The College Solutions Blog

September 24, 2015

One of the most unpleasant aspects of filing for financial aid is how rushed the process has always been. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid isn’t released until Jan. 1 each year, which has never given parents much time to file for financial aid. This is especially true since families need their tax returns finished before finalizing the FAFSA....

September 14, 2015

My main goal of this lesson is to help you demystify college pricing. The best way to do that is to read this lesson along with my resource guide, The Ultimate College List Builder. This guide will provide you with an eye-opening overview (okay that’s my opinion) of how colleges, and in particular private institutions, price themselves. This lesson will...

September 14, 2015

If paying for college is going to be a challenge, and it usually is, it’s important that you obtain your Expected Family Contribution before your begin looking at colleges with your teenagers. In fact, obtaining your EFC should be the FIRST STEP you take in the college process. Here is a quick rundown of what an EFC is, why it’s important, how...

September 12, 2015

Most students, who attend four-year institutions, end up at state colleges and universities so it’s important to understand how you can reduce the costs at these schools. Here is an overview of what you need to know: 1. Understand what your state programs offer. If you haven’t already read it, please check out the lesson (State College Aid) that is...

September 1, 2015

Here is what typically happens during college admission season: Students apply to whatever colleges they want without having any clue about whether these schools will give them grants and/or scholarships.  Parents are often onboard with their children disregarding price when finalizing their lists. The attitude of these moms and dads can be summed up this way:  Go ahead and apply...

August 26, 2015

Are you freaking out about the price of a bachelor’s degree? If so, you’ll want to attend one of my upcoming free webinars where I will share 10 easy ways to cut the cost of college. The two webinars that I had earlier in the summer were so successful – more than 900 people registered – that I’m rolling out...

August 17, 2015

Parents are often worried about how their assets will impact their chances for financial aid. Often their fears are overblown because financial aid formulas don’t penalize families for all their assets. But it is true that families are now experiencing a harder time protecting their assets from financial aid calculations because of a horribly flawed federal formula that needs to...

August 10, 2015

Today I am sharing a guest post on athletic scholarships that Jon Fugler,  the founder and CEO of Recruit-Me, wrote. Fugler has been helping parents and student-athletes navigate the recruiting road since 2002. Lynn O’Shaughnessy What’s the best way to get on a college coach’s radar when seeking an athletic scholarship? You first need to understand that the burden is...

August 3, 2015

It’s only natural that many talented students aim for the most selective school that they can gain into. It’s not always a smart idea, however, for applicants to attend the most selective college or university that admits them. Today I am sharing the observations on this topic from Scott White, the head guidance counselor at Morris High School in New...

July 27, 2015

Today I’m rerunning a previous post that I’ve updated that I hope will reduce the stress level of many parents reading it. I initially wrote the post in reaction to the dilemma of a teenager with a 3.4 GPA who failed to capture a scholarship from any of the schools where he applied. This is hard to do when you...