(Updated Dec 2018) In July of 2015, the United States government finally gained control of the FAFSA.com website. Until then, the website was owned and operated by Student Financial Aid Service, Inc. which charged students to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Over the years, FAFSA.com became the poster child for financial aid scams designed to take advantage students and families trying to get financial aid for college. So does its demise represent the final statement of whether or not students should pay for a private financial aid consultant to complete the FAFSA?
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Colleges with Religious Affiliations
(This post has been updated with information available from September 2018.) Most colleges first established in the Colonial period were designed to train religious leaders. Colleges were often founded by Christian organizations and supported with public money. Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Brown all shared the primary purpose of preparing young men for the ministry, the major difference being theology. Today, these institutions no longer claim any religious affiliation although Harvard, Yale, and Princeton all still maintain Divinity/Theological Schools.
What to Read: The College Solution
If you only get one book for your college search, get The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price by Lynn O’Shaughnessy. Why? You mean because I said so isn’t enough?
Okay, here’s the deal about buying a book about a subject you don’t know much about. If your knowledge approaches zero then any book you buy will provide you with dramatically more information than you had and will be useful. But that doesn’t mean you are getting all the information you need.
Beyond College Rankings: January Terms, Interim Terms, and 4-1-4 Academic Calendar
Once you get past making sure a college has your potential major, there are all kinds of ways of distinguishing colleges from each other besides college rankings. There are the obvious ones such as cost, rural versus urban, size, and location. But there are some that can significantly affect a student’s college experience that many have never heard of, much less considered. One of them is the 4-1-4 academic calendar.
The what calendar?
31 Potential Colleges for Students with a Full-Pay Hook
Families that can’t afford to pay the sticker-price for private colleges need to do two things. The first is identify which schools are more likely to provide need or merit aid. The second is avoid those that are less likely to do so. This means steering clear of “dream” schools that may rank in terms of prestige but subsequently aren’t as generous with financial aid as some of their peers.
50-50 Highlights: NCAA D2 Colleges
The NCAA Division 2 is the smallest of the three NCAA Divisions. Division 2 colleges, like Division 1 schools, offer athletic scholarships. However, they do not offer as many scholarships in many sports and are not required to sponsor as many varsity teams as D1 programs. They also tend to offer more partial scholarships. However, since they aren’t required to offer headcount scholarships, you will often find D2 colleges actually sponsor more varsity teams than required.
50-50 Highlights: Phi Beta Kappa Colleges for Academic Challenge
One reason many people give for attending a prestigious or ranked college or university is the need to be among intellectual peers. Parents and students worry that students won’t be challenged enough at less-well known or lower ranked schools. This is often accompanied by the networking argument–it’s the class peers along with faculty that will be crucial in developing future opportunities.
5 Ways to Get Smart About the National Letter of Intent
We’ve all seen the pictures in the local paper, high school seniors signing their National Letter of Intent (NLI) to play for a specific university or college. Sometimes there are proud parents in the pictures. Other times, you’ll see team colors or maybe a football. What you won’t see is a coach from the university the student is signing the NLI with.
Why? Because it’s not allowed under the rules.
50-50 Highlights: Most Expensive Colleges for Out-of-State Students and the Cheapest
Of the 464 colleges and universities on the 50-50 list, 179 of them are public institutions. Furthermore, 50-50 schools are not distributed equally among all of the states. That means that if you want to start your search with the largest number of schools possible, you don’t want to immediately eliminate out-of-state public institutions.