The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

Financial aid package
Featured image for “Politicizing College Loans, Part I”
August 5, 2013

Politicizing College Loans, Part I

I thought I’d devote the next couple of blog posts to bringing you up to date on what’s been happening in Congress with federal student loans. Chances are that you haven’t been keeping up with the latest student-loan developments on Capitol Hill, but a lot happened in July. And, as far as I’m concerned, Congress blew it. Before I get...
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September 21, 2012

A New Tool for Merit Scholarship Searches

During a workshop that I held this summer, a mom interrupted me when I was talking about a College Board search engine that parents can use when they are looking for the schools that provide the best need-based financial aid. “What if you’re not going to qualify for financial aid?” the mom asked. “Is there a search engine that will...
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January 6, 2012

8 Things You Need to Know About Private Scholarships

Winning private college scholarships can certainly help make college more affordable, but you need to know the realities of competing for college cash. My pet peeve about private scholarships is that people assume that they are the biggest source of college cash when they are really the smallest. Before you start hunting for private college scholarships, here are eight facts...
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March 9, 2010

College Grants: Decoding a Financial Aid Letter Part II

This is my second post on deciphering college financial aid packages. Yesterday, I explained what sort of federal financial aid assistance you might find in your financial aid award. How To Decode a Financial Aid Letter Today, I’m going to cover the types of college grants that parents typically find in a financial aid letter. College Grants Many families believe...
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April 10, 2009

How to Negotiate for a Better Financial Aid Package

Colleges loath the “N” word. Administrators hate it when parents call them up and want to negotiate a better financial aid package. Well, that’s too bad. Colleges cost too much money for families to automatically agree to a six-figure commitment. If you’re going to negotiate, however, you’re nearly out of time. The traditional deadline for deposits to secure a spot...
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