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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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What’s a 1098-T?
If you have a college student, you (or they) probably received a form 1098-T. Schools are required to send this to any student who paid qualified higher education expenses. Here’s what you need to know about your 1098-T
Comparing Financial Aid Offers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has a nifty tool for comparing school costs or financial aid offers, here. As you get acceptance and financial aid offers, enter them into the site to get apples-to-apples comparisons of what you’ll pay and what you will owe upon graduation.
College Savings and Education Outcomes
Did you make a New Year’s resolution to save (or save more) for college? If so, you may be increasing the odds that your student will attend and graduate. Research shows that, across income levels, students who have savings designated for college are more likely to attend and graduate.
Work Study
A financial aid package often includes work-study as one component. Typically the package includes a dollar sum of work-study income to be used for education costs.
Trends in College Pricing
The College Board’s annual Trends in College Pricing report came out recently and as always, includes some fascinating data.
Outside Scholarships
Outside scholarships are those that come from someone other than the federal government or your school. Examples include National Merit Scholarships, scholarships from you or your parents’ employers, or from other civic institutions.
Superscoring
With standardized test season in full swing, let’s talk briefly about superscoring. (Why, on a paying for college blog, are we talking about standardized tests? Because they’re one of the best tools for earning merit aid.)
FAFSA Income Surprises
Friends are having a FAFSA nightmare: their daughter’s EFC came back as 60% of their income. They suspect the reason for this is that he consolidated his retirement accounts, rolling several over into a single larger account, and that some or all of that rollover is showing as an IRA distribution.
Link to an article I wrote for another blog that discusses the costs to raise a child and the cost of college.
Aid Formulas
Refresher post on the three aid formulas: 1. Federal methodology (FM), based on the FAFSA; 2. Institutional Methodology (IM), based on the CSS PROFILE; and 3. Consensus Methodology (CM), which uses both aid forms. Each aid formula has a different way of calculating a family’s financial strength with respect to ability to pay for college.
If you really mean it when you say, “Please, no more toys!” you need to set up your 529’s gifting page.