This week is all about applications! Our Top 5 Series is back, and we have two top 5’s for listeners: advice for seniors heading into application season (especially in the age of COVID) and for getting organized and ready for the financial aid application process. We’re also checking in on the rising senior summer schedule we introduced back in June and making suggestions for a fall timeline.

Applying for financial aid when parents are divorced, unmarried, or remarried can get complicated. In this installment of the College Coach video series, We Can Explain, former financial aid officer Shannon Vasconcelos provides a basic understanding of how income and assets are considered in the FAFSA and CSS Profile.

Owning your own business can impact the financial aid process. Tune in to learn more about how that works. We’ll also help rising seniors evaluate where they are in the testing process and determine whether or not they need to take any more of those tests at this point. Finally, we’re taking a closer look at how institutional priorities can impact admissions decisions.

Contemplating a liberal arts degree but concerned about how that will translate into your career? Convinced that your child must major in a pre-professional area if they’re ever going to make a living? We get it: college—and life—are expensive, and these are important concerns. That’s why we’re exploring the value of a liberal arts degree when it comes time to actually get a job. We’re also talking through the impact of owning real estate on the financial aid process.

If you ask about costs while visiting a college campus, you will likely be told something to the effect of, “Don’t worry about it—you can get financial aid!” And while that statement holds true for many students, not everyone is eligible for financial aid. How can you determine whether your family will qualify for financial aid? Check out the latest installment of our video series, We Can Explain.

At the dawn of the New Year, many parents resolved to make 2019 the year they kick their college savings into gear. Some parents hesitate to save, however, assuming their savings will cost them financial aid. Is this a correct assumption to make? Former St. Olaf College financial aid officer, Kathy Ruby, tells us in the latest installment of our video series, Ask the College Finance Expert, when she answers the question, “Will Saving for College Cost Me Financial Aid?”

The FAFSA form opened up to high school seniors and their parents on October 1^st, meaning the financial aid application season is well under way. With the cost of college being so far out of reach for most families, many students are counting on financial aid to make their college dreams a reality, but the process of applying—and maximizing aid resources—can be confusing. How, then, can you make sure you’re accessing all of the financial aid you may be entitled to?

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Elizabeth Heaton is in the host seat and here to talk about early action, supplemental essays for Georgia Tech and Emory, financial aid at Northeastern University.

In case you haven’t heard, financial aid application season is now upon us. Not quite sure when you should be applying for financial aid? Check out this installment of the brand new College Coach video series, We Can Explain, where we answer the question, “When Should You Apply for Financial Aid?”