Thank you for participating in our April $100 sweepstakes! This month’s sweepstakes winner is Tiffany Sales of Boston.
Tiffany is the proud mother to Jonnai, a rising senior in high school, and learned about the program through her daughter’s participation at Camp Harbor View in Boston. “When I first heard about Inversant, I was very interested in gaining more information on how to better help Jonnai get to college,” says Tiffany. “The savings were a big aspect as well, but ultimately, the information was a big part of why I signed on.”
Through the Learning Circles each month, Tiffany has been gaining useful information from her facilitator, Peter, on how best financially approach colleges. “I see so many young people today graduating with so much student loan debt, and I myself had student loans,” says Tiffany. “I went back to school when Jonnai was around 5 years old and did online courses, but school has gotten so expensive.”
So far, says Tiffany, the most helpful Learning Circle has been the one covering the financial aid process. “Having not dealt with that in such a long time, it was great to get a refresher. Peter went through things like subsidized versus unsubsidized loans and gave us resourceful tips, websites, etc. At the end of the day, the core of the program is the finance piece, so learning this information was so helpful.”
For now, Jonnai is actively researching potential colleges and universities and considering her options on what she will major in. This spring, Jonnai was able to go on a Historic Black College tour and is now thinking about studying out of state. “I’m having her also look at in state colleges so that we can compare and see what the costs are,” says Tiffany. “All of a sudden, your child is a senior in high school and looking at which college she wants to attend!”
For the now, Tiffany is actively saving and helping her daughter explore all the options. “I would encourage parents to start to put away what you can. I know a lot of families are living paycheck to paycheck so it can be tough, but if you can just put away a small amount of money, it can add up over time. And I know sometimes it can be overwhelming for parents to try to save for college with tuitions being $40k and up! But even having that little bit of savings can help pay for things like books and supplies.”
Don’t miss your chance to win the next $100 sweepstakes! You have until May 31 to submit your answers to the survey. Email [email protected] if you have not received our newsletters or sweepstakes surveys. For more details, please visit inversant.org/sweepstakes.