How to win free money for your child's college tuition

If you are a business owner, executive, individual, or two parent family looking to get free money for your child's college education then this will be an important article to read.

As a parent and a cooperate professional, you have a very unique situation when it comes to getting the best college education at the best price without spending all of your retirement income. I work with a number of executives, business owners, individuals, and two-parent families over the years of helping them achieve these two goals, and no, I am not talking about a 529-College Savings Plan. There are so many challenges that a simple 529-College Savings Plan does not address. I have found that most parents, and cooperate professionals struggle with these following challenges.

#1: Should we talk with the colleges or should we let our student?

Most parents struggle with the correct answer to this question. The student should be at the center of the process - especially the attendance decision-making process. Parents however certainly play a very important part - guidance, suggestions, and support are essential. Colleges like to see the student who has a great support structure, but the student's ability to "stand on their own two feet" is very important.

#2: We are divorced and remarried. What parents' information needs to be reported and to who?  

The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid), which is required from all students seeking funding for college, asks questions specifically about the student's current household. This could be natural parents, step-parents, or a combination of both. The CSS/Profile, which is a more detailed version of the FAFSA and is required in addition to the FAFSA by approximately 10% of the schools, may also ask questions about the non-custodial parent if the natural parents are divorced.

#3: We have heard we might make too much money to qualify for college funding - is that true?  

No - not anymore! Colleges are now willing to offer funding (basically through their endowment funds) to families with higher annual incomes and greater net assets. Students from families with annual incomes of $250,000+ are commonly offered very attractive funding packages.

So as you can see these are some of the many challenges parents who are cooperate professionals must resolve to put a proper financial strategy in place.

 Here are some recommendations to help you with these challenges. 

1. Seek professional help

Most parents who are cooperate professionals take pride in being an expert at their subject matter and they like to learn on their own. While this is a great trait for their business, they must recognize in order to get the best education at the best price from the college university without damaging their retirement, that financial planning is an area of expertise. Seeking professional advice will help both students and parents understand all the options available to them from the colleges and what potential funding gaps they may have when it comes to the funding strategies from the college universities themselves.

2. Don’t just rely on your Advisor who wrote you your 529-College Savings Plan or the High School Counselor.

Even though you already maybe working with the Advisor who wrote you your 529-College Savings Plan or the High School Counselor for your professional help, there are just so many things that have to be addressed and often times, not enough time to address them. For example, has you financial advisor or high school counselor talked to you about; What happens if I make a contribution to my IRA or 401K in my base year? What does that do to my financial aid eligibility? As a high school student, how much can my child earn before it impacts their financial aid eligibility? Which funding strategy should be implemented before the base year to have the most impact? These are just a few of many questions that has to be addressed in order to get the best offer from the university itself. Not having the proper tools or expertise guiding you with the correct answers to these questions could not only cost you thousands, but thousands that you didn't have to pay!

Now, if you require some additional help, then you want to take advantage of my 30-minute free consultation. In this short 30 min, you and I will discuss your financial goals, and college plan to get your child the best education at the best price without damaging your retirement. This session will be insightful and help you come up with a better strategy to achieve these goals. I will also give you an opportunity to enter a contest to win a 5(K) college scholarship towards any university in the US.

To schedule your session, email info@flemingfinancialsolutions.org and I will get in touch with you to schedule a session.

With gratitude,

Bubba