College Funding 101

How to Increase Your Odds of Acceptance

sesplans — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 16:11:27 +0000

Here’s a few really good tips to increase your odds of having your college application accepted, presented by My College Guide. We strongly recommend requesting this year’s version of My College Guide(available in hard copy and digital format). It is full of tons of useful information!

http://mycollegeguide.org/blog/01/2010/increase-odds-sending-application/

Applying for College Financial Aid Less Painful

sesplans — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:56:03 +0000

With recent changes in the FAFSA form, the application can take some parents as little as an hour to fill out. There has been some simplification in both the online and written versions of the application. However, it should be noted that the average length of time to fill out the FAFSA is still 2-3 hours. The simplification only applies to parents who have little to no assets.

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2010/01/12/applying_for_college_financial_aid_doesnt_have_to_be_like_having_a_root_canal/

California Student Aid Commission Taking Your Calls

sesplans — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:39:09 +0000

In conjunction with Sacramento’s KCRA Channel 3, the California Student Aid Commission will be taking calls and answering the questions of local parents. They will be helping families with topics such as CalGrant requirements and how the new budget may affect State Aid.

The date is January 13th from 4:30am-7pm. Here is a link with some information…
http://www.kcra.com/station/10754544/detail.html

More information will be released in the next few days at KCRA’s website http://www.kcra.com

YouTube – Freshman & Sophomore College Checklist

sesplans — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:39:36 +0000

Another video from The College Answer Guy that focuses on what Freshman and Sophomores need to start focusing on to starting preparing for college.

YouTube – Junior Year Checklist

sesplans — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 18:35:52 +0000

Great information from The College Answer Guy on what Juniors in High School need to be focusing on to plan for college.

Higher Education Still a Priority in California’s Budget Plan

sesplans — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 23:56:13 +0000

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed a budget plan today that restores some of the State’s Higher Education budget funds and plans to fully fund the Cal Grants for the mid-year and year-end fee increases. Read this article for more information…

http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/news/article/22633

Check Out Our New Twitter Page

sesplans — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:56:25 +0000

We can now be found on Twitter @SESplans. Please follow us and feel free to tweet us anytime. We’ll be posting updates to our blog, retweeting informational tweets, and adding our own personal touch. See you there.

Additional Costs of College

sesplans — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:15:15 +0000

There are many expenses that need to be planned for when planning for college beyond tuition. Most people forget to take into account all of the additional costs of college. First, the Pre-College Costs:

Standardized Test Fees
Test Prep Courses and Materials
Campus Visits
Application Fees
Moving Expenses

These can sometimes total several thousands of dollars. While attending college, there are additional expenses that need to be planned for. Such as:

Room and Board
Books and Supplies
Transportation
Living Costs(Laundry, Toiletries, Telephone, etc.)
Spending Money

Many parents forget to take into account the additional costs of college when planning to pay for a higher education. Make sure you incorporate these costs and how they will be covered when creating any plan to pay for college.

Your 5 Minute Guide to College Savings…MSN Money

sesplans — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:51:19 +0000

Here’s a great little article I found on MSN Money that gives some great, simple tips for saving every possible penny when it comes to paying for college. Enjoy…

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/Your5MinuteGuideToCollegeSavings.aspx

SESplans’ First Blog Post…

sesplans — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 06:02:52 +0000

Strategic Education Solutions is officially diving into the blogosphere. In future blogs, we will have informative posts regarding Paying for College, College Planning, College Funding, Financial Aid, Student Loans and a plethera of similar topics. They will sometimes be serious, they will sometimes be funny, they may even be shocking and sobering…but they will always be useful and meant to provide you with the best information available. To quote Kalman Chany, one of the nation’s foremost College Planners, ”College is a big, big, big business..and a college’s best customer is an uninformed parent.”