If your financial aid award includes work-study, you should understand what it is. Work study falls under the self-help column of financial aid, meaning it’s not free money. You have to find a qualifying job and work at the job to earn this portion of your financial aid award. Work-study is a federally subsidized job at your college or university….
Last week I bumped into a friend whose daughter is a high school senior. Like many of her peers, she’s very caught up in the college application process and eagerly awaiting acceptance letters. Needless to say, her enthusiasm is infectious and my friend is so excited about her next steps. I’m in a similar spot, with my two in their…
It’s tax time, which means it’s time to claim education tax credits you may be eligible for. Unfortunately, a lot of tax software programs don’t provide good instructions for doing so, so it’s a good idea to pull up the instructions for Form 8863 and review them before filing. The American Opportunity Tax Credit is the more valuable of the two credits,…
Form 1098-T is a tuition statement that students receive from their college. It serves two primary purposes: Form 1098-T isn’t filed with your taxes; instead, you use the information to file and then keep it for your records. One important point about form 1098-T: it only shows tuition net of scholarships. Both education tax credits and 529 distributions have additional qualified expenses…
My son’s friend just graduated from Arizona State, without paying a penny. How? She works at Starbucks and through a combination of starting at community college and continuing with Starbucks College Achievement Plan, she was able to earn her bachelor’s degree for $0. She’s now working on her student teaching and expects to be a full-time teacher soon, all without…