Blog | Capstone Wealth Partners - Financial Planning for College-Bound Families

Oct 30

Student loans are scary: How much can you afford?

Do you know what is scary?! We’re not talking zombies, ghosts, or witches. We're talking scary student loans! How about these facts? The current outstanding student loan debt in the US is $1.676 TRILLION! The amount of student loan debt is rising about $2,858 PER SECOND! Only 41% of students... read more →

October 30, 2020
Joe Messinger, CFP®
College

Oct 23

Essential Planning For College-Bound Students

Today we welcome a guest post from our friend, Logan K. Philipps, Esq. Logan is a partner at Resch, Root, Philipps & Graham law firm in Dublin, Ohio. He and his wife, Molly, have three beautiful boys. Before going to law school, he taught fifth grade language arts and sixth... read more →

Oct 16

Early Decision College Applications

It's college application season! When it comes to deadlines, colleges throw around several terms for when the application is due--early decision, early action, regular decision, and rolling admissions to name a few. Some colleges get even more creative with terms like "restricted early action" and others. In this blog, we... read more →

Oct 09

FAFSA Mistakes To Avoid

FAFSA is open and ready to be filled out! This year, according to the U.S. Department of Education, fafsa.gov has enhanced help topics by providing images of the form along with relevant line numbers to help students navigate the form. Now let's take a closer look at the mistakes you... read more →

Oct 02

9 things you should know about the CSS Profile so you can “Know Before You Go”

When families file for federal financial aid, they will complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is required at colleges to determine eligibility for federal grants, loans, and work-study programs. Some colleges use an alternate or institutional method for determining need and help them award non-federal... read more →

October 2, 2020
Joe Messinger, CFP®
College

Sep 25

Using the FAFSA Mobile App

Every fall, we spend some time talking about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA. In 2018, applicants had a new way to apply--via their smartphones! The hope is that the FAFSA mobile app called myStudentAid will make the FAFSA more accessible to students who don't have a... read more →

Sep 18

Parents, Dependents, and Financial Aid: Clarifying Relationships and Reporting

When dependent students apply for financial aid whether via the FAFSA or CSS Profile, they will have to provide parental information as part of the process. Some questions can come to mind. What students are independent? When are they considered dependent? Who are the "parents"? What happens in situations like... read more →

Sep 11

How Are Test Optional Colleges Handling Merit Scholarships?

The SAT exam was born in 1926 and the ACT in 1959. The ACT and SAT exams were created for the purpose of leveling the playing field in college admissions. Regardless of a student's background, these "standardized" tests were intended to provide a way to compare students...a sort of apples... read more →

Sep 04

College classes have gone online. Why does it still cost so much?

Colleges were hopeful. They hoped to have students on campus and taking classes in person despite COVID-19. As we wrote this piece, some colleges are holding classes in person, but each day another college announces their classes will be moved to an online format. This list from The Chronicle of... read more →

Aug 26

Liberal Arts Colleges in Crisis

When we originally wrote this blog back in March of 2019, we focused on the small liberal arts colleges that were struggling financially and closing their doors. Small names like Green Mountain College, Mount Ida, Southern Vermont, Newbury, and more were all closing their doors. Today in the time of... read more →