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Need help navigating student loans? Here are tips from Kansas City experts

Exterior photo of people walking on a wide sidewalk. There are trees in the background and other large buildings. There are blue and yellow signs on lamp posts that read "UMKC" and "#ROOS."
Carlos Moreno
/
KCUR 89.3
Students move along E. 51st Street on the UMKC campus on Dec. 12, 2023.

Learning how to navigate important and often confusing student loan decisions can be difficult. KCUR's Up To Date spoke with two financial advisors to learn helpful tips that can make it more manageable.

Most people who want to get a college education these days need to get student loans. In fact, 61% of graduates in 2022 needed to borrow money, per data from the U.S. News and World Report.

Financial advisor Jack Giardino of Inflection Point Wealth Advice told KCUR that one of the most important things students can do to lessen the financial burden of paying for college is to spend time learning about opportunities at the financial aid office of their university.

"The student aid office on campus is your best friend. They're there, they're getting paid to help students and their parents navigate how to pay for college," Giardino told KCUR.

"(They can help you learn) what opportunities are out there, whether it is the federal loan program, PLUS program or private loans. Or some of the best types of ways to pay for school: scholarships and grants, because we don't have to pay them back."

  • Kelly Arias, president and financial advisor at Alegria Wealth
  • Jack Giardino, advisor and director of planning at Inflection Point Wealth Advice
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When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.
As Up To Date’s senior producer, I construct daily conversations that give our listeners context to the issues of our time. I strive to provide a platform that holds those in power accountable, while also spotlighting the voices of Kansas City’s creatives and visionaries that may otherwise go unheard. Email me at zach@kcur.org.
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