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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This post was updated on February 12, 2021. It was originally published on May 19, 2020. Repercussions of the Pandemic: College Enrollment and Financial Aid In a Discover survey from the early stages of the pandemic, 48% of parents said they lost income, and 44% said they were not able to pay for college with…
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Congress signed a second pandemic relief package at the end of 2020 which created some changes in the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA. Families must complete the FAFSA in order for the students to have access to federal, state, and institutional aid. Most of the changes explained below…
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With the costs of higher education constantly rising, it is more important than ever that parents start saving as early as possible. So, when is the right time to start? Today! Ok, but how do we start? Contrary to what you may think there are lots of ways to start accumulating college savings on a…
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This article follows up on Brad’s post from December that discusses what to do about federal student loan forbearance coming to an end. While the new president has extended student loan forbearance, many of the recommendations from the previous article are still relevant: Student Loan Stimulus Ending: What Federal Borrowers Need to Know. Federal Student…
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The Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act was signed into law in December of 2014 to help disabled Americans and their families save money for future expenses (e.g. college) without losing their private insurance and state/federal benefits. As the advocacy of the special need’s community continues to be a major focal point in financial…
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Update 1/28/21: President Biden has signed an executive order extending the student loan forbearance through September 2021. That being said, much of the advice in the second half of the blog still stands (just with a different deadline). As a borrower, you must be proactive regarding forbearance. When it ends, you need to be ready.…
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