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College Planning Mistake #3—Money EVERYWHERE

Every year, we help hundreds of families file their financial aid forms for college. In addition, we do four WEBinars per week on HOW TO fill the forms out. While they are not difficult, there are certain "gotcha's" along the way that could cost you a lot of money. Not every family needs to file financial aid forms. But for the majority, knowing how much out of pocket you will have to write a check for when the tuition comes due in August, it is important.

There are a couple of myths I want to dispel.  

It is NOT TRUE that the earlier you get the forms in, the more money you will get. As long as you get the forms in (FAFSA, CSS Profile, Institutional, GPA Verification, etc) in BEFORE the deadlines you are fine.

If your family has a gross income of 100k or more, and have only ONE in college, you will not get a DIME at the government schools, except Berkeley. 

There is NO merit money from the Cal State government schools if your family is not need based.  The UCs have the Regents scholarships, but those vary from school to school.  And those go to the top 1-5 percent of the applicant pool. 

If you don’t get a good aid package your freshman year, it is unlikely you will get a better one your future years.  And at the government schools, you can “fuh-get-about it”. 

We are doing four WEBinars per week on HOW TO fill out the FAFSA and CSS Profile forms for college. The WEBinars are free, and very helpful. Go towww.GCFWebinars.com to register for the ones you want to attend.  They are about 30 minutes each.

For a report on the 10 Mistakes, and a link to the most effective EFC Calculator we have found, go to our website…www.GetCollegeFunding.org.  Also sign up for one of our free local or WEBinars.  If you would like us to speak in your local high school, shoot us an e-mail, at support@getcollegefunding.org.