19 Nov Start Planning Now to Save Money on College
We can’t emphasize this enough—start planning now if you want to save money on your student’s college. We can help families who begin working with us in junior and senior years; but we can really help families who start planning for their freshman and sophomore students. It may seem too early to start thinking about paying for college while your student is just figuring out where their homeroom is located at the high school, but our years of experience tells us that time = money.
College Savings Plans
The most common way parents begin saving for college is through a 529 Plan which offers tax advantages for families who put money away for the specific purpose of paying for higher education. However college savings plans for one family may not be the right vehicle for another family to save money for college. And most importantly, understanding how you save for college factors into the financial aid process is key.
Expected Family Contribution
As you’re planning for college and saving money do you understand how much you’ll actually have to pay? Do you qualify for need-based aid or merit-based aid? Or both? Using information from your FAFSA and CSS Profile, our team will put together a financial analysis for your family to identify your EFC so you can make changes to qualify for additional need-based aid.
Funding Plan
Savings, Cash Flow, and Borrowing. Those are the three basic funding sources every family uses to pay for college. The first step is identifying your family’s out-of-pocket college costs. From there, we’ll work together to build a custom plan to cover those expenses while accounting for the other financial goals you identify.