If I Only Knew: Financial Aid Advice Mobile AL

If I Only Knew: Financial Aid Advice

Applying for financial aid can be very daunting, especially if you don’t have someone to turn to who has been through it. Not only do these families share their experiences — good and bad — they also reveal what they would do differently. If you can learn from them, you will be better able to use the system to your advantage.

We have changed the names of the families to protect their privacy.

The Criswell Family
Susan Criswell can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of her three children, two have graduated from college and the third is entering her sophomore year. But what makes this widowed mother’s story so amazing is that even though she lives on a fixed income, she sent all three girls to school without the benefit of any financial aid. How? By sending all three to state universities.

Criswell admits that she didn’t spend much time looking into financial aid. “I just assumed that if I owned a home and had money in the bank,” she says, “I wouldn’t be eligible.” Her daughters’ high school counselors did not offer much guidance regarding financial aid. Rather, they helped the girls narrow down their college choices based on what Criswell could afford to spend out-of-pocket.

Looking back, Criswell regrets that she didn’t understand the process, which meant that her daughters were limited in their choices. If she had it all to do again, she would do three things differently:

• She wouldn’t have allowed her...

Author: Amy Ambler

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