The College Solutions Blog

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

Protected (The College Cost Lab Legacy)
September 29, 2014

EFC Cheat Sheet: Summing Up

This lesson summarizes the key take-away points regarding Expected Family Contributions. This lesson can also be downloaded via your resource guide, EFC Primer: What You Need to Know About Expected Family Contributions. 1. An Expected Family Contribution is a dollar figure that represents what financial aid formulas believe you should be able to pay for one year of a child’s college education....
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September 29, 2014

How to Use an Expected Family Contribution Calculator

http://youtu.be/X3tIErXTt0Y In the video in this lesson, I explain how you can use an online Expected Family Contribution calculator. Use the Right EFC Calculator The easiest way to obtain an advance look at your Expected Family Contribution is to use the EFC calculator at the College Board’s website. One of the first questions that you will encounter when using the College...
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September 29, 2014

Why an EFC is Important

My oldest friend once asked me to help her bright daughter with her college search. I said sure. And then I told Mary what I absolutely needed from her before we checked out a single college. I needed to know what her household’s Expected Family Contribution was. A family’s EFC, which is expressed as a dollar figure, represents what a financial aid...
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September 29, 2014

Welcome to the Class

I am excited that you have joined me in my online course, The College Cost Lab! The best way to make college more affordable for your family is to become a smart college shopper. And that is my No. 1 goal for this class – empowering you to make the best decisions as you contemplate your college choices. The last...
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September 9, 2014

Introduce Yourself

I am eager to get to know everyone who is taking this class! One of the neatest parts of this class is that it has attracted people from across the country. Your classmates include parents from such states as California, New York, Michigan, Massachusetts, Texas, Hawaii, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Washington. I also want to welcome the college...
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September 3, 2014

Bonus Material

Below you will find all the course resource guides. To make sure you always have them, I’d highly recommend that you download them onto your computer. Your Step-by-Step Blueprint to Cut Your College Costs Your Smart Blueprint for Selecting Colleges The Ultimate College List Builder A Guide to Building the Perfect College List The Ultimate List of the Nation’s Most...
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