College Planning
Stress and anxiety. Let it go!
How can families pay for college without robbing their retirements? First realize that there are affordable schools out there that are an excellent academic fit! For a reasonable flat fee, we will guide you through a process to craft a plan to pay for all four years of college with a combination of assets, cash flow, student loans and tax strategy. If student debt is involved, we will ensure that your student graduates with manageable debt.
It is imperative that parents have a “money conversation” with college bound students before they begin the college search.
Where do we begin?
The first step is to identify which circumstance best describes your family— then we’ll pursue the appropriate strategies.
Next, we walk through you through the process. We can work with you, whatever your needs and concerns might be!
We walk you through the process.
Let’s do this thing, together! We are trained to utilize the College Aid Pro™ software developed by Capstone College Partners™. Using our knowledge and this excellent process, we will efficiently and seamlessly solve for these issues, in this order:
1. Step One: Determine available personal resources.
Identify whether your student is high or low merit and high or low need.
Learn how colleges view education savings plans, retirement plans and contributions.
Learn how to value your home.
Determine parent assets vs student assets.
Minimize your (federal government) Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
Hear our advice on distribution from your investment accounts.
Identify tax credits and deductions.
Determine your optimal asset, income and tax strategies.
Determine how to cover shortfalls.
2. Step Two: Establish a maximum student loan amount.
Establish your maximum student loan based on resources and anticipated career starting salaries.
Identify need-based and merit-based financial aid, and maximize your aid eligibility.
Find government and private grants and scholarships that work for you.
Evaluate and select the proper loans.
3. Step Three: Shop for schools within the budget.
Establish your criteria based on career goals, quality programs to meet those goals, distance and so on.
We’ll provide scenario modeling to recommend new possibilities for your student.
Shop for schools within your budgeted net cost after aid.
Determine which schools offer the most need-based or merit-based money.
Learn how to negotiate and improve your financial aid award with colleges.
You have access to planning software, too.
The College Aid Pro dashboard allows you to manage the entire college planning picture in one place.
Tasks: We’ll assign tasks to ourselves and to you, and we’ll check them off the list as they're completed.
Smart Search: Search for schools that meet all of your criteria in an instant. Filter for admissions likelihood, affordability, and more. Do a net-cost comparison for 2,400+ schools!
College Snapshot: See important information about any school at a glance, including admissions data, rankings, and financial aid stats.
Automatically Project Need-Based and Merit-Based Aid: Year by year, at more than 2,000 schools.
See Scholarship Details: Learn about dollar amounts, deadlines, and requirements.
Let’s make a tangible difference for your family!
American student debt directly reduces retirement plan savings for parents and college graduates. Families with student loans have lower rates of home ownership, and the value of those homes is less. Let’s imagine that between the ages of 25 and 35 (only), your college graduate puts away $500.00/month in a Roth IRA instead of paying down a student loan. At the current typical growth rate for a portfolio, that money grows tax deferred at 8%. By the age of 65, your college graduate will have a nest egg of $912,099.00!