For high school seniors, spring is a nerve-racking season to walk to your mailbox! First, there is the much anticipated acceptance letter. But even more important, there is your financial aid award letter. If you completed the FAFSA and applied for financial aid for the 2011-2012 year, you should be getting your financial aid award letter any day now - if you haven't … [Read more...] about What does your Financial Aid Award Letter Really Mean?
college financial aid
Saving for College: Top 5 Questions (and Answers)
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 in these plans - college savings vehicles are used by millions of Americans to save … [Read more...] about Saving for College: Top 5 Questions (and Answers)
How to Reduce Your Student Loan Burden
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 over their life-time than non-college … [Read more...] about How to Reduce Your Student Loan Burden
Financial Aid Programs Affected By Budget Woes
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 affect you? One proposal would have the Pell grant reduced by 15%. … [Read more...] about Financial Aid Programs Affected By Budget Woes
Stretching Your College Going Dollars – Cost of Attendance Components
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 students who work 12-20 hours a week often do better in school, but as you increase hours above 20 hours a week, you … [Read more...] about Stretching Your College Going Dollars – Cost of Attendance Components