Dear Students & Parents, The month of February sits on the border of winter and spring. The days will start to get longer and if you’re in the upper regions of the country, the snow will begin to fall less and less. Soon, February will lead us into March and spring will peek its head around the corner. Meanwhile, we have outlined the most important areas for you to consider and be working through. The newsletter breaks down action steps for each grade level. Each grade level breaks down the action steps for both the student and parent in that grade level. Be sure to seek out your own speci ..read more

Dear Students & Parents, Happy New Year! We hope this upcoming year brings you more confidence, trust, and gratitude for the process you are a part of and your journey moving forward! At CollegeStrategy, we are honored to be a part of your college planning journey. As the new year begins, we hope you have set big goals for yourself! This month’s newsletter will help you do so. The newsletter breaks down action steps for each grade level. Each grade level breaks down the action steps for both the student and parent in that grade level. Be sure to seek out your own specific grade level/secti ..read more

What are the dangers of a student entering college as “Undecided?” The truth is, there are quite a few. Outlined below, you’ll find the top three dangers to this path. Then, we’ll offer some guidance on an alternative approach. 70% of students change their major 3 to 4 times throughout college, which is why it takes the average student six years to graduate from a four-year college or university. The reason this statistic is so prominent is that most of these students are doing their career research during college, instead of planning ahead and diving deep into meaningful research during the ..read more

Part Three of this three-part blog series is all about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) changes that pertain to both taxed and untaxed income.  These changes listed below are set to begin in July of 2023 and will impact the academic year of 2024-2025. That means that the following fall (after July of 2023), parents of seniors (graduating 2024) will be filling out the FAFSA with all its new terms and conditions. It also means that parents of students who are already in college will see these impacts and changes, as well. While this might seem far away, and therefore not ..read more

Part Two of this three-part blog series is all about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) changes that pertain to Divorced Parents.  These changes listed below are set to begin in July of 2023 and will impact the academic year of 2024-2025. That means that the following fall (after July of 2023), parents of seniors (graduating 2024) will be filling out the FAFSA with all its new terms and conditions. It also means that parents of students who are already in college will see these impacts and changes, as well. While this might seem far away, and therefore not a huge priorit ..read more

This week’s post is dedicated to helping you learn how to get better financial aid results. We’ll do this by taking a closer look at those acceptance and award letters. We hope these strategies help you better prepare for and avoid the traps laid out before you. Do not send any non-refundable checks to ANY colleges to “reserve your student’s room.” This is a trap. You do not need to send a check.  We have covered this specific point in other blog posts, but it’s worth repeating here in order to get better financial aid results. Let’s take a look at a standard timeline to better understa ..read more

Proper college planning takes time and commitment, but the outcome of that hard work is a larger return on investment and money saved throughout the process. Mistake #3:Not filling out the FAFSA. Reason #1: If you don’t fill out the FAFSA, you’ll leave money on the table.  It does NOT matter if you think you make too much money. Both need-based aid and merit-based scholarships are attached to this paperwork. If you don’t fill out the financial aid paperwork, you are leaving money on the table.  Sure, you might make too much money where your student won’t be eligible for need-based ai ..read more

The college planning process is hard enough. We hope this week’s highlighted mistake will help you avoid one of its most common financial pitfalls. Mistake #2: Upon acceptance, sending a “nonrefundable deposit to reserve your student’s room.”  Before we jump into the reasons why you should not send this check, I’d like to first explain more about this process and how it’s actually a trap set by the colleges. The trap I’ll explain below purposely makes paying for your student’s college education more difficult, pushing you or your student to take out high-interest loans.  First, let’s ..read more