College Planning
Do you have a plan in place to pay for your family's higher education needs?
The average cost of college these days is over $25,000 per year at a public in-state 4 year institution. Out of state is over $44,000 per year and private now tops out over $54,000 per year (Source: educationdata.org).
Are you prepared for this? Do you have a plan in place for paying for the cost of college for your children? Do you understand the student based financial aid system?
We help our clients specifically address the cost of college by creating a plan for them. This plan addresses all of these issues to ensure you are ready and helps you take advantage of all the specific benefits your child may qualify for based on their situation.
We help you answer these questions
- Will we have to pay the school’s sticker price?
- How much will we be expected to pay out of pocket at selected schools?
- Which schools should our child apply to in order to get the best financial deal in the form of financial aid and scholarships?
- Are we candidates for financial aid?
- How much financial aid could we expect?
- How much in free money (scholarships/ grants)?
- Can we increase our financial aid eligibility? How?
- What merit-based scholarships, at selected schools, is our child eligible for and what are the requirements to obtain them?
- How can our child get more free money for college?
- Would test prep benefit our child? In what ways could it reduce our college costs?
- Are 529 Plans an appropriate choice?
- Which other savings options may be better, in light of our circumstances?
- Will we qualify for tax credits? How much?
- Should we set up a trust account for our student? Would it drive up or down our college costs?
Our College Plan
College Report
Our plan starts with a report that gives you a breakdown of what you need to know about paying for college for your child and their specific situation. This includes the cost of attendance and average room and board costs. A section on financial aid and what this looks like for your child's school of choice is laid out in the plan. We also include what your expected family contribution (EFC) will be based on our calculations. We provide an estimated amount of financial aid that you may be entitled to based on your situation. This report covers merit based scholarship information as well. In addition to this, we provide a section on saving for college and how this can impact the college planning process for you and your child's situation taking into account tax credits that may be available to you.
Schools At a Glance
This section of the plan looks at other schools that your child may have an interest in and breaks down the differences among these schools in terms of financial aid information and merit scholarships. In addition, we will provide other schools that you and your child may not have thought about that you should consider based on potential financial aid or tuition discounts for the degree program your child wants to pursue.
Scholarship Estimator
This part of the plan will show you the likelihood that your child will qualify for scholarship money based on their preferred school of choice.
Executive Summary
This summarizes the main points covered in the plan. We will discuss this with you and ensure you have a game plan to use moving forward for your college planning needs.
Five Steps to Early Retirement
Five common-sense steps to get you on the road to retiring while still young.