Good morning!

We're hitting the airwaves this morning -- 10:00am EST --  for College Coffee Talk, our live show about college admissions and financial aid news that you can use!  

Here's what's on tap for today:

*A long list of FAFSA problems

*Boston College Negotiation Case Study

*Your questions!

Join us on our Facebook page, Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep, or click this big blue button:

TUNE IN

Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it).  This is a great opportunity for Q&A, live, free college coaching, anything goes!

- Andy "Java Jive" Lockwood

Webinar | Tutoring  

I just finished tweaking tonight's "encore" presentation, "Late Stage College Planning for Juniors" and have been patting myself on the back since, because of all of the clever phrases and analogies I came up with.  Here's a few, submitted for your approval:

"The college process is like a train, it comes into the station and leaves the station, whether or not you are 'ready.'"

"There is life beyond the same Rear Window Sticker Colleges that everyone applies to"

"Each college application must have a 'Thread of Continuity' that runs through it, tying everything together"

There's a whole lot more where they came from, I'm merely scratching the surface (who's excited now????)!

If you're getting sick to your stomach about where to even get started in the process of making a list of colleges that your kiddo can even get into...

...i.e. are there any "Safety Schools" any more?  Or...

Do I have a snowball's chance in hell at...

Webinar | Tutoring  

A client, Ava, just got into her Early Decision college.  Everything went silky smooth, and there wasn't a hint of a scintilla of any drama whatsoever during the 10 months we worked together.

Not.

Here's what really went down.  Literally the day before she got the GREAT news, Ava's mom and I spoke on the phone for about 25 minutes.  Most of the conversation was along the lines of:

*She's so bummed out, she doesn't think she's going to get into a "good school"

*None of her friends are getting into their top choice colleges, she's really, really nervous"

*What can we do, while we wait to hear from [College]? Anything?"

*When I ask her anything, she yells "I don't want to talk about it, mom!" and leaves the room.

That was Tuesday.  On Wednesday, I logged into my email, to see "I GOT IN!" screaming at me at the top of my inbox.

It's quite a roller coaster, this college admissions game.  You're down in the dumps one day,...

Good eeeeeve-a-ning...

(I know it's morning, just go with it.)

My undead but lovely Countess Pearlticia and I have never done anything like this in our 350+ years together, but right now, you can invite us (careful!) into your corner to help you conquer the FAFSA, CSS Profile and all other of your financial aid demons for 10% off  - AND claim a big fat bonus (see below)!

Why are we doing this goofy Halloween sale and gutting our prices?  

1. It’s our way to say “thank you” for being part of our community and helping refer and otherwise spread the word about our college planning services
2. It’s indisputable that this is one giant, MONSTA of a deal!  We actually lowered our prices...how many businesses do THAT????  (There’s a recession out there in case you didn’t notice.)
3. Pearl, the mother of our four “Children Of The Night,” prepares approximately 400 of our clients' financial...

Tutoring

Apparently First Son Hunter Biden used about $40,000 of his daughter's 529 college savings fund for drugs and prostitutes, according to the IRS. 

These are not "Qualified Higher Education" expenses under the Department of Treasury Rules, so I can see why they're miffed.

Here are some other, non-qualified things you can do with your 529:

• Fund a Super PAC
• Purchase jet skis
• Buy crypto through Sam Bankman-Fried

Proper use of the 529 is pretty much limited to direct college expenses, such as tuition, rent, books and even laptops. 

I don't know if Hunter used his 529 for The Laptop.  He would not turn my calls.

But here's the thing about the 529...

In financial aid, it PENALIZES, meaning, reduces your eligibility for aid.   Pretty weird, right?

One one hand, the government incentivizes you to save for college by creating the 529 plan.  

On the other hand, if you actually DO save money this way, you'll receive less financial...

Good morning!

I'm in the midst of three college drop-offs over a grueling,10 day stretch, but wanted to tell you about two financial aid-related stories that caught my bleary eyes over the past couple of days.

The first was about alleged price fixing among elite colleges.

The second related to incredible, nauseating amounts of cash spent by public universities on the most STUPID stuff.

Sadly, neither of these stories is breaking news. This stuff has been going on longer than the 21+ years I've been a college advisor.  

The first story was about U Chicago paying $13.5M to settle allegations of financial aid price-fixing.  I'm embarrassed to say that I don't quite get the plaintiff's point. According to the summary I read, it looked like the allegation was that U Chicago colluded with 16 colleges, including Brown, Columbia, MIT and Duke. 

But the collusion was not about U Chicago sharing their applicants' files and coming up with identical awards, they way the...

If you like money, you'll want to watch the interview I just did with my friend and colleague, scholarship search expert and bundle of energy Jean O'Toole.

Here's the scoop on what we covered:

• What's the deal with those weirdo, gimmicky, obscure or just plain wack-a-doo special scholarships that everyone talks about?
• Which scholarship search websites are actually worth spending time on?
• How to sniff out a scholarship scam and avoid getting ripped off
• The best time to start your search for scholarships (this will surprise you)
• The oddball reason corporations need you to take their scholarship money
• How to win a scholarship for an "Invisible Disability"
• A ninja way to "raid" high school scholarships -- Pretty sneaky, sis!
• Are there really scholarships for families who don't qualify for financial aid?
• The biggest mistake families make in the scholarship search process
• More

This was a high energy, high octane interview, so I hope you check it out and get ready to take a whole lotta...

Early this week the Wall Street Journal "exposed" New York University as being THE WORST college when it comes to financial aid generosity.

The piece painted a pretty bleak picture, pointing out that, for a college with an endowment north of 1 Billion, NYU ranked 1st in the ignominious category of parent loan (PLUS) debt per family and other related areas.

The article featured a grad student, a woman, who sold her eggs in order to pay for tuition.  Twice!

(No word on whether the eggs would receive favorable legacy status once fertilized into college applicants in the indeterminate future.)

We in the college advising biz have known NYU to be, again, THE WORST, stingiest college known to mankind for years, so this article was less than a surprise.

I've witnessed parents and kids tempted -- and sometime succumbing to that temptation despite my best efforts -- to blow 80K per year for a theater education at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Three of my four kiddos did or do...