Generally you need to add your retirement plan contributions back into your income for FAFSA purposes. There is an exception for mandatory contributions such as in many public sector retirement plans. That’s because those are not discretionary, unlike
The FAFSA’s asset protection allowance is pretty low– about $19,000 for married parents or $11,000 for single parents, and zero for students. (See page 19 here for exact amounts.) What goes in that? For most people, the biggest ones are any non-retirement savings accounts including 529 plan accounts, the balance in your checking account and the net
The interwebs appear to be all aflutter about SAT results this week. That’s because the College Board just released the class of 2016’s results and generally the class of 2016 did worse on the SAT than did the class of 2015. There are potential explanations that have nothing to do with academic capability: changes in the test, resulting in changes…
Those looking for a “formula” to pay for college might want to consider this one. Of course, everyone’s circumstances are different and being able to save more and borrow less is generally better. In particular, when it comes to savings, financial advisor Kevin McKinley suggests reviewing your credit or debit card statement monthly and asking yourself, “Would I rather help my kid…
Get ready for a wild Saturday: Oct. 1 is when the 2017-2018 FAFSA will be available. This year it should be considerably easier to complete. Why? Because if you’re eligible– and most people are– you won’t need to manually enter your income data. Instead, you can just link directly to your 2015 tax return via the IRS Data Retrieval Tool…