College Funding

Would it be worth one hour of your time to learn about a scholarship program that does not penalize you for too much income. That starts at $5,000 for a single parent or at $10,000 for a couple. It also grows every year until you begin using it by $2,000. It is available with no cost too the family or the student. The funds can be used at over 200 private schools in about 30 states including 15 private schools in the State of Ohio. No public schools participate in the program. To participate a student must be enrolled by June 30th at the end of their Sophomore year. You can enroll earlier. Schools vary in the allowable amount you can use but it can be equal to 25% of each years tuition for a 4 year scholarship. It does not apply for graduate studies.

In addition to this scholarship program we work with families to improves their eligibility for need based financial aidthrough the use of the FAFSA Application. We help you estimate the Expected Family contribution (EFC) and in many cases we legally help clients increase their eligibility for financial aid by reducing their EFC.

How can we help you and your family? Please contact us to find out.

www.columbusfinancialplanningpros.com
polarisfinancialservices@gmail.com

Struggles saving for retirement and college

A recent Putnam Investments Reseach Study has confirmed what many of us already know. In the absence of a true pension plan at work saving for a young childs college education at the same time we are trying to save for our own retirement is a daunting challenge! To make matters worse, almost 50 private lenders and non profit lenders have quit writing student loans in the past year. Some of this is aggravated by the bank lending mess we are currently in. Some of todays headlines suggest that the mortgage lending mess is not yet at the bottom.

Now more than ever we need to be able to look at all possible avenues for obtaining college funding. We need to be thinking scholarships and grants first, followed by maximizing our eligibility for Need Based Financial Aid. Some forms of Financial require repayment and some do not require that the money be repaid.

Several dozen extremely well endowed colleges and universities are prepared to guarantee that if you are admitted. you will be able to graduate Student debt free. You will still have to contribute the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) but after that the College or University is prepared to kick in enough Financial Aid or Work Study income to allow the student to graduate without student loans.

There are perfectly legal techniques that we can often use to increase a students eligibility for Need Based Financial aid. That is one of the services that we offer our clients.