Archive for the 'College Financial Aid' Category (3)

7 Ways to Spot a Scholarship Scam!!

7 Ways to Spot a Scholarship Scam

If you’re a student, or the parent of a student, that is about to head off to college, you’ve got to be very careful, because you are on a lot of shady people’s list.

You are going to get a lot of offers by phone and by mail for scholarship searches, or telling you you’ve won a contest or scholarship…..and most of them are TOTAL scams.

Seriously, it’s a huge problem that costs parents over 100 MILLION dollars each year. And that is just what gets reported. I’m sure the actual amount is much, much higher.

So, let me tell you what to watch out for…by the way, feel free to pass this along to any of your friends.

First, let me give you the goal of someone who would try to scam you. It’s one of two things:

1.To get you to pay for something that isn’t going to help you and in fact is a total waste of money

2.To get you to disclose your personal information to them, so they can steal or abuse your identity.

With that said, here’s what you’ve got to be careful of.

  • Anyone calling you to tell you that your student has won an award or scholarship, and they just need some personal information (like a bank account number or credit card number) to ‘process’ your award. A legitimate scholarship is NOT going to charge a processing fee…..ever. Period. So do NOT be giving that information out.
  • Also, beware of any scholarship that you have to pay to enter. Even if the fee is modest, you shouldn’t pay anything. Many of these are just ‘lotteries’….meaning that they collect a ton of money from unsuspecting parents, and then award one token scholarship…just so they don’t get in trouble with the law.Technically, this is legal, but don’t waste your time, it’s still a scam. Go to a 7-11 and buy some lottery tickets instead. The result will be about the same, and hey, at least you don’t have to write an essay!
  • Beware of high pressure. If somebody is calling or mailing you and is trying to put pressure on you, it’s almost a sure sign of a scam. Look, most legitimate scholarships have thousands of applicants, so they don’t HAVE to pressure anybody. In fact, just the opposite, they have students lined up trying to win their money. If you are not interested, that’s fine, they’ll just move on to the next student, but they won’t pressure you, they won’t be asking you for money, and they will send the college or you a check, they WON’T need your credit card number. (Sorry, that was just a little review of what we’ve covered so far).
  • Beware of any company that ‘guarantees’ you will win a scholarship. Many will just take the money and run. No one can guarantee the scholarship except the organization that is giving it out.
  • Watch out for anyone telling you ‘We’ll do all the work for you’. Getting scholarships is a ton of work, and though a good service can weed out what not to waste time with, the student still has to do the work.
  • Many scammers will go out of their way to use official sounding names, like: ‘federal’, ‘national’, ‘education’, or ‘foundation’ to fool parents into believing they are legit.
  • Lastly, remember that private scholarships account now for only about 3% (no, that’s NOT a typo) of the total money that is out there.

My office is focused on getting you the other 97%, making sure your kid gets into the right college, and making sure you can reasonably afford your share, among other things.

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Cant get any College Financial Aid: Save $ by having a Career Plan!

Ten Steps to Guide You to Planning Your Career


1. Create a Career Plan. Think about what you want and like to do. Than research more about the education, skills and training you will need to achieve your career goal.


2. Review your Skills and Interests. Think hard about what you enjoy, what you are good at, what kind of personality you are, and the values you hold. Also think about the things you dislike. If you faint at the sight of blood, you shouldn’t want to be a doctor.


3. Research occupations. Find out more about the nature of the jobs that interest you, such as educational requirements, salary, working conditions, future outlook, and anything else that can help you narrow your focus. A good career planning website should open your eyes to all the career possibilites.


4. Compare your skills and interests with the occupations you’ve found. The career that matches your skills, interests, and personality the closest may be the career for you, even if its not what you had originally thought.


5. Choose your career goal. Once you’ve decided what occupation matches up best with your likes and abilites, then you can begin developing a plan of attack to reach your career goal.


6. Select a school that offers a college degree or training program that best meets your career goal and financial needs. Picking a school based on popularity or because your boyfriend/girlfriend is the wrong way to decide.


7. Figure out how much it will cost you to get your education. Find out your options with financial aid and student loans. Start saving for college, even if you think its too late


8. Get an internship in your chosen career field as soon as possible. An internship can be cheap insurance that you like your career. If you like it, continue on your path, if you don’t than get out asap and re-think your major selection.


9. As you prepare to graduate, start thinking about employers you may have a chance at getting a job at. If you have followed step 8, you will have great references and maybe even a job!


10. Prepare your resume, a good resume is esential to the job application process. Practice job interviewing techniques. You can guarantee you will have at least 1 job interview.

 

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Top 5 ways to get the MAXIMUM College Financial Aid From the FAFSA

Fafsa Tips:  Top 5 ways to GET College Financial Aid from the FAFSA

  1. Fill it out!: “We make too much money to qualify for any financial aid, why should I even fill it out” This is the most common MYTH around college financial aid. Most families think they won’t qualify for any financial aid so they don’t even fill it out,which is the WORST thing to do.  Millions of dollars in aid is left on the table because the FAFSA is not even filled out. 
  2. Fill it out Early.  DON’T PROCASTINATE!!  You need to have the Fafsa turned in early.  But not too early.  We have had a bunch of applications sent back to us because they were sent in on the 2nd of January.  Come to find out they train all the newbie’s on the first financial aid forms that come in.  So ours got sent back in error.  A rule of thumb is to have them in around the third week in January.  Financial aid is given out on a first come first serve basis, so don’t wait.  This will also benefit you if there are mistakes.  If you mess up, it will allow you time to make revisions to your form and resubmit.  If your form is rejected and sent back, it does not count as being submitted, so you have to resubmit before the deadline or you will not get any aid.  And the cut off date is the cut off date!  The financial aid office doesn’t care what your excuse is or allow any extensions!
  3. Read the DIRECTIONS:  I know men do NOT like to read directions, I don’t like to either.  But filling the form out correctly can be the difference between getting aid and not getting any aid.  I cannot tell you how many forms I have seen that are filled out incorrectly! 
  4. Do a Rough Draft:  Just like in school, you are taught to do a rough draft and then a final draft.  Print a copy off the FAFSA website, or pick up a copy at the local library and fill it out in pencil.  Then go over it and make sure you have not included your income in two different places or any other silly mistake.  I suggest you submit the FAFSA over the internet.  It is submitted right away and you don’t have to rely on the postal service.
  5. Don’t wait for your taxes to be filed:  Most people don’t know that your taxes do NOT have to be filed before you can fill it out!  There is a spot on the FAFSA that you can mark “will file” when it asks about your tax returns.  You are allowed to make estimates to what you made.  And if you have your last paystub from the previous year, you should be able to get close.  This allows you to go back in and make revisions to the FAFSA if you do not have them filed.  Most families that do not have crazy income tax returns should be able to get pretty close on the forms.

If you like this information, stick around we have a great report coming out called “How to pay for College without going BROKE!”  If you want a sneak peek at it email me at info@thecollegeexpert.com and I will shoot you a copy!

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