Last week, we talked about ways to reduce your dependency on student loans. One of the single best ways to avoid costly loans is to plan ahead with a college savings plan. Known as a 529 Plan – after the federal tax code that allows you to save money on your taxes when you invest [...]
Conventional wisdom has always held that student loan debt is "good debt". Meaning it is debt taken out for a long-term investment – like a mortgage on your home, which will pay dividends in the future. What kind of dividends? Well, we know, for example, that college graduates make an average of one million dollars more [...]
The U.S. Congress is struggling to agree on the budget and whatever state you live in is struggling too. One of the big problems is that much of the fluff has already been cut and there are not a lot of discretionary areas to reduce spending. Education is one of the targets. How does that [...]
So today we are going to look at each component of the cost of attendance and see where we can shave off a few dollars. The goal here is to help you get by on the aid dollars you are getting with less than 20 hours of work a week. Why 20? Research shows that [...]
In my last blog we discussed the components of the Cost of Attendance (COA) and Expected Family Contribution (EFC). Financial aid offices subtract the amount families are expected to contribute toward the student’s education from the calculated COA for their school. The result is the amount of need the student has and this is the financial [...]
Do you know what your college defines as full-time enrollment? It is usually 12 to 15 units or credit hours. Do you know how the federal government defines full-time enrollment for purposes of financial aid? You should. It can make a difference of hundreds of dollars in your grant aid. Not everyone’s Expected Family Contribution [...]
I hope you have completed a time budget and understand better how much time you have available for work. How many hours you can commit yourself to work will depend on how flexible your employer is and how far the job is from campus. It will make a difference whether it is a routine or [...]
