I would take it further.
Find a financial advisor that can advise you. Seems like you are asking the folks here for help advising your advisor. If colleges isn’t their expertise and they need help, find another advisor.
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It is hard to find a financial advisor (at least for me) who has significant expertise in FAFSA and Retirement.
Re advising the advisor: It’s often helpful to be able to ask an advisor specific questions. They may not be able to answer on the spot, but they should be able to tap a resource in their firm or network who can help. Sometimes knowing what you don’t know is helpful!
@Bart_Nathan - i’m just going to pose this question; not an expert in any way. But i am trying to figure out what you expect to get from filling out the FAFSA besides the opportunity for federal student loans for your children?
Federal grants really are for low income families; and schools that meet your needs are for high end high stats kids mostly; and the expected contribution is often more than the FAFSA efc. A huge majority of schools won’t cover your need; they dont offer grants, they expect you to pay for anything beyond merit with savings and student loans. ** some states have tuition grants I gather; ours does for incomes <60K.
I guess i’m trying to understand how the FAFSA will help you with paying for college when it sounds like you’re doing fine with finances now; not low income. (and i’m paying attention to see if anything could apply to us.)
Here’s an advisor we’ve known for a long time who specializes in college financial planning, as part of a firm that also deals with retirement saving. Her book on how to pay for college is coming out this summer:
But why are you paying this one - hopefully you’re not paying a fee - like 1% of assets.
Bottom line - FAFSA is a tool to qualify you for loans.
I’m a full pay parent. Both my kids are on scholarships - one an auto and the other at a school known for them. They chose their schools - nonetheless you can direct your kids to schools you can afford.
That’s what you need to do…afford on their merits, not your $$.
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You’ve already been given lots of suggestions on the financial front. One other recommendation when your children start looking at colleges beyond the auto merit ones. I have found that most colleges provide merit aid to less than 20% of the students (thus, really being merit aid) OR they give merit aid to 80+% (frequently 95-100%) of their students. This latter group of schools is really just discounting their sticker prices, and they do this regardless of whether the student is a top applicant or not. This resource provides some of that information for many popular universities, but if a college isn’t listed in this table, then I would look up the college’s Common Data Set to locate the information. This might be a way to find some more affordable institutions for your children, depending on what your budget is.
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You just broke a lot of hearts with that post. Lol!
Perhaps…or I gave them a lot more hope! 