All Questions & Answers Articles

Family figuring out SAI calculation.
financial aid, questions & answers

What is SAI vs EFC?

SAI replaces EFC in the 2024-2025 FAFSA. SAI is the number that colleges will use to assess your eligibility for financial aid. It’s a significant, more streamlined change from the EFC system previously used and is meant to provide a more straightforward student aid calculation for families and prospective students.  Navigating the maze of federal …
dorms in college.
questions & answers

What’s the Average Dorm Cost?

College costs and tuition vary dramatically across the United States. Private colleges tend to have higher tuition than their public counterparts. The same goes for the cost of living in a college dorm. According to the Education Data Initiative, the average dorm cost for a 4-year college is around $11,520 for public institutions and $13,028 …
questions & answers

What Is Tuition Reciprocity?

A tuition reciprocity agreement is an agreement between two (or more) states that specifically pertains to the cost of tuition. This agreement essentially allows students from one state to get the benefit of lower-cost in-state tuition when they enroll in a college in another state within the reciprocity agreement. To better understand what tuition reciprocity …
questions & answers

What Is In-State Tuition?

When deciding which colleges to apply to, one of many decisions you’ll have to make is whether you want to attend an in-state or out-of-state institution. Cost is a big difference between the two. Students who choose to attend an in-state college pay in-state tuition, which brings up the question, what does that mean and …
Infographic with tips to go to college debt free.
questions & answers

How To Go to College Debt Free (Or with Less Debt)

No one wants to graduate college under a mountain of student loan debt that needs to be repaid. And as a result, some students are actually forgoing the college experience all together in order to save their future finances. While sometimes it is unavoidable if you want to go to a particular college or study a …
Students in lecture.
financial advice & planning, questions & answers

College Affordability: How Community College Can Help Fill the Gap

Financial stress and college affordability is a huge factor when choosing where to further your education. In fact, 70% of teens in 2023 (vs. 61% in 2022) have financial concerns about pursuing higher education.  This begs the question: Is making college affordable a real option for upcoming and current college students? We believe the answer …
Here are the types of federal student loans
questions & answers

Can You Return Unused Student Loan Money?

Have you borrowed more than you need and are wondering what happens to unused student loan money? You may or may not be able to return the excess amount without paying interest or fees depending on your lender and type of loan. Let’s walk through the different scenarios.  Why You May Have Unused Student Loan …
questions & answers

Preparing for Loan Forgiveness You May Not Actually See

Is President Biden’s promised student loan forgiveness coming through or not? Is it on hold temporarily or permanently? What happened? Those are just some of the many questions on all student loan borrowers’ minds.  If you are one of the many students eligible for student loan debt forgiveness, here’s what you need to know.  President …

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