Category Archives: financial aid

admissions, college costs, financial aid

Breaking Down the Award Letters

award letters

It’s a joyful day for your high school senior when an offer of college admission arrives, and the joy is magnified by a financial aid award.

Award letters arrive along with (or soon after) acceptance letters. I remember the first time I saw one, my daughter’s senior year. Quite honestly, it was Greek to me.

How were we supposed to compare the offers? The letters included the same basic categories — loans, work-study, grants and scholarships — but without understanding what each category meant it was hard to tell whether or not the college was meeting all of our financial need (Total Cost of Attendance minus our Expected Family Contribution, or EFC). Every college was different and every award letter was different!

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admissions, financial aid, financial planning, scholarships

6 Ways to Search for College Scholarships

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college scholarships

For college-bound students, scholarships can fill in the gap between what you can afford and the cost of the school. Most students believe college scholarships are a pipe dream if they aren’t athletes or 4.0 students. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are thousands of scholarships available for the taking. You just need to find them.

There are six key places to look. But remember: Finding them is half the battle. You have to put in the effort to apply and be vigilant in paying attention to requirements and deadlines.

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FAFSA, financial aid, financial planning, parenting

10 Reasons to Complete the FAFSA

complete the fafsa

The FAFSA for the 2022-23 school year will be available on October 1. The earlier you file, the better your chances of getting some of the money colleges allocate for financial aid. In order to help parents understand the FAFSA and answer some of your questions, this week is FAFSA week.

According to a new SallieMae study, 70% of families reported submitting the FAFSA for AY 2021–22. This figure represents the first time in four years that FAFSA submission rates did not decline-last year it was 68%. Low- and middle-income families submitted the FAFSA® at a higher rate than their higher-income counterparts.

Many families believe their income is too high to submit the FAFSA. Most families who didn’t file the FAFSA® said it was because they believed their income was too high (36%). While families earning more than $150,000 annually were most likely to select this reason (74%), 26% of families making less than $150,000 also believed their income is too high to qualify for aid.

Here are the other reasons for not submitting the FAFSA:

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FAFSA, financial aid, financial planning, parenting

Just for Parents: Understanding the FAFSA

understanding the fafsa

For many parents, understanding the FAFSA can be complicated. It’s not meant to be, but as with all government forms, it can be daunting.

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form is the student’s responsibility, but when a student is considered a dependent student for FAFSA purposes, parents have a large role in the application process. Educate yourself about the process and opportunities so you can provide the guidance your child needs to do their part. 

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college news, FAFSA, financial aid, financial planning

Changes Coming to the FAFSA in October

FAFSA CHANGES

This year’s FAFSA changes are mainly cosmetic. The online FAFSA form is receiving a visual update that gives it a similar look and feel that puts it more in line with other tools featured on StudentAid.gov. A new simplified form being released in October of 2022 also has just 36 questions to answer, down from the 108 of previous years.

Noticeable changes you may see if you fill out the FAFSA later this year include:

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college costs, college guidance, college planning, financial aid

How to Pay Less for College

pay less for college

If you’re a parent of a college-bound teen, you know the stress this adds to your family. If you are like most parents, the money you saved for college has not kept up with the increase in tuition. If your son or daughter isn’t one of the ones who snag a full ride, you are going to be looking for ways to cut those college costs.

Here are just a few tips that might help you pay less for college:

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financial aid, financial planning, scholarships

STEM Scholarships

STEM scholarships

STEM careers have become a national priority and students who aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering, and math will be happy to know that STEM scholarships abound.

Often, when you apply for scholarships in a specific area of interest, the competition is much less than if you apply for national scholarships with thousands of applicants. The fact there are fewer applicants improves your odds of being offered the scholarship.

STEM scholarships may be plentiful but how do you find them?

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admissions, college planning, college prep, FAFSA, financial aid, financial planning

Do You Understand the EFC?

EFC

I will never forget the moment we received our Student Aid Report and I saw the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) on the right-hand corner. I was in shock as most parents are. How could the powers that be believe we could afford to pay that amount for college? It was a mystery to me how they came up with that number, as it is to most of you.

The EFC determines how much financial aid the colleges will award to your student. You can’t receive any federal or institutional aid without getting an EFC when you complete the FAFSA. We are stuck with it and will probably never truly understand how they use to determine how much money your family can afford to pay.

If you are going to need financial aid for college (and who doesn’t?), you will need to understand the EFC.

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college costs, college planning, financial aid, financial planning

10 Ways to Pay for College Without Incurring Debt

pay for college

Debt from college tuition has skyrocketed over the last several years. Parents and students are weighing their ROI (return on investment) before making their college choices. As college costs have shot up, so has student debt. How can you pay for college without incurring debt?

According to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, outstanding student loan debt stood at $1.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021, an $8 billion decline from the third quarter. About 5 percent of aggregate student debt was 90+ days delinquent or in default in the fourth quarter; the lower level of student debt delinquency reflects a Department of Education decision to report current status on loans eligible for CARES Act forbearances. 

That’s the bad news. But if you’re a savvy consumer and research the costs before signing on the dotted line, you should be able to go to college without incurring debt. Zac Bissonnette, author of DebtFree U, is proof that it can be done. He graduated from college with zero debt.

Believe it or not, you may be able to graduate without debt if you use these 10 ways to pay for college:

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