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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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EFC for Multiple Children
Many people asked, after my last post, how EFC gets calculated or divided with multiple children in college. It’s not a strict 50/50 division; some adjustments get made first.
Budgeting for Books and Supplies
When comparing the two schools my son is considering, we noticed an interesting data point: one school estimated books and supplies to cost $800 annually; the other $1,146.
Student Loans and Mortgages
There’s been a great deal of press in recent years about the impact student loans have on the larger economy, especially home purchasing.
Trends in Education Borrowing
The Federal Reserve Board of Governor’s Report on the Economic Well-Being of US Households has a wealth of data on student loans, including a breakdown of borrowing by age range, forms of debt, and payment status by school type. Some interesting points:
AOTC And New Tax Law
One of the big changes to the tax bill was making our young adult children less valuable to their parents from a tax perspective. The dependent exemption is gone and the child tax credit for 18- to 23-year-old dependents is only $500.
Does it Matter Where You Go to College?
In 2002, a paper in the Quarterly Journal of Economics by economists Stacy Dale and Alan Krueger showed that for most students, the incremental value of attending an elite college was virtually nil.
Estimating Post-Graduation Loan Burden
Most teenagers struggle to have the foresight into the burden that student loans will cause. Help your student estimate that burden and the pros and cons of those impacts.
Pell Grants
Despite the fact that Pell Grants are one of the largest federal gift aid programs, with over $28 billion going to students with high financial need in the 2017-2018 school year, the program is limited. Learn more.
PSAT
Taking a break from the FAFSA… The PSAT is coming this week. I highly recommend that all sophomores and juniors take it. Why? Because standardized tests are quite possibly the best source of merit aid around, so the more practice you get, the more prepared you are likely to be when the real tests come around.
FAFSA for Divorced Parents
This is a big topic so for today I’m going to focus on general rules. Keep in mind the FAFSA rules are different from the CSS Profile rules; below is FAFSA only.
FAFSA Asset Do’s and Don’t’s
It’s the busy season for insurance and annuities hucksters who tell parents of college-bound students that spending their assets to buy an insurance policy will yield all manner of financial aid benefits. Before you start making expensive moves that end up costing more in the long run, you should figure out what will really benefit you.
Choosing a 529 Plan
529 plans definitely fall under the heading of Not All Created Equal. The good news is, if you’re in a bad one, it’s pretty simple to make a change and the only cost should be your time to make the change.