Financial Aid Options for Affluent Families?
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:
What financial aid options are available for affluent families?
Plus, the latest (crappy) updates on the FAFSApocalypse, and how they'll affect financial aid this coming year.
Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it)
- Andy Lockwood
A Few Financial Aid & Essays Faux Pas
Good morning - two quickie announcements.
1. A Few Financial Aid and Essay Faux Pas - Live at 10 AM
Join me and Pearl for our weekly program, College Coffee Talk, live on our Facebook page.
Today's topic:
A Few Financial Aid and Essay Faux Pas
2. FREE SAT or ACT Class Promo Expires Today
Announcing: a free, no-obligation "test drive" of ANY of our upcoming SAT or ACT prep classes, either in-person or online. Here's how it works:
1. Check out our schedule in July and August.
2. Pick the class you want to sample, for free.
3. After the class, our head tutor, Marissa will offer our absolute best deal we can give and still keep the lights on and landlord happy. This is a one-time, "exploding" offer that expires 24 hours after class.
4. There is no obligation or pressure to buy anything, just the forthcoming incentive to enroll with us.
Enrollment expires at 5pm today. I'm not sure we'll try this again.
Why are we doing this?
We just moved in...
We're Having a Problem
We're having a problem with tomorrow's in-office workshop: out of the 25 people registered, we've gotten confirms for only eight. So I have no idea who's coming to our office (not a webinar) tomorrow night.
If you're the parent of a 9th, 10th or 11th grader, I'd like to invite you to come to our brand spanking new office. I'll do whatever it takes to make room for you.
I'll even give you a gift for coming, a copy of one of my latest books. Maybe I'll even sign It for you! Ooooo!
Here's the syllabus for tomorrow's class (in office, not a webinar):
*The inconvenient truth about what it takes -- beyond solid grades and near-perfect SATs, "passion projects" and other nonsense -- to get accepted to a top college today (WARNING: Not "Politically Correct")
*Financial Aid "Loopholes" - how to legally "hide" your money from the financial aid office
*How to avoid Admissions Armageddon and build a balanced, strategic college list
*Are there any Safety S...
Bootcamp Bonus Just Added
Top of the morning!
I'll be quicker than a Maryland felony gun charge jury today, because I know you're busy.
I just talked the lovely Pearl Lockwood into offering a Fast -- Early -- Action bonus for anyone enrolled in our Get College Ready Bootcamp that runs all summer:
FREE preparation of your FAFSA!
(That's the financial aid application required by all colleges.)
This past year's "simplified" FAFSA overhaul and rollout was anything but simplified...
It was one giant pile of horse poop. So much so that the bureaucrat in charge, Richard Cordray, lost his job over it.
I hope and pray that next year's FAFSA isn't beset by the same or new problems, or "glitches" as the Department of Education called them. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
That's why this Early Action bonus is so valuable - you'll avoid costly mistakes, and save time and stress by having the Financial Aid Warrior herself, Pearl Lockwood, in your corner, walking you through all the ins and outs, glitches, str...
Even More FAFSA Problems; Child Behavior We'd Like to Change
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:
Pearl describes yet even more, frustrating FAFSA glitches (unreported); and
Child behavior we'd like to change (PSA)
Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it)
- Andy Lockwood
P.S. Class of 2025 Rising Seniors: We have 5 spots left for our 10th annual Get College Ready Summer Bootcamp.
If you don't want to be the one screaming at and threatening your child all summer to get their essays and applications done, the bootcamp is exactly what the doctor ordered. Here's the page that describes it all.
GET 10% OFF
Coupon code BOOT-10 or BOOT-10EZ for the one-pay and payment plan options before we sell out.
LockwoodCollegepPep.com/
Beware Hidden College Costs
Good morning!
We're hitting the airwaves this morning with college cost-cutting news you can use -- 10:00am EST -- for College Coffee Talk, our live show about all things college admissions and financial aid!
Here's what's on tap for today:
"Hidden" College Costs and How to Defend Yourself
This episode is worth thousands of dollars, even though it's free! Here's where to join us...
Grab a cup of joe and we'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it).
Feel free to pass this invitation along as you see fit.
- Andy Lockwood
More FAFSA Fails [LIVE]
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!
Pearl is away on special assignment, so I will do my best to pick up the slack. Today's show topics:
Oddball FAFSA fails and a new grounds for appealing your award. Plus, what's the deal with the parent "Brag Sheet?"
Grab a cup of joe and I'll see you at 10am EST (recorded if you can't make it)
- Andy Lockwood
Deadly Dastardly College Prep Mistakes
I'm going negative with this email. Apologies in advance.
I just tweaked my presentation for tonight's live, local (not live streamed) presentation I'm running at the Bryant Library in Roslyn NY. Most of the material, as it turns out, is about mistakes. Easily avoidable, self-sabotaging mistakes.
Some mistakes are of the commission variety -- things you affirmatively do -- that hurt odds of college acceptance or merit scholarships.
Some are mistakes of OMISSION, meaning things you do NOT do, but should.
If you're local to the Long Island area, and you want to avoid costly errors that can severely impact your/your children's chances of getting into competitive colleges...
...as well as gaffes that could hurt or eliminate your ability to get merit aid or financial aid, then tonight is a terrific, unprecedented opportunity to learn up on all this stuff -- for free --- for reelz...
...that you definitely will NOT ever, never ever hear a hint of a scintilla of a whisper from your...
A Surprise 154K FAFSA Penalty
From the FAFSA Sh*t Storm Files:
Over coffee early this morning, Pearl told me a shocking story, one that we've experienced a few times already this year. Let me pass it along to you as a cautionary tale: it goes a little sumthin' like this:
Family files FAFSA. Family hears back from college financial aid office.
Message: no soup for you. Pay full price.
But here's the thing...
On a courtesy call with a financial aid office, the officer reveals that the FAFSA indicated that the family's income was more than $400,000.
But the family's actual income, filed with the IRS for 2022: $250,000 and change!
Why the 150K+ artificial penalty?
Just another glitch! Too bad, so sad.
Apparently 10% of all FAFSAs filed this year have inflated family's income, wiping out millions of potential eligibility.
This glitch is, of course, part of the FAFSA "simplification," designed to streamline the process. Nice job, guys.
The most frustrating part: these income glitchy things happen i...
Groveling Time
**No College Coffee Talk this morning: I'm on the road, depositing my daughter back in college after her break (public transportation is beneath her, apparently**
Well, it's that time of year when most colleges are issuing estimated financial aid awards. Many parents are staring at these offers and wondering, "Where's the beef?"
Here are the top three categories of appeal (I call it "negotiating", but that's definitely NOT the term used by financial aid officers). Note: no matter what your argument is, you must present new information that the college didn't have, previously.
1. Drop in income. Financial aid eligibility is heavily dependent on income. But that income is from two years ago. Example: if you have a Class of 2024 student, your 2022 Adjusted Gross Income is the most heavily weighted factor. But if your income dropped in 2023, maybe because of a layoff, or your business income dropped for any number of reasons, the financial aid office ...