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College List BuildingUC Berkeley Common Data Set
Sifting through a college’s Common Data Set can take a lot of time. Instead, we’ve gathered the most important information from UC Berkeley’s most recent Common Data Set to provide you with the information you need at a quick glance. This guide contains key information from UC Berkeley Common Data Set 2025-2026. Berkeley Common Data…
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Federal Loans
Are Federal Student Loan Repayment Programs for You?
Student loan debt and federal student loan repayment programs have become VERY hot topics these days. According to StudentLoanHero, there is “$1.56 trillion in total U.S. student loan debt, 44.7 million Americans with student loan debt, and 11.5% of student loans are 90 days or more delinquent or are in default.” So, it’s fair to…
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ApplyShould You Apply to a College That Has Waived Its Fee?
The college admissions process and everything surrounding higher education comes with a very high price tag these days. So, when a particular school comes along, making a claim that essentially offers a free application, how can anyone pass that up? Right? “Hey, it’s a free application so I may as well go ahead and apply!”…
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College List BuildingPrepare for the College Fair: What You Need to Know
Attending a college fair can be one of the first steps a student takes in order to research and familiarize himself with available schools. Making a good impression is important, but it should merely complement the desire to learn key information about each school. The good news is that the schools want to make a…
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FinanceHow We Managed to Pay for 4 Kids In College at the Same Time
We aren’t rich, but we aren’t destitute either. We have little set aside in college savings and we almost never qualified for need-based aid. All this puts us squarely in the middle, like a lot of families trying to figure out how to pay for college. So I’ll share what we did to afford paying…
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SurviveAdmissions Decisions and Destination Choices: A Time of Stress
Tension levels rise as students approach college decision time. Parents should learn how to help students handle rejections long before they might occur.
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Standardized testsHow to Prep For the ACT
Prepping for a standardized test can be a lot easier when you understand the nuts and bolts of the exam. But, how do you determine whether your child should be taking the SAT or the ACT? While there is no magic formula that can guarantee which test your child will score higher on, there are…
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EssaysCommon College Essay Mistakes to Avoid Before Hitting Submit
The January 1 college essay deadline may not be around the corner, but time flies..and the sooner your student begins to work on his/her essay, the better. As a professional essay editor, I anticipate being very busy helping students avoid the common mistakes I see over and over again, as time goes by. These mistakes…
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College List BuildingTop Questions to Ask Colleges
Choosing a college can be one of the most important decisions you and your child make. And the criteria upon which that decision is based can vary greatly from student to student. That’s why it’s so important to have a list of questions to ask about college, whether you’re on a campus visit, talking with…
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Financial Aid AppealsFilling Out a Special Circumstances Form to Appeal Financial Aid
Writing a financial aid appeal letter can be intimidating. However, schools have a form known as the Special Circumstances Form already in place to give families a place to describe special circumstances that affect their ability to pay for college. The form should be used to describe anything that has changed financially, from one year…
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FinanceScholarships for High School Seniors: What to Know
Is your family shuffling through piles of private scholarship applications, hoping to cobble together some additional funding for college? If so, you’re certainly not the only ones. Many families focus on private scholarships for high school seniors, hoping that they will win enough money to make a difference in the college budget. Every dollar helps,…
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FinanceHow To Use The FAFSA4caster
The FAFSA4caster is a free prediction tool from the U.S. Department of Education that gives families an early estimate of their eligibility for federal student aid. Like the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the FAFSA4caster uses your household income and assets to determine your expected family contribution or EFC. The FAFSA4caster is not an…
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College List BuildingQuestions to Ask on a College Tour
Parents in our Paying For College 101 Facebook group recently weighed in on some of the questions to ask on a college tour.
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Standardized testsSAT Prep Tips From an Expert
SAT Test Tips Prepping to take a standardized test might rub some the wrong way, as they equate it with “gaming the system,” and resorting to tricks rather than actually learning the material. SAT prep expert, Bobby Hood, of Noodle Pros, joined us on a Facebook Live, “How to Prep For the SAT,” and his…
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PlanUsing Data to Find Merit Scholarships
Finding merit scholarships doesn’t have to be like finding a needle in a haystack (although some search websites and colleges may make it feel that way). There is plenty of data available to help families do the necessary research to find schools that are more likely to offer students merit scholarships. Although there are no…
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ApplicationsExplaining Blemishes on a College Application
From time to time, we hear from parents whose students have a mar on their high school transcripts and want to know how to address it on their college applications. It could be anything like a low grade in a certain class they were pushed to take, the scourge of Organic Chemistry, a rough semester,…
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Financial aidCan You Prevent Scholarship Displacement?
Working with families on securing scholarships, I am always asked whether scholarship displacement can be avoided. I wish there was a black and white answer, however, it’s unfortunately a gray area in college funding. Still, we decided to do some research, contacting financial aid departments all around the country, and also had our own run-in…
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FinanceStrategies for Getting Niche and Local Private Scholarships
When it comes to finding extra funds to help pay for college, private scholarship money can certainly come in handy. But it generally won’t be the saving grace so many parents and students need to fill their tuition gap. Keeping that in mind, there’s no reason to count private scholarships out of the funding plan.…
