MIKE’S MEMOS
The One Place To Get Insider Strategies On College Admissions, Saving Money On Tuition & Much, Much More
Hire Your Child to Lower Taxes and Save for College
Business owners hire their children for several reasons, such as instilling a strong work ethic, teaching responsibility, encouraging entrepreneurship, saving on taxes, and helping save for college. These benefits are the result of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2018...
Simplified FAFSA To Be Released in July
The FAFSA Simplification Act was signed into law on December 27, 2020, as part of the Omnibus Act for 2021. The purpose of the FAFSA Simplification Act is to make it easier for students to complete the FAFSA form and to make the allocation of Federal student aid...
Should the Pell Grant be Doubled?
The Pell Grant program has been the foundation of Federal student aid since it was created in 1972. The program provides student assistance grants based on need to low-income students to help pay for college education. Students from all 50 states rely on the Pell...
“Administrative Bloat” and Tuition Increases
The astoundingly rapid rise in college tuition in past decades is well known. Perhaps less well known is the increasing unwillingness of students to pay exorbitant tuition prices at all but a few elite institutions. Applications and enrollments have declined at most...
Beware of Financial Aid Scams
The U.S. Department of Education (ED), like most other public agencies and large consumer-oriented companies, conducts most of its business with individuals over the Internet. Although doing business this way is far more secure than paper-based systems, there are...
The 2022-23 College Financing Plan
Students face a confusing array of options as they consider where to go to college and how to finance their education. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has developed and maintains the College Financing Plan (CFP) to assist them. The CFP is a consumer-oriented...
Update on Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness
For some time, a public policy controversy has raged over the excessive debt burden that a high percentage of college students owe after graduation. These debt loads are attributed to the skyrocketing of tuition at public and private institutions over the last few...
Funds to Reverse Declining Enrollment
Many students experience a constant struggle to remain enrolled in college due to financial insecurity. In early 2020, this situation worsened as a result of the pandemic, which brought about a steep decline in service sector jobs and affordable off-campus housing....
Comparing College Financial Aid Offers
Late March and early April is happy season for college applicants. It’s when they receive letters of acceptance and financial aid offers from the schools that have admitted them. The happiest are those who receive more than one offer. But these students won’t simply...
How Inflation Affects College Tuition
In the Opinion section of the March 1, 2022, edition, the Wall Street Journal ran an article titled “How Inflation Affects Universities: Rising Tuition Is a Concern for Students”. Yet on December 2, 2021, Forbes had run an article titled, “Why College Tuition Is...
Be Ready for Loan Payments to Resume in May
On December 22, 2021, U.S. Department of Education extended the COVID-19 student loan repayment moratorium through May 1 of this year. The moratorium has been providing the following relief measures for eligible Federal student loan holders since the enactment of the...
Mistakes in Financing an Education
Some parents view the need for student financial aid as a sign that they haven’t earned enough money or didn’t do a good job of saving for their child’s college education. It’s important for these parents to realize that the cost of college tuition has been spiraling...
Financing Education with UTMA’s
The Uniform Transfers To Minors Act (UTMA) is a law recommended by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 1986 and subsequently enacted by most U.S. states. It provides a mechanism under which gifts can be made to...
Colleges Value Demonstrated Interest
While colleges want to love you as an applicant, they may also want proof that you love them. They favor applicants who are likely to accept an offer of admission and to enroll in their institution instead of another to which they’ve also been admitted. The percentage...
Section 127 Assistance Programs
When companies compete for the best employees, the quality of their benefits packages is a key differentiator. Prospective employees look for a comprehensive package to improve their financial well-being and help prepare for the future. An IRS Section 127 Educational...
529 Tuition Plans
The substantial rise in recent decades of the cost of a college education is a serious hardship for most families. Student loans may mitigate the difficulty temporarily, but excessive borrowing can become problematic in itself. A better approach for a family, one that...
How to Crush Your College Interviews
If you’re a high school junior, you should be planning ahead for the college interviews that will help you select the schools that are best for you. By speaking with you one-on-one, the interviewer can get to know you better on a personal level and experience your...
Your Essays Should Make You Stand Out
If you’re a high school junior, you’re already aware of the importance of essays in college admissions. Essays are often the difference between acceptance or rejection. In an article in The New York Times, Janet Morrissey sums it up this way: “The essay is your...
U. S. Military Student Financial Aid
The U.S. Military funds the college education of service members through a number of programs and institutions. These include the Reserve Officer’s Training Corps (ROTC) the United States Military Academies, and programs for the Reserves and National...
Federal Work-Study Programs
The Federal Work-Study (FWS) Program provides a way for students to earn money for their education by working at a part-time job while in college. There are about 3,400 colleges and career schools participating in the FWS Program. Colleges have varying amounts of...
State Grants and Scholarships For College
If you qualify for a grant or scholarship at the Federal level, you are also likely to qualify in your home state. States operate programs similar to the Federal Pell Grant Program in that they provide need-based funding that doesn’t need to be repaid. If your Federal...
Seeking Private Scholarships
Private Scholarships What if you were admitted to your top three colleges but couldn’t enroll in them because the costs were too high, even with your Federal aid? You’d be forced to decline their offers and accept one from a less desirable college — not the end of the...
Don’t Forget the CSS Profile
How the CSS Profile Helps You The College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile is required by about 400 colleges a few scholarship organizations.The form enables you to be considered for eligibility for a college’s institutional funds in the form of...
Following Up After Submitting The FAFSA
This is our fourth post on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), the U.S. Department of Education form that is submitted annually by college applicants and continuing students seeking financial aid for college. FAFSA data is made available to...
The FAFSA Is an Important Step in Paying for College
The Federal government allocated $120 billion this year for grants, work-study programs, and loans to help students pay for college. Yet 47% of this year’s applicants failed to submit the form that entitles them to their fair share of these funds. The...
Federal Pandemic Relief and College Costs
Federal laws were enacted in 2020 and 2021 to aid Americans adversely affected by the pandemic and to stimulate economic growth. Among their many provisions, these new laws took steps to alleviate the financial hardship suffered by colleges and students. One of the...
The FAFSA and Federal Student Aid
An early step in every family’s college admissions campaign is performed by the parents. They forecast the amount of money that can be diverted from the family’s income, savings, and investments to pay for college. Next, they subtract from this amount the expected...
COLLEGE INTERVIEW CHECKLIST INFOGRAPHIC
COLLEGE INTERVIEW CHECKLIST College interviews are a great way to enhance your application. While often not mandatory, they may be right for you. An interview lets the school get to know you a little better, and vice versa. It also shows "demonstrated interest" which...
YODA’S WISDOM ON DEMONSTRATING INTEREST
Colleges "score" students on a lot more than ACT or SAT exam scores and GPA. They often also take into account a campus and/or college fair visit, the time you spend on their website or talking to a regional rep, submitting early action, and more. The name for all...
THE SINGLE BEST QUESTION TO ASK TO END YOUR COLLEGE INTERVIEW
Have an effective strategy in place to help you make an excellent first impression and to end the interview on a winning note. Want to know the best question to ask if you want to end your interview on a great note? The two most important parts of any interview are...
PERFECT GIFTS FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADS
It’s here! Graduation (and gift) season 2016. Sure, you can give the most popular and common gift: cash. And, welcome as currency always is, with a little thought, there are many equally valuable and appreciated tokens of your well wishes. We’ve compiled five sure...
COLLEGE ADMISSIONS TRENDS OVER THE LAST 10 YEARS
COLLEGE-ADMISSIONS COUNSELING: THE GOOD NEWS & BAD
There’s good news and bad news when it comes to the counseling your high school student is getting about college. Let’s start with the good news, shall we? Research shows that one of the key determinants (after family) of whether or not a student will even head to...
A DAY IN MY LIFE AS A COLLEGE PLANNER
TIPS TO MAKE YOUR COLLEGE INTERVIEWS MEMORABLE (IN THE RIGHT WAY!)
College admissions counselors are often (unpleasantly) surprised by how poorly prepared some students are for their interview. Don’t be one of them! Make your college interviews memorable in all the right ways. Remember, this may be your first-ever interview. But the...
11 SECRETS TO SLASH THE PRICE OF COLLEGE VISITS
Enjoy your college visits even more by cutting costs for those out-of-town trips.Apply these 11 strategies and save! No one debates the importance of college visits. Only so much can be gained by scanning websites and glossy college brochures. There’s nothing like a...
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INFOGRAPHIC: THE COMMON APPLICATION
The new essay prompts were just released by the Common Application (or Common App, for short). Wait. Back up! What’s the Common App, you ask? Nearly 600 colleges and universities have partnered to streamline undergraduate college admission applications. These are both...
TRUE OR FALSE: EVERYONE IS A COLLEGE EXPERT
As you (or your child) approach college, you’ll find everyone is an expert: friends, co-workers, the person behind you in the checkout line. Each person has a particular set of experiences, albeit limited, and is sure their experiences apply to everyone, even if it...
DOES GOING OVERSEAS WITH AN EXCHANGE PROGRAM HELP COLLEGE ADMISSIONS?
Recently, I was interviewed by the delightful Executive Director, Dottie Lipinski, of the Chicago HOST, a local high school exchange program which welcomes French exchange students for home stay visits and chaperones American teens for their own summer adventures in...
GOT GOALS THAT INCLUDE THE FAFSA? YOU SHOULD.
January 1st marked the opening of the 2016-17 FAFSA season, the government’s way of wishing all parents of college-bound and current college students a Happy New Year! If your goals and resolutions for 2016 include winning the college game, we can help. The College...
WATCH YOUR WORDS: 9 TIPS FOR A GREAT COLLEGE ESSAY
We all have the tendency to overuse certain words and phrases. After all, having an over-riding idea or theme is crucial to an excellent essay, right? Yes, but hammering the same idea to death in a 500-650-word personal statement creates a sluggish composition and...
A COLLEGE-BOUND STUDENT’S NOTES TO SELF
The college-bound student has so many things to keep in mind during their junior and senior high school years.There are just so many factors to consider, so many choices to make! So, in order to keep the big picture in mind, we’ve collected a few of the smart...
DOING MY HOMEWORK ON COLLEGES: NOTE TO SELF
The junior and senior years of high school are packed. There’s all the academic, athletic and extra-curricular activities any average high school student already has. Plus, there are the added preparations for the transition to college: taking act or sat tests,...
WHAT’S COLLEGE REALLY LIKE?
You may be a high school junior or senior, but you’ve spent most of your life being told what to do, what to think and what to say. Now though, you’re becoming an adult and it’s time to act, think and speak like one. One of the first shifts is to realize that not...
ON KEEPING AN OPEN MIND: NOTES TO SELF
High school juniors and seniors years of learning under their belts, but that doesn’t mean they know much about the everything that’s yet to come. Most of what they do know about college comes from media, family and friends with older siblings. The information may be...
WHEN ON A COLLEGE TOUR (NOTE TO SELF)
MAKING THE MOST OF EACH FIRST IMPRESSION: NOTE TO SELF
So, you’ve spent four years in high school. Your friends know you. Your teachers know you. Your comfortable and everything is familiar. It can feel like you’re at the top of your game. But everything is about to change. In the world of college admissions, no one knows...