Category Archives: Financial Aid

What Year? (2020 Edition)

Application Process, Cost saving strategies, CSS PROFILE, FAFSA, Financial Aid, Getting Started, Need-based Aid, Tax Credits and Deductions, Worksheets & Resources

It’s hard keeping track of what matters when in the prior-prior year world of the FAFSA and CSS Profile. Here is a table summarizing tax year and asset dates for the next few college years:

School Year 2020-2021 2021-2022 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026 2026-2027
FAFSA/ PROFILE Income Tax Year 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Assets As Of Oct* 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
AOTC Tax Year** 2020, 2021 2021, 2022 2022, 2023 2023, 2024 2024, 2025 2025, 2026 2026, 2027

To summarize based on where you are in high school:

Sophomores, this year is your first FAFSA income year. This year is your base year for EFC purposes. All future years will be compared to 2020.

Juniors (and seniors), 2020 income will also count for you for FAFSA purposes, but not until your second year of college. Families of juniors should think about what retirement contributions they can make this year and what to do with student summer job earnings to remove assets from the calculation come fall.

* Assets are as of the filing date, which may be as early as October or into the following year depending on the school’s filing date.

** Remember that the AOTC can only be claimed for four tax years, so families should decide whether the fall of freshman year is better than spring of senior year for claiming. With the income limit of $160,000 (married filing joint) or $80,000 (single), some families might not be eligible every year.

Parents may find that different strategies are needed during different years. For example, a family with a student beginning college in fall of 2022 might reduce pre-tax retirement contributions this year (to increase taxes, which are deducted from income on the FAFSA and therefore reduce EFC) and then maximize contributions beginning in 2022 to reduce AGI for AOTC claiming purposes.

Thinking of Transferring? Think Fast

Cost saving strategies, Financial Aid, Merit-based Aid

If your student came home for the holidays unenthusiastic about their school and considering transferring, your first impulse might be to tell them to tough it out for the year and reconsider come summer. While that’s probably good parenting advice, it might not be good financial advice. In fact, students who are thinking of transferring are usually best off making the decision sooner rather than later.

Why? Because most schools offer substantially larger financial aid packages to incoming freshmen than to transfer students, and only those with less than a set number of post-high school credits qualify as incoming freshmen. Furthermore, once students have accumulated a certain number of college credits, their transfer application is based on their college GPA, not high school. A student who did well in high school but then underperformed in college will probably want their high school GPA to be the basis of an admissions decision.

The differences can be huge. For example, the highest merit award for incoming freshmen at the University of Oregon is $15,000 annually (a student receiving the Summit and Presidential award), and those scholarships renew automatically for four years. Transfer students, on the other hand, are eligible for a maximum of $3,000 in merit aid and must reapply every year. Similarly, the University of Florida offers up to $10,000 in merit aid to freshmen; as for transfer students, “While the Office of Admissions does not offer scholarship opportunities for transfer students, there are two scholarships offered by the Office of Undergraduate Affairs dedicated to Florida College Transfers.” These are a maximum of $4,000 and offered to a total of 12 students, with only two receiving the maximum $4,000 award.

If your student is thinking of transferring, they should research transfer vs freshman requirements and financial aid eligibility at the school they’d like to transfer to ASAP because this is one instance where a quick decision is often the best decision.

Cost of Attendance: What’s Included?

Cost saving strategies, Financial Aid, Need-based Aid, Student Loans

Among the apples-to-grapefruit aspects of planning for college costs is the substantial differences in what’s included in Cost of Attendance at different schools. All schools will quote costs for tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies and personal expenses. But often, those are just a starting point. Continue reading Cost of Attendance: What’s Included? →

Haven’t Done the FAFSA Yet? Here’s Why You Should

Cost saving strategies, FAFSA, Financial Aid, Merit-based Aid, Need-based Aid, Student Loans

Many families think there’s no point in doing the FAFSA because they assume they don’t have financial need. That reflects a fairly limited view of the FAFSA; in fact, there are plenty of good reasons why every family of a student who’s even potentially college-bound next year, regardless of the family’s financial position, should do it. Continue reading Haven’t Done the FAFSA Yet? Here’s Why You Should →

FAFSA vs Profile

529 Plans, Application Process, Cost saving strategies, CSS PROFILE, Divorce, FAFSA, Financial Aid, Getting Started, Merit-based Aid, Need-based Aid

The FAFSA gets a lot of attention right around now, but it’s only one of two financial aid forms. The other is the CSS Profile, used primarily by private colleges and universities.

The Profile differs from the FAFSA in several major respects: Continue reading FAFSA vs Profile →

Do AP and IB Classes Save Money on College?

Cost saving strategies, Financial Aid, Merit-based Aid

High schools and others often promote AP, IB and dual credit classes as a way to save money on college, and for some students that’s certainly true. These classes have plenty of benefits other than saving money; however, I’m all about saving money on college so that is what I’m writing about. Continue reading Do AP and IB Classes Save Money on College? →