The College Solutions Blog

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...

February 29, 2012

I got an email the other day from a mom, whose son is brilliant. I assume he’s brilliant because he’s a freshman at the California Institute of Technology. The acceptance rate at Cal Tech is 13% and many of its student get near perfect SAT scores. This teenage boy applied to 21 schools (way overboard folks, no one should apply...

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...

January 25, 2012

The federal government has been trying for years to make the Free Application for Federal Student Aid less complicated. It should get kudos for the effort, but millions of parents still mess up when tackling this financial aid form. But bless its heart, the federal government is trying, in what might be it’s biggest push ever, to make completing the...

January 24, 2012

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

January 23, 2012

It’s FAFSA season so I’m going to devote at least a couple of college blog posts this week to financial aid forms. The post today was actually written by Michael Szarek, an independent college counselor with Counseling for the Rest of Us in New Jersey. If you have any questions about the FAFSA or CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, just share them with...

December 30, 2011

FAFSA season begins on Sunday. New Year’s Day is always the first day that parents can file the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. While it’s been simplified in recent years, the FAFSA still isn’t what I’d call a user friendly document and it’s easy to make mistakes. Paula Bishop, a CPA friend of mine in Bellevue, WA., who fills...