#Collegecash Summary The Next Step Choosing your College

Most of the week, I have been on the phone with parents about college decisions and financial aid. Students across the board have been admitted to many amazing colleges. But families still have a hard time communicating to students how well they have done to get into the colleges on their list. The parents, students that I have been chatting most of the year about their student’s college lists. The college admissions process is tough and now it is time to chose your college – here is some info to... Read The Rest →

Tips For Completing Missing Documents

Once your online Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is complete, your Student Aid Report (SAR) will go to the colleges indicated on your application. You must stay involved in this process because you may receive a Missing Information notice at the email address you provided. If you did not provide an email address, these requests will be sent by mail. Some of these requests might include: FAFSA: You could have forgotten to enter a school’s code or entered it incorrectly on your FAFSA. You can go to the... Read The Rest →

You’ve Finished Your FAFSA – Now What?

Congratulations – you finally sat down, went online, and completed your FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid – to determine your eligibility for college financial aid. Now what? The Federal Student Aid website has a lot of information on what happens next, but here is a quick summary: Processing: The Department of Education will process your FAFSA and determine your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) based on their Need Analysis Methodology and review of your information. Once this processing is complete, you will receive an email notification. You can... Read The Rest →

Financial Aid on the Web

Today’s guest, Justin Chase Brown, is a Financial Aid Associate Director at a major 4-year public university working with over 30,000 students.  Justin grew up and attended/graduated college in Texas and moved to the Midwest shortly thereafter, working in financial aid.  He was a financial aid recipient for undergrad and graduate school and has been assisting students with filing the FAFSA for over 7 years. Last July, Federal Student Aid updated their website and consolidated it to studentaid.gov, and also developed it for mobile use.  The new studentaid.gov site is... Read The Rest →

Make A New Year’s Resolution to Apply for Financial Aid Now!

Happy New Year! Now that all of the fun of the holidays is over it’s time to get down to the serious business of figuring out how you’re going to pay for your college education. Many people start planning for the coming year by making a New Year’s Resolution. Statistic Brain just published highlights from a University of Scranton article which said that 45% of Americans will make a New Year’s Resolution. Only 8% will realize total success in achieving their goal, but another 49% will realize at least some... Read The Rest →

The Empty-Nest Road Trip Blues

Bruce Sallan, author of “A Dad’s Point-of-View: We ARE Half the Equation” and radio host of “The Bruce Sallan Show – A Dad’s Point-of-View” gave up a long-term showbiz career to become a stay-at-home-dad. He has dedicated his new career to becoming THE Dad advocate. He carries out his mission with not only his book and radio show, but also his column “A Dad’s Point-of-View”, syndicated in over 100 newspapers and websites worldwide, his “I’m NOT That Dad” vlogs, the “Because I Said So” comic strip, and his dedication to... Read The Rest →

How to Get a Free Student Checking Account

College students may find that very few things in life are truly free. Tuition, room and board, books, student identification cards and a host of fees can add up, swallowing your money and reducing your already limited resources. It’s quite possible, though, that one thing you have will be free and remain cost-free as long as you are enrolled in college – that would be your checking account, provided that you open it at a bank that offers free student checking accounts. Read on for some tips on how to... Read The Rest →

Grades and Your GPA

It’s easy to let grades slip that first semester. There are so many events going on and so much partying to do. And let’s not forget how difficult some of your classes will be. Do your best to keep up your grades. Bad grades in your first year will bring down your total grade point average. You’ll probably be a better student in your junior and senior year when you’re working on your major, and you’ll be pretty mad at yourself if the only thing killing your GPA is a... Read The Rest →

Handling the Stress of College Life

You may feel like your life is going to be great when you get to college, and get to start making all of your own decisions. Well it is. But at some point, you may have difficulty making decisions, or you may make some poor choices, or you may just have difficulty adjusting to college life. If and when that happens, you will have stress, and dealing with it in a productive way (or preventing it from happening at all) can make all the difference in the world. College life... Read The Rest →

College Visits in Summer

I know many of you have questions regarding those all-important college visits.  So this week, we invited Suzanne Shaffer to be our guest.  Suzanne counsels parents in the college admission process with her timely tips and resources. Just like test driving a car before you buy it, college visits give families a feel for the college and its culture.  They also provide an opportunity for students and parents to connect personally with admissions and financial aid personnel.  Your student will be spending at least 4 years of their life there,... Read The Rest →

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