BREAKING...the Department of Edu-macation has all but said the new FAFSA (the federal financial aid application required by all colleges) will debut on December 31.

Here's a quick summary of how this affects you, if you're applying for aid for the 2024-2025 academic year.

• College financial aid spokespeople have pretty much confirmed that they won't even get to see the submitted data until the end of January, at the earliest.  Behind the scenes, they are scrambling. They're already outmanned and untrained as it is. The new FAFSA will require more training, more technical, computery integration and other stuff I don't understand like mainframes, meta elements and parallel processing.
• That means you won't see a firm financial aid award until mid-February at the earliest.  Repeat, at the EARLIEST.  Don't panic if it takes longer.
• I'll bet dollars to donuts that many financial aid awards will be flat-out wrong, because glitches will invariably appear.  Check your...

Picking up on yesterday's message about cr-ppy advice my clients have received from their guidance counselors over the years, I wanted to offer up another lump of erroneous counsel that I hear EVERY year.

This one's about AP classes.  As in, advice not to take the "extra" AP.

Look, I'm about to get controversial.  If you don't like where I'm coming from, you are free -- actually encouraged -- to unsubscribe from my email list (see link at bottom).  I'm not trying to get anyone's underwear in a bunch, my intent is to help you avoid making an easily-avoidable mistake that can have lethal side effects on your child's college admissions chances.

Frequently, school counselors tell students that it's OK not to take an extra AP.  You don't have to stress out, take it easy on yourself.  11th grade is hard.  

My issue:  that is not the right advice for everybody. 

If your child is gunning for an Ivy or slightly less competitive college,...

I wanted to relay some recent, flat-out bad advice from guidance counselors that some frustrated parents shared with me over the past month or so.

But before I do, and in case you are a guidance counselor  -- sorry, "school counselor" (the proper term, apparently) and think I'm doing this to bash you, I'm not. 

I'm merely REPEATING actual examples of poor advice -- or no advice -- that others have mentioned to me, so that you and your fellow parents can avoid them, and thereby steer clear of the consequences of following said bad advice.   (I actually like most of the guidance counselors I've met, professionally and personally.)

Nonetheless, I'll press on.  This one's about submitting your SAT or ACT scores as part of your college application, versus going the test-optional route and keeping your scores to yourself.

I've probably heard this advice 15-20 times this year:  do not submit your scores if it's below the average reported score for that...

Bumping this in your inbox -- along with other things that go bump in the night -- to make sure you saw our special treat, not trick, of a deal that ends in a few hours...

If you're freaking out about the horrifying cost of college and now on this earth you'll possibly be able to send your little Children of the Night to the colleges they deserve, you have one more bite at the neck, um apple:

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Our Financial Aid Warrior gives you peace of mind and certainty that you didn't screw things up and "rob" yourself out of the grants and scholarships you otherwise deserve.

We take care of everything, from preparing all financial aid applications, strategies to qualify for more $$, help negotiating the offers, assistance with loan paperwork if needed, more.

Instead of...