Seminar for parents on financial planning for college

Will your child be able to afford to wear one of these?

Saturday, November 23, Shoreline Community College will present a seminar for parents on financial planning for college and retirement

Parents in their 40s and 50s remember the days when a college student could work for a summer, be diligent in his or her savings, and along with a little work during the school year pay for an entire year of college expenses. Those days, unfortunately, are long gone.

Today the cost of attendance at a public university in Washington state is upwards of $25,000. Private school education has increased commensurately.

Adding to the pressure of the high cost of college is the increasing and oppressing rise in college loans that are a result of parents' inabilities to cover these costs in full.

These loans place a burden on students that transcends college. Stories of delayed graduate school admission, delayed first-time home purchases, and even delayed engagements, are being heard by college consultants.

Shoreline Community College is trying to buck that trend. Shoreline will offer a class for parents of high school juniors and seniors that will teach parents the little known formulas that determine college aid and how that aid can be increased or decreased, depending upon the parent's income and assets.

The teacher will be Albert Israel, certified financial planner, and former radio host of the KVI Financial Show. "As a college consultant, parents lament the fact that their retirement nest egg may be adversely affected by their desire to send their children to college. Balancing these two is proving to be a most daunting task".

Ron Carnell, Program Coordinator for Shoreline Community College’s Plus 50 Career Builder Program added this course to his roster of computer, business, and career courses for Fall quarter. College Financial Planning is now a bundled feature with Israel’s Estate and Retirement Planning course.

“I offered Israel the idea of throwing the two courses together for a single seminar. So on Saturday, November 23, 2013 an opportunity for solid advice and guidance on a number of financial planning questions awaits anyone who would like to visit our campus. If you already have a Shoreline Community College ID number, just give me a call and you can register over the phone. If not, just stop by Student Services in Building 5000. We can take registrations right up to the day before the event (Friday, November 22).”

Carnell can be reached with questions about class times, location, directions, and registration at 206-533-6076, Monday through Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm.

For more information, you can also Google “Plus 50 Career Builder - Shoreline Community College” and click the first listing.

While there are no magic answers, planning and embracing a strategy can pay very high dividends.