Late Deadline Scholarships Can Help Reduce College Costs

Most high school seniors and their parents are now taking a hard look at the cost of attending college this fall. As you review your financial aid award letters, you may see that there is a small financial difference that could keep you from attending your number one choice. That’s where late deadline scholarships could make the difference. Now that you’ve finished all the rigorous work of taking the SAT, applying to colleges, and writing application essays, it might make sense to apply to some of these last minute opportunities.... Read The Rest →

Ways to Side-Step the Shortage of Financial Aid

Although nearly every college student wants a scholarship to help pay tuition, only about 50 percent of college students are expected to receive free money each year.  But there are some steps students can take right now to improve their odds of being in the lucky 50 percent: Apply Early for Financial Aid:   It’s wise to start applying for financial aid (both private and college/university grants) at least a year in advance. This gives you enough time to understand the terms and apply accordingly. In addition, due to the economy,... Read The Rest →

Let’s Kickoff National Scholarship Month!

Many scholarship deadlines between now and the end of the year, students should be doing everything they can to find and apply for scholarships. During the chat on Thursday we shared scholarship search tips and answered some of the most common questions about the scholarship process. [View the story "November is Scholarship Month" on Storify] So, who are we? ScholarshipPoints is an online scholarship program that gives away thousands of dollars in scholarships every month. Students can join ScholarshipPoints and then earn points by completing activities onsite. These activities might... Read The Rest →

Scholarship Pre-Planning CollegeCash Summary

Our guest hostess was Monica Matthews for our #CollegeCash twitter Seminar last night Monica Matthews is the author of “How to Win College Scholarships” found at http://how2winscholarships.com.  She helped her own son win over $100,000 in college scholarships and now shares this passion with other parents and their students.  Her scholarship tips have been featured on several websites and she has been dubbed the “Go To” expert on college scholarships. College Scholarships:  Plan Early, Win More! Start Early and create expectations-As your children grow, use phrases like “when you go to... Read The Rest →

6 Tips to Determining if Your Financial Aid is a Good Offer

Evaluating financial aid packages can be tricky because they are not standardized. Schools use different formats when presenting awards to families and the terminology in these packages can be bewildering. There are ways, however, to determine which offers are the best. The bottom line is the extent to which the financial aid award lowers your actual out-of-pocket cost to attend the college. Here are six tips to help you evaluate financial aid awards. 1.  Don’t assume that the cost of attendance is correct. Financial aid letters should include the school’s... Read The Rest →

College Campus Safety Tips

When in college, you’ll soon learn that you’re not in the safety of your home environment anymore.  For some, this is not a big transition; for others it is huge.  For that reason, we felt it would be helpful to offer some college campus safety tips for you to keep in mind. While walking around campus: Survey the campus after dark to see that buildings, walkways and parking lots are adequately secured, lighted and patrolled. Avoid walking alone if possible. Walk in lighted areas and stay alert. Always have your... Read The Rest →

FastWeb CollegeCash Chat Summary October 13, 2011

This week host Jodi Okun had special guest, Mark Kantrowitz @mkant on Twitter an Expert on college loans, scholarships & student financial aid. Publisher of Fastweb @PayingForSchool and FinAid.org. Author of Secrets to Winning a Scholarship, currently the #1 Financial Aid ebook on Amazon. Here is what Suze Orman had to say about Secrets to Winning a Scholarship: “Mark has an encyclopedic knowledge of college financing that I have valued for years. In this book he delivers clear advice on exactly what you need to do (and not to do!)... Read The Rest →

Winning Scholarships

  Join Jodi Okun this week on Thursday, October 13 at 7 pm PST/10 pm EST for another community-building #CollegeCash seminar! If you’ve participated in one (or more) of our #CollegeCash Twitter Seminars, you know that they are packed with valuable information you can use while navigating the college financial aid process. This week on our #CollegeCash Twitter Seminar, we are very excited to feature the award-winning, nationally-recognized expert on student financial aid and paying for college, Mark Kantrowitz.Mark is the publisher of Fastweb.com, a highly-successful scholarship matching site and... Read The Rest →