The College Solutions Blog

October 13, 2014

The College Board is a favorite resource of mine when I want to get a quick read on whether a school is stingy, financially awesome, or somewhere in between. What you’ll find on the College Board is equally relevant whether you are seeking schools that provide generous need-based aid or are hunting for schools that provide merit scholarships that are awarded without...

October 13, 2014

COLLEGEdata is a valuable website to bookmark for anyone researching colleges and universities. In this video, I illustrate how you can use COLLEGEdata’s search engine to sort schools in two categories: 1. Colleges that provide excellent aid packages for students who have financial need. 2. Schools that provide a large percentage of their students with merit scholarships. After using the search...

October 13, 2014

I conducted this interview with Veronica Longstreth, who has some excellent ideas on how to get additional scholarship money for underrepresented students. I apologize for the poor quality of this video! The information within the video, however, is definitely worth checking out. Unfortunately, colleges and universities have been pouring more and more money into merit aid for affluent students (like...

October 13, 2014

As I’ve been discussing in this class, many college financial aid letters are confusing and misleading. Recognizing this reality, the federal government created a template for a model financial aid letter called the Shopping Sheet. If your child or client received a financial aid award that uses the Shopping Sheet, it will be far easier to understand whether a school is...

October 13, 2014

As recently as the early 1990s, most students did not take out college loans. Today nearly 72% of students borrow to pay for college due to the runaway cost of college. The typical student borrower is leaving school with debt of roughly $35,000. Federal college loan debt exceeds credit-card debt. Is $35,000 a reasonable amount of student debt? Here is a chart created...

October 13, 2014

According to a 2014 Federal Reserve report, nearly one in three borrowers in repayment are at least 90 days late with their payments. There are, however, many ways that borrowers can avoid getting in trouble with their student loans. Here are eight tips to repay college debt: 1. Identify outstanding loans. After leaving or graduating from college, borrowers have six...

October 13, 2014

I receive emails occasionally from parents who strongly believe that their children should pay for their own bachelor’s degrees. Often the moms and dads in this camp paid for their college education and believe that it was a character-building experience. What these parents don’t necessarily appreciate is that when they were young it was possible to cover the cost of...

October 13, 2014

Parents often want to know if there are ways that they can increase their chances for financial aid. They often think that positioning their money creatively will boost their chances. Much of the time this isn’t wise or necessary. Whether your child will qualify for need-based financial aid will typically depend heavily on these factors: Parental income Number of students...

October 13, 2014

Will you need to borrow to pay for college? If so, the best strategy will often be to have your child borrow first through the federal Direct  Loans. These loans are the responsibility of students, but parents can repay this loan for their children. Most students will be able to borrow up to $31,000 with federal Direct Student Loans. Unlike other college loans,...

September 29, 2014

According to a Federal Reserve report, nearly one in three borrowers in repayment are at least 90 days late with their payments. There are, however, ways that borrowers can avoid getting in trouble with their student loans. Here are eight tips to repay college debt: 1. Identify outstanding loans. After leaving or graduating from college, borrowers have six months to...