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.

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

In the past few months, largely in response to the credit crunch precipitated by the subprime mortgage crisis, some homeowners have been receiving letters from their lenders indicating that their home equity lines of credit have been frozen. In some cases, these freezes may be the result of missed payments (even missed payments on other debts) or declining home values in the area, but that’s not always the case. Many freezes are happening to homeowners with homes that have not declined in value, and who have impeccable payment histories and credit records. (more…)

According to this article at the Seattle Business Journal WaMu is shutting down or reducing customers lines’ of credit. Bad news if you were planning to use a HELOC to pay college expenses.

WaMu reduces home equity credit to homeowners

This is not completely unexpected, but for many may be unwelcome.

Yes. Yes I am.

Crazy enough to know what the heck I am talking about.

A parent asked me the above question recently and at the time i laughed, but later, as i thought about it more i realized he wasn’t trying to be difficult or unfair, he was unaware of how times have changed.

Since most of today’s parents’ applied for college 20+ years ago the world has changed dramatically when it comes to applying to college. Most of them applied to one, two or maybe three colleges and if they appled to three, their friends made fun of them.

Things are different now. We stand at what is the crest of the largest wave of new students planning to attend college in history and students need options. Six to eight schools is not that unreasonable when you break it down:

1. 2-3 ‘aspirational’ schools
2. 3-4 Schools that represent good, solid choices your child has a good chance of getting into
3. 1-2 Safety schools. In short these should be a slam dunk on getting in.

Which brings me to real reason to apply to multiple schools even if your kid is SURE they want to go to school X.

Money. Money plain and simple. I’ve seen$10-15k gaps between the best and worst school for the exact same family. I will go into why in a later post, but the short version is that some schools will offer you more and others will likely offer you less regardless of how much you make. The amount depends on the student, your financial situation and the school and their policies.

Parents, just trust me-times have changed and go with this recommendation.

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.