Got College

Preparing for the Holidays: What Every College Freshman Should Know Before Heading Home Hi there! For...

As college costs rise, understanding the potential payoff (or “return on investment”) of different degrees...

Understanding college costs can be overwhelming for families, especially when the numbers provided by schools...

Understanding the Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits for Veterans & Their Families At College Aid Pro, we’re...

Finding Your College "Unicorn": Questions to Guide Your Search Choosing the right college is one of...

2025-2026 FAFSA Changes for Divorced Families: What You Need to Know If you’re part of a...

College Application Fee Waivers: How to Save on the Cost of Applying to College The college...

Master Behavioral Finance: How Parents Can Build a Strong Portfolio After College I’m definitely an impulse...

A Letter to the Parent That Just Got That Phone Call Dear Parents of College Freshman, Hi!...

Understanding Net Price Calculators & Finding A Better Option Navigating the college application process can feel...

Why Everyone Needs Financial Planning: Breaking Down Common Misconceptions At AssetAlign, we start every consultation with...

Could College Prep Be A New Olympic Sport? I love the Olympics!  I’ve spent as much...

Hello. My name is Kevin and I’m a recovering Analysis Paralysis (AP) sufferer. For as long...

Our goal at College Aid Pro is to help students and families find colleges that...

 As a former freshman in college, I can attest to the fact that move-in day...

Summer Tips for Parents of Rising Juniors Hello, fellow parents! As a mom of a rising...

The Current State of Student Loan Debt in America As of 2022, there was $1.6 trillion...

Many college-bound families look to federal student loan options provided by the U.S. Department of...

Imagine it - your child applies and gets accepted to their dream school AND is...

5 Budgeting Tips for College Kids Hi there! My name is Claire, and I’m currently a...

4 Steps To Choosing The Right Student Loan In 2024 At College Aid Pro (CAP), our...

Your Personal Brand Matters Attention high school students and parents!  I want you to understand that your...

Are you frustrated or even outraged that college is so expensive? I can assure you......

Understanding Scholarship Displacement: A Hard-Learned Lesson from Our Family’s College Journey Navigating the financial aspects of...

Parents of high school seniors - Do you want to enjoy this summer before college? Here...

College Success Bootcamp - Learn How to Tackle College Planning In 3 FREE Sessions! Is College...

When My Oldest Started Applying, I Was Lost in College Lingo If I had a dollar...

FAFSA Week Of Action - April 15 - 19 2024 At College Aid Pro, we are...

A Letter from Our CEO Regarding the FAFSA Fiasco A nurse friend of mine gave me...

10 Tips for Successful College Visits As a family embarking on the college search journey, campus...

Navigating College Admissions: The Strategic Power of Demonstrated Interest As parents, we embark on the college...

Understanding Financial Aid Terms Before You Dive In To College Planning Let's face it - the...

Finding Private Scholarships for College Paying for college is a big challenge, especially with tuition and...

How to Leverage the FAFSA Delays Applying for student financial aid can be both overwhelming and...

FAFSA 2024: 4 Recurring Frustrations and How to Fix Them The FAFSA application process is a...

Decoding College Financial Aid Letters Congratulations! You've been accepted into college, and now it's time to...

The college admissions process is overwhelming. Once you tackle applications and submissions, you begin the...

College Acceptance Letters: A Complete Guide Congratulations! All your college applications are in. Now comes the...

Find Your College Match Searching for the right college match with your high schooler can be...

College admissions - it's a nuanced beast if you are a high school student or...

The journey to college can be both exciting and overwhelming, and understanding the timelines for...

Sticker Price vs Net Price: Making Sense of College Costs Are you a parent of a...

Net Price Calculator's vs. MyCAP SAI Estimates You’ve heard the expression “less is more?” Well, sometimes...

What Colleges Require the CSS Profile for Financial Aid? When it comes to applying for financial...

Your Complete Pell Grant Guide: Are You Eligible? In today's world, the cost of college continues...

When Is The FAFSA Due If you’re in the throes of college application season, then you’re...

Embarking on the journey to higher education is an exciting chapter in a student's life....

As a parent, you want the best for your child's future, and higher education is...

Do I Have to Pay Back College Financial Aid? College education can be an expensive endeavor,...

If you're a parent with a child heading off to college or one already there,...

When it comes to financing your education, there's more to consider than just tuition fees....

  Are you feeling the pressure of impending college costs? You’re definitely not alone. The road...

The Supreme Court's Decision on Affirmative Action and Its Impact on College Admissions For those who...

If you're a high school student, you've probably heard of the PSAT. But what is...

I think we can all agree on the importance of college for some students as...

It's August and college application season has officially begun- whether you're ready for it or...

Congratulations on having saved for college. The addition of 529 savings to your plan gives your...

Many college-bound students who are gearing up to go to apply to competitive schools lean...

Click Here to Register Do you have a high schooler, particularly one who is possibly interested...

  The U.S has over 4000 colleges and universities. If you've started researching colleges in order...

Understanding the different types of college application deadlines If your student is just beginning their college...

Summer is in full swing and rising high school seniors are, no, let me rephrase,...

So, you’ve been talking to your kid about the future and it’s become pretty clear...

Ah summer. The sun is shining, you’re spending more time out and about, getting in...

How Do I Finalize My Federal Direct Student Loan? At College Aid Pro™, we believe...

Do you have a love-hate relationship with the SAT like many college bound students and...

Cost of tuition is a major factor into many families’ final decision of where to...

Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Kristi Steele of KC360, who specializes in...

What is A Pre-Paid Tuition Plan? A pre-paid tuition plan is an account to save to...

We wanted to share a quick update with our families on our $1,000 No Essay...

So your student has been accepted to college - Congrats! Celebrate their accomplishments and then...

A “financial safety” school is a college that you know your family can afford. It...

Every parent wants their high schooler to have a smooth transition to college. They want...

What's the Difference Between an Acceptance Letter and a Financial Aid Letter? https://youtu.be/wAZJZKREB4w Acceptance Letters An acceptance letter...

Students are increasingly being given the opportunity to take advantage of advanced courses in high...

Merit Scholarships: How do Colleges look at Weighted and Unweighted GPAs? Merit scholarships are a great...

https://youtu.be/xp4mSKmRo1s Hey Seniors! Congrats on making it to the last semester of high school!  You're almost...

Many high school juniors, preparing to determine their senior year class schedule, are asking:  “What classes...

https://youtu.be/9BqeeULhB4Q   What Constitutes a "Divorced or Separated Family" for College Financial Aid? Colleges don't see a difference...

College Aid Pro Reviews Our mission is to end the student debt crisis. We aim to...

https://youtu.be/uPtAdmQ7XZg Is Saving for College a Bad Idea? NO!  Saving for college is a good idea- and...

Congratulations Class of 2024 - you’re on the home stretch! High school graduation is right...

https://youtu.be/rpxjE84I1kQ CAP's new Financial Aid Award Analyzer in the Evaluate & Appeal module allows you to...

This one’s for all you parents out there starting the college planning and application process...

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” – Herbert Spencer We created the...

https://youtu.be/m8zZndLlGHw Appealing- Can you really go back and ask a college to give you more money...

Senioritis. Parents across the country have heard of it. High school teachers dread it. It's a...

https://youtu.be/Eni29XqVAco What are Federal Student Loans? These are loans given out by the federal government.  It's the...

At College Aid Pro, we pride ourselves on creating sound data sets that power easy-to-use...

In the US, we take for granted the quality of many of our higher education...

https://youtu.be/9bSwtaktfDA We know no one likes to talk about budgets, but shopping for college requires understanding...

  Click Here to Register Do you have a high schooler, particularly one who is in the...

If you have an upperclassmen high school student who will be working on college applications...

  Free Money for College: Understanding Grants and Scholarships All schools offer free money, or "gift aid"...

As a former high schooler and the mom to two current high schoolers, I’ve heard...

What happens when you receive a scholarship award – but it’s still not enough to...

Demonstrated Interest and How It Affects College Admissions In this video, we'll explore how demonstrated interest...

Everyone has heard "paying for college" horror stories. Families spend a full summer (sometimes longer)...

In this video, we're going to take a look at what is an EFC and...

Are you unsure if appealing for more financial aid affects your admissions decision? Watch this...

What is a 529 Plan? In this video, we'll explain what a 529 is and how...

  In this video, we'll discuss what to know about the Data Retrieval Tool and how...

College admissions can start to roll in in the month of December every year and...

For those waiting on federal student loan forgiveness, there have been some bumps in the...

With the FAFSA Simplification Act comes a host of changes to the way federal student...

How to Complete the IDOC Financial Aid Verification Process     The college financial aid application process is...

The CSS Profile and the FAFSA have very different requirements and how they calculate your...

 The Importance of Transparency College Aid Pro’s (CAP) Mission is to End the Student Debt Crisis...

The FAFSA leverages a tool called the IRS Data Retrieval Tool (IRS DRT) to make...

A Transgender Student’s Guide to Shopping, Applying And Paying For College While more and more students...

Getting all of your financial aid forms completed and submitted is a major milestone. A...

Our core belief at CAP is that students and families can make smart, fiscally sound...

The Federal Student Aid office recently announced FAFSA changes that will go into effect for...

  The 2024-2025 CSS Profile is available now. Before you dive headfirst into filling out this...

“Have you started looking at colleges yet?” I remember asking my daughter this question 3...

6 Tips to Ensure You Don't Go Broke Paying for College Flip or scroll through the...

Financial aid forms can seem tricky for any household, but this is especially true for...

For most families, a student loan must be part of the college-funding conversation. Through careful...

Was your expected family contribution (EFC) too high and now you’re left with a too-little...

Negotiation is an art.  Lawyers negotiate contracts, deals, and settlements on behalf of their clients, real...

As we get close to May 1, National College Decision Day, deciding where to go...

When applying for financial aid, you are submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid...

High SAT scores can be very advantageous in your student’s college search process. They can...

  President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday, August 24, 2022, that a student loan forgiveness plan...

When dependent students apply for financial aid whether through the FAFSA or CSS Profile, they...

Do you find this article helpful? Imagine what you could learn from Matt, along with...

When you think about financial aid, “quirky” might not be the first word that comes...

 Today we’re talking about applying for financial aid. Not the most exciting topic, but we...

Getting a Division 1 athletic scholarship is not an easy task. However, if your student...

Athletic scholarships for college are often misunderstood and assumed to be more available than they...

Most families in the college application process have heard the term "National Merit Scholarship" float...

Do National Merit finalists get full-ride scholarships? In some cases, yes! Previously, we wrote about what ACT...

I was listening to a financial call-in program the other day and the topic of...

Does your student have a special skill they have developed for years? Have they practiced...

When most people think about merit scholarships, they think of a competitive elimination process where...

I always love when parents share a merit scholarship success story! This one is from...

Full-ride scholarships pay the full price of attending a college.  This usually includes tuition, fees,...

With the cost of college continuously on the rise, many college-bound students and their parents...

When Your Student Aid Index (SAI) is Too High Are you left scrambling after filling out...

This was originally written for and published by Saving For College, adapted and expanded for...

Every year, countless students are waitlisted at major colleges and universities across the country. When...

Pros and Cons Of Test-Optional College Admissions For years, students and parents have railed against the...

College is an investment. And like all other investments, you should expect to get a great...

Browse 529 plans by state   A 529 Plan is a college savings account that is funded...

What Expenses Can Be Paid from a 529 Plan? Up to this point, parents have SAVED...

Grandparents want to help. They see the expense ahead for their kids to pay for...

It’s no secret that college tuition is continuing to increase dramatically year over year. For...

The best resources for athletic recruiting vary from athletic recruiting service websites to school sites...

Merit scholarships can be one of the best ways to pay for college, especially if...

Wanting to get your student a free college education? Who doesn’t! The fact is, there...

Will we qualify for need-based financial aid for college? – A question on the minds...

Types of Need-Based Financial Aid When you receive a need-based financial aid package from a college,...

Thank you for joining us for this brief video with our very own Fairy Godmother...

It seems like in the world of financial aid there's always one question that bubbles...

Have you heard the term Expected Family Contribution on TV or social media and wondered...

If you’re the parent of a rising high school junior or senior, this blog is...

Parents regularly express frustration to me, for having been penalized for saving for their child’s...

The fall 2023 enrollment season is here! This time brings a flurry of excitement, nerves,...

Understanding Financial Aid First thing's first – don’t feel ashamed if you’re more than a little...

How much do your standardized test scores matter? The short answer: A lot. But it’s complicated. SAT...