Here are more debt-free college strategies. In my last two posts, Debt-Free College Strategies – These Worked for Us and Debt-Free College Strategies #2 – These Also Worked for Us, I covered the debt-free college strategies we used with our 3 girls. There are other debt-free college strategies that weren’t Read more…
Will we qualify for need-based financial aid for college? – A question on the minds of most parents with college-bound high school students. The answer is going to depend on many things, with the biggest being parental income and number of kids in college at the same time. Let’s go Read more…
Can you ask a college for more scholarship money? Most often, the answer is “Yes, it never hurts to ask.” When it comes to asking for more scholarship money, there seem to be three different types of colleges: Colleges that do not accept requests for more financial aid Colleges that Read more…
I’d like to share an opportunity from my friends at CollegeMoneySearch.com. They are holding a two-part FAFSA webinar to educate parents on everything they need to know about FAFSA. Full details are below: Critical Information You Need To File Your FAFSA Fall marks the beginning of school, a change of Read more…
Before we go on with the Upside Down College Search process, let’s talk about Expected Family Contribution. Last week, I said that this week’s topic would be “What Deals Can You Get?” As I started writing that, I found the need to explain a lot of background information related to Read more…
Make sure you wait for your financial aid award letter before setting your heart on a particular college. That is, unless you can pay sticker price for the school without any merit-based aid or need-based aid. I heard a sad story recently about a family who didn’t do that. I Read more…
Last week, I wrote about who gets free tuition to an Ivy League school in Can You Get Free Ivy League Tuition? This week, in keeping with the same topic, I want to share some insight from a parent whose son received free tuition at Harvard. As a reminder from my last Read more…
Some families can get free ivy league tuition. This isn’t as widely known as it should be. Ivy league schools, and many of the other “top tier” colleges, have huge endowments and offer excellent financial aid programs. First, let me be clear: Ivy League schools do not offer merit scholarships. All Read more…
The best colleges for need-based financial aid are ones that pledge to meet a high percentage of a family’s “need”. In fact, there are 66 colleges around the U.S. that pledge to meet an applicant’s full financial need. I found the most recent listing of these schools on the US Read more…
Have you heard about front-loaded financial aid? This is where a college attracts your student by offering a great financial aid package for the first year and then drops aid off for subsequent years. Is this something you need to be concerned about? If you can’t afford to pay full Read more…