The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

Financial aid
Featured image for “Erasing College Assets With Life Insurance”
March 3, 2014

Erasing College Assets With Life Insurance

Today I’m sharing an article that Stephanie Hancock, CFP, who is a financial aid expert at College Aid Consulting in Los Angeles, wrote about the potential dangers of  using life insurance to hide assets. What families, who are eager to qualify for more financial aid, don’t understand is that insurance agents, who are suggesting this move, are almost always doing...
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Featured image for “Claiming Valuable Education Tax Credits”
February 20, 2014

Claiming Valuable Education Tax Credits

If you have a child in college, do you qualify for a federal tax credit or tax deduction? These are valuable tax benefits that can help you defray the rising cost of a college degree and yet some parents have no idea that they exist or whether they would qualify. Edvisor Network just launched a valuable online resource that explains...
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Featured image for “Asking For Better Merit Aid Scholarships”
February 11, 2014

Asking For Better Merit Aid Scholarships

Today I am sharing a guest post by Bradford Pine, a financial advisor in Garden City, NY, who wrote about his experience with his daughter, who has been receiving acceptances and merit aid scholarships from schools. He explains how he lassoed a $14,000-a-year scholarship just by asking. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Here is the link to his entire blog post: My Personal...
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Featured image for “Assets You Don’t Need to Report on the FAFSA”
January 27, 2014

Assets You Don’t Need to Report on the FAFSA

Every year, 20 million families file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and plenty of them inadvertently make costly mistakes. To avoid the same fate, I’d urge you to check out the Edvisors Network’s free 201-page guide, entitled Filing the FAFSA. The guide, which you can download from Edvisors’ website, provides advice on how to maximize eligibility for...
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January 14, 2014

Learn How to Cut Your College Costs

Would you like to make college more affordable? I assume you do since you’re visiting my college blog. While visiting my blog and reading my book will certainly help you become a smart college shopper, plenty of parents, as well as college consultants, have urged me to create an online course that would include step-by-step instructions on how families can...
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Featured image for “It’s Time for FAFSA Questions”
January 6, 2014

It’s Time for FAFSA Questions

You can learn much more about how to afford college by enrolling in my upcoming online course –  Cutting the Cost of College. I designed this course to help you save money by making you a smart college shopper.    Lynn O’Shaughnessy Now that we’re officially into the 2014-2015 FAFSA season, I wanted to answer some questions on my college blog...
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Featured image for “Need FAFSA Help? Here are 6 Resources”
January 2, 2014

Need FAFSA Help? Here are 6 Resources

January 1 marks the start of the FAFSA season. If you will be applying for financial aid this year for a new or returning college student, it’s time to tackle the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Unfortunately,  it’s easy to make mistakes on the forms and these errors could cost you a ton of money. Resources exist, however, to...
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Featured image for “Schools That Award Lots of Merit Scholarships”
December 16, 2013

Schools That Award Lots of Merit Scholarships

I recently wrote a post that shared the colleges and universities that say that they meet 100% of financial need for the majority of their families. If you missed it, here it is: List of Colleges That Meet 100% of Financial Need The story prompted a mom to email me over the weekend with this question: Have you ever published...
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Featured image for “10 Things You Need to Know About Private Scholarships”
December 12, 2013

10 Things You Need to Know About Private Scholarships

Winning private college scholarships can certainly help make college more affordable, but you need to know the realities of competing for college cash. Before you start hunting for private college scholarships, here are 10 things you should know about these awards: 1. Private scholarships aren’t the biggest source of college cash. My pet peeve about private scholarships is that people...
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Featured image for “Who Should Complete the FAFSA?”
December 10, 2013

Who Should Complete the FAFSA?

FAFSA season is fast approaching, which always brings questions about who should complete this federal financial aid application. For the 2014-2015 school, year, the Department of Education has issued new rules impacting some parents about who should be completing the FAFSA. Here is a rundown of what you need to know: Traditional Married Couples If you are part of a...
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