College Planning 4 Free Money

Springtime and “March Madness,” one of my favorite times of the year! This is also the time when colleges and universities send out the majority of their “acceptance letters,” in late March and early April. 

The pandemic has turned the college’s selection process upside down. This has created a MAJOR OPPORTUNITY for informed parents and their students to get into a reach school and extract “FREE ENDOWMENT” money from the school of their dreams.

It was recently announced that “Ivy League” schools and other “highly selective” institutions waived SAT and ACT requirements for the class of 2025. According to the New York Times, “this has resulted in an unprecedented flood of applications and what may prove the most chaotic selection experiment in American higher education since the end of World War II.” Harvard received over 57,000 freshmen applications for next fall’s incoming class, a 42% increase. 

 If the change in this process is permanent, and if your student has a special talent, the timing is perfect for positioning your student to get into an excellent school and get a huge chunk of merit-based endowment “FREE” money from that school’s endowment fund. The best money to pay tuition is “other people’s money!” This can be done using the “give-back theory”.

I will explain, give you my top 5 TIPS, and an offer to get an e-book on “college scholarship negotiation strategies” FREE for my “WAVE Readers!” My brother and I both went to Lehigh University. Upon graduation, we started receiving donation calls from the University, asking us to, you guessed it, GIVE MONEY! The checks we cut went right into the Lehigh University endowment fund. Lehigh currently has $1.7 Billion in its fund. 

Lehigh U. does NOT have to pay tax on donations as long as they distribute a percentage of the fund to incoming freshmen. Schools give more money to students who fit a certain “give-back” profile, which is why extra-curricular and charity-based activities are so important for the college resume. Colleges are responsible for over 90% of ALL the scholarship money that students receive, so why not go after the big money? Colleges give money to students most likely to contribute to the school after graduation. They are looking for “the give-back gene!”

Other than buying a home, funding college can be the most expensive purchase parents will make in their lifetime! The national student debt is over $1.6 Trillion, which is larger than the total of our nation’s credit card debt. 

Heed the following tips to avoid the “cloud of debt” hanging over many of our recent graduates:

1. Apply to a Minimum of 10+ schools: There are many reasons for this as schools compete for students. If Michigan is your top choice, apply to Ohio State and Wisconsin (other BIG 10 schools) who are their “arch-rivals” in sports. Using the “common application” is an easy way to do this.
2. Consider a Personality Profile Test For Your Student: The most popular major for college freshmen is “undecided.” If your student, like most, do not know what they want to be when they grow up, try taking a personality profile quiz, which can help uncover interests. Two tests to consider are www.myplan.com and The Big Five test. You will be surprised by what you learn.
3. Educate Yourself or Hire a Professional: College scholarship planning is a cottage industry and like anything else, there are excellent to poor advisors out there. I recommend the book written by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross called “What High Schools Don’t Tell You” (and other parents don’t want you to know) or go to www.WhatHighSchoolsDontTellYou.com. The paperback book sells for less than $20 on Amazon.
4. Considering Repositioning Parental Assets And Spending Down Your 529 Fund Now: Parents who have college-bound high school juniors or younger should consider repositioning parental assets into “FAFSA Friendly” vehicles like annuities and cash value life insurance that DO NOT count towards the FAFSA. Every $100,000 repositioned opens the possibility of over $20,000 of FREE Endowment Money!
5. Visit Schools That Accept Your Student: The visit AFTER you are accepted is totally different from before when you are “just looking.” Often that 2nd visit results in more FREE Money being offered to incentivize your student to attend.

This is the time when high school seniors (and some juniors) are receiving their acceptance letters which include “Endowment” offers. These letters are confusing to students trying to decipher which monies are FREE “Grants,” and which are loans and work-study programs. There are strategies on how to NEGOTIATE increases to these offers. 

For my Wave Readers interested in a FREE E-BOOK on how to negotiate an increase in offers, email “Please send college EBOOK” to me at [email protected].