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FAFSA vs CSS Profile

I write a lot about the FAFSA, but there’s a second financial aid form that’s also important: the CSS Profile. While all schools use the FAFSA to allocate federal funds such as Direct Student Loans, a subset of schools– primarily private schools– use the CSS Profile in their financial aid calculations. There are a number key differences between the two forms: Prior…

FAFSA Basics: Parent Assets

Parent assets seem to be the area that most families and planners focus on, despite the fact that they typically have the smallest impact on the formula of each of the components. Strategies and tactics to minimize parent assets abound, but for most families these result more in nibbling around the edges than actually making a significant dent in Student…

Does College Make You a Better Person?

The speaker at my son’s graduation, Michael Tubbs, delivered a fantastic address full of meaningful and actionable advice. One message in particular stuck with me: “College doesn’t make you a better person, but it does make you more prepared to deal with the challenges you’ll face in the future.” A recent study shows he may be wrong about that: College…

The Three Types of Scholarships

Many people estimate their Student Aid Index (the renamed Expected Family Contribution) and then automatically assume that because it’s so high, their student isn’t eligible for scholarships. In fact, every student is eligible for scholarships. And every college offers scholarships, though not to every student. So it’s up to students and their families to understand what types of scholarships are…

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