Financial Aid

If your child hopes to pursue higher education, it’s time to have a serious conversation about financial planning. Even if they’re not a junior or senior in high school, today is a great day to start thinking about the future. While loans can be a helpful way to pay your child’s college tuition today, they can take decades to pay off. And student loan forgiveness is still in its infancy. The best way to set you and your child up for future financial success? Help them graduate from college debt-free.

Now that you’ve completed your FAFSA® and received your financial aid offer, you might feel a little disappointed. Maybe the school you had your heart set on has only offered you a little bit of aid. Or maybe there’s a small but significant gap between your cost of attendance and what you’ve budgeted to pay for your degree. The good news is that your initial financial aid offer isn’t necessarily final. You can ask your school to recalculate your need with a financial aid appeal.

Even if you’re proud of your child for getting into college, you might not be thrilled about the idea of paying for it. Understandably, some parents feel guilty about not wanting to foot the bill for their kid’s bachelor’s degree. And while many parents help their child pay for school at least partially, not all do. To help you understand what percentage of parents pay for college and why, we put together this guide. Read on for stats and tips to help you make your decision.

Receiving your financial aid award letter can be an exciting time when you’re prepping for college. You can see how much financial aid you’re eligible to receive per college you’re accepted to. But it can also be confusing – what do the numbers mean? What is the financial aid award letter, and do you need to act on it? Which college has offered you a better “deal?” We’re breaking all of this down for you.

Increasingly, the “9-to-5” doesn’t represent the landscape of American jobs. Over 10% of the American working population is self-employed, and 16% report working on some sort of freelance or online gig job. But these “unusual” job setups can make it complicated to fill out the FAFSA®. So we’re here to break down how to report parent (or student) finances if you’re self-employed or own a small business.

Our team knows the FAFSA®–and the common mistakes made on it. Over the last 3 years, we’ve helped thousands of students fill out the form (using our FAFSA® Made Easier), and walked countless confused parents through how to correctly report their complicated home/financial situation. Here are the top 14 most common FAFSA® mistakes we’ve seen, in rough order of most common to least common.

If you see any kind of federal student loan (Direct, Stafford, or PLUS) listed in your college’s financial aid award package/letter, then you might be wondering: What are they? How do they work? We break it all down for you here.

The average college graduate comes away with a degree – and $29,000 of student loan debt, requiring an average monthly loan payment of $393. That ends up being a really high percentage of new graduates’ salaries. The problem is: once you’re behind, it can be even easier to get more behind. We’re here to help you figure out how to not let that happen to you. How do student loans work? How do you know how much you can afford to borrow? How do you choose the right (cheapest, most flexible) loan? And how do you best manage the costs?  We’ll get into all that, and more!

About one-third of college-bound high school seniors don’t fill out the FAFSA® – and therefore miss out on an average of $14,000 per year in financial aid. Even more students don’t fill out their state financial aid forms – despite states granting students an average of $1000 in additional financial aid. Maybe it’s because high school students often don’t realize there’s an extra step beyond the FAFSA®. That’s why we’re here to explain how the state financial aid process works.

You’ve received your college acceptance letters – but your financial aid award wasn’t enough. Maybe that’s because your top-choice school has offered you less aid than other schools, or because your financial circumstances have recently changed. Don’t worry – your aid offer is not necessarily final. You can write a financial aid appeal letter to request a revised financial aid package. Here’s how.

Participating in part-time work-study jobs while at college is a great way to fund your tuition bill or pay for textbooks– all while practicing valuable skills and gaining solid work experience.

But what IS a work-study job anyway? How is the federal government involved? What kind of jobs are there? How much will you get paid? We explain all the details here

Since 1982, the cost has increased by a total of 500%. As a result, about 40% of soon-to-be college students end up turning down their first-choice school and going for a cheaper option. Why has the cost gone up so much? One major reason for such drastic increases in college costs is a lack of funding from state and local governments. As more and more funding is being taken away from universities and colleges, upping tuition rates is an easy way to make up the difference. Other factors have also contributed to this, such as the ‘recreation parks arms race’ to attract students and rise up college rankings.

Every year, college students all over the country complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as the FAFSA. The FAFSA determines student eligibility for federal loans, grants, and work-study as well as financial aid at their colleges and universities of choice.

We’re kicking off the school year right by answering your FAFSA questions: how to apply for FAFSA, your FAFSA application, the FAFSA website, and of course the FAFSA deadlines! Grab a slice of pizza and get comfy – we’re diving in!

You’re ready to start planning in paying college tuition. But why are there two financial aid forms: the FAFSA and the CSS Profile? How do you prioritize which to fill out? What’s the process? We’re breaking down the differences between the FAFSA and the CSS Profile, from applications to deadlines, and everything in between.