The Insider: College Admissions Advice from the Experts

When it comes to deciding what college to attend, finances are a key piece of the puzzle.  College is a major financial investment, and while it’s an investment that pays off in the long run (college graduates earn 80% more on average than those without a degree, according to the latest research), the initial financial commitment can be a challenge.  Finances need to play a role in a family’s decision making process, and it’s important that these conversations involve the whole family.  Here are some of the questions we think you should ask yourselves (and the schools under consideration) when making your college decision.

As we enter the heart of tax season, many parents of college students are looking forward to reaping the rewards of all of the college tuition checks they’ve been writing recently: an education tax break!

Your child’s a high school senior.  Though your college savings are not what you’d like them to be, you’ve put away a bit over the years.  College applications are now done.  You’ve likely just submitted your FAFSA.  You breathe a tentative sigh of relief.  While the prospect of paying for college is still an overwhelming and seemingly insurmountable obstacle looming in your near future, you’ve done all you can do.  Aid applications have been submitted and the dice will fall as they may.  Things are out of your hands, right?

Paying for College When You Don’t Qualify for Aid

Paying for college is a challenge.  While this statement is probably not news to anyone, we sometimes overlook the extent to which this challenge affects all income groups.  Whether rich, poor, or somewhere in between, most people spend most of what they earn. Few of us can write an annual check for $60,000 without breaking a sweat (or, perhaps, suffering a complete panic attack).  As a College Coach financial aid expert, I work with families of all income levels struggling with the prospect of paying for college.  While students from lower income households often qualify for need-based financial aid, the assistance options for higher income families are more limited.  But that doesn’t mean they are nonexistent. Families can employ a number of strategies and utilize a wide range of resources to help pay for college when they don’t qualify for financial aid.

With students right in the thick of college application season, and the financial aid process right around the corner (next year’s FAFSA becomes available on January 1^st), College Coach’s finance experts are flooded this time of year with some variation of the question, “Do I need to complete a FASFA if I’m not going to qualify for financial aid?” The short answer to that question is “no.” The FAFSA is a financial aid application, and no student is required to apply for financial aid. Believe me, colleges will be more than happy to admit your child without providing you any financial assistance. Still, there are many reasons why you may want to complete an aid application even if you don’t expect to qualify for need-based assistance:

Though clearly consisting of five letters, the FAFSA, for some people, is a four-letter word.  The financial aid application has an intimidating reputation, and many families dread completing it.  The good news is that the FAFSA has been simplified quite a bit in recent years, with helpful skip-logic imbedded in the online version of the form. These days, most families are able to undergo the FAFSA completion process with little difficulty.  Still, there are some common mistakes that families often make when filing the FAFSA.  Take care to avoid the missteps below, and you’ll be well on your way to a smooth financial aid application process.

If you graduated this past spring and used student loans as part of your college financing strategy, you likely just received (or will soon receive) your very first student loan bill.  For many graduates, this first bill can come as an unwelcome surprise.  Sure, you knew you had to pay these loans back someday, but now that that day is here, and you see the size of your expected monthly payment, you may be feeling unprepared to handle repayment.  Rest assured:  if that monthly payment seems unaffordable based on your current financial circumstances, you do have some options.  The government offers a number of repayment plans for your federal education loans, some of which may provide you with some relief:

In breaking student loan news, this afternoon President Obama signed an executive order designed to provide repayment relief to struggling student loan borrowers.  Obama’s plan attempts to relieve student debt pressures and decrease defaults in three primary ways:

Yesterday brought breaking news for student loan borrowers:  we now know what Federal Direct Loan interest rates will be for the 2014/15 school year!  Though rates are officially set for the upcoming academic year based upon the 10-year Treasury Note rate in effect on June 1^st, the U.S. Treasury Department just held its last scheduled Treasury Note auction prior to that June 1^st deadline, giving us a sneak preview of next year’s rates.  For loans disbursed between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015, interest rates will be as follows: