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…
State funding for higher education exceeded $100 billion for the first time in the current fiscal year, according to the Grapevine Report, an annual report produced by by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and Illinois State University. This preliminary report shows projected spending for the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, 2022, which corresponds to the current…
A client’s former advisor told her that she should save $800,000 per child for college. None of my initial reactions to that were appropriate for a client meeting, but how much should you save for college is an important question for a lot of families so let’s dig into that. First, why do advisors tell people that they need to…
Form 1098-T is a tuition statement that students receive from their college. It serves two primary purposes: Documenting eligibility to claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit or Lifetime Learning Credit Documenting that the student was enrolled in a college and that 529 withdrawals up to net cost of attendance are therefore qualified Form 1098-T isn’t filed with your taxes; instead,…
Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a great concept that suffers from terrible implementation. On the surface it sounds straightforward enough: Work 10 years in the public or non-profit sector, make payments on your student loan for those 10 years, and any balance remaining is forgiven. In theory, loan forgiveness after 10 years would make it possible for individuals to pursue…