The FAFSA itself won’t be available until Oct. 1, but in the meantime you can download the EFC Formula Guide to see how the sausage gets made. If you are a parent of a high school senior who will be completing the FAFSA this fall for whom the cost of college is important, here is a suggestion for how to…
Families getting started on the college search process are well-served by keeping a list of schools that the student is interested in. (This should be the student’s job, by the way.) But what does that list look like? What goes in it? Here’s my suggestion: Create a spreadsheet in Google Sheets (or your preferred online platform). The left-hand column will…
Families who will file the FAFSA this fall should know what dates matter for which data inputs. Income is prior-prior year (meaning most recently filed tax return), assets are “day of” and then there’s the matter of education tax credits such as the American Opportunity Tax Credit. This chart shows what data is used each year: The 2020 tax year,…
That title was a trick. I’m actually going to write about how much you should contribute to a 529 first. Lately I’ve heard versions of the same question again and again: After a year of no travel, eating out or other activities, people are sitting on extra cash that they want to direct towards college. Many are wondering what’s the…
Lew De Luca is the immensely helpful Student Financial Literacy and Advising coordinator at the University of Southern Connecticut. In that role, he helps students and families understand college costs and develop workable plans to minimize debt. In my latest podcast episode, he walked me through some of the key pieces of college financial literacy. His wisdom is available here…
