When Does FAFSA Open for 2025-2026?
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is a crucial tool for high school students planning to attend college. It determines eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study programs,…
Can I Ask for More Financial Aid?
Opening your college acceptance letter is an exhilarating moment, but the financial award offered may leave you feeling let down. Not aligning with your expectations or needs, you may ask…
New FAFSA Changes 2024
The new and improved FAFSA is finally here! Before we jump into the key changes that start in 2024, let’s review what the FAFSA is and why you need to…
Does a 504 Plan Hurt College Admissions?
In short, a 504 plan does not hurt college admissions. Let’s explore what a 504 plan is, and how you can address it during the college application process. What Is…
Does Income Affect College Admissions?
Whether income affects college admissions is not necessarily a straightforward answer. It can impact admissions on a certain level, but that really varies by school. To understand this better, let’s…
When Does FAFSA Open?
If you are looking to receive financial aid, or even simply the Federal Direct Student Loan or a Federal Parent PLUS Loan, you will need to fill out the Free…
Is FAFSA Required for College Applications?
You’ve heard about the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), but do you NEED to complete it with your college applications? The short answer is no. Applying to colleges…
How Do Federal Student Loans Work?
Trying to figure out how to fund your college education can be overwhelming. You’ve heard that you can get loans from the federal government, but how do they work? How…
How Much Will My Student Loan Payments Be?
As college consultants, we’re often asked how much student loan payments will be. After all, it is something that should factor into the college search; you want to be able…
Is There a Limit on Financial Aid?
Financial aid is always a highly sought after and hot topic for most families when it comes to figuring out how to pay for their child’s college education. Will we…
Does Everyone Get Financial Aid?
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room that we all wonder and worry about when we are going through our child’s college admissions journey. Does everyone get financial aid?…
How Much Financial Aid Should I Expect?
So you are pondering how much money, if any, your child will receive from the colleges they are applying to, and are coming up empty handed on a response. How…
What Do Student Loans Cover?
You’re thinking about taking out a student loan and you wonder, what will those funds cover? Or, more appropriately, what are they allowed to cover? Student loans cover the “Cost…
Changes to the FAFSA: Student Aid Index Replaces Expected Family Contribution
People get shivers and break out into hives when they even begin to think about completing the FAFSA, the Free Application for Student Aid form, that is the foundation and…
Can You Transfer a Parent PLUS Loan to a Student?
The Parent PLUS loan is a vehicle for parents to take out a loan through the federal government to assist their child in paying for their college education. Once a…
Can You Negotiate Financial Aid Package?
I am asked all of the time if a student’s financial aid package that a college offers can be negotiated, meaning can you ask for more money. The answer to…
Which Colleges Offer the Best Merit Scholarships
You’re beginning the college admissions journey and are excited to select the schools where you will thrive academically and socially, and enjoy these very special four years of your life.…
How to Fill Out the FAFSA Form
It’s October 1 and you are sitting in front of your computer wondering, how do I fill out the FAFSA? Where do I begin? Well, help has arrived! Here is…
Common FAFSA Mistakes
How important is it that you complete your financial aid forms – particularly the FAFSA – properly? VERY! So how do you go about doing this? You need to understand…
How Much Financial Aid Can I Get for College?
Here Is How Your Aid is Calculated Each year, I assist many families with college planning, including helping them understand the financial aid process. One of the questions on top…
How to Pay Off Student Loans Fast
How to pay off student loans fast, no matter how much money you make. Making a long term plan and sticking to it is what will help you pay off…
Grandparent 529 Plans – What is the Effect on a Student’s Financial Aid?
My grandparent saved money for my college costs in a state 529 account. What effect does this have on my financial aid picture? See the attached and understand the impact…
Department of Education Financial Award Template
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]Department of Education Releases a New and Improved Financial Award Template Department of Education releases the new and improved financial award template. It’s much simpler to read and understand…
529 Accounts Can Now be Used to Pay Back Your Loans
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]529 Accounts Can Now be Used to Pay Back Your Loans There are plenty of restrictions on how you can use the funds from your child’s 529 account. If…
FAFSA Does NOT Say How Much You Can Pay for College
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]FAFSA Does NOT Say How Much You Can Pay for College: I always say to all of my families when I calculate their estimated Expected Family Contribution that 1…
Student Loans: How Much You Really Pay
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]Student Debt is Good Debt – Is It Really? How much do you really pay for that student loan? A 46-year-old mom just called me the other day and…
College Is About More Than Money But It Can Only Be Paid Back With Money
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]College Is About More Than Money But It Can Only Be Paid Back With Money This was the closing statement for a NY Times article about the comparison of…
Student Debt is Good Debt – Is It Really?
[ultimate_spacer height=”20″]Student Debt is Good Debt – Is It Really? The American dream, or maybe I should say expectation: Attend college, earn your Bachelor’s degree, maybe your Master’s, land a…
Financial Aid – The Elephant in the Room
A significant topic of discussion is, and should be, financial aid. You would be surprised how many students and parents hesitate at that, maybe too proud, not wanting to deal with the realities, or the desire to go to a particular school is so great that dollars aren’t even discussed, until late in the game.
What Will My Salary be When I Graduate from College?
What will my salary be when I graduate from college?
11 Misconceptions About Paying for College
This Washington Post article on financial aid and the misunderstandings that many families have is intensely time appropriate as many students begin to receive their financial aid award letters, make the decision on which college they are going to attend this Fall and how they are going to pay for it.
I Got Accepted to My #1 School. Can I Afford it?
Worried about if you can afford college? Putting the pieces of the puzzle together, pro-actively and with careful planning, is paramount to performing your college search.
FAFSA: What Tax Year is this Years FAFSA Based On?
This one is terrifying to me. One of my families just relayed onto me that their students guidance counselor told them that this years FAFSA, 2018-2019, is based on their 2015 tax return. NO, NO, NO and NO!!!!
Four-Year College Degree, May Actually Be a 5 or 6 Year Degree
$43,234 X 4 = $172,936, that’s how much Suzy’s college education will cost for her to graduate from a four-year school. Think again!
College Financial Aid Forms: Are they REALLY Complete?
College Financial Aid Forms: Are they REALLY Complete?
How Much Federal Student Loan Can I Get? Here Are the Amount Breakdowns
Here Are the Loan Amount Breakdowns Whether you are a freshman or an upperclassman, the Federal Direct Student Loan is available to you to help pay for college. The Federal…
Financial Aid: Should you complete the FAFSA even if you know that you won’t qualify for any financial aid?
College Admissions Process: Where are you in the College Admissions Process? Ask yourself these questions:
NYS College Loan Forgiveness Program
NYS College Loan Forgiveness Program I receive calls from students who have student loan debt asking how they are going to be able to afford to pay them off. There…
Private Scholarships
Private Scholarships I am asked the question and get calls asking about the search for scholarships outside of the federal or state government and the college’s themselves. 95% of aid,…
Financial Aid Fact and Fiction
Financial Aid Fact and Fiction MYTH: The best way to get money to pay for college is to search for those not well-known awards that go unclaimed each year. FACT:…
Student Loan Debt: What to Earn to Pay it Back
Student Loan Debt: What to Earn to Pay it Back A 24-year old young man called me who has $50K of student loan debt and a $750 monthly payment that…
FAFSA Mistakes You Can Avoid, Which Can Save You Tens of Thousands of Dollars
FAFSA Mistakes You Can Avoid, Which Can Save You Tens of Thousands of Dollars There are many common pitfalls if you ignore or don’t complete the FAFSA correctly that can…
How Colleges Differ in How They View and Award Financial Aid
How Colleges Differ in How They View and Award Financial Aid By Beckie Supiano, Jonah Newman, and Brian O’Leary Colleges do differ on how they look at and award financial…
How Teens Can Become Millionaires, by Dave Ramsey
How Teens Can Become Millionaires Although this isn’t specifically related to college I feel this is so important to instill in our children to save when they are young so…
Transfer 529 Plan to Another Child
Did you know that if you don’t use all of the funds in one of your children’s 529 accounts, you can transfer the remaining funds over to another one of your children, with no penalty nor tax implications, as long as it is used for qualifying higher education expenses?
Financial Aid Fine Print
Here is an article from the Chronicle of Higher Education that speaks to the differing views colleges have on how they define a families need and what moneys they are willing and able to give to meet that need.