College aid needed

DEAR BRUCE: I am a junior in college with a cost of $25,000 a year. My parents make $65,000 a year, and there are five of us in the household. They are making payments monthly on the tuition bill, and it is leaving them with a negative balance in the account every month. I have an $8,000 scholarship and a grant for $1,500 if the school decides I really need it.

(I‘ve been fighting that battle for the past year.) I have student loans, but I still have to come up with $10,000 a year. I work two jobs and pay for my car, books, clothes and nearly everything else. When I ask the school for more financial aid, they tell me there is none. I go to a large private college, and I‘ve been on the dean‘s list for the past three semesters. Any ideas what I could possibly do to get more financial help? I want to take the burden off my parents. I want my sisters to be able to enjoy things and not always be told there is no money for stuff they would like. It makes me feel guilty. -- S.H., via e-mail

DEAR S.H.: You are to be commended for working so hard to get through school. I have little to offer, other than seeing if you can qualify, not for grants or financial aid, but rather for more loans. I realize that makes it tougher when you finish school, but who said it should be easy? You have another year and half, and it seems to me there‘s little you can do since you‘re already working two jobs and paying for most of your expenses. I surely would not burden your parents with another loan. It‘s hard for me to understand why there wouldn‘t be more student loans available. While that may be hard to swallow, you are the beneficiary. Good luck, and it is commendable for you to be thinking of your sisters.

DEAR BRUCE: We are a married couple with no kids. Our only assets: a home, its contents and our vehicles. What are the best documents to have in order to avoid possible snags when it comes to legal fees, courts and taxes? Do we need a living trust and a will, or is everything just automatically transferred to the spouse in the state of South Carolina? We do have kids, but not with each other. We want to leave everything to one another and not have the kids trying to get their share while one of us is living. -- D.W. in South Carolina

DEAR D.W.: You are a prime example of why everyone needs a will. While you have certain combined assets, in most states, the children will get a share of the estate if you don‘t have a will leaving everything to the surviving spouse. What you need is a simple ”reciprocal“ will. It shouldn‘t cost you more than a few hundred dollars. It is absolutely imperative you have one so your affairs can be handled the way you would like. The will can provide, upon the death of the second spouse, that the assets are divided among the surviving children however you choose. That is entirely up to you.

-- Send your questions to: Smart Money, P.O. Box 2095, Elfers, FL 34680. E-mail to: bruce@brucewilliams.com. Questions of general interest will be answered in future columns. Owing to the volume of mail, personal replies cannot be provided.