The waiting game is the hardest part of the college financial and selection process.  Everybody has to play this game.  But if you cut this game short, you could lose a lot of money and spend more on college than you need.

During the fall, students and parents are consumed with college admission applications.  For many families, they longed for the day when the admissions applications would be over.  Sometimes it took months to finish.  Then when December and January rolled around, the financial applications started.  Maybe yours only took a day.  For a few unlucky contestants, days turned into weeks.

But now for most of you, the admissions applications are done, and the financial applications are history.  So what’s the next step?  Do you jump at that admissions offer from your student’s top choice?  Do you take the school with the lower sticker price?  What if you haven’t heard anything out of the schools yet?  Have they forgot about you?  What do you do now?

This is where the hardest part of the college selection process starts.  It’s nerve-wracking.  It’s frustrating.  It’s going to play with your mind and make you feel like you don’t know what you are doing.  It’s… waiting.  Yes, waiting.  The one thing that Americans are the worst at of any people on earth… waiting.  Just think of it as a character building experience arranged for you by God Almighty.  He always said that patience was a virtue.  Now you get to prove it.

Colleges and universities need time in making these decisions.  They’ve got thousands of applications to sort through.  Some are faster than others.  Some are slower than others.  But don’t fret.  This is just the way the game works.  What’s the old proverb from the military… “hurry up and wait”

You need to wait for all of the financial offers to come in from the schools you or your student applied to.  Then you need to take your time to compare those offers.  Then you need to formulate your appeals back to those colleges (negotiate) if appropriate.  It is very likely you will not actually pick a college until April or sometimes as late as May.

Now in the meantime, you might want to consider putting down the housing deposits for any schools you or your student is exceptionally interested in.  Housing deposits are often non-refundable, so you have to be willing to give those up if you decide on a better offer at a different school.  But at least putting down a housing deposit will give many students comfort in the face of risking the dreaded “temp-housing”.

Tweet This Post

College Finances 101: Introduction to college funding and financial aid is now available for review.  This recording was made on the evening of December 8th, 2009 and covers the following:

• The college funding environment
• The college financial aid system
• Expected Family Contribution (EFC)
• FAFSA
• CSS Profile
• Financial Aid Priority Deadlines
• College Financial Track Records
• College Application Strategies
• College Financing
• Strategies and Tactics to Minimize College Costs and Increase College Financial Offers
• Negotiating the College Financial Award

This overview runs about 71 minutes. After you have finished watching, click the link below the video to request a PDF of the presentation be emailed to you.

Should you have any problems viewing the video, you may need to update your computer’s flash player.  You can do that at the Adobe website.

Webinar Response Form

Tweet This Post

Next Webinar is…

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 7pm Central Time

Register Below

College Finances 101 has now come to the web. Attendees have been praising this ground breaking presentation for years; now you can participate in the comfort of your own home or at work.

In 90 minutes, I will cover the most important aspects of minimizing your students’ costs for college. You will learn…

• How parents can often send their children to expensive private colleges for less money than a state school.
• How to fix lost money caused by popular college savings plans.
• How to identify schools that give you more free money.
• The great myths and misconceptions about college funding that can cost you thousands of dollars.
• What assets are penalized 4 times higher than others when applying for help.
• Why waiting one year can cost you as much as $5,000.

“The information Mr. Anderson shared was
incredibly eye opening.” — Tricia Christiansen, Guidance Counselor,
Hampton-Dumont HS, Hampton, Iowa

“What an eye opener! We wish we had
attended this seminar sooner. This seminar has given us ideas and
information but also hope…” — Dave & Maria Sullivan, Rock
Island, Illinois

“He has provided our families with
invaluable information. Scott does an excellent job…” — Linda
Cutler, Guidance Counselor, Rockridge High School, Taylor Ridge,
Illinois

“Listening to all the options available
to pay for college encouraged us that we don’t have to sacrifice a
quality education because of a lack of money.” Pastor Scott & Tonya
Culley, Silvis, Illinois

Tweet This Post

In July of this year, I published an article titled The Mythical Ivy Impact.  I discussed the evidence which suggests striving to get into prestigous colleges like Harvard, Stanford, or Yale may not be worth it if you have to take on substantial debt to do so.  Now it’s the fall, and discussions about college selection are flying all over forums on the Internet.  And I am still surprised how quickly the knives come out when you suggest it may be better to take the money and go to a so called “second tier” school, as opposed to mortgaging your future to pay for an Ivy or near-Ivy college.

I invite you to read my full article at the link above.  Also, here are the links to the supporting articles from USA Today and the Brookings Institute:

USA Today: Wanted: CEO, No Ivy Required PDF

Brookings Institute: Who Needs Harvard PDF

In a nutshell, don’t get hung up chasing prestigious named schools.  If you get in and it’s reasonably affordable, great!  But there is no reason to put yourself under a mountain of debt.

Tweet This Post

The Maximizing Money for College online webinar appears to have been a big hit last Thursday night.  I know many of you have been very interested in seeing the replay of the webinar, so I’ve set up the recording online for easy access.

For those who haven’t yet seen or participated in Maximizing Money for College, it is a comprehensive overview of the college funding and selection process.

In 80 minutes, I cover the most important aspects of minimizing your students’ costs for college.  You will learn…

• How parents can often send their children to expensive private colleges for less money than a state school.
• How to fix lost money caused by popular college savings plans.
• How to identify schools that give you more free money.
• The great myths and misconceptions about college funding that can cost you thousands of dollars.
• What assets are penalized 4 times higher than others when applying for help.
• Why waiting one year can cost you as much as $5,000.

To view the recoding, click the link below…

Maximizing Money for College Webinar

Tweet This Post

Maximizing Money for College has now come to the web.  Attendees have been praising this ground breaking presentation for years; now you can participate in the comfort of your own home or at work.

In 60 minutes, I will cover the most important aspects of minimizing your students’ costs for college.  You will learn…

• How parents can often send their children to expensive private colleges for less money than a state school.
• How to fix lost money caused by popular college savings plans.
• How to identify schools that give you more free money.
• The great myths and misconceptions about college funding that can cost you thousands of dollars.
• What assets are penalized 4 times higher than others when applying for help.
• Why waiting one year can cost you as much as $5,000.

“The information Mr. Anderson shared was
incredibly eye opening.” — Tricia Christiansen, Guidance Counselor,
Hampton-Dumont HS, Hampton, Iowa

“What an eye opener! We wish we had
attended this seminar sooner. This seminar has given us ideas and
information but also hope…” — Dave & Maria Sullivan, Rock
Island, Illinois

“He has provided our families with
invaluable information. Scott does an excellent job…” — Linda
Cutler, Guidance Counselor, Rockridge High School, Taylor Ridge,
Illinois

“Listening to all the options available
to pay for college encouraged us that we don’t have to sacrifice a
quality education because of a lack of money.” Pastor Scott & Tonya
Culley, Silvis, Illinois

This seminar will be here on the Web on Thursday, September 24th, at 6:00pm Central time.

To register, simply enter your email address below.

Tweet This Post

The fall is a great time to visit colleges.  Classes are back in session.  The culture of the campus is very evident.  There’s a lot of activity, energy, and you really get a chance to see what the college is like.  Now is the time to pack up the car or get your tickets and head to the colleges.

There are a few things you always want to make sure you get done on a campus visit:

Take a campus tour.  Although campus tours are typically heavily orchestrated by the admissions department, there is no better way to get a quick overview and feel for the college.

Sit in on a class.  Or two would be even better.  See if you might be able to get in on a lecture in a field that you might be studying while you’re there.  Pay attention to the lecture size and attendance by the students.  Then try to get in on a discussion class to see what the other side of the class structure is like.  If you’re visiting a relatively smaller campus, they probably won’t have the classes segmented into lecture and discussion; so you can go spend more time elsewhere.

Check out the dorms.  You’ll be living there, so you better know what you’re in for.

Take a drive around town.  Get a feel for the surrounding area.  Are there things to do while you’re not studying?

Imagine what the campus will be like year round.  Will there be lots of snow to deal with?  Are the summers scorchers?

Below is a college visit checklist.  Click on the picture to download a copy of it.  Use the “to-do” list to cover your bases.  Find a student, not on the tour, to ask questions of.  Rate your experience so you have solid information to compare this campus against the other colleges you will visit.  This information will be invaluable when it comes time to decide where you will attend or apply to.

You may not be able to get to all of the schools you want to visit.  That’s ok.  In fact, you may want to visit some close by colleges you might not be seriously considering just so you can get a better feel for college in general.  The more colleges you visit, the better decisions you are likely to make.

Tweet This Post

High school seniors should already be deep into the college search process.  If you’re not, it’s time to get on the ball!  Some of you are already moving on to the college admissions applications.  Congratulations!  Way to stay ahead of the game.  But for the majority of us, here are 4 steps for the fall.

Step 1: Don’t get hung up on knowing exactly what you want to study.  It’s great if you know your chosen field, but it is not critical to the admissions application process.  Many schools will allow you to apply as “undecided” or under the general “liberal arts” banner.  Even if you do apply under one major and decide a year or two later to change your major, you are not alone.  Half of college students change their major at least once.

Step 2:  Identify at least six colleges that you feel comfortable applying to for admission.  I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding the idea that there is only one or two schools that are worthy to apply to.  That is a recipe for disaster.  Try to get in as many campus visits as you can.  The more college campuses you visit, the easier it is to identify what you want in a college.  Applying to multiple colleges will give you real options when it comes time to decide where you will ultimately go for your first year.  Applying to multiple schools is also an important aspect of securing the best opportunities for the monies available from different colleges.  Here again, don’t think that your choice will be set in stone.  One third of all college students transfer to another college at least once.

Step 3:  Complete your admission applications.  I recommend you have your admissions applications done by the end of October.  If the schools require letters of recommendation, make sure you get your letter requests to your teachers, guidance counselors, pastors, etc. as soon as possible.  The later you wait, the more requests they will have to sort through.  And here’s a tip that will be a huge help… Write up a recommendation cheat sheet for those who you make requests.  On this cheat sheet (no more than one page) include your high schools activities, interests, achievements, etc.  This will be a big help to those who are trying to sort through 30 or 40 or more different letter requests.

Step 4:  Do not make a decision of where you will be going to college anytime this fall.  You still don’t know what college is going to cost you.  There is no other purchase that you would make without knowing what the cost is, so don’t start now.  You still have the financial applications to go through.  Most of the financial application won’t be available to you until next January (the FAFSA form).  Some colleges will want a CSS Profile, but even that isn’t available until October or November.  99% of the time, you need to wait until the financial forms are filed and you have the financial award offers back from the schools before you should make any decision of what school to choose.  And that won’t be until next March or April.

Tweet This Post

US News and World Report is expected to publish its 2010 list of the “Best Colleges” this week.  In anticipation of the report, the journal Inside Higher Ed published a scathing review of US News’ faulty methodology.

After accessing the original survey responses, Inside Higher Ed found some very telling responses:

As already publicized, Clemson University leaders rated their school far higher than others in an effort to increase their school’s standing.

The University of Wisconsin at Madison gave top rankings to only two schools in the survey, itself and the school that the Provost’s son attends.  Every other college was ranked second to the bottom including Harvard, Yale, the rest of the Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.  Only one school was given a different rating, Arizona State University, which was rated at the lowest possible rank.  The vice-provost at the university who completed the survey responded that he was trying to be as neutral as possible.

The surveys returned from the President of Ohio State and the university Provost were identical.

The Chancellor at UC Berkeley rated all UC schools but two as distinguished, the highest rating available.  Well higher than many nationwide and worldwide premier schools.

The President of the University of Florida gave his college the highest ranking, but did not rank one other Florida college above good.

These are just a few examples of the big problems with the US News college report.  Too much of the report is based simply on biased opinion of those who want to market their university as best they can.  There is nothing objective about it.

Tweet This Post

People have often asked me, “what’s the cheapest way to get my kids through college?”  My typical response is “have triplets.”  Generally that is followed by a quick laugh by everyone involved.

By the time I am talking with families, their “family planning” is long over with.  So my response is at least half jesting.  But there is a tremendous amount of truth to the comment as well.

College finances are typically more manageable the more students you have enrolled.  The expected family contribution (EFC) is substantially affected by the number of students you have in school at the same time.  In fact for the parent’s portion of the EFC, it is split equally among the students enrolled in college.  So if the parent’s EFC is $20,000 with one child in college, it will be $10,000 for each child when there are two in college.  Now this may not sound like that big of a help at first, but consider the following.

The Ellis family has two children, two years apart.  The oldest will start college in 2010, and the second child will start in 2012.  We’ll assume for this example that each child will complete college in four years.  For the first child, the Ellis’ EFC is $15,000, and because they have done proper planning, the children will not have an EFC contribution to add to the parent’s.  So their total EFC is $15,000.  Now suppose that the EFC remains constant throughout the two students’ time in college.  For the two years that both are in school at the same time, 2012-13 and 2013-14; their EFC will be spit between the two students.  Each will have a $7,500 EFC.  So for all six years, the combined EFC is $15,000 x 6 = $90,000.  And because they also chose very generous colleges, that $90,000 is all they had to come up with out of their own pockets.

Now let’s look at the McNeal family.  The McNeals have two children who are twins.  Both of them will be going to college in 2010.  Again we’ll assume each child will graduate in four years, and they also have a $15,000 EFC.  In the McNeal’s case since both students enter and leave college at the same time, they will only have to come up with the EFC for four years instead of six.  So their cumulative EFC is $15,000 x 4 = $60,000.  Now if they chose very generous schools as well and were only expected to pay the EFC, then their out of pocket costs would be $60,000 to get both their students through college.

Consider one more example… the Jones family has twins.  Their EFC is $15,000.  One child wants to go to an “expensive” private college (sticker price: $50,000 per year).  The other twin really wants to stay around home and goes to the local community college (sticker price $5,000 per year).  The EFC is still split equally between the twins, both at $7,500 each.  For the one twin going to community college, their EFC doesn’t even get down the the cost of the school and doesn’t really give them much benefit.  But for the student going to the “expensive” private college, they still receive the full benefit of the split EFC.  The first student’s cost will be $5,000 per year.  And because the family chose a college with a generous financial track record, the second student’s out of pocket cost will be $7,500.  So the family’s annual out of pocket costs will be only $12,500.

Tweet This Post