This week, President Obama signed an executive order that will dramatically simplify the financial aid process for many families. Beginning next October, for the 2017-2018 school year, families will be able to file the FAFSA using two years’ prior (“prior-prior year”) data. That means that
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Financial Aid
A couple of years ago, President Obama announced a plan to rate and rank all colleges and universities in the US. Needless to say, this plan was quite unpopular among several of the key constituencies necessary to implement such a plan, notably the presidents of many of those colleges and universities.
Good news: according to the National Association of College and University Business Officers, tuition discounting hit an all-time high in 2014, with many believing it is a trend likely to continue. A survey of 411 private, non-profit institutions showed that the average discount rate* for first-time, full-time freshmen hit 48% in the 2014-2015 school year, and was over 41% for…
My last post highlighted some of the tax benefits of 529 plans. One of the lesser-known benefits is that 529 plans get preferential treatment on the FAFSA. How? A couple of ways.
Is the aid award from your first-choice school insufficient? The New York Times offers some tips for appealing here. A couple of key points in the article: