College Planning & Financial Aid Blog

See how you look through the eyes of the financial aid office BEFORE you file for financial aid. Everybody seems to know that financial aid is a part of the college planning process. What very few people understand, however, is how financial aid is actually awarded. There are three basic categories that each college has in mind when they review a financial aid application. The category that you land in has a lot to do with what your final financial aid award will look like. A

Which scores to report and whether to report them at all When students are applying to college, they have to report their grades, activities, and awards for the 3-4 years that covers their high school career. If a student starts to take high school classes in the eighth grade, that adds another year and it all totals up to a lot of days and a lot of history for colleges to consider. Depending on how things have gone, that could create a very favorable situation or one that’s

Which one gets you the best results when applying for college It’s no secret that college has become super competitive over the last 10 years or so. It’s not enough to just have good grades and a strong SAT or ACT score. Students also have to have rigor to show that they’re challenging themselves academically. But, if your student is struggling to manage their work load or if you’re unsure if you should sign him up for another AP class like your counselor is advising, t

For many families navigating the college admissions process, GPA often feels like the golden metric—an all-powerful number that determines a student’s future. But while GPA is certainly one piece of the puzzle, it’s far from the whole picture. Recent insights from Applerouth's college admissions experts make it clear: colleges are reading more than just a transcript; they’re trying to understand a story. And that story is called the academic profile. GPA: The First Note, Not

Which one should you use to get the best results? People ask me all the time if they should apply Early Action and Early Decision. It’s not surprising that so many people know about these options, but what is surprising is that so few people truly understand what each one is – and how to use each one to their advantage. This article will help explain the key attributes of both and help you make a more informed decision when it comes to choosing the best route for your ki

How to connect with the college of your dreams by speaking their language. So, my wife was visiting our son while he was studying abroad in Italy and even with the help of Duolingo, she doesn’t speak much Italian. Hearing the everyday conversations of the locals was interesting at first, but soon her lack of understanding allowed her to drown it out as just another sound of the city. Even though the conversations may have been spoken perfectly, creatively and passionately, n

How to avoid the mistake 87% of people make when making their college list. The college selection process is one of the most difficult and most stressful parts of the planning process. When you’re first starting out, it’s too early to have any direction and the lack of momentum combined with the stress of needing to get things moving, especially if you’ve waited too late to begin planning in the first place, can be overwhelming. In order to have a successful journey, y

The truth about the world of private scholarships and financial aid I get a lot of questions about scholarships. People want to know what to apply for and when to start applying. And usually the scholarships people have in mind often include private scholarships offered by some company or organization outside of the college itself. There are tons of these kinds of scholarships available – something for everything under the sun. Over the years I’ve heard about a left-handed

Even superheros have to update their tactics in order to stay on top. High school students would be wise to do the same when it comes to preparing for college. In Superman issue 13, Clark Kent quit his long-time job at the Metropolis newspaper. Kent, Superman's alter ego, has been employed by the newspaper since the comic book series started in the 1940's. But new Superman writer Scott Lobdell says they wanted to "explore Superman through a modern-day lens." As far as what Ke

Answering your questions about how much is too much and how to know if you’ve done enough I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about the SAT and ACT. Most of them have been related to when should I take it, how often should I take it, and are my current scores good enough so that I don’t have to take it again? I’ll address each of those here in case you have some of the same questions. When should you take the SAT or ACT? It used to be that taking standardized tests we

Comparing your options so you can make the best choices for your family Everyone knows you’re supposed to save for college and save for retirement, but like a lot of other things related to planning for your future, nobody tells you exactly what to do to get the best results. As you probably know, there are several savings vehicles you can use for retirement and for college. Each one has its own benefits and burdens, and for the purposes of this article, I’m going to focus sp

How getting these few things right can make all the difference on a college application Are you familiar with the Pareto’s principle? It’s also known by a few other names, like the 80/20 rule and the Law of the Vital Few. Regardless of what you call it, this principle states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. It was named after Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who noted back in 1896 that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was o

Everything you need to know to see if this new option is right for you An increasing number of colleges are offering a new way to help pay for college, but it is based on a pretty old idea. You may remember hearing back in 1997 that the musical legend David Bowie wanted to raise money for himself. And the special thing about his capital-raising strategy was that he pledged his future earnings to do it. By this point in his life, David Bowie had been a rock star for somethin

We’ve come a long way as a society in the past 50 years or so. And one of the big reasons we’ve seen so much advancement is due to the remarkable discoveries we’ve seen in technology, medicine, transportation, and so on. In most cases, the innovators and leaders we’ve grown to know and admire built their empires on the foundation of a good education. After all, you’ve probably heard it said that the more you learn, the more you usually earn. Education can be very valuable in

Recently we’ve had another scandal where people have been caught performing illegal activities so that their kids can get into some of the best colleges in the country. You’ve probably seen these things from time to time and the fact that people are willing to lie, cheat, and bribe people with big bucks to get what other people have to work very hard for just goes to show how competitive colleges become and how complicated the process of getting in and making college affordab

From time to time I find that I end up having some of the same conversations with my private college planning clients as I do with my private financial planning clients. The financial planning expertise I have serves as a bridge between building a successful college plan and doing so in the context of someone’s overall life plan. I’ve said before that next to the purchase of a home, paying for college is probably one of the largest financial transactions you’ll make in your l

Think of a person who is THE BEST at what they do… Maybe it’s in sports, or in the music or entertainment industry. Maybe it’s an entrepreneur or someone who has achieved great success in business, the sciences, or the arts. Whatever it is and whomever it is, think about someone until you can see them clearly in your mind. Do you have them now? Okay, good. Now here’s the cool thing about whomever you chose. He or she has undoubtedly risen to the top with the help of someone e

Back in 1930, a lady named Ruth Wakefield made a discovery that’s worth billions today. While making cookies for her guests at the inn she and her husband owned, Ruth realized she was out of the baker's chocolate she normally used to make her favorite cookies. She decided to substitute broken pieces of a semi-sweet chocolate bar she received from her friend Andrew Nestle into her Butter Drop Do cookies. What she discovered was that unlike the baker’s chocolate, the chopped up

The road planning for college can be very long and tiring. The colleges know that by the time you’re ready to make a final decision, you can be pretty worn down. It’s a common feeling to want to just be done by the time you reach spring of your student’s senior year. That’s a feeling that not only parents tend to have. Students can also long for a sense of closure and have a sense of anxiety over making their final decisions. Colleges do this process every year and they know

When I first started planning for college, I realized there were steps that had to be taken to get from a place of being worried about college to a place of having peace of mind. The problem was it was difficult identify all of those steps in advance. And even now, it seems like the colleges and the government want you to think that all you have to do is follow their path to be successful. In fact, they make it seem like their way is the only way, but that’s not true. The rea