The College Planning Blog

According to the today’s USA Today, college students
are racking up credit card debt to pay for
their education.

30% charge their tuition compared to 24% in 2004.
92% of undergrads charged textbooks, school
supplies and other educational expenses compared
to 85% in 2004.

Marie O’Malley, director of consumer research
for Sallie Mae, thinks families are underestimating
college costs and opting for more expensive
credit card debt in lieu of applying for cheaper
financial aid.

“Too many students are at risk of overpaying for
college by pulling out credit cards…instead of using
less-expensive financial aid…” said O’Malley.

Wow!  Does this sound familiar?

Brannon and I have been warning about this,
like a broken record, for years.

Why don’t parents apply for financial aid?  Put another
way, why do 53% of all eligible families not bother
to apply?

One reason is intimidation. You “need a PhD” to
figure out the FAFSA, according to Secretary of
Education Arne Duncan. The forms are annoying
and a pain the in the rump, with multiple land-mines
to stumble on and blow up all chances of aid.

Another reason is that parents put off their college
planning until it’s too late. The best time to start
the college planning process is the second half
of sophomore year, junior year at the latest.

What are the consequences to your children if
you don’t take this seriously?

One graduate who maxed out his credit cards
to pay for college fretted, “I wonder if I’ll ever be
able to get a home…with the debt I have now and
the marks against my credit.”

We’re running Four free college funding workshops
this month.  Response to my emails and our
ads has caused attendance to spike.

Register today at:

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Seating is limited.

Hope to see you at a workshop this month!

Jeremy

P.S.  Some of the topics to be covered include:

* How even millionaires can save 20% off the
cost of college;

* Think you make too much money to qualify
for financial aid?  You’re probably wrong, dead
wrong!

* Can you legally “position” yourself to receive more
financial aid?

P.P.S.  Please forward this to a friend who could use help.

Pictured from the left: Jeff Farmer, Jeremy Farmer, and Brannon Lloyd

Hey Guys,

Join us for our incredible new college planning radio show every Sunday at 5PM on 1070AM. You can also listen live on their website: www.KNTH.com.

College insiders to start new radio show, give parents priceless advice to help them save thousands.While they’ve saved thousands of families too much money to count, local college planning experts say that’s not going nearly far enough. After speaking in front of tens of thousands of parents over the last five years local college planning experts will begin broadcasting their message using 10,000 watts of power since, as Jeff Farmer says, “One man can only shout so loudly, we need to get the word out that people can save more on college.”"We have the perfect storm brewing right now, skyrocketing gas prices, a tanking stock market, and an economy in a recession. However, for millions of families the need to send a student to college is not going away. It’s shocking that so many parents won’t even be able to afford for their kids to go to school in the next few years, so many good students won’t be able to go, and many students will have to drop out, unless they know the inside information that the colleges don’t want given out,” says Jeremy Farmer. He then adds, “It’s not even a matter of affording the best school….it’s being able to have ANY money left at all these days. Brannon Lloyd was astonished when he first started talking to parents and realized how much bad information was floating around-some of it in the media, “It’s amazing how many parents are desperate for this kind of information. I really don’t know what to say, except that I’m totally blown away.”

The College Planning Power Hour will be broadcast Live on KNTH AM 1070 Sundays from 5-6pm beginning August 17th, 2008.

Well it actually nice when you see what you’ve known to be true ‘discovered’ in the media.

Your Credit Matters and Being Smart Can (and will) Cost you

If you are considering using loans to finance your childs’ college education, you better check your own credit first because if your credit has any little ‘irregularities’ the loans you will be living with for the next 10-15 years will haunt you the whole time. What? You say you’ve never had a late payment in your life? Even if you fall into that category you better pull your credit report because other peoples’ financial mismanagement may be hurting you and as I learned recently it can take MONTHS to get it straightened out. You can go to annualcreditreport.com and get copies of your credit report for free once a year (in most states) and make sure you’re not being punished for a late you never had or someone else’s foreclosure.

Which leads me to my SECOND point.

The New York Times has an interesting article that tells how shopping for a new home loan or even a BMW will not hurt your credit score-actually it does a little but all credit pulls in a short period count as ONE. However if you shop around for the best rate on student loans, and it’s not always the ones the school offers you, you get penalized for each and every time a loan provider runs your credit!

Now if you have stellar credit, why do you care? Well each pull lowers your score and if anything erronous is there AND with creditors tightening up standards by raising the credit scores needed to get the best rates you might not even qualify, or not get the best rates.

The article can be found here.

I’m extremely ticked off so I’ll be quick like a bunny with this email.

I see why so many parents never even bother to apply for financial aid! They’re being told that they make too much money by the so-called experts - this is why I call ‘em “schmexperts”!

Check out this clip. Some well-intentioned “friend” of mine sent me a video from Kiplingers about college financial aid.

This woman, Janet Bodnar, does a decent job explaining why you may want to save in your name, not your child’s, but then she lets lose a colossal, “gi-normous” 100% false statement: If you make a lot of money, like more than a hundred grand, you probably wont’ qualify for aid!

Sweet mother of all things holy! How dumb is she?

This video appeared in an article on MSN.com. The article talks about how Harvard and Yale are giving away money for parents making up to 180K and 200K, respectively!!!

Hello?

This is what Jeff, Brannon, and I are talking about when we tell you, don’t listen to the “schmexperts,” listen to US. Our advice is frequently 180 degrees opposite to your typical trusted advisors, CPAs, guidance counselors, BRACE Advisors, and now, Kiplingers!

Our advice: EVERYONE should apply for financial aid! Case in point - you can go to Harvard (a $50,000 per year school,) for $18,000!

OK, I’m done with my rant.

I’ve gotta calm down. I’m doing a workshop tonight on scholarships for student-athletes.
It would be better if I’m not foaming at the mouth.

Later.

- Jeremy

Hi everyone, Brannon here.

Some interesting changes are coming to Federal Aid due to the current student loan Crisis. The federal government is trying to open things up for families. But keep in mind their answer is offering more debt.

To accomplish this, the Act grants the Secretary of Education temporary authority to purchase loans from lenders in the federally guaranteed loan program (officially called the Federal Family Education Loan Program) if the Secretary determines that lenders can’t meet the demand for student loans. The Act also authorizes the Secretary of Education to advance federal funds to guarantee agencies that are operating as “lenders of last resort” in the event they don’t have sufficient capital to originate new loans. The Act also dispenses with the requirement that students demonstrate an inability to borrow from other sources before turning to a lender of last resort.
(more…)

Ok, I am about to rant, but I can’t help it. Everywhere i look Time Magazine, US News, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times ALL get it wrong, and I am going to tell you how to get it right.

Quick, how much does a year at college cost? I suppose your answer should depend on the college in question, but if you are any of the magazines or newspapers just mentioned you routinely get this information WRONG, and its making me crazy.

They often post the cost of Tuition and sometimes the cost of tuition and room and board. As a result they give you either 1/3 or maybe 2/3’s of the total cost. But the first rule of affordability is, what does it cost. The term you will have to get used to asking for on your college visits is something called “Cost of Attendance”. All colleges can answer this for you, but surprisingly (or not) many times when i have called them it sounds like the person on the other end of the phone is trying to find all of the information in order to add it up and tell me.

So what does it cost on average?

Here in Texas a state school runs $18-$22,000 and Private schools anywhere can run from $30-$55,000. Do yourself a favor and ASK. How can you expect to pay for anything if you don’t know the cost?

So is this the result of some conspiracy between the schools and media to misrepresent the total cost? I doubt it, but most writers rely on the schools for the answer and don’t question (or research) it. Again, PLEASE ask your schools about the COST OF ATTENDANCE. Knowing the real and actual cost is just smart. Will you get aid? I have no idea, since i don’t know you. But the smart way to plan is to assume you will get none, be ready for that, and sometimes be pleasantly surprised. Don’t ASSUME you will get money and plan for that-Murphy is alive and well.