The College Solutions Blog

April 3, 2014

What happens when the financial aid or merit aid package that a student receives from a school is inadequate? Is it possible to extract more money from a college? I’ve been getting questions about this lately from parents who are disappointed by some of the awards their children have been receiving. One parent, for instance, told me that she was...

March 26, 2014

Along with Michelle Kretzschmar at DIY College Ranking, I am launching a five-week course  – Cutting the Cost of College – on April 16 that will provide you with a step-by-step blueprint on how to make college more affordable. This class is recommended for the parents of teenagers, independent college consultants, high school counselors and financial aid professionals, who want...

March 24, 2014

FInancial aid letters are often confusing. I believe many colleges and universities intentionally make financial aid awards hard to decipher to trick families into thinking that their institutions are being generous even when they aren’t. Obfuscation is an effective way to keep parents off balance. Since this is the time of year when students are receiving their financial aid letters,...

March 21, 2014

If you have a child in college or heading there this fall, have you filed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid yet? Many parents never do file it. In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Education less than 55% of high school seniors compete the FAFSA. That’s a depressing statistic when you consider that low and middle-income students...

March 3, 2014

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...

February 20, 2014

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...

February 11, 2014

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...

January 27, 2014

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...

January 14, 2014

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...

January 6, 2014

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...