I'm Broke: Finding Funding for College

A WebQuest for High School Math Students

Designed by Jason Sarmiento

sarm4102@pacificu.edu

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits | Teacher Page

Introduction

Finding money for college can become a heavy task for a student to endure.  Most of us don't have $30,000 right off hand.  Since this is true, most students need to have part-time jobs, or take out loans or credit cards.  For those who DO have to take out loans and credit cards, we want to find the deal that would cost us the least amount of money.  Since we are looking at borrowing an obscene amount of money, finding the lowest interest rate over the longest period of time seems to offer the best results.

This is a reality that most students have to face, and unfortunately we have to borrow. Credit cards and loans give us money to borrow, and can actually give us some pretty good rates, if you know where to look

Task

Many students need to take out loans, or apply for credit cards to pay for their tuition in college.  You need to find the best way to fund your college education.  First, you need to decide which college you want to go to, and estimate the cost of tuition, books, and living.  Then, you need to find out which loans and/or credit cards you want to apply for to pay for your tuition.  The goal is to find the best deal on interest rates and payment plans.  Don’t forget to figure out introductory fees.

Process

Accomplishing this task can be a little tedious, but you need to make some decisions.  First, you need to choose a college that you want to go to.  Is the college that you want to go to in-state, or out of state?  Is the college public or private?  You don't have to pick a specific college, but narrow your sesarch to be able to anwer these questions.  We want to find an estimate of how much money college is going to cost.

1. Once you have figured out what type of college you want to go to, finding an estimated cost could cause some problems.  Because of this, I have provided a link that has estimated costs for types of college.  Tuition Estimates
2. Now, you need to start finding information about loans or credit cards.  DO NOT USE BOTH.  If you do, you could be searching for a long time.  Also, try to limit yourself to only a few options to choose from.  You don't have to find information on all the options that you have to choose from, but choose at least 2 to compare.  You can find information on student loans at:
• salliemae.com
• http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/follow001.htm (click on the further detail link, and look at both subsidized and unsubsidized loans)
• Private Loans (look for the undergraduate interest rates)
• Discover Card
  

3. These are just a few places that you can find some loans.  If you can find some other loans that are available to college students, go ahead and use them, but this gives you a starting point from which to begin.
4. Each loan has different requirements, but the use of exponents is common in calculating each one.   Taking the amount that college is going to cost you for a year, use the interest rate to find out how much you will owe after the first year.  How much will you owe after 5 years?  Ten years? 
5. Using this information, which of the loans that you compared give the best deal for a college student?
   

Evaluation

As you go through the process of comaring loans, keep in mind the process that you are using to compare the two.  There are several ways to figure out the cost after the different number of years that are asked.  The evaluation will be based on whether an educated decision can be made from the research that you come up with.  Make sure you explain the steps that you made in finding the amounts that you will owe.  Also, explain any equations that you may have used.

The project will be graded on a points basis.  There are twenty points possible.  The distribution of the points is as follows:

• 5 points will be given for research
• 7 points will be given for your explanation of your steps
• 8 points will be given for your computation of the requested information

Conclusion

Finding money for college could become a large task for a student to handle.  Being able to understand the concepts of interest can help them make an educated decision on which loans to apply for and accept.  The amount that you would have to pay later on down the road could diifer with the restrictions that some loans provide.  A lower interest rate may not be the best thing if interest is compounded while you are in school.  Subsidized loans may not be good if the interest rate is too high.  This webquest was 

Credits & References

www.google.com provided all the images that are displayed on this webquest

Thanks to the wonderful teacher of technology Professor Mike Charles for making this webquest possible.

Interested in making your own webquest?  Check out:
The WebQuest Page
Design Patterns

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Last updated on (October 18, 2002). Based on a template from The WebQuest Page