With December almost here, it’s time to get on year-end tasks. If you’re among the many who want a year-end to do list, here goes!
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Need-based Aid
“Use a Roth IRA instead of a 529,” many people will tell you. “It’s better for financial aid since it doesn’t count as an asset.” Some people will tell you the same about insurance policies, but those people are insurance salespeople who just want a commission. Deciding whether to use a Roth IRA is a little bit more complicated. Roth…
I get a common question from families applying for college: “I applied to the college but how do I apply for scholarships?” The answer to that is actually pretty simple: If you filed the FAFSA, you have applied for need-based aid. And your application to the college is the application for most merit scholarships. Most institutional awards– that is to…
Once you’ve filed the FAFSA, your work may not be done. That’s because there’s another financial aid form, the CSS Profile. The Profile is used by about 400 private colleges to allocate their own financial aid dollars. The FAFSA and the Profile have a lot of similarities, but also some key differences. Like the FAFSA, the Profile uses parent income…
Expected Family Contribution– the amount that the FAFSA says your family can pay for college– gets a lot of air time. But there’s another number that’s more important: Net Cost. Your Net Cost is your actual cost to attend a college. It’s important to find out about net cost because colleges are under no obligation to meet your financial need….