Polish Families Can Attend Free College Financial Workshops

Polish families’ self-reliance may mean they pay too much for college

Last year, only 70 percent of U.S. families completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), according to Sallie Mae’s 2022 “How America Pays for College” report.

The remaining 30 percent, perhaps assuming their incomes are too high to qualify for financial aid or that the application is too complicated, passed on this important step. With the FAFSA application period for the 2023-2024 academic year opening on Oct. 1, now is the time for Polish families to rethink what they think they know about financial aid.

A 2007 study in the International Journal of Sociology concluded that, among Polish families, the tradition of self-reliance and self-sufficiency often means they don’t take advantage of resources available to them in civil society. Instead, they tend to rely on each other. The largest share of college costs, in fact, are paid by families’ individual income and savings.

“I’ve noticed a huge knowledge gap among Polish families – a gap that means they often overpay for their child’s education,” says Iwona Kulpa, an advisor with My College Planning Team with extensive experience in how financial aid awards are structured.

This is particularly true in families where the parents immigrated from Poland or are first-generation, with little or no background in U.S. higher education. Also, in Poland, full-time degree programs at public universities are free of charge for Polish citizens.

So families with college-bound children work hard, save and invest. But in the U.S., a lot of savings and real-estate holdings mean that a college will expect the family to pay more of the child’s bill and they will award less in financial aid.

This fall, Kulpa is scheduling free workshops at Saturday Polish schools in the Chicago area to help parents learn more about paying for college, and how to pay less through repositioning. assets, such as real estate and children’s savings. Parents can sign up at www.MyCollegePlanningTeam.com