Sal Khan's story: Paying for college
About this video
Sal Khan describes growing up with a single mum and thinking expensive colleges were out of reach. His sister's financial aid package for Brown showed him aid existed, so he applied to MIT, where generous aid and about $30,000 in loans made it affordable. He advises weighing debt against future career possibilities.
You'll be able to
- explain the difference between a college's stated price and what a student may actually pay.
- name parts of a financial aid package.
- explain why selective colleges with high prices may still be affordable.
- describe how to weigh student debt against future opportunities.
Key words
- Financial aid
- Money to help pay for college, such as grants, loans and work-study.
- Grant
- Aid money you don't have to pay back.
- Subsidised loan
- A loan, often from the government, with better terms that you must repay.
- Work-study
- A part-time job, often on campus, that helps pay for college.
- Stated price
- The official listed cost of a college before aid.
Transcript
- So when I was in high school, back in the 90's, even then, college was, at least from my point of view, very very expensive and now it's only gotten more expensive. And I remember thinking, there's no way I'm going to be able to go to a school, at that time that cost 10 or 15 thousand dollars a year, now those same schools cost 30 or 40 thousand dollars a year, at least.
That's the stated price for tuition. You know, my mom was a single mom, she kind of sometimes worked as a manager at a convenience store, she did a bunch of series of jobs to kind of make ends meet. We were on, depending on the year, free or reduced lunch and so I just imagined, my only option is you know, either go to a local school or get a full ride scholarship if I can.
But then my sister opened my mind, she was three years older, she applied to Brown University, which at that time the stated tuition was I think already in the high teens, thousands, if not 20 thousand dollars a year. And when she applied she then applied for financial aid, and I didn't even know this thing called financial aid existed.
And so she got some federal grant money, she got some federal subsidized loans, Brown gave her some grant, gave her some loans, then there was some small parent contribution and then she also had to do work-study. But they made a package for her so that she was able to go.
Now it wasn't easy, she had to do some work-study, my mom didn't have to do some contribution, she did have to take on some debt, but she was able to go. So that completely opened up my mind, so when I applied to college I didn't let that be a constraint on me.
I said let me just figure out where I really want to go to college because I knew this financial aid thing existed. And what a lot of people don't realize is that some of the most selective colleges, that have at least the stated tuition is high, actually have some of the best financial aid programs, they're very very generous with their financial aid.
And so I applied, and I got into MIT and then I did the financial aid process and it was incredibly good, I thought. It made it very... I left MIT with about 30 thousand dollars in loans, I had to do some work-study, but overall it made it affordable, very doable.
And for me, that 30 thousand dollars in loans, I couldn't imagine a better investment in my future. So I would say you have to be careful, you don't want to get too far in debt, you definitely want to weigh what you're going to take on in terms of debt and aid versus what you might be able to make and career possibilities.
But you know I think it was a very powerful thing for me to see my sister and what opportunities are available that aren't always obvious.
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