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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. 🔗

Most recent posts

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Using Your 529's Gifting Page
Using Your 529's Gifting Page

If you really mean it when you say, “Please, no more toys!” you need to set up your 529’s gifting page.

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Make Your List, Check It Twice
Make Your List, Check It Twice

Applying to colleges this year? Here’s a last-minute checklist to make sure you end up with good choices.

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2025 Rhodes Scholars
2025 Rhodes Scholars

Rhodes Scholars are announced shortly before Thanksgiving every year. The recipient list serves as a reminder that plenty of colleges do an excellent job of preparing students to compete at the very highest levels.

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Trends in College Pricing
Trends in College Pricing

News headlines to the contrary, college has become more— not less— affordable over the past several decades.

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The Secret to Making Your College Years Count
The Secret to Making Your College Years Count

Getting the most out of your college experience is more about the experience than the college. In fact, research has shown that six specific college experiences translate to long-term well-being.

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Researching College Costs: IPEDS and the Common Data Set
Researching College Costs: IPEDS and the Common Data Set

How do you know what a college will cost you? There’s a lot of data out there that can help.

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Highlights

Featured
FAFSA and CSS Profile Info for Divorced Parents

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

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.

New Year’s Resolutions

Happy 2025! 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.

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 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

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

Saving for College

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529 Plans: How to get Money Out
It’s Graduation Time!
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!
529 Plans: How to get Money Out
Appealing a Financial Aid Award
Claiming the American Opportunity Tax Credit
Form 1098-T and 1099-Q
Got Work-Study?
 

Student Loans

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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

FAFSA Income

While it’s true that there is an income protection allowance on the FAFSA, it’s extremely low– roughly the federal poverty line for a family of your size. The bigger issue is what is included in income and what is subtracted from it to arrive at “Available Income.”

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Ann Garcia Ann Garcia

CSS/PROFILE Question SR 160A

Perhaps the #1 most-frequently-asked question about the CSS/PROFILE is “How am I supposed to answer question 160A?” (“Enter the amount your parents think they will be able to pay for your 2017-18 college expenses.”) It’s a trap, right?

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Ann Garcia Ann Garcia

Why file the FAFSA

As many as 33% of college students don’t fill out the FAFSA. Yes, it’s tedious and time consuming, but it’s worth the effort as not doing so eliminates your ability to access financial aid and even demonstrate to schools that you’re able to pay. Need more reasons then read on…

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Ann Garcia Ann Garcia

Me Time

Most of my friends know that I advise people on college, so they often ask me what they should be doing with respect to their own kids’ educations. One of the more astute ones asks what I am doing with my own kids in terms of their college plans. Knowing that Jon will ask that periodically gets me to schedule an “eat my own cooking” date with my kids from time to time.

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