Financial Aid: The Ins and Outs

Financial aid is something that people need to think carefully about. When it comes to credit and borrowing, there are worthy and unworthy causes. Buying a house is a worthy cause. The value of the land tends to appreciate and it is an asset that can be resold, often with profit. Buying a car with financial aid is questionable in most situations. Unless the vehicle is actually enabling you to earn an income, it is hard to argue that a vehicle is an asset. Cars depreciate markedly in a very short amount of time, they cost money to run. If you sell them after you have bought them, they invariably lose money; in some cases a lot of money. One might argue that if you are borrowing money for something that appreciates in value, it is a credit worthy cause. If you are borrowing money for something that depreciates, it is not. Where does education and training fall?

Education is Credit Worthy

If you are looking for a way to earn a greater income and better your life then some sort of training is usually the best way to go about it. It can be difficult to break into a new career without training. While some construction companies will provide heavy equipment training to workers, it is only in exceptional circumstances that this happens. Realistically, the average unskilled worker stands very little chance of being handed a break. That doesn’t matter, because you can make your own chances. You just need to get the training.

How to value education.
How can you put a value on an education? Actually, it is very easy. You take the course that you are doing and look at the cost. For the purposes of simplicity, lets say the course costs $2,000. So the value of the course is $2,000, right? Wrong, the value of the course is not $2,000. A course alone is worth nothing. Once you have taken the course you cannot sell it. The value of the course that you take is the amount over and above your present salary that you will earn. Let’s say that the course allows you to earn an extra $200 a week, multiply that by the fifty-two weeks of the year and you get $10,400. Are you going to stop working after one year? Probably not, so you multiply that $10,400 by the years that you are going to work and you have something that falls short of the actual value, but a fairly substantial figure that is a lot higher than the original $2,000 that you spent. Education is credit worthy and is worth the expense of financial aid.

The fact is that training changes lives. Paying for the financial aid that you received can be a bit of a strain on the finances, but you will be able to earn more money and that will make the expense easier to cover. The thing that you have to think about when it comes to getting financial aid is, can I afford the repayments now? This question is absolutely crucial. If your answer is, “no,” then you should not get financial aid. If your answer is, “yes,” then you should go for it.

If you answered no, then you really need to start addressing some of the expenses in your life, figure out what you can cut out and do the math again. If you are a smoker you might want to consider giving up smoking. Look for ways that you can save a significant amount of money each week or each month and do it. Save a bit of money and then reconsider the option of financial aid.

At Associated Training Services we offer financial aid for our programs. In order to qualify for financial aid you will need a good credit record. If your credit record is poor then it is still possible to receive financial aid if you can produce a guarantor; feel free to contact us if you have any questions.