the institution providing some assistance plus the federal and state financial aid that the student may be eligible for so with that combination we hope to make college affordable for our students so now is everything based on the family contribution is it all based on when they fill out the fafsa form or do other factors come into effect well for federal and state financial aid it is the family contribution that really is the driver and when folks fill out the fafsa you have to remember that everything that is asked on the fafsa goes into a congressional methodology so it's not just the income in taxes paid it is the household size the number in college the age of the older parent those kinds of things that you might not think oh how how does that really think it it all it all does and it's very important when the fafsa application is completed that families be very accurate  when you're not that's when you can be selected for something called verification or audit and it slows down the process somewhat because we have to collect documents in order to verify the information so i'll just put that out there as a caution because i want you all to be very careful when you're completing the fafsa to ensure that you're doing it very accurately yeah so so the found is that all through the government and then is it attached to anything do the touch to your pay income and things like that how does the fafsa actually work on the government site ok so what you do know is you fill out the fafsa the parent and student should work together in completing that you select the colleges or universities that you want to receive the results of the fafsa information so let's say you're listening stockton and whoever you would like all of that information goes to a central processor they crunch the numbers and outcomes an expected family contribution and then that information is brought in by the financial aid office electronically so we have all the data when a student is then admitted to the university once that takes place then it comes together the student is admitted the student has applied for financial aid the student gets a letter from admissions saying congratulations you're accepted to the university and then the financial aid office we send out a notification by mail and e mail to be sure that you've got it saying this is the financial aid that you're getting so it's all the institutional grants and scholarships and it is the federal and state then eventually aid whatever the student is eligible for so that expected family contribution is is very critical  you talked about scholarships what type of scholarships or billable at the school is there was a variety of scholarships or are there certain scholarships well actually there is a wide variety and  all the student has to do is do the admissions application and the fafsa application and then the institution takes it from there so there is no concern about understanding or knowing oh i should apply for this scholarship or that no we we take that away from you we will make that determination and let you know but i do want to add that in the financial aid office we have what we call a scholarship research a center and what we do and i'll tell you at least a half a dozen times a day i get e mails from different companies saying we offer a scholarship we offer a scholarship so we that the mel to make sure they're absolutely legit in that and where in they are then we post those scholarships online so if you go to stockton edu and you click on financial aid and go to scholarship resource center and anybody can do this all right so please take advantage of it you'll be able to see the scholarships all right so we we find them for you and then you decide when you look at the scholarship is this something i want to apply for do i think i m qualify for it so go ahead and do that because if you're picking up another five hundred thousand or two thousand dollars it really is going to make the difference and also we have upper class scholarships so let's say you're admitted to the university but you don't get a scholarship the first year but as an upper classman which you actually become made year then you can apply for an upper class scholarship so we want you to do well study hard get good grades because it can pay off with the upper class scholarships so so does the grades mean a lot with some of these scholarships in the upper so the scholarships that are on the website is it is really a list of all the different companies that you've done can that list change from year to year is it just ten on there is it one hundred thousand is it a thousand right or it's over one hundred really it's quite a few yes and it certainly can change from year to year because well actually we just continue to add scholarships but i want to give families one tip and that is if you're looking for a scholarship what i want you to do is go to your closets to your refrigerator to your cabinets and look at the products that you're using whatever they may be they have websites they have contact information you're using the product go to their contact pages and look to see what they offer because many many companies offer it and you have the resource right in your home you just have to take advantage of the information that you have there now do extra curricular activities work to get money at the college as well  sports fine arts it's theater and the do any of that come into play well the primary scholarships are based on academic and to some extent financial need those are basically the two criteria ok so all the rest of the extracurricular things just added towards seeing who can get more on that well sometimes what happens with the upper class scholarships depending on the donor financially at the high school level how to high schools find out about stockton university where what did they do was adjust the website or do people actually go there do they talk about financial aid night or anything like that how does it work at the high school level oh at the high school level well the counselors know stockton very well because the admissions folks who are also well versed in financial aid this it all of the  many many of the high schools and provide them with the information necessary there are college nights there are presentations throughout the year he saw higher education student assistance of already folks from that area go out and talk to the high school guidance counselors actually what we've been doing here at stockton usually in october the high school guidance counselors of which about one hundred of them come to our university and higher education student assistance of already is the sponsor and they provide in depth information to the high school guidance counselors  all about financial aid federal state general thingy actually aid and for the high school guidance counselors are admissions office provides information and if they want tours of the university because as you can see there's so much happening on campus that tours are provided as well so the guidance counselors are very much aware of stock in university and and what's happening on our campus so now when parents come here the sons or daughters or get accepted to the university do you get a line and the financial aid how does that how does that all were heard well technology is the engine that runs the financial aid office so while we are always happy to see families come and visit us certainly contact us by phone or e mail we do most of our work through technology so if we need something from a parent or a student we would provide an e mail they would provide the documents electronically that kind of thing but we certainly sit down with families  and we always have families students and parents certainly coming to the office and usually their questions are of a specific nature into them because anything of a general nature is on the website right so if you wanted to learn about direct loans let's say you could find that information on the web site and by the way generally just by doing the fa application for financial aid regardless of family income all right if you're an incoming freshman you're going to get fifty five hundred dollars for the academic year and an unsubsidized stafford loan well yeah so unsubsidized means you're paying the interest from the time of the loan which is preferable or you are allowing it to accrue and that's for any college or university across the nation so if you feel as a student or a parent that there would be a need for a direct loan please go ahead and do the fafsa or do it anyway it's just important because you don't want to miss out on any opportunity to receive financial aid now do you do you do some type of orientation when they come to university as well i'll tell you what we do we do we do have an orientation is called orientation and registration and for our families when they come to the orientation which is it's wonderful it's extremely comprehensive students get to register and at some point during that process we in financial aid we have booths set up and our families come and meet with us one on one so we go over their financial aid what it means we answer their questions provide them comprehensive information if they're missing a document we're able to tell them if they're turning one in we're able to accept it and it they really love the experience and they're able to leave that experience feeling satisf that they have all the information that they need or we've given them confirmation about their financial aid is in order so we really enjoy it and there we do have a line we  a long line and that and that's perfect for us because no one to be comprehensive now the the financial lead award letter goes to the families what usually happens when the families get is that automatic a phone call that comes right directly to the financial aid office or do they wait until they come to school to discuss it how does that all work well usually when they get the award notification letter if they have any questions they're going to ask the questions right away but what the award letter provides to the student is all the financial aid for which the student is eligible along with instructions that come with that we also provide an estimate of the student's cost of attendance which it's early on so it truly is an estimate before our board of trustees meets to determine what the costs will be for the next year but at least the students and families can get an idea of the costs for the academic year an academic year defined as fall and spring terms and the financial aid for the academic year and then they can see if they have any gaps and how they're going to fill it  students and families might decide to pay using a payment plan with our bursitis office which allows families to make monthly payments so if that works for a family that's great if perhaps family needs an alternative loan it would be the students loan with a credit worthy cobar aware and students and families can choose from any lender that they would like to borrow from and then they just apply online and when their credit worthy then they can borrow up to the cost of attendance now of course we asked them to please borrow conservatively because when you're starting out as a freshman you have a long way to go including perhaps you must consider perhaps getting a master's degree so that could be another two years on top of your four years so so do you explain to parents that sometimes there's extra cost to the university that maybe they didn't think of whining that do students stay on the campus do they go outside off campus do they go out at night that kind of stuff those extra costs that families sometimes don't even realize right so we provide them with the estimated cost for to wish in the room board books and of course there are other costs that are associated if they want to get a piece a haircut or whatever and we do talk to our families about that and we also talk to them about reducing their costs  ok because with the incidentals if a student perhaps is working under the federal work study program which is a need based financial aid program they receive a paycheck every two weeks so we ask them to manage that money and to use that for their incidental expenses interest and we also encourage students to work in the summer that way that may be able to defray their book costs so there are all different ways to i guess reduce reduce the costs you know where the student is living you know on campus we have different then use where students can have different price points and on campus housing as well as meal plans so look at those costs so while we always talk about the affordability of college and how much more financial aid we can get if we can reduce the costs and maximize the financial aid especially applying for those scholarships then you've reduced the gap and you've made college more affordable so we're coming to the end of our show and usually i asked my  guests what advice do you want to give to families that sons and daughters are thinking about coming those stockton university would rush would you like to give them ok well first of all families what i'd like to say is my primary advice is you must plan early by the time you get to me in financial aid you don't have enough money to go to college so if you have younger children it is important hard get good grades apply for those scholarships go ahead and look at our center for scholarships that's very important you just have to continue to dig and work work diligently toward