If you’re a parent who wants to help your child or children pay for college, you probably want to maximize how much you can save and contribute toward their tuition and expenses. Here’s how you can do it with a 529 savings plan, which is one of the most popular ways for families to maximize their college savings.
Blog Posts
Why College Doesn’t Cost What You Think
We often make assumptions about college costs, and these are often based on whether schools are public or private, or they’re in-state or out-of-state. But these assumptions are often wrong, and they can cost you thousands of dollars and kill your child’s dreams. Here’s how costs really work at U.S. colleges, and here’s what you need to know so you don’t end up being a dream-killer.
New Rules for Federal Student Loans and Financial Aid (2025-26)
Significant new rules changes are going into effect in 2025 and 2026 for federal student loans, financial aid, and Pell Grants. Here’s what parents and families need to know about these new changes and how they might impact your student.
10 Things Parents Should Know About PLUS Loans
Every parent should know about PLUS Loans. Here’s how they can help fill the gap that financial aid doesn’t cover and even cover your entire college costs. Almost any parent can qualify, so read my article to learn more.
What They Don’t Tell You About Scholarships
Most of us have heard stories about students who got thousands of dollars in scholarships to go to college. We also hear about scholarship “experts’ who promise to show you how you can do the same things. But here’s the real story about scholarships, how they work, and how buying into the hype or assuming you can’t qualify for them can lead you astray.
20 Core Areas of College Planning
When planning for college, there are 20 areas that just about everybody should work on. In fact, most people will need to include all of these things in their college planning, and virtually everyone will do most of them. They generally fall into four categories, which are College Finances, Choosing a School, Getting Accepted, and Your Family’s Plan.