Tag Archives: Financial Aid
5 Tips to Jump Start Paying for College
While students begin scouring resources determining their best-fit college, parents are left scratching their heads on how to pay for it. With a few simple steps, parents can begin to get a grasp on paying for college and available financial aid. 1. Determine Cost of Attendance (COA) Many families go to the school website, look up cost of tuition, add room and board and run with that number forgetting the cost of college includes fees, books, travel and personal expenses. Be sure you add all the numbers to get the COA. You can also find this information on College Navigator – … Continue reading
Must Ask Financial Aid Questions
Whether you’re a junior visiting colleges or a senior comparing aid packages to make that final decision by May 1st, you need to be asking questions. Juniors Asking questions early in the college selection process will assist you in ruling in or out a possible school for application. With college being more expensive than ever and far outpacing inflation, the family’s ability to pay and the college’s generosity must be considered. Don’t simply rule out private schools, as they often have a lower Cost of Attendance than the publics as detailed in my previous post Why Pay Sticker Price for College. … Continue reading
10 Common FAFSA Errors
It’s FAFSA season for seniors! Guest blogger Todd Kelly of Summit College Funding and College Planning Relief has timely advice to avoid common mistakes. January is the month that millions of families disclose their financial data to the Department of Education through the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Specifically, more than 20 million FASFA applications are submitted each year. Anywhere from 70—90% are submitted with errors. An error filled FASFA will likely reduce the amount of aid you might receive. The FAFSA has been called “the gateway to financial aid”. With the ever increasing costs associated with college, … Continue reading
Is the CSS Profile Necessary to Receive Aid?
This week we have a guest blogger, Scott Moffitt. Scott is President/CEO of Summit College Funding in Cincinnati, OH as well as CoFounder of College Planning Relief and author of College and Retirement: You can do Both! He’s all about saving families thousands on college. There are 2 methods for determining financial aid: the federal and institutional methodologies. The federal methodology is used to disperse all state and federal based aid, while the institutional methodology is used by a select group (not all) of private schools to disperse private aid. By completing the FAFSA,Free Application for Federal Student Aid, you … Continue reading
What to do in Advance of FAFSA Filing
While others are left scratching their heads with yet another college type acronym to figure out, families with seniors likely know FAFSA stands for “Free Application for Federal Student Aid”. All families with college bound seniors, or current college students, should plan to complete the FAFSA as early in January as possible. Yes, that’s ALL, regardless of income. What many don’t know is there are several items to take care of in advance of January. Educate Yourself A common question I am asked is whether families with a high income should complete FAFSA – yes. In some cases, I’ve seen these families qualify for … Continue reading
