Here Is the FREE Special Report You Requested From Eagle College Planning

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1 Here Is the FREE Special Report You Requested From Eagle College Planning ******************************************** Great News For Parents Of College-Bound Students... 9 New Ways To Beat The High Cost Of College! ******************************************** From: Ryan Fleming 4285 Morse Road Gahanna, OH Dear Parent: If you're wondering how you're going to pay for your children's college education amidst this financial crisis, you're not alone... In fact, estimates point to as many as 13 million parents of college-bound children struggling right now to send their kids off to school. A lot of uninformed parents are probably going to end up mortgaging their house to the hilt or spending their entire life's savings to muster up enough money to send their child to college. Or, if they don't have a lot of home equity or money in the bank, they'll end up sending their child to the least expensive school rather than the best college they can get into... or, worst case, no school at all. How to Avoid the College Struggle The following 9 Ways will give you a strategic blueprint on how to beat the high cost of college. Strategy #1: Smart Families Maximize the Financial Aid Process When most parents hear the term financial aid, they assume that they make too much money to qualify for anything. The truth is financial aid is based on a number of factors besides income. The number of children in college, ages of the parents, divorced or separated agreements, and the total cost of the college or university are just a few of the additional factors that go into the financial aid formula. Choose to ignore the financial aid system at your own risk! 1

2 Families with combined incomes as high as $180,000 per year have qualified for financial aid. Don t rule yourself out until you truly understand how this system works. This is a system that is responsible for over $183 billion dollars in college assistance per year. Look for that $183 billion figure to continue to rise, perhaps at an even higher rate with President Obama in office. He has pledged to push for significant increases in federal spending on college financial aid. Whether your family qualifies for aid or not depends upon one number, which brings us to. Strategy #2: What Is Your College Number? All successful college plans start with determining what your family s Expected Family Contribution (or EFC for short) number is. This is the number that the Department of Education determines your family can afford to pay for college each year. This figure is based on a number of things, including income and assets of both parents and students, ages of the parents, and the number of kids in college at one time. Once your family knows its EFC number, you can quickly determine whether need-based financial aid will be a factor or not. Here is the formula: COA EFC = Family Need In this case COA stands for Cost of Attendance at the college and EFC stands for Expected Family Contribution. If your EFC is less than the COA, there is a chance of receiving need-based financial aid. If there is a chance for need-based aid, your family needs to do everything you possibly can to legally lower the EFC number in order to obtain as much aid as possible. Which leads us to Strategy #3: How To Lower Your EFC & Get The Maximum Amount of Money From Each School Just like proper tax planning can minimize your tax liability, it is possible to set up your financial situation in the most favorable terms legally allowable in order to lower your family s EFC. 2

3 Certain assets are counted much more heavily in the financial aid formulas than others. Where you keep your money could mean the difference between getting $10,000 in financial aid or getting nothing. If you don't know how to legally and ethically position your money properly for purposes of financial aid, you could end up losing thousands in financial aid. Here is one example. Let s say you have $20,000 in a college investment account for one of your children. The Department of Education is going to take 20% of that account, or $4,000, and add it onto your family s EFC, essentially causing your family to lose $4,000 of aid. This doesn t have to be the case. There are certain accounts that the EFC formula does not take into consideration. Moving a child s college fund into one of these sheltered accounts is perfectly legal and a great planning strategy. A few of these sheltered accounts include IRAs, annuities, and cash value life insurance - all of which, if set up properly, can be accessed for college expenses virtually penalty- and tax-free. Strategy #4: Where To Get The Absolute Best Rate On A College Loan There are currently over 250 different types of college loans available in the U.S. marketplace right now. Which is the best one for your family? And how do you know if you are getting the best rate and terms? This used to be a tricky question for families. But not anymore. There are several companies that compile all the information regarding rates and terms of every type of college loan on the marketplace and put them into one easy-toresearch tool. But there is a catch. Every one of these college loan comparison websites gives preferential treatment to the loan companies who pay them for placement. In other words, they make it seem as if certain loan companies are the best deal even if that is not truly the case. However, there is one non-profit organization that doesn t accept paid placement money to list available private loans. That company can be found on the web here: Go there whenever you are ready to get the absolute best deal on a private college loan for your child. 3

4 Strategy #5: Private Colleges Versus State Universities: Getting the Best Deal on Both Some schools are well-endowed and have the ability to award a lot of money to students. Other schools have very little money to give away. It's important for you to know this information before you ever apply to a school. By knowing, in advance, which schools give the best financial aid packages, you can have your child pick schools that he or she has the best shot of getting money from. This way, you don't waste time and money applying to and visiting schools you will never be able to afford. When researching a school s ability to award money, you want to look for 3 key figures: 1. Percentage of need met 2. Percentage of gift aid 3. Percentage of self help A school that is high in percentage of need met has the ability to award maximum dollars for your child s education. Even better still is a school that awards a high percentage of aid as gifts. Simply put, this is free money. In comparison, some schools will provide a high percentage of self-help money, which are essentially favorable loans and work study programs. Strategy #6: FAFSA Forms: The Key to Unlocking $183 Billion Dollars There is no doubt that filling out government forms can be a challenge. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (or FAFSA) is no exception. But why fill out a FAFSA form in the first place? Simply put, last year there was 183 billion dollars in financial aid given out to college students. More than 50% of that money was given out because of information supplied on the FAFSA form. This form is the gatekeeper for all that money. If you don t fill it out or you fill it out incorrectly, you have lost your opportunity for your family s share of the 183 billion dollar financial aid pie. Now that we know why we are filling out the FAFSA form, here are 3 costly mistakes to avoid when completing it: #1: Missing priority filing dates. Financial aid is given out on a first-come, first-served basis. Those who submit the FAFSA form on time and correctly are placed in the front of the line for any eligible aid. Priority filing dates vary by state but typically fall around February 15 th of the year your student will be filing for aid. 4

5 #2: Overstating assets. The FAFSA form will ask for a number of things that your family owns. But not everything. In fact, you are able to legally exclude any qualified retirement assets. This includes your 401k and any IRAs you own. On top of this, you are also able to leave off equity you have in your home. Those are typically the two biggest assets that families own. Don t include them on your FAFSA. They are not required. (Note: This is NOT true for private colleges and universities that require the Profile Form. If your child is applying to one of these schools, be prepared to provide information on your home value and other assets that are not required on the FAFSA form). #3: Waiting to get your taxes done. The FAFSA form and website clearly state that you can estimate your income and tax information from the previous year. But for whatever reason a lot of parents wait until their taxes are done to fill out the FAFSA form. This can cause you to miss priority filing dates. Our advice is to provide estimated tax and income information in the base year and then update your information later on the SAR once your taxes are done. If you wait to get your taxes done and miss a priority filing date, you can lose aid. Strategy #7: The Truth About Private Scholarships I regularly speak in front of families with college bound kids and one of the questions I ask at the beginning of the talk is, By a show of hands, how many in here are interested in private scholarships? Nearly 100% of the people in attendance raise their hand. And they should be interested. Who doesn t want free money? But the truth is private scholarships are a tiny percentage of the $183 billion dollars in aid given away each year. In fact, less than 3% of this enormous figure comes in these types of scholarships. It is not in your best interest to spend tons of time chasing and applying for these types of scholarships. But, don t ignore them either. In fact, here is a great and free resource you can use to search for and apply to private scholarships. It can be found at: 5

6 This is a free resource. It only takes a few minutes to plug in your child s information and submit. Once in the system, fastweb.com will alert you to any private scholarships available for application. My advice is to pick of the scholarships that have the most promise of getting accepted and apply to those. This should only take a few hours total. Remember, this is a small percentage of the available $183 billion. Focus most of your attention elsewhere. Strategy #8: College Cash Flow: What It Is and How To Make It Work For Your Family A major mistake that families make is assuming there are no extra dollars that can be allocated for college costs coming from their household income. While every family s situation is different, there are an overwhelming number of families who can free up $100, $200, $500 or even $1,000 or more per month to put towards their kids college education without changing their lifestyle whatsoever. A good cash flow analysis will uncover what strategies can be used by your family. Strategies could include debt management/consolidation, budgeting, and tax reduction. Here are three great cash flow strategies to get you started: 1. Consider switching from a 15-year mortgage to a 30-year mortgage. On a $250,000 mortgage, this is a difference of $597/month (assuming a 6.5% rate mortgage) 2. Consider switching to a high deductible car insurance policy. By switching one car, a family can save as much as $60/mo. Switch two cars and save up to $120/mo. Three cars = $180/mo. 3. Consider paying off high interest credit card debt with equity in the house. The average family in the U.S. carries $8,000 in credit card debt at an average of 13%, which comes out to a payment of $182/mo. By rolling this into a new mortgage an additional $132/mo is freed up for college expenses. (In this example, we assumed a 6.5% new mortgage over 30 years.) Combine all three of these strategies for an additional $909/mo. of college savings. If you put it somewhere it can grow safely, that monthly savings can pay for a lot of college bills. Plus, once college is paid for, it can go towards supplementing your retirement fund. Make sure and give yourself a solid cash flow analysis. It will not only ease the burden of funding college but will make a major impact on your family s long term financial health. 6

7 Strategy #9: Where To Get Help At this point you should have the makings for a solid plan on how your family will fund college for all your children. But, the job of paying for college is far from over. In fact, the report you hold in your hand is just a starting point. The next step is to put this knowledge to use, but it s a step that can be frustrating. If you are like most families, this is your first time going through the college process. There is a lot to learn and act upon to make this process work. More than likely you are going to have questions. There are a couple of things families in this situation can do. Let s take a look at each one, along with their pros and cons. #1: Continue researching and learning how to maximize this process. Otherwise known as the do-it-yourself method. Pros: There is little to no cost to search the internet, attend seminars, or check out books from your local library on the topic. Cons: Time consuming and possibly second-guessing each decision you make. #2: Hire a company or college consultant to help your family with the college funding process. Pros: You get to draw upon an expert s experience and track record of helping families pay as little out of pocket as possible for college. Saves time. Cons: Requires an investment of money. If you enjoy doing things on your own and have the time, then #1 is a good option. If however you are uncomfortable with figuring everything out on your own, then perhaps a combination of self-education and hiring experts for help might be the answer. One last thing I will leave you with If option #2, Hiring An Expert, is something you want to learn more about, then I have an free offer you might be interested in. Knowing that I was going to offer this Special Report this month, I have freed up a block of time over the next 2 weeks so that I can offer a No-Risk, No-Obligation Free Consultation for parents with college bound students. 7

8 In about an hour, this Free Consultation will take a look at each one of the 9 New Ways that have been discussed in detail in this report as they apply to your family s specific situation. This includes calculating your family s EFC and if there is an opportunity to lower it. (Remember, these are steps #1-3 in any successful college plan). There will be no high pressure sales techniques whatsoever during this consultation. Quite frankly, I don t know if I can help you. The goal of the consultation is to find out what can be done to take control of your family s college funding plan. If there is anything that can be done, you are free to do whatever you want with the info. To receive your FREE, No-Risk, No-Obligation College Planning Consultation, simply give my office a call at or us at mcanini@eaglecollegeplanning.com to set up a convenient time for us to get together. We look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Ryan Fleming College Planning Specialist P.S. Once again, I promise that there will be no high-pressure sales techniques whatsoever during this FREE consultation. You are free to do whatever you want with the info we provide to you. 8