(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 … Read more
The following is a guest post by David Recine, a testing expert at Magoosh. Your kids grow up so fast, don’t they? Sometimes it feels like they were just in grade school or junior high. And now, suddenly, they’re on the precipice of adulthood, trying to get into a good school. You want to help … Read more
The idea behind the 50-50 school listing is to identify colleges that meet a basic standard, graduation rates, while accepting more students than they reject. However, acceptance rates of 50% or better do not guarantee accessibility for many students. The fact is that the majority of the 50-50 schools are private and not all are … Read more
Most people understand that private colleges have a much higher price tag than public universities which is why many never consider private schools. This is a shame since there are some private colleges that offer great opportunities along with generous financial aid. What a lot of people don’t realize is that out-of-state public institutions generally … Read more
(The following is a guest post by Dr. Kuni Beasley. ROTC scholarships offer more money than most National Merit Scholarships and can be used at more institutions.) Most people do not know about ROTC scholarships. Indeed, most high school counselors and most professional consultants know little about them… if at all. The Army, Navy (includes … Read more
Recently I was on an online forum where a student was trying to figure out whether to apply to Duke or Washington University in Saint Louis. And, of course, there was discussion of his chances of getting in. The student had outstanding academic credentials, including a 34 ACT score. I pointed out that while that … Read more
What’s the worst possible thing families could hear after getting their Estimate Family Contribution (EFC) for financial aid? How about that even if they could manage to pay their EFC, more than likely they’ll have to pay even more because most colleges won’t meet their full need. The data on who gets financial aid shows … Read more
Let me start by saying you never know how much a college is actually going to cost until you get the college’s financial aid award. That’s when you really know if a college is affordable. But there are indicators that some colleges are more likely to be affordable than others. Knowing these indicators mean that … Read more
The ACT test has four sections, English, Math, Reading, and Science, each scored on a scare of 1 to 36. The ACT also calculates a composite score which is an average of all four test. The single composite score is generally used when discussing ACT scores. However, the total of all four scores, 144, is … Read more