Moneydesks

Paying for College: the library

The FAFSA step by step, comparing aid offers, scholarships, aid appeals, trades and apprenticeships, graduate school funding and money at college.

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In this section (15)

  1. 📝 The FAFSA, step by step (and the CSS Profile)In 30 seconds: The 2027–28 FAFSA is already open. It covers school between July 1, 2027 and June 30, 2028, uses your 2025 tax information, and is free at…
  2. 🏅 Scholarships: where the real money is and how to win itIn 30 seconds: Most scholarship money comes from colleges and states. You get it by filing the FAFSA, and the CSS Profile where a school asks for it, and by…
  3. ⚖️ Reading and comparing financial aid offersIn 30 seconds: An aid offer mixes gifts, a job and debt on one page, and many add them together into one “aid” number. Pull them apart. Net price is the cost…
  4. ✉️ Appealing a financial aid offerIn 30 seconds: There are two kinds of appeal. A special-circumstances request (aid offices call it professional judgment) asks the school to adjust your…
  5. 🛠️ Trades, apprenticeships, short programs and military pathsIn 30 seconds: A four-year degree is not the only route to a good income. Registered apprenticeships pay you while you train. Trade schools can be good…
  6. 🎒 Money at college: budget, books, cards and the refund checkIn 30 seconds: Budget by semester, not by month, because aid arrives in lumps. Price the meal plan against cooking. Look up textbooks by ISBN before buying.…
  7. 🎓 Paying for graduate school after the 2026 loan changesIn 30 seconds: Since July 1, 2026, new graduate borrowers cannot take Grad PLUS loans. Federal borrowing is capped at $20,500 a year for graduate students…
  8. 🏫 College credit in high school: AP, IB, dual enrollment and CLEPIn 30 seconds: A college course you finish in high school is one you don’t buy at college prices. That only pays off if the college you end up at accepts the…
  9. 🚌 Community college first, then transfer: the math and the fine printIn 30 seconds: Two years at a community college and two at a university is one of the biggest legal discounts on a bachelor’s degree, and the diploma comes…
  10. 🐷 529 plans in depth: tax breaks, what counts, and if college never happensIn 30 seconds: A 529 plan grows free of federal tax, and money you take out for qualified education costs is tax-free too. From 2026 the list of qualified…
  11. 🧾 Education tax credits for 2026: AOTC and Lifetime LearningIn 30 seconds: Two federal credits cut your tax bill for college costs. The American Opportunity Tax Credit (AOTC) is worth up to $2,500 per student for four…
  12. 🏛️ What changed for federal student loans in 2025–2026In 30 seconds: The July 2025 budget law (Public Law 119-21, first known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and now called the Working Families Tax Cuts Act by…
  13. 📅 Federal repayment plans now, step by stepIn 30 seconds: Your choices depend on when your loans were made. If every Direct Loan you have was made before July 1, 2026, you keep the older fixed plans…
  14. 🏥 Public Service Loan Forgiveness: how to qualify and avoid a denialIn 30 seconds: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) cancels what is left on your Direct Loans, free of federal income tax, after 120 qualifying monthly…
  15. 🏦 Private student loans and refinancing: what you give upIn 30 seconds: With new caps on Parent PLUS and graduate loans, more families will look at private loans. They can fill a gap, but they carry fewer…