The College Solutions Blog

July 24, 2012

I’ve been linking my posts to the federal student aid sites for years, but I haven’t done it with any enthusiasm. These websites, which have included information about federal student loans and grants, have been disjointed and borderline unhelpful. The websites reeked of bureaucratic jargon and didn’t provide any context for federal aid programs. I felt sorry for the parents...

July 2, 2012

When students are shopping for colleges, admission representatives typically urge them to ignore the sticker price. Here’s what these college reps routinely say:  We’ve got lots of financial aid and scholarships. Just APPLY! I was reminded of why applying blind is such a reckless strategy when a mom contacted me after her husband heard me give a college talk at...

July 2, 2012

When students are shopping for colleges, admission representatives typically urge them to ignore the sticker price. Here’s what these college reps routinely say:  We’ve got lots of financial aid and scholarships. Just APPLY! I was reminded of why applying blind is such a reckless strategy when a mom contacted me after her husband heard me give a college talk at...

June 27, 2012

If you missed it, on Monday I wrote a post for my college blog on the dramatic impact that home equity can have on a family’s financial aid package. Here is the link:  Will Your Home Equity Hurt Financial Aid Chances: A Case Study If you read the post, you’ll see that even a huge amount of home equity (in...

June 25, 2012

Is your home equity going to hurt your chances of receiving need-based financial aid? The majority of families don’t need to worry about this because most schools don’t consider home equity. These  institutions use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA doesn’t even ask if the family owns a home. Some of these schools, however, will use an...

May 18, 2012

How can reduce your dependence on college loans? About this time last year, Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid and FastWeb, sent me some suggestions on how families can reduce their dependence on college loans. I am running the suggestions again along with links to some of my college blog posts that I’ve written on the same topics. Here are...

March 28, 2012

When families look at financial aid packages they often assume that a school’s financial aid support will remain the same for four years. That, however, is a dangerous assumption to make. The financial support that some colleges and universities give students will shrink after their freshmen year. Bait and Switch? Why would this happen? I can’t speak for schools that...

March 20, 2012

I’m going to keep yesterday’s post up another day because the College Board’s new consumer site – BigFuture – was experiencing difficulty staying online Tuesday. I had trouble accessing the site and you probably did too. Since I wrote the post below, I received a response from the College Board that promised to improve its Paying for College section. Here ...

March 15, 2012

State universities are often the cheapest places to obtain a bachelor’s degree, but not always. In fact, for a smart student who needs financial aid, expensive private schools will sometimes be more affordable. Out here in California, a story that generated a lot of attention recently carried a variation of this headline: Believe It: Harvard Cheaper Than Cal State.  Of...

March 13, 2012

Many students who apply to college end up being disappointed at what’s wrapped up inside their financial aid packages. There is a way, however, to reduce the chances that this will happen to you. Be realistic in the schools you target. Here’s the key reason why: Colleges and universities possess a finite amount of money for financial aid. Most schools...