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📌 Before You File the FAFSA

The new Simplified FAFSA is here! Here’s a quick video with some tips that will help you get through it with a minimum of chaos and maximum of financial aid. 🔗

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New Year’s Resolutions
New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2023! Last year I made a New Year’s Resolution and kept it. That makes me a self-appointed expert on New Year’s resolutions. Here are some resolutions for parents planning for college— and my expert advice on how to keep your resolutions.

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Last-Minute College Application Checklist
Last-Minute College Application Checklist
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Talking to Your Kids About Money
Talking to Your Kids About Money

Talking to your kids about money is awkward at best. Here are some strategies to make those conversations less fraught and more productive.

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Supersize Your 529
Supersize Your 529

One of the best ways to save for college is to have other people do it for you. Here’s how.

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You Don't Need to File the FAFSA on Dec. 1
You Don't Need to File the FAFSA on Dec. 1
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2024 Rhodes Scholars
2024 Rhodes Scholars

What do the University of Alabama, Harvard, Pepperdine and Yale have in common? At least one student from each won a Rhodes Scholarship this year.

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Highlights

Featured
New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2023! Last year I made a New Year’s Resolution and kept it. That makes me a self-appointed expert on New Year’s resolutions. Here are some resolutions for parents planning for college— and my expert advice on how to keep your resolutions.

FAFSA: Is it an Asset?

What is and isn’t an asset on the FAFSA? Here’s a quick “is it or isn’t it?” for you.

Comparing Financial Aid Awards

We’re almost there: acceptance letters are arriving and the May 1 decision day is right around the corner. For most families, how much schools cost is part of the decision making process.

FAFSA Basics: Parent Assets

Parent assets seem to be the area that most families and planners focus on, despite the fact that they typically have the smallest impact on the formula of each of the components. Strategies and tactics to minimize parent assets abound, but for most families these result more in nibbling around the edges than actually making a significant dent in SAI.

Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid

The College Board’s annual Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid report was released recently. Among the headline findings: college tuition prices increased at extremely low rates for the second year in a row, reflecting both a combination of continued impacts of the pandemic and enrollment pressures from demographic trends.

FAFSA and CSS Profile FAQs for Divorced and Single Parents

Filing the FAFSA raises tons of questions for divorced parents. Here are some answers.

FAFSA Resources

Happy FAFSA Day! Are you completing the FAFSA for the first time this year? While you’re waiting for the site to load, here are some resources that will help you get through it with a minimum of chaos and maximum of financial aid.

New (School) Year’s Resolutions

I think Oregon is one of the last places in the US that starts school after Labor Day so my apologies if you’re no longer in back-to-school mode. Here are some resolutions your family might make for the coming school year. And, here’s hoping they don’t get broken as quickly as the typical New Year’s diet-and-exercise resolutions!

Categories

The FAFSA & CSS Profile

Featured
It’s Graduation Time!
FAFSA Simplification: What You Need to Know 2

Saving for College

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It’s Graduation Time!
529 Plans: How to get Money Out
How Much Should You Save for College?
7 More Uses for 529 Funds
I Bonds for College Savings
Choosing a 529 Plan

Paying for College

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College Tuition Is on Sale!
Got Work-Study?
Appealing a Financial Aid Award
Education Tax Credits: The AOTC and LLC
What Do You Do With Form 1098-T and 1099-Q?
Thinking of Transferring? Think Fast
 

Student Loans

Featured
Required Reading Alert: Borrowing to Attend Your Top Choice College
It’s Graduation Time!
Student Loan Interest Rates for the 2023-24 School Year
Who is on the hook for student loans?
Student Loans: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Taking out a Student Loan

Application Process

Featured
Appealing a Financial Aid Award
Comparing Financial Aid Awards
It’s Graduation Time!
Colleges Still Have Openings!
Year-End Checklist
Net Price Calculators

Miscellaneous

All blog posts

Ann Garcia Ann Garcia

2016-2017 FAFSA Allowances

Back in May, the Department of Education released its needs analysis methodology for the 2016-2017 school year’s FAFSA EFC calculation. The big numbers to know from this are the Income Protection Allowance (the amount of parent and student income that is not considered available to pay for college) and the Asset Protection Allowance (ditto for nonretirement assets).

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Ann Garcia Ann Garcia

Tuition Discounts Increase at Private Colleges

Good news: according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, tuition discounting hit an all-time high in 2014, with many believing it is a trend likely to continue. A survey of 411 private, non-profit institutions showed that the average discount rate* for first-time, full-time freshmen hit 48% in the 2014-2015 school year, and was over 41% for all undergraduates.

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Application Process Ann Garcia Application Process Ann Garcia

Do Schools Know How Applicants Rank Them? Yes.

College admissions officers have a couple of important metrics on which they’re evaluated: selectivity and yield. Selectivity is a concept you’re probably already familiar with: What percent of applicants are admitted? In the admissions officer’s world, the lower, the better. There are two ways to admit a low percentage of applicants: Get a lot of applications, and admit very few of them. Of course, in admitting few students, the college then runs the risk of not enough actually enrolling.

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