This past weekend New York became the first state to make four year public colleges tuition free by approving the Excelsior Scholarship.  The Excelsior Scholarship will cover the cost of tuition at SUNY, CUNY and community colleges for New York residents and it will go into effect this fall.  While the cost of tuition will

There have been some significant changes for our 2017 high school graduates.  Not only has the SAT has been overhauled, but the FAFSA will be available October 1 instead of January 1.  Additionally, the “prior, prior” year’s income will be collected instead of the current year as before.  This means that all students applying for

As of May 10, 2015, the U. S. Department of Education replaced the FAFSA PIN with the Federal Student Aid (FSA) ID. The new FSA ID will allow students and parents access to the FAFSA with a username and password rather than having to enter sensitive information such as name, date of birth and social security

“You are what you are, and you are not greater if you get into your first-choice school or less if you do not. You will make the best of life’s opportunities and your own gifts – if you believe in yourself. If you do not have confidence in yourself and respect for yourself, you will

I am now starting to see high school juniors and getting them prepared for what lies ahead. What I am finding is that parents are shocked at the amount of work that goes into applying to college, none the less, applying for financial aid. Things have changed drastically from when we went to college. To

An excellent article was recently published in Forbes explaining the process behind admissions and the manner in which financial aid is distributed.  The research and findings in this article is something everyone should strongly consider when applying to colleges and for financial aid.  Showing the school your ability to pay for college may actually put money back

The FAFSA becomes available as of January 1, 2014.  All colleges will require this form for students applying for financial aid.  The process of applying for financial aid can seem daunting to most families.  A myriad of questions run through our minds like will this will hurt my chances for admission, am I answering everything

Most colleges proudly claim to be need-blind, meaning they will not take financial need into consideration when determining admission.  A better student may receive a more attractive financial aid package but a lesser student will not be rejected based on financial need. Need-aware schools such as Tufts, Trinity and Lafayette will admit a majority of students based

Students:  Now that summer is in full swing, you should begin requesting and gathering information from those colleges in which you are interested.  It is important to start this process soon so that you are able to make an “informed choice” for the final for the final list of colleges to which admission applications will

About now, you may be getting requests from your schools for you to update your FAFSA  using the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT).  They will ask you to log in to your 2013-14 FAFSA, go to the Financial Section and link directly to the IRS using your PIN.  This link should work as long