Students for whom financial aid is a priority will in many cases be better served by focusing on schools that use the FAFSA and not the CSS Profile. Likewise, a student whose first choice school uses the Profile and is out of reach financially would be well-served in the financial aid appeals process to find a competitive school that uses…
Browsing Category
CSS PROFILE
Recently I was a guest on the Hack Your Wealth podcast where we discussed all things financial aid. You can listen to the podcast here.
What is and isn’t an asset on the FAFSA? Here’s a quick “is it or isn’t it?” for you: The balance in your checking and savings account: YES it’s an asset! The balance in your taxable investment account: YES it’s an asset! You can subtract any debt for which this is collateral, such as a pledged asset line or margin…
There’s a ton of talk about the FAFSA right now, which on the one hand makes sense because it will be available next week. (Yes, all evidence to the contrary, time does continue marching forward with the result that Oct. 1 arrives next week.) But all the hoopla around the FAFSA tends to obscure the fact that the FAFSA itself…
Students whose parents are divorced have some planning opportunities if the exes are willing to cooperate. The first step is of course to understand the planning areas. And the first step of that first step is to understand a key definition: “custodial parent.” Custodial parent is used in two primary places for college purposes, and in ways that are completely…