Whether you have a high or low income, everyone would like to pay less for college. We can help by empowering families to pre-approve their college selection. We determine what personal resources are available, establish a maximum student loan amount, and then “shop” for colleges that match your budget. There are many strategies involved in this process that can qualify students for additional financial aid. Some of the steps we take include:
- Estimate Your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and teach you what it means.
- Show you how to reduce the cost of college.
- Teach you how to leverage schools for better pricing.
- Discuss how to get scholarships.
- Explain the best and worst strategies to pay for school.
This is not about teaching parents how to save more, or how to get a better rate-of-return on what they’ve saved, it’s about learning how to reduce the total out-of-pocket costs and then paying for it in the most efficient manner so the family keeps more of their money.
Financial Aid is a complex topic and a huge concern to families. Our service helps to demystify this process and is a critical part of the college selection process. We try to keep financial aid in mind as we navigate through the application process. We also have resources we can recommend to our families. These resources range from good websites, to step-by-step instructions on filling out the financial aid forms, to how to get loans and scholarships, to one-on-one free consultations with college financial specialists who can help with the entire process of paying for college.
At SOAR, we cannot stress enough the importance of understanding the cost of college and how to reduce that cost. Whether you will receive need-based aid or are hoping only for merit aid, this information will be extremely helpful to you. The base year is January of sophomore year to December of junior year.
