Are you the parent of a high school junior? If so, 2014 is your “base year” for financial aid purposes. What does that mean? It means that your initial financial aid applications—FAFSA and/or CSS PROFILE—will be based on your income and assets for 2014. Now is a good time to make plans or adjustments that will help you in aid…
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Many parents who aren’t sure if their children will pursue 4-year degrees think that 529 plans are therefore not for them. If that sounds like you, you may be surprised to learn that funds in 529 plans can be used at a wide range of schools including community colleges, technical, trade and professional schools. Any school that is eligible for…
Since it’s college acceptance season, there are a lot of great articles out there about evaluating offers. Apologies for offering less original content here but reinventing the wheel doesn’t help. Here is a great article from the New York Times that will help you be a more informed consumer of your various offers.
If college is in the near but not immediate future and you want to estimate your family’s EFC, you can use the FAFSA4caster here to do so. But if you want a more accurate estimate and you have your tax documents handy, use the actual 2014-2015 FAFSA worksheet to do it. That is available here. Make sure you use the…
(Is that alliteration or what?) Did you get an aid award that’s not what you’re hoping for? Recently the New York Times wrote about appealing financial aid awards. For the article, Ron Lieber sent a questionnaire to aid officers at some of the priciest private schools asking about their appeals process. Occidental College’s completed questionnaire is extremely helpful for understanding…