Many people have heard of college 529 savings plans. Every state has an option for its residents. Many states offer tax deductibility for contributions to their state plan if you are a resident. Some states even let you, as a resident, deduct contributions to any state 529 plan. 529 savings plans have taken center stage…
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Growing up, my father struggled in school. His grades were not strong enough to receive any scholarships and his family could not afford to send him to college on their own dime. Instead, my dad did what he knew best when he graduated high school: he worked. Looking back at my dad’s financial situation, and…
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Putting the Student Loan Problem in Perspective In total, almost 45 million Americans owe about $1.7 trillion in student debt. About 70 percent of college grads have student debt when they graduate; the average debt among all graduates now pushes $37,000. These statistics look really scary, but the story is more complicated than “everyone’s crippled…
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What is a Tuition Discount? A tuition discount is an all-encompassing term that refers to any gift aid that the college offers to reduce your tuition cost. Most people use tuition discounts to describe automatic merit aid awarded by colleges. The money may actually appear on the award letter as a tuition discount, entrance award,…
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This article was updated on May 4, 2021. It was originally published on July 15, 2016. Many students now attend public universities to reduce the cost of higher education. Unfortunately, students often face a huge premium if they want to attend a public university that is not in their state of residence. This can be…
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The Ivy League Dream: A Generational Holdover That Overlooks Disproportionate Cost I grew up in a family that valued higher education tremendously. My late grandfather was a Cornell graduate and worked for IBM as an engineer for 35 years. Although he was not a wealthy man, he was financially comfortable and able to put all…
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The Truth Hurts: The Unseen Burden of Student Debt In 2015, I walked into one of my first referral meetings and was immediately in awe of this family’s home and style of living. It was a small family. The father was the breadwinner and worked a comfortable job from home in the oil and gas…
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Colleges are now mailing financial aid award letters to millions of college-bound students, and these students need to make their enrollment decisions by the May 1st deadline. Many students will have multiple offers, and families will need to decide which award offer is best. Here are a few things to watch out for when…
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On March 11th, 2021, President Joe Biden signed a $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law called the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, and with that came some exciting news for student loan borrowers. Section 9675 of the act effectively makes all student loan debt eligible for tax-free loan forgiveness through the end of 2025.…
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This is the final part of the three-part series entitled “Scholarships and College Funding for the Student-Athlete.” If you haven’t read the first two posts in the series, find them here: Part 1: College Athletic Scholarship Basics Part 2: How to Get Noticed and Increase Your Athletic Scholarship Potential To round out our series on…
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