FAFSA and College Financial Aid Help and Links

U Sphere has received a few requests for college financial aid help and links, so we'll provide a few of those here. This is not meant to be an all-encompassing list -- but, if you, your company, your school or someone else thinks you should be added here, shoot us a note at info at usphere dot com and we'll do our best to add.

Here goes:

Dream Strategy -- we've bumped into this group on line and they say some cool things about the going-to-college and paying-for-college process. Link to Dream Strategy here.

Financial Aid Podcast. These folks have all sorts of info about paying for college - and they'll stress what everyone else stresses, too: fill out the FAFSA! Here's a link to the fine work of Christopher Penn and team.

Is there an official FAFSA site? Yes. It's here, from the US Department of Education.

Underground financial aid tips from Video College Coach. If you want to find the right "getting in" AND "paying for it" strategies, check out our good friend Paul Lloyd Hemphill and his site at videocollegecoach.com.

There are more, sure...please let us know and we can add them!

FAFSA - the five most important letters for the college-bound student

We can't stress this enough if you are a SENIOR in HIGH SCHOOL in the USA:

FAFSA. Fill it out -- regardless of your income -- fill it out.

Now, we're not experts on FAFSA here at uSphere HQ. SO...here are a few resources that we'll point you to. These folks know what they're talking about:

The Financial Aid Podcast. Christopher Penn stays on top of all this stuff because it's his job. Check out his blog posting on the aid crunch and why you should fill out the FAFSA now.

Dream Strategy. They're consultants and financial planners around the going-to-college experience. See their FAFSA tips here.

VideoCollegeCoach. Paul Hemphill has a series of videos that you can get -- some of them about going to college, but some of them about PAYING for college, like this ebook excerpt on the FAFSA.

Great resources all. Check them out. And Fill out the FAFSA

Blogging for Student Loans

Okay, not exactly accurate, but we have forged a relationship with the folks at Savvy Tuition -- and I've mentioned that before, but it's worth a look-see for a couple reasons:

1. You're a High School Senior and you want to know what these loan things are all about. Good idea -- best to know at least the basics so you can tell Mom & Dad what's up. For instance, using the widget at the front of the U Sphere site, here are the results we got for an undergraduate loan...



2. You're a parent...gotta know what you can afford.

3. You're starting school or returning to school this fall -- or you're starting a graduate program, or even starting college online.

It's a crazy world of finance -- pays off to figure it out before you jump in.

College Connection Portal for Parents -- Take a Look

May 15, 2008 - Exciting News from U Sphere HQ - We're going live with with our Parent Portal.

Take a look at parents.usphere.com.

What you'll find here:

How to save for college (no matter what your kid's age)...

How to plan for college (picking the right one, finding a consultant if you need one, looking at options if you want to be a doctor or play a sport)...

529 Plans (all of them) and even some local links to enrichment programs and the like (sorry if you're not around Chicagoland, we're working on the rest of the world).

Take a look!

EZ FAFSA?

And you thought "EZ" was just for eggs and rappers.

The House of Representatives has a couple bills being floated around that would make it, well, EZ-er to get Federal aid. Here's a link to one as well as a nice picture of a mustachioed gentleman who is also a Representative.

This is a lovely idea. So is a simplified tax code a lovely idea. But there are 99 problems with this whole process -- sorry, Jay-Z -- and here are some:

Profile. Actually, that would be a good rapper name. But it's a form that augments/replaces the FAFSA -- some schools PREFER it to the FAFSA. But it's not called the FREE Profile, it's just the Profile, and there's a cost attached. Like there's a cost attached to filing your taxes.

Sticker price vs. MSRP vs. actual cost. Sure it sounds like you're buying a car -- but the similarities are too obvious. When you walk into a Saturn dealership, you know what the car costs by looking at the sticker. When you apply to some schools -- Eureka College is a beautiful example -- you know exactly what you will pay based on certain performance parameters. They don't monkey with the sticker price or the MSRP. They discount the tuition up front -- 13K and change a year is the total price -- and it comes down based on a very obvious merit aid formula. Some public schools (Montana State, Kent State come to mind) have the same ideas in place. Bravo.

Oh yeah, transparency. I've yet to meet someone who understands this FAFSA stuff and how it works and whether EFC really has an impact on what you pay. But negotiating tuition and aid packages is a delicate matter -- families make one wrong step and the college of choice can penalize them.

Finally: why is it I know EXACTLY what I should pay for a brand new car -- I know the financing, I know what an advertising charge-back is -- but I'm completely in the dark when it comes to what my college or university is costing?