Date: March, 2022

Dear Parent,

The name of March comes from Martius, the first month of the earliest Roman calendar. It was named after Mars, the Roman god of war, and an ancestor of the Roman people through his sons, Romulus and Remus. His month Martius was the beginning of the season for warfare, and the festivals held in his honor during the month were mirrored by others in October, when the season for these activities came to a close.

Not only does March bring March Madness, but it's also the time when many college acceptances arrive with offers of financial aid.

Didn't Get The Money You Needed? You Have Options

Like most everything, last year's financial aid awards were definitely influenced by Covid-19. Colleges were so unsure of the number of students who would attend, that many bent over backwards offering more aid-- often unsolicited.

Colleges are now realizing and responding to the almost one million FEWER admissions applications they received just a couple of years ago. Conversely, due to test optional policies, the most selective universities have seen record numbers of applications. As a result, these schools have become even more selective.

This being the case, your student's chances of "getting in" are lower than ever. Hopefully, the colleges on your student's list included less competitive ones. Assuming being admitted to a few of the less selective private schools, the odds of receiving a terrific tuition discount are high. Not just for the top students, either. There a many schools where even mediocre GPAs can be good enough to qualify for amazing merit scholarships that only two short years ago would be unthinkable.

If you don't have any lucrative awards, other than just going to admissions and asking for help, I suggest applying to any number of colleges and universities with late admission deadlines. It's not too late to get some leverage. Get some offers, and then go back to the colleges that accepted your student, but didn't offer any money showing them you can go elsewhere for less.

When it comes to paying for college and getting the best deal you can, don't be afraid of emailing the college and asking for more aid - or at least some if none was offered. This only works with private schools, but you could try using a state school's acceptance and lower price tag as a bargaining chip with an expensive private school. If you're denied, you've lost nothing. They might just say yes.

For Juniors: What Test Optional Really Means

When it comes to what colleges want to see on a student's high school transcript, some will list required courses, while others are only recommended. In my experience, the "recommended" really means "required". Same with the term "test optional".

Let's say you're applying for a job and the application says you can, at your option, add letters of recommendation from past employers. What do you do? Take the path of least resistance and skip it, or understand that "optional" really means "required".

The same goes for standardized test scores. As I wrote previously, the most selective colleges and universities that suspended test requirements have seen a record number of applications. The result is that their admissions rates became even more competitive. Unsurprisingly, students who submit standardized test scores have the edge. And that's the reason that - except for the University of California System - most colleges still accept them.

Moral of the story is, study hard and take the test(s). No medical or law school that I'm aware of has gone test optional - yet.

Each month, we provide you with tips on your best ways to pay for college regardless of your financial situation.

Every year, the Department of Education says they are making the process of applying for financial aid easier. I have never known this to be true.

For example, I want to address an annoying situation that causes a great deal of frustration. Sometimes, students will receive an email from the Department of Education that says:

"Your student's 2022-23 FAFSA Correction Has Been Processed Successfully. This correction was made by the financial aid staff at your student's school. If your student needs to make additional corrections, contact the school's financial aid office before doing so."

But here's a big flaw in those instructionsL Unless the student is a returning student or only applied to one school, you will have no idea which college made the correction. You can login to your student's FAFSA and see what changes were made, but unless you contact each and every college on the list, you won't know which college made the correction.

Before you go through the time consuming task of reaching out to each college check the actual Student Aid Report (known as the SAR). You do this by logging into the FAFSA using the student's FSA ID. If your Expected Family contribution (the EFC) is appreciably higher the results can be devastating. In that case I recommend you find out which college did it and why. But if it's unchanged or very similar, which is often the case, I would just ignore it.

Well, that's it for this month.

Your College Cruise Director,

Stuart P. Siegel, founder
College Tuition Solutions, Inc.
Creator of FAFSAssist Financial Aid Management Software
208-639-1330

PS The next time you're with a friend with college-bound children, please tell them about us and share this email with them. As you know college is becoming unaffordable for far too many families. Anything we can do to help them I'm certain they will be highly appreciative.

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