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…
I came across makemeafreshman.com and it looks like a pretty handy tool for managing your college applications. (I also asked a couple of high school seniors to check it out and they said the same thing.) It’s a free website in which you enter the colleges to which you plan to apply and it tracks all of the forms and deadlines for…
A high SAT score is a great source of merit aid so it’s important to understand the test before you take it. You may have heard about changes coming to the SAT. One big change is has to do with the penalty for guessing. Currently, test takers receive one point for each correct answer and are penalized 1/4 point for…
There is no shortage of college rankings. While US News & World Report’s ranking system may be the most popular, it might not lead you or your student to schools that are actual fits. After all, US News’ top 10 schools will only admit a total of about 25,000 students each year, so even if one or more of them…
You’ve been saving diligently in your 529 plan for years and now it’s here: freshman year and bills are due. How do you get those savings out to pay for the bills? First, you need to decide to whom to direct the withdrawal: the parent, the student or the school. Here is a blog post outlining the why’s of each.