Financial Aid

10 Tips to Help You Pay for College

Now that your college student has set up house at the college dorm, you may be breathing a sigh of relief. Or not. How do you now pay for the hefty college tuition bill? At today's prices, it's not hard to pay in the range of a brand new luxury car

Top 10 FAQs About College Financial Aid

It’s financial aid season once again. Here are our top 10 FAQs about college financial aid asked by parents and students from among the many questions we've handled about the subject over the years: 1. I probably don't qualify for aid because I make

FAFSA Time – Is Your Checklist Ready?

It’s FAFSA time again so is your checklist ready? Starting October 1st, 2018, new seniors in high school can file their FAFSA forms for the 2019-2020 college year using their 2017 IRS 1040 data. Although both the student’s and parents’ income

2018 FAFSA Bug Affects Single Parents

Last year's FAFSA was complicated by a concern with identity theft that shut down the automated IRS Data Retrieval Tool (DRT). THe 2018 FAFSA has a bug that affects single parents. This is a new error that has been discovered in the FAFSA 2018 – 19

Pay Off Your Mortgage or Save for College?

As the song in Cabaret goes, money makes the world go round. But there never seems to be enough of it. There's always something. Parents are faced with all sorts of choices when it comes to household finances. One is: Should you pay off your mortgage

Financial Aid Alert: Data Retrieval Tool Suspended by IRS

Completing financial aid forms just got a little harder. Until now data from a family's tax returns could automatically be downloaded from the IRS to complete FAFSA and Profile financial aid forms. But the Department of Education and IRS announced

Grandparents Can Bridge College Cost Gap

For many families, a college education is a significant financial burden that is increasingly hard to meet with savings, current income, and a manageable amount of loans. For some, the ace in the hole might be grandparents, whose added funds can help

How to Pay for College Without Lots of Debt

With some planning, it is possible to pay for a college education without putting yourself behind the eight ball and piling up debt. Here are some strategies that may help show you how to pay for college without lots of debt. Getting a

How to Pay for College After Divorce

 Because I’m often asked as a part of my divorce financial planning practice, I will be addressing the question of how to pay for college after divorce as part of an occasional series. Oftentimes, lawyers and their clients do not adequately

How Not to Use Life Insurance to Pay for College

  Here's a 'secret' to all your college funding worries:  Use life insurance to pay for college by hiding your assets, lowering your Expected Family Contribution ... and then spend more on college. Say what?!? Here's a better tip:  Let me show you