May 2024 Newsletter

This Month's Highlights:

• When should you begin preparing for college?
• Problems With Federal Financial Aid Program Leaves Many College Bound Students in Limbo
• Join our FREE College Success Bootcamp

FAQ: When should we begin preparing for college?

Dear Parent(s),

I get asked this question a LOT.?

I recently had a consultation with the parents of a high school senior graduating in June. Their son was offered admission to two universities - one was an elite private school in the northeast, and the other was a high-quality, well-respected state university in the midwest. The family lives in California.

The parents are affluent, and they suspected they’d receive little or no need-based financial aid. Their son had excellent grades and very high standardized test scores.?

The four-year net cost of the private university was $150,000 more than the state school. While the parents could afford to pay over $350,000 for their son’s private university undergraduate degree, they didn’t WANT to pay that much.

The parents were hoping I could help them write a merit scholarship appeal letter to obtain a discount - any discount - off the sticker price, aka Cost of Attendance.?

I told them not to bother, as I knew that this school doesn’t offer merit scholarships.?

THAT’S when they said, “I wish we had met eight months ago.”?

I hate when parents say that to me.?

Planning for college is MUCH more complex than it was 20-30 years ago - the cost, competition, and imperfect information necessitate MANY more tasks and decision points along this epic journey.?

And you can’t compress it all into senior year - actually, you can, but I almost guarantee you’ll be really unhappy with the results.?

Starting this late leads to very limited and expensive options. Then what?

• A gap year (buy time to regroup)?
• Complete your core requirements in community college - and PRAY those credits transfer (see Transferology)?

To answer your question, it is most effective to begin college planning during your freshman year of high school.

This allows you enough time to consider potential career directions, identify good-fit universities (or trade schools), research admission requirements, and build a working plan to meet those requirements through your high school years.?

You’ll regularly adjust this plan throughout your high school years to better match your evolving academic and career interests.?

If you start your freshman year, you can ensure the highest probability of meeting the grade, extracurricular, and placement exam score requirements for your target schools. More options that meet your student’s academic, social / emotional, AND affordability requirements = Success.?

Every student deserves a great college education for a price their family can afford.??

I’d love to help! Get started and schedule a conversation.

Problems With Federal Financial Aid Program Leave Many College Bound Students in Limbo

Typically, the Department of Education releases the FAFSA on Oct. 1 and sends the students' data to colleges within one to three days of a submission. This year, the application forms went live on December 31st, which was three months late.

And it's estimated that as of last week, 44% of colleges still had not started sending financial aid offers to accepted students, according to the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.

Remember the many “supply chain” issues we experienced during COVID? This is similar in so far as there’s a downstream effect - the 2024–2025 FAFSA app went live three months late - and frankly, it was almost unusable (buggy and unstable) for another month.

Universities started receiving FAFSA results up to four months later than usual - and then learned that upwards of 50% of the early FAFSA deliveries were full of calculation errors! Add another 2 months to fix that.

You get the picture. Schools have been scrambling since they began receiving corrected FAFSA submissions because schools use your SAI (Student Aid Index) calculated through your FAFSA to award need-based grants. If a school doesn’t know your SAI (or it’s incorrect), they can’t accurately determine if and how much need-based financial aid you’re eligible to receive.

So, if you haven’t received your final financial aid award letter yet, what should you do?

• Take a deep breath and be patient. It’s not your fault, and you’re not alone.
• Check your email inbox (and your student’s) for any school updates you may have missed.
• Check the school’s Financial Aid and Admission web pages for any updates on when they expect to send out award letters.
• Double check the school’s confirmation deposit deadline. Many schools have pushed their confirmation deadlines out due to this year’s many FAFSA application delays.??
• Call the school’s Financial Aid department and ask them for an update.?

While you’re waiting for the financial aid award letter:

• Understand what your projected one-year and four-year net costs will be for the colleges you’re considering. You can do this with a free MyCAP account from College Aid Pro.
• Revisit your family’s college budget and decide what bottom line price you would need to receive to say YES to a school.?
• Get up to speed on the financial aid appeals process (here’s a great primer). You can upload your award letters into your MyCAP account, and the software will translate, compare, and evaluate your award, improving your chances of creating a successful appeal strategy.

[Original story from CBS News.]

Join our College Success Bootcamp - a FREE Live Webinar Series

May 21–23, 2024 | 4pm PT / 7pm ET --- REGISTER NOW

Have a student that will graduate from high school in 2025 or 2026??

Feeling confused about how to begin the college planning process??

Then plan on attending a free College Success Bootcamp, May 21–23 (one hour each evening), hosted by my pals at College Aid Pro!?

Build your personalized action plan to smoothly navigate the college planning journey.?

Save your seat - REGISTER NOW (watch live or later on-demand).

Until next month - Best Wishes!

Michael Korch

College Funding Counselor, Inc. | CollegeFundingCounselor.com | +1 (206) 590-0398

P.S. If you find this newsletter helpful, please share it with other parents like yourself!