Financial Aid Avenue

Ben Kaplan's picture
Ben Kaplan

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

Posted by Ben Kaplan

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.

Ben Kaplan's picture
Ben Kaplan

Build a Financial Aid Vocabulary to Save Thousands in Tuition

Posted by Ben Kaplan

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.

Related Blog Postings

Next Event


Midwest Regional Event
Chicago, IL
Sept. 28, 2008
Schaumburg Convention Center
>> MORE INFO