A guide for working adults. Part 2

Ok, so you've made the decision to go back to school. The first thing you need to do is figure out how to pay for college. Go ahead and take care of this step first!

There are three main ways that you can pay for college: Financial Aid, Reimbursement from your employer, or out of pocket.

Check with your companies human resource office, does your employer offer a reimbursement plan? If they do then take advantage of that benefit, first. At NCWC we offer a very flexible ERP (employee reimbursement plan) option, just a $50 deposit for each class that you take with the balance being due usually a month or so after the class ends.

If your employer doesn't offer an ERP plan, then you have two choices; Financial aid or pay for college yourself. Most people don't have the means to pay for college out of pocket, I was fortunate enough to sell a piece of real estate in order to generate the money to cover my undergraduate degree. Look at your assets closely, is there something that you can sell or liquidate that will provide the funds for your college? Remember education is the best investment you can make, so look at your college education in that manner, as an investment.

Financial aid is also a great option in funding your college education. The loans usually don't have to be repaid until you graduate and the government makes applying for and accessing student loans easy. The website you should visit to apply for financial aid is: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov
Have your previous years tax information with you as you go through the application and when prompted enter the school's six digit FAFSA code (002951 is NCWC's code). This will have the results sent to the school of your choice.

Thank you,

John Dismukes
Admissions Counselor
NCWC Triangle Campus