5 Ways to Get Smart About Financial Aid Award Letters

Overwhelmed woman surrounded by financial aid award letters, examining documents intently, camera angle from above.

After diligently reporting their families’ financial information as accurately as possible in the FAFSA under the threat of a $20,000 fine and/or prison, high school seniors are anxiously waiting to receive their financial aid award letters. Now, even though each student’s family situation is different, applicants all completed a standard form for financial aid. Major … Read more

Why Athletic Prospects need the Financial Aid Pre-Read

money representing financial aid pre-read for athletes

Athletes need to know about financial aid pre-reads since one third of colleges do not offer athletic scholarships. At institutions that do offer scholarships, most sports are equivalency sports meaning that athletes are likely to receive only partial scholarships, if any at all. This means that the availability of non-athletic financial aid is an important consideration for most … Read more

Early Decision Advantage: 9 Things You Need to Know

female college student representing colleges where applying early makes the biggest difference

Most students will not submit Early Decision college applications for the same reason that most students will be accepted at their first-choice school. Students generally apply Early Decision to improve the admission chances at a limited number of extremely competitive colleges. Only 10% of all four-year colleges accept less than 40% of students. Since most … Read more

Before Your Teen Applies to College, Make Sure You’ve had “The Talk”

Alarm clock with money representing the need to talk about money as part of college admissions

As families approach the college planning process, there’s one thing they need to do before anything else and that is have “the talk.” I know, parents have been putting it off because it can be embarrassing. Who wants to discuss such potentially intimate details with their teenagers? Besides, you’re pretty sure the school counselors have … Read more

DIY College Rankings: Where to Start

As I went through the college search process with my son, I was constantly amazed at the way numbers are and are not used in the process. Everyone talks about student’s GPA, class rank, test scores, and college acceptance rates but no one seemed to know anything about their Expected Financial Contribution (EFC), four-year college … Read more

4 Ways to Check Colleges for Merit Scholarships

Share0 Tweet0 Share0 Pin0 4 Ways to Check Colleges for Merit ScholarshipsWorried about how you’re going to pay for  college?Think that your kid’s good grades will translate into some merit scholarships to pay for college?Are you expecting colleges to reward your teens academic achievements with merit scholarships? Do You Know How to Find Out if … Read more