The non-custodial parent will come in to play if you are asked to complete an institutional financial aid application such as the CSS Profile. The CSS Profile actually has a Non-Custodial Parent Profile that he or she will have to complete. However, if you haven't seen, nor had contact with this person in a year or more you can usually get it waived. The college or university you are applying to should have a Non-Custodial Parent Waiver form that you can complete. If it is approved they will waive that portion of the application.

Work study is a federally funded program that employs students as they are getting their education. Almost 3,500 schools participate in the FWS program, so there is a good chance your school will participate. You will gain eligibility by filing a FAFSA, so make sure that is completed as soon after Jan. 1st as possible. Remember that the hours are set by the award given, so you will not be able to earn more money by working additional hours, but it is a good way to find work on campus.

While one can try and position their assets in ways that might appear advantageous, most schools look at the full range of a family’s assets so that a disproportionate amount in one place rather than another is apt raise questions, but yield little value. The system does not seek to prevent younger siblings from having a future, nor do colleges expect parents to spend their retirements in old age versions of Depression era “Hoovervilles” because they spent their last dime on their children’s education. However, they do want to see evidence of a commitment to a child’s education, something that shows that it means more to the family than an extra week of a resort based vacation. Consequently, while you can try to manage, mask and massage your assets, the breadth of information that is generally sought and the way it is reviewed makes it hard to mask your true financial situation to any appreciable degree.

The most important thing anyone needs to understand is just what the financial aid package includes and how it is broken down. What part are loans? What part are grants, including scholarships which may have standards that must be maintained in order for them to be renewed? What part is need based aid? What part is a work-study award? Each school structures its packages in different ways, but the difference can be significant and may have an impact on one’s experience. Having a heavy work-study requirement adds an additional responsibility to one’s collegiate life while a high loan amount can translate into a heavy debt burden upon graduation. All of this has the potential both influence one’s thinking about the collegiate experience as well as its value.

Ultimately, financial issues can negate an early decision commitment, but students and their families should be careful about blithely using it as a reason to break the commitment. There are plenty of ways to get good advance estimates and in general schools will offer preliminary reviews based on estimates of the financial information so that an applicant can have a pretty good sense of where thing will be in the end, and thus a pretty good idea of how the finances will play out if the early decision application is successful. At the same time, if there is a discrepancy, if the gap between offered aid and the families’ need is too great, it can negate the commitment. At the same time, an additional consideration is the fact that the final financial aid packages are not known until later in the application cycle by which time it may be too late to undertake additional applications. Ultimately, it is wise to be sure of your financial options before making a commitment.

Yes, but the impact can vary greatly from school to school. The reality is that for all their increased role in the admissions process, the AP program is about high school students doing college level work and as a result scores on the AP exam can earn college credit and those credits can be transferable to credits a student needs to graduate. That being the case, if a student comes to the school with a sizable number of credits they may be able to complete their degree faster, reducing the time spend in school and thus the tuition paid. Similarly, if the school is one that charges tuition based on credit hours, then one could save money on each AP credit earned. Obviously there are variations among schools, but in the right situation strong AP exam performances can yield significant financial benefits.

Wholesale renegotiation is not likely given the common formulas and procedures, but it is certainly possible to get aid packages tweaked and altered, for schools all have their own formulas for a piece of the process. Too, a reality of the process is that aid, whether based on merit or need is about both providing access as well as drawing quality students to the campus so the fact that a student might attend if the pot is sweetened a bit has been known to lead to a change. Too, the amount of aid available can change. This happens because in the end not everyone offered a place in an incoming class accepts it, and in turn money that may have accompanied the acceptance is also left on the table and can be redirected, used for others. That certainly impacts a school’s ability to make some alterations to original offers. However, it important to recognize that the changes that can occur at that point are not going to be wholesale, but at the same time, in the increasingly costly world of higher education, every little it helps.

The biggest mistake is having the student, and not the parents, complete the application! Like a tax return which is free, have an experienced financial aid advisor offer some free advice - and take it! Unless the family has no income or assets to speak of, they probably won't screw up the form too badly, and remember, both the CSS and FAFSA can be corrected if there are mistakes!

That there are deadlines for filing forms All the basics, such as how does their income & assets impact financial aid. Why a financial aid consultation is absolutely mandatory before filing any forms. How a divorce or separation impacts on aid How private scholarships are mainly designed for families who receive NO need based aid Parents need to understand all the intricacies; students should know the basics.

Since students have NO asset protection allowance and lose 20 cents in financial aid for every dollar they have, they have to "appear" broke. They do have an Income Protection Allowance (IPA) of about $6,000, but they need to "loan" their earnings to their parents or other relatives so they won't loose financial aid dollars - what a stupid system that penalizes students for their hard earned work! Stafford Loans are mandatory, as is a Federal Work-Study program. While in college they should also work, but be mindful of going over the IPA. Private scholarships for families who will receive need-based aid from private schools becomes phantom money, as the school will consider them an outside resource and deduct dollar for dollar from their own aid! I recently had a student at Northwestern who lost out on over $25,000 she rec'd in private scholarships - the school kept every dollar for itself to offset their aid!

Avoid thinking about “maximizing aid” and instead of “minimizing costs,” because not all aid is created equal.  You may know that some aid is gift aid, which is naturally preferable to loans or work. Sometimes grant aid from universities comes with strings attached, like minimum GPA for renewal (or no renewal), or enrollment in a specific major. Most important, figure out how long it takes the average student at each college to graduate. Divide four-year graduation rate by six-year graduation rate.  The higher the number, the greater the chance you’ll graduate in four years, which not only saves you tuition dollars, but also gets you earning your first post-college paycheck faster.

A resource that I like to recommend is www.finaid.org.  It has a glossary that is very "user-friendly" to a novice.  Be careful not to fall prey to scams, as many con artists know that college students and families can be desperate for any type of financial support.  If you decide to consider loan institutions, select those that are reputable and, if necessary, consult the BBB. Don't be modest about researching scholarships.  Many Naviance Family Connection school programs have a scholarship list and scholarship match component with good resources. There's nothing wrong with being assertive and asking the institution about merit and need-based aid, as well as unidentified funds.  I've had many former students assume this advocacy role and get rewarded with support.

One of the biggest mistakes that many college bound families make is to focus solely on the grand total of the award, without carefully considering its individual components. “They gave me the most money,” say many students when asked why they chose a particular institution. But viewing your financial aid package in this way can be deceiving. Instead, think about long-range affordability. Start with the cost of attendance: tuition, room and board, and expenses. Then deduct out any grants, scholarships or work-study awarded – this is gift aid that you don’t have to pay back. The resulting number is what you should really consider your “award.” Finally, calculate the gap between this “award” amount and the amount that your family realistically can afford. Some schools will offer you loans and others will “gap” you (not meet 100% of your EFC). Regardless, you want to mind the gap and keep that number as small as possible, both for your family’s current financial stability, as well as your future debt load.

It is important for your family to determine what you can reasonably afford and make sure you are exploring colleges that fit within those financial parameters. Doing well academically (SAT, ACT and in classes) and being active pre-college will go a very long way toward maximizing your financial aid package. To understand whether you’re getting the best deal, do a side-by-side comparison to see how much each school is offering and what your net cost (what you have to pay in the end) will be. This usually means subtracting the scholarships and grants from the total cost of attendance. If your package is not meeting family expectations, get creative by patching together dollars to make the financial ends meet. You can reach out to local community organizations, honor societies and even search for quirky scholarships around a hobby or special interest. Also connect with current college students at the school you want to attend, because they usually have the best advice based on their experience and what they wish they would have known before they arrived. Never eliminate the dream of education because of lack of financial resources but make sure you don’t get too deep in debt that it will create stress and inhibit your ability to be successful after you graduate.

Each college should provide to you the annual cost of education. This will include “billable expenses” i.e. tuition, room, board and fees and indirect costs such as books, supplies, travel, and personal expenses. Your aid award should list grants and/or scholarships which do not need to be repaid. You will need to subtract your grants/scholarships from the “billable expenses” to determine what your family will be expected to pay to the college. Compare this amount to other awards from like colleges. The goal is to determine what college fits into your academic aspirations and your family's financial goals. Your award may also include student loans and an offer of student employment. Those loan proceeds can be applied to the bill, but they will have to be paid back sometime in the future.