Paying for College
For many families, the stress of paying for college has increased the anxiety level for the entire, already-stressful process. Helping parents navigate this part of the maze has become an ever-more important role for those of us who guide families through the college search and application experience.There’s a flood of information about there about paying for college – sometimes offering advice on how to maximize your eligibility for need-based aid, even if they don’t know your individual financial situation. There’s so much information that you’ll begin to wonder what’s true and what’s not, and what really applies to you. So we’ve curated some information for you here that we think is useful to everyone. You are not alone in your concern about paying for college!
How can you educate yourself about HOW the college financial aid process works? Here’s a good starting point – spend 30-ish minutes watching our Financial Aid webinar. This will give you so...more
28 Super Sites to Jump Start your College Scholarship Search
Guess what my number one question was this month? Scholarships! Paying for college is no joke, even if you have savings in the bank. The average college student takes 5 years and 8 months to graduate from college these days. I don’t know about you, but I was only saving for four years—the money just doesn’t go as far.
Since I can’t magically fill your bank account, I’ve collected a bunch of resources that you can use to begin—or turbo-charge—your scholarship search. Remember that finding and applying for scholarships can begin long before winter of senior year and does not end at graduation. Yes, there are fewer scholarship opportunities for students in grades 9-11 and those past senior year, but the well is not dry. Keep searching!
The first thing your student should do is approach local businesses and organizations. Local scholarship are likely much less competitive than those on the major scholarship search sites, simply because not so many people know about them. Search for” [y...more
Some of My Favorite College Planning References
Here are a few of my favorite college planning reference books and websites organized by category. What other references do you like and use?
What makes a college right for you - College Match
College Majors - Book of Majors
College Guides:
- The Princeton Review, The Best 3xx Colleges
- Fiske Guide to Colleges
- America’s Best Colleges for B Students
- Colleges That Change Lives
- Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers
- The K&W Guide to Colleges for Students with Learning Differences
- Rugg’s Recommendations on the Colleges
College Search Sites:
- http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/
- https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/college-search
- http://www.collegedata.com/cs/search/college/college_search_tmpl.jhtml
- http://www.collegexpress.com/lists/
Chance for acceptance - Naviance scattergrams from your high school
Financial Aid:
- Financial Aid information- http://www.fina
FAFSA & CSS/PROFILE Filing Time is Now!
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is officially open today, October 1, 2017. FAFSA aid is given on a first come-first serve basis, so it’s important to file early. Families of new or returning college students need to complete the form using 2016 tax information.
Valuable advice from Money Magazine, Oct. 2016, “4 Things to Know About the New FAFSA”
“Just submitting a FAFSA will automatically qualify you for a low-cost federal student loan of up to $5,500 for freshman year....The FAFSA is also required for many other kinds of aid, including work/study jobs; federal parent PLUS loans; scholarships from state agencies, private foundations, and colleges; and, in a few cases, merit aid.”
Steps:
1) Go to www.fafsa.ed.gov or https://cssprofile.collegeboard.org/
2) Student creates a Federal Student Aid Identification Number (FSA ID).
3) Parents create their own FSA ID. “Parent” refers to a biological or adoptive parent or a person de...more
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