Financial Aid Avenue

How to Get a Preferential Financial Aid Deal

Posted by Ben Kaplan
Would these students receive a preferential aid package?

Here’s a college admission brainteaser for you:  Two students from identical financial backgrounds—Average Applicant A and Special Student B—apply to Cool College. 

Average Applicant A’s college application is just good enough to meet the minimum bar for admission.  Special Student B’s application distinguishes her as one of those “highly qualified” applicants whom the college wants to attract.  Both students have $10,000 of financial need.

So who gets the better college deal?

The answer:  Special Student B. 

To see why, let’s first take a look at the secret world of “preferential packaging”—a strategy employed by most American colleges—and examine the likely financial aid award each student will receive.

Tax Credit 'Coupons' Put Tuition Money Back in Your Pocket

Posted by Ben Kaplan
Want a discount coupon for your taxes?

Wouldn’t it be great if there were discount coupons for your taxes?  You would just grab the Sunday newspaper, flip to the glossy coupon insert and clip along the dotted line to save big bucks on your next tax bill.

Well, here’s some good news:  Families with kids in college can, in fact, benefit from this type of discount “coupon.”  Allow me to introduce you to the $1,650 Hope tax credit and the $2,000 Lifetime Learning tax credit.

Compared to a tax deduction (which reduces the amount of income subject to tax), these tax credits are worth much more:  They are really like coupons that magically reduce, dollar for dollar, the amount of taxes you owe.

Build a Financial Aid Vocabulary to Save Thousands in Tuition

Posted by Ben Kaplan
Even Bluto knows that financial aid terminology need not be confusing!

For any college-bound family new to the financial aid game, one of the most frustrating aspects of the process is trying to understand the mind-numbing jargon:

"If your EFC on the FAFSA is substantially less than your EFC on the CSS Profile, then the FM may be much more favorable to you than the IM, unless the FAO uses the CA."

Believe it or not, the above sentence does, in fact, make sense. But to decode what it means--and then use this knowledge to boost your financial aid packages by many thousands of dollars--we first need to break down some of the inner workings of college financial aid.

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