Need-based aid can come from the federal government, your state government, or the college and universities themselves, and is based on an analysis of your family’s financial need for help with college expenses. Need-based aid can come in the form of scholarships, grants, student loans, or work study. Merit aid, or non-need-based aid, generally comes from the colleges or universities themselves or from private organizations and is given to students without regard to financial need. Merit aid can be given for academic or athletic achievement or for special talents or desirable characteristics.

Private scholarships can be a double-edged sword, because some colleges or universities will reduce their own institutional scholarships by the amount of a student’s private scholarship and replace them with student loans instead. Getting a private scholarship is often a highly competitive process for relatively small amounts of money. There are, however, a number of good websites dedicated to helping you look for private scholarships you might be eligible for, such as Scholarships.com and MeritAid.com

Traditionally, the Federal government has been the largest source of student loans, and the terms and interest rates for Federal student loans vary, depending upon the year and your family’s financial picture. In order to apply for Federally guaranteed student loans, you MUST complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (the FAFSA) at fafsa.ed.gov. Student loans from private financial institutions are also available, but the terms and guarantees for these private loans can be much riskier for your family, so please review them carefully!

The Federal government and the colleges and universities themselves have extremely strict guidelines for what they consider to be an independent or “emancipated” student. For example, students must be able to prove that they have been self-supporting for at least two years, married, in the military, or over the age of 24. If students cannot meet these conditions, they are not likely to receive financial aid as an independent student. Talk to us to learn more!

This is a very complicated question that depends a great deal upon a family’s individual financial situation and their student’s educational goals. Community college CAN be an affordable option for some families, but it does sometimes have significant drawbacks. Request a consultation to discuss your individual situation further.

Your Expected Family Contribution, calculated when you submit your student’s FAFSA, is a major determinant of what you will pay for one year of college, but it is NOT the only factor. Unless your child is admitted to one of the roughly 80 U.S. colleges or universities that meet 100 percent of your financial need (as calculated by the Federal government), you are also likely to pay some portion of “unmet financial need” as well. How much of your financial need a college or university meets varies tremendously by school, so this is an important question to ask each of them.

The Federal financial aid formula is a simple subtraction equation: a school’s Cost of Attendance minus your Expected Family Contribution is the amount the government determines is your financial need to fund a college education in any given year. (COA-EFC=NEED) However, in practice, the formula is very complex, because cost of attendance varies dramatically by school. In addition, the calculation of your family’s EFC depends upon a complicated assessment by the Federal government of your family’s financial picture. In addition, schools’ ability to meet your demonstrated financial need varies dramatically by institution. This is just one of the reasons why funding a college education takes a coherent strategy and careful planning!

Yikes! This is one of the greatest myths out there! The “sticker price” of public schools IS generally lower than that of private schools. But PLEASE be careful! Private colleges and universities often give away far more gift aid (grant and scholarship money) than public schools do. In addition, because many public universities (especially in California) are severely impacted, it can take more than four years to graduate from these schools, adding dramatically to the cost of a public education. That in no way implies that public schools are the wrong choice in every case; it just means that choosing the most affordable college education can be extremely complicated, depending upon your individual circumstances. We at College Strategy Experts are here to help!

This varies by school. To be eligible for any Federal student or parent loans, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) MUST be submitted for your student for every school they apply to. Approximately 250 schools also require an additional financial aid form called the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile, available from and administered by the College Board. Some schools require their own institutional financial aid forms as well. In addition, the way schools handle your tax updates can vary as well. Some schools may also require verification forms, business and farm supplements and non-custodial parent financial information. We at College Strategy Experts make it our business to understand the details of the financial aid forms and advise our clients how to handle their completion.

Tuition will almost certainly NOT be your only college expense. An institution’s full Cost of Attendance (COA) can include room and board (old-fashioned terms for rent and food), student fees (everything but the kitchen sink), books, transportation, health fees, etc. Be a smart consumer; some schools are not very transparent about advertising ALL of their costs, so ask lots of questions! And yes, the schools themselves, the Federal government, the state government, and some private institutions will help you cover qualified educational expenses other than tuition, but HOW they cover the expenses (grants, loans, or work study) and in what amounts varies widely. Come talk to us to learn more!