We keep hearing about tuition increases, but it turns out that the actual cost of college is going down. What does this mean for students and families?

Work study falls under the self-help column of financial aid. If your aid award includes work-study, you should understand what it is.

About 3/4 of families who appeal their financial aid award receive additional aid. Yet less than half appeal. Here’s how to get more money from the colleges you’re considering.

It’s tax time, which means it’s time to claim education tax credits you may be eligible for. Unfortunately, a lot of tax software programs don’t provide good instructions for doing so, so it’s a good idea to pull up the instructions for Form 8863 and review them before filing.

Form 1098-T is a tuition statement that students receive from their college. It serves two primary purposes:

• Documenting eligibility to claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit

• Documenting that the student was enrolled in a college and that 529 withdrawals up to net cost of attendance are therefore qualified

Form 1098-T isn't filed with your taxes; instead, you use the information to file and then keep it for your records.

If your student comes home for the holidays unenthusiastic about their school and considering transferring, your first impulse might be to tell them to tough it out for the year and reconsider come summer.

Where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that they were learning to walk, and now my kids are graduating from college?!?

My socials are full of prom and graduation pictures, which means it’s time to talk about how you get money out of the 529 plan to which you’ve been diligently (or otherwise) contributing.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a great concept that suffers from terrible implementation. On the surface it sounds straightforward enough: Work 10 years in the public or non-profit sector, make payments on your student loan for those 10 years, and any balance remaining is forgiven.

Many states offer free community college to some or all residents. But there’s some fine print that makes timely action necessary. Most states require students to apply for free community college during their senior year of high school.

The COVID pandemic has had a significant impact on higher education both in terms of enrollment and budgets. With federal stimulus pumping almost $40 billion into higher ed, we’re in uncharted water when it comes to forecasting future tuition cost trends.

The American Opportunity Tax Credit is usually the best tax benefit available to families. But it has some rules you should be aware of in order to make the most of it.

There’s a ton of talk about the FAFSA right now, which on the one hand makes sense because it will be available next week. (Yes, all evidence to the contrary, time does continue marching forward with the result that Oct. 1 arrives next week.)