Lethbridge College will offer a free 90-minute workshop to guide prospective students through applying for a student loan from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, June 19.
This session is for students who have been accepted to a college program this fall, are considering applying or who have had student loans before but still have questions. Please register for the workshop at learn.lc/loans-workshop.
The workshop will walk participants through the online student loan application process to the point where they will leave with an estimate of how much financing they quality for.
Participants should come prepared with these documents:
- Alberta Student Number
- Social Insurance Number
- Line 150 (gross income) from their 2018 tax return
- If you haven’t already applied to college through the Alberta Post-Secondary Application System (APAS), also known as ApplyAlberta, bring your diploma exam marks from two 30-level high school courses to authenticate your online identity.
Finding out how much financing you qualify for will help you plan for the months ahead, says Linda Sprinkle, manager of Lethbridge College Student Awards and Funding.
Her No. 1 tip for students is be proactive. They should look at their finances realistically and in detail to understand where they spend their money and, importantly, where they can save. College students have access to student finance experts as well as budgeting and financial literacy help, Sprinkle says. Most banks have free online tools to help customers view their expenses by category. Seeing how much a daily coffee run affects a student’s bottom line can be a shocker.
“Don’t wait until the money is all gone before you ask for help,” says Sprinkle.
Tip 2: Be realistic. Potential students shouldn’t expect that they can work full-time and succeed as a full-time student. They should have reasonable expectations and set themselves up for success.
Tip 3: Once they are accepted into a program at Lethbridge College, they should check their email regularly. Email is the way organizations like the college and Alberta Student Aid share critical information, including their Master Student Financial Aid Agreement. This document is a contract that must be processed before any funds can be released.
Finally, potential students shouldn’t be ashamed if they’re new to money management and need help.
“A lot of adults don’t understand money and money management,” Sprinkle says. “As a culture, we don’t feel comfortable talking about it. But we need to talk about money in order to learn how to manage it.”
Alberta Student Aid 2019-2020 applications opened June 6.