The College Planning Edge

College Coffee Talk, April 24, 2024. (Live 10am EST, Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep): Another blow to test-optional, the latest on student loan "forgiveness" developments. See LockwoodCollegePrep.com for more information on our college advisory, financial aid consulting, test prep and other programs.

4/1/24 episode of College Coffee Talk (Mondays 10am EST Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep): The FAFSApocalypse - signs of relief? Harvard - Safety School? The first 100K per year college (not a sick April Fool's joke) More! For 11th graders: Get College Ready Summer Applications and Essays Bootcamp: LockwoodCollegePrep.com/bootcamp

Originally a live webinar on 3/20/24, college consultants Pearl and Andy Lockwood revealed how to comfortably afford college -- without cutting back on your lifestyle or racking up tens of thousands in high rate, high fee college debt (on your kid or you) -- by taking advantage of legal and ethical "loopholes" buried in the financial aid regulations. Topics included: How six figure and seven-figure earning families can qualify for tuition discounts of 56.2% even If their child did not crush the SAT, bribe a proctor or cure a pandemic over the summer The strange reason an expensive private college can cost LESS than a “cheaper” state university 4 Legal and Ethical Ways to "Hide" Your Money --The Wall Street Journal said it best: In financial aid, it's not how much you've saved, but WHERE 7 Deadly Traps to Avoid - Thousands of families each year needlessly "steal from themselves" by committing these costly financial aid errors The FAFSApocalpyse - The cluster-you-know-what caused by the Department of Education's efforts to "simplify" the FAFSA financial aid application and how they affect you The 529: "Friend" or "Foe?" - What's the deal with the 529 college savings plan that your financial guy or accountant recommended? And what to do about it if you have one. Self-Employed Parents - The biggest mistake business owners make. Plus little known "Tax Scholarships" buried in your business that your accountant has never bothered to advise you how to unearth Negotiation Secrets: How a mild-mannered college advisor helped his client into a “windfall” of an ​additional $30,022 from an elite college AFTER its “final,” stingy award Financial Aid Rules' "Tectonic" Changes for families with siblings in college, business owners, divorced families More - webinar attendees had a lot of questions in the chat that we attempted to answer.   I bet you have some of the same ones! Enjoy! More help available at LockwoodCollegePrep.com/faw

College Coffee Talk (originally aired 3/18/24 - Mondays 10am EST on Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep): A financial aid "hack" to beat the leprechauns in the financial aid office, another college pulls the plug on test-optional, more! Resources: LockwoodTestPrep.com/online LockwoodCollegePrep.com/bootcamp

Recording of Andy Lockwood's presentation to an intimate group of parents (including one with a First and Third Grader) in March 2024. Lockwood fielded a variety of questions, including: *How many times should you take the PSAT? * What are "good" extracurricular activities? *How long will this presentation last (asked by a 5th grade daughter dragged to the presentation by her mom. Real cute, kid.) *When should you start working with a college advisor? (Lockwood liked this question, but his answer might surprise you.) *More For more resources, visit https://www.lockwoodcollegeprep.com/

From the Virtual Mailbag: Can your kid get into Harvard? Probably not. Well, maybe (although their published rate is currently in the 3% range, yikes!) We’ve helped a couple dozen kids get into Harvard over the years, but even we know that there’s no “magic recipe.” But we do know what it takes…

College Coffee Talk 3-11-24 (broadcast live on Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep): Feedback on the first digital SAT in the US What do do if your FAFSA info doesn't tell the whole truth Bombshell reasons for the FAFSA problems (and what to do about them) More, from the live Q&A Join Pearl and Andy Lockwood live, Mondays 10am EST on their Facebook page: Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep. More info at LockwoodCollegePrep.com

Originally broadcast on College Coffee Talk! [Mondays 10am EST, Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep This live episode covered: *Student Loan Relief Case Study (that sounds too good to be true) *The digital SAT and decline of test optional policies *College essay news *More! Resources mentioned: Student Loan Relief service: https://www.yesterdaysdebt.com/ Summer Bootcamp for class of 2025 https://www.lockwoodcollegeprep.com/bootcamp Common Application Essay Prompts https://www.commonapp.org/blog/common-app-announces-2024-2025-common-app-essay-prompts

From the Virtual Mailbag: "How do we get merit aid?" College advisor and author Andy Lockwood reveals the ins and outs of how to get your mitts on merit aid.  More info at LockwoodCollegePrep.com/faw

Ain't nothin' more stressful in the college process than writin' them essays! Trust me, I'm a college ad-vey-sor! Relax. Kidding. But writing essays is definitely the most stressful part of the process. I think you'll feel a lot better after you listen to this short episode (originally a live streamed video). Mentioned in this video:  our summer Get College Ready College Applications and Essays Bootcamp: https://www.lockwoodcollegeprep.com/bootcamp

College Coffee Talk 2/22/24: The Mom Who Ripped Me a New One, Latest News and Predictions About Test-Optional, Student Loan Forgiveness Plans Update. (Originally an episode broadcast on our Facebook page, facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep - Mondays 10am EST). More info at www.YesterdaysDebt.com and www.LockwoodCollegePrep.com

Before you ask (beg) your accountant to help you with financial aid, listen to this short episode (originally a livestreamed video from the mailbag :) See LockwoodCollegePrep.com for more info on our financial aid and college advisory programs.

In this episode of College Coffee Talk (Mondays, 10am EST, Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep) college advisors Pearl and Andy Lockwood discuss the biggest mistake parents make, the latest on the FAFSA mess and delays, more!

College Coffee Talk is back! College advisors Pearl and Andy Lockwood pull out this weekly college news show from the vault and dust it off to cover the latest developments on test-optional trends, FAFSA delays, more. Live every Monday 10am EST on https://www.Facebook.com/lockwoodcollegeprep

Thoughts on the financial aid lawsuit involving Yale, Columbia, Duke, Brown, Emory, Penn, Georgetown, Cornell, Notre Dame, MIT, Cal Tech, Johns Hopkins, Dartmouth, Northwestern and Rice...and the truth about so-called "need-based" aid. Info on how to appeal your lowball financial aid or merit aid offer: https://www.lockwoodcollegeprep.com/appeals

Breaking:  January 24, 2024: Costume-clad and highly credible college advisors Pearl and Andy Lockwood issue their bold predictions for Class of 2025, 2026 and younger college-bound families, including: is test-optional here to stay? Will acceptance rates continue to drop? What effect will the Supreme Court's decision on affirmative action have on campus diversity? More

Real-time, in-the-trenches reporting on the new FAFSA, it's changes, glitches, what's missing, more, courtesy of financial aid expert Pearl Lockwood of Lockwood College Prep. For more information about Lockwood College Prep, visit www.LockwoodCollegePrep.com.

What does it mean and what should you do if you're deferred by your Early Decision college? WEBVTT 00:00.811 --> 00:09.594 Hello, Andy Lockwood from Lockwood College Prep, and today I wanted to talk about what do you do if you are deferred by your early decision school. 00:09.814 --> 00:21.718 I am recording this on December 15th, and that means a lot of people have heard back by now from their early decision school, some with great news, some with other news, a few rejections. 00:22.540 --> 00:23.501 So what do you do if you're deferred? 00:24.081 --> 00:29.946 So first of all, understand that being deferred is not necessarily a negative thing. 00:30.026 --> 00:33.629 In fact, I would say it's extremely neutral, even though it doesn't feel good. 00:35.030 --> 00:49.582 All it means is that the, what it usually means, I should say, is that the admissions office is deferring or putting you back in the pile to later compare your application to that of others who 00:51.104 --> 00:54.947 that are submitted by the regular deadlines, which are usually the beginning of January. 00:55.007 --> 00:57.730 So you'll hear back in March or April. 00:58.611 --> 01:03.555 It could also mean that they didn't have a chance to review your application. 01:03.595 --> 01:18.008 That's really been the case in the last, I guess, three years since the rise of COVID and the rise of test optional policies, which allow everyone under the sun to think they have a shot at getting into a super high 01:19.148 --> 01:22.532 high-level, very challenging college. 01:22.772 --> 01:23.954 But that's not the case. 01:24.575 --> 01:32.304 Just because the school may accept applications, test optional, doesn't mean that they're going to accept you for test optional, right? 01:32.424 --> 01:34.287 So anyway, there's a lot more applications that 01:34.747 --> 01:37.008 have been going in over each and every year. 01:37.048 --> 01:44.932 I haven't seen the stats this year for December 2023, but I imagine that they are staggering the same as last year. 01:45.892 --> 01:54.276 And what that means is that these colleges that encourage people to apply test optional are bringing this upon themselves. 01:55.016 --> 01:59.819 They're flooded with applications, and in many cases, they don't have time to actually review them. 02:01.198 --> 02:05.414 That could very well be the reason that your application or your son or daughter's application 02:06.038 --> 02:07.759 was put into the deferment pile. 02:07.779 --> 02:08.219 So what do you do? 02:08.739 --> 02:15.342 Well, I would say first would be to make sure the college knows that you still are very interested in attending that school. 02:15.602 --> 02:21.104 It's called sending a letter of continued interest, a loci, as we in the biz call it. 02:21.744 --> 02:34.009 And all that letter is is a very simple two-sentencer max that says something along the lines of, I was really disappointed to hear that I was deferred, but I'm still very interested. 02:34.594 --> 02:37.475 and attending such and such college is still my top choice. 02:38.415 --> 02:42.716 I wanted to just give you a quick update on what's happened since I submitted my application. 02:42.736 --> 02:46.156 And then you can just bullet point out anything positive. 02:46.496 --> 02:54.538 So I've continued to get good grades and here are my updated results. 02:55.898 --> 02:58.339 Any accolades or any accomplishments, 02:59.321 --> 03:07.783 Also fair game, if those are not on the actual common application that you submitted a few months ago, I would also include that. 03:08.303 --> 03:09.083 Anything that's positive. 03:09.803 --> 03:23.325 Sometimes people go out and they get an additional recommendation from someone outside of the context, meaning not an additional teacher recommendation, but maybe from someone else who knows you in a different area. 03:23.905 --> 03:25.606 That would be a good thing too. 03:26.886 --> 03:28.987 Just send this one time and get that in. 03:29.968 --> 03:38.253 And then while you're waiting until March, it's not a bad idea to then send one max two additional updates. 03:38.433 --> 03:40.895 Only if you genuinely have something to update them on. 03:42.175 --> 03:43.336 You don't want to stalk. 03:44.017 --> 03:46.858 So there's a line between updating and stalking. 03:47.459 --> 03:50.781 But you want to continue to advocate for yourself. 03:51.601 --> 03:54.203 Let them know if there were magic words. 03:54.667 --> 03:57.669 The magic words would be, if you let me in, I am coming. 03:58.069 --> 04:03.092 They know that because you applied early decision, but wouldn't kill you to reiterate that. 04:04.472 --> 04:05.053 That's really it. 04:06.353 --> 04:10.236 So don't be too down. 04:10.356 --> 04:12.077 You're still in the game if you were deferred. 04:13.838 --> 04:14.258 Stick it out. 04:14.278 --> 04:14.878 It's a long ride. 04:14.898 --> 04:21.422 A lot of bumps, a lot of ups and downs, but things tend to work out and kids generally love the colleges that they get into. 04:22.478 --> 04:24.579 So that's what I hope is the case for you. 04:25.259 --> 04:26.199 Andy Lockwood signing off. 04:26.219 --> 04:43.026 If you like this content, if you're watching it or listening to it or whatever, please subscribe on whatever platform you're seeing or hearing this, either as a video or a podcast or whatever else, whatever other media may come up by the time I wrap up this video. 04:43.506 --> 04:43.986 Thanks a lot. 04:44.546 --> 04:46.427 Have a good day and good luck.

College financial aid expert Pearl Lockwood reveals several "hidden" payment relief options for parents with huge amounts of PLUS (parent) loans, case studies, more. See YesterdaysDebt.com for more information.

We polled 250+ families on what their one "burning" questions was about financial aid...then we answered them on a (5 Star) webinar, held October 25, 2023! -Pearl and Andy Lockwood of Lockwood College Prep.