The College Solutions Blog

January 18, 2013

I’m answering a quick financial aid question that I received on my Facebook page. Plenty of parents are asking the same question. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Mom’s Question: My son applied Early Action to a number of colleges and has gotten into a variety of them with varying amounts of merit aid. Even with this aid, the schools are still very expensive....

January 11, 2013

I’ve been asking visitors to my college blog and Facebook page this week to send me questions regarding the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. I am sharing some of their questions and my answers today because I know other people are just as puzzled about aspects of these two financial aid applications. If you...

January 9, 2013

Now that we’re officially into the 2013-2014 FAFSA season, I wanted to answer some questions on my college blog that I’ve gotten about financial aid forms. If you have your own questions, please leave them in the comment box below. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Mom’s question: Try as I might I still can’t get my hands around the whole financial aid picture. ...

November 2, 2012

Many parents worry that their college savings accounts will kill their chances for financial aid. If that’s what you’re stressing about, here’s my advice: take a deep breath! Most families who save for college are not hurt in student financial aid considerations. Why Your Savings Won’t Hurt Financial Aid Chances Here are the two biggest reasons why saving money often...

September 28, 2012

Many of the misconceptions that people possess about the college process revolve around financial aid. So with the college admission season heading into high gear, I am sharing the four financial aid myths that are probably the most common. Myth No. 1:  I make too much money to qualify for aid. You shouldn’t automatically assume that you won’t qualify for...

April 23, 2012

As recently as the early 1990s, most students did not take out college loans. Today about two out of every three students borrow to pay for college. One reason for the dramatic change is this fact: during the last-quarter century, tuition has risen four times faster than the consumer price index. The typical student borrower is now leaving school with...

February 27, 2012

The No. 1 way to cut the cost of college is to become an educated consumer. You can learn how by attending my popular online course, The College Cost Lab. Learn more about The College Cost Lab that will start in June, 2017. Lynn O’Shaughnessy Deadbeat Parents Who Won’t Help Pay for College I got an email over the weekend...

February 23, 2012

Today I’m sharing a guest post from Kenneth O’Connor, director of student advocacy at cuStudentLoans.org, which is a source for private student loans. If you end up shopping for a private student loan, the best place will almost always be at a credit union, but that’s a topic for another day. O’Connor  has written a post about how the Free...

February 1, 2012

Many families worry that their college savings accounts will kill their chances for financial aid. It’s been my experience that it’s usually dads who get stressed out about how colleges will treat their college accounts for financial aid purposes. Some fathers whom I’ve talked are down right bitter. They are especially incensed at the possibility that families that didn’t set...

January 31, 2012

Many of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the college process revolve around financial aid. Now that we’re in the midst of financial aid season, I wanted to share  four  financial aid myths that are probably the most common. 1. I make too much money to qualify for financial aid. You shouldn’t automatically assume that you won’t qualify for...