Despite his so-so grades in high school, Isaacson qualified for $6,550 in scholarships his freshman year, including the Michigan Technological Alum-ni Legacy Award for $250 (his father is an alumnus), the Michigan Competitive Scholarship for $1,300 (granted on the basis of financial need and merit), and the $1,500 Clarence R. and Yvonne M. Fisher Scholarship (for business majors with financial need). Isaacson also received a $2,250 Pell Grant and a work-study position in the univer-sity's internal audit department.
But his financial aid package didn't look so swell his sophomore year, because many of his scholarships and grants were a one-time deal. The package did include federal Stafford student loans, but Isaacson nixed the borrowing route, instead tapping his modest savings account and nabbing another work-study position on campus.
This summer provided an extra boost to his savings. He worked part time in the registrar's office, served as a teaching assistant, and spent his weekends working in the copy center at a nearby OfficeMax. He'll add those earnings, $4,200, to the $3,000 in scholarships he snagged for the coming year, along with the $1,650 he'll receive from work-study. And to stretch his dollars further, Isaacson lives with his parents to save on housing expenses and cuts costs with frugal moves like ordering used books online.
The approach has its pitfalls. Isaacson wastes an hour every day commuting to and from school. With most of his time spent on campus or at work, attempts at a social life are few. "I'm not quite the party type," he says, "but it definitely puts a crimp into what I want to do." But all that penny pinching and hard work may not be enough this year. Facing rising gas prices and a tuition hike, Isaacson is worried he will fall short and might have to reconsider his college funding strategy. "The answer after this is student loans," he says.
Job growth A news and cultural affairs producer for a Buffalo public radio station by day, Joyce Kryszak, 44, freelances three nights a week for the Buffalo News to help put her daughter through college. A junior at Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., Faherty Nielsen, 20, has run from class to sling sandwiches at a nearby Subway and trudged around campus as a tour guide. Currently, she's holding down two work-study jobs: student assistant in the history department and teaching assistant for a statistics class.
That's just one prong of their college funding plan. When Nielsen started Wells two years ago, the "expected family contribution," the amount the government deemed her family should be able to pitch in, was about $6,000. Kryszak and her husband were paying off Kryszak's college loans and supporting her elderly mother but managed to scrape up their share of the tab. Thankfully, Nielsen's financial aid package was a big help: She was awarded a $1,000 federal Pell Grant and a $2,200 scholarship from the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (both are need based). Wells College kicked in $9,000, defraying the cost of the $13,000 tuition and $6,400 room and board at the time.
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