Updated: Friday, April 25, 2025
While the college search process is an exciting time for your child, the financial aspect may leave you feeling stressed and anxious. It’s crucial to discuss college costs and budgeting openly and honestly with your college-bound child early in the process. This ensures everyone in the family is on the same page financially and helps your student feel confident and supported in their educational choices.
To have a productive conversation, parents (and students!) need to understand the various aspects of college financial planning. The time to start is well before your student starts working on their applications. In fact, this discussion should inform your student’s choices about which colleges they may want to attend.
Start by exploring these key areas together:
Familiarize yourself with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) website. This is the gateway to federal financial aid, including grants, loans, and work-study programs. It’s essential to understand what kind of financial aid your student is eligible for, particularly their Student Aid Index (SAI) — formerly known as the Expected Family Contribution (EFC).
It’s also important to investigate the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile administered by the College Board. It’s an additional financial aid application that many students submit alongside the FAFSA. The CSS Profile is used by hundreds of colleges, universities, and scholarship programs — primarily private and often more selective institutions — to determine a student’s eligibility for their institutional (nonfederal) aid. The CSS Profile aims to get a comprehensive understanding of your family’s ability to contribute to college costs, often taking a more holistic view than the FAFSA’s formula.
Don’t rely solely on a school’s advertised “sticker price” — families rarely ever pay the full amount for tuition, board, and fees. Encourage your student to use the net price calculator available on most college and university websites. This tool provides a more realistic estimate of what your family can expect to pay after potential grant and scholarship aid. Understanding how actual costs vary significantly between institutions is a critical step toward finding colleges that are a good financial fit.
It’s natural to want to shield your student from any concerns you have about paying for college but having an open dialogue builds trust and helps manage expectations. First, have a genuine conversation about your family’s savings, income, and what you can realistically contribute toward your student’s college education. Explain how much you have saved, what types of federal aid your student might qualify for, and how your family will bridge any potential gaps.
Next, review all the funding possibilities together:
Help your student identify actionable steps they can take to explore these options.
Be upfront about any limitations or expectations regarding financial contributions. This allows your student to consider affordability as a key factor when identifying schools to add to their balanced college list.
Encourage your student to consider all their options and avoid having their heart set on just one school. Oftentimes, their ideal college isn’t the one with the most prestige or a high ranking but one that meets all their needs academically, socially, and financially.
These tips can help your student understand and assess all the options available to them:
Paying for college is a team effort, and you can empower your student to take an active role in managing the costs. Make it clear that you are in this together and work to create a financial plan that gets everyone involved.
College affordability looks different for everyone. But regardless of your ability to pay for college, understanding all your options and having an open and honest financial talk as a family is the best way to ensure everyone has clarity and confidence. It also sets an example for your student, helping them develop financial literacy that will serve them well in college and beyond.
College admissions can be overwhelming enough, but adding the financial aid process onto it can make it even more stressful. If you want to maximize your student’s college admissions chances and financial aid opportunities, our team of college admissions counselors and financial aid experts can answer your family’s questions and offer guidance tailored to your specific needs.
By Nat, IvyWise Admissions Counselor
If you are one of my beloved students whom I work with individually, you are very familiar with my enrollment management style of counseling. I’ve presented my hypothetical “rubric” model to you, which I first shared at a college fair night at a public NYC high school to rave reviews. My students are familiar with institutional priorities and how classes are assembled.
Scholarships are a win-win: students can help reduce the costs associated with attending college while also adding to their resumes. As a bonus, the vast array of scholarship options means there is truly an opportunity for every student. However, it can be challenging to know where to find the right scholarships, and the process of applying for them on top of your college applications can seem daunting.
While the application process will vary depending on the scholarship you are pursuing, there are some tried-and-true tips that can help students stand out from the pack. Keep reading to learn more about what it takes to craft a compelling scholarship application.
For most students, financial aid is an important part of the college admissions process. You will likely complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is useful for receiving need-based financial aid, but that isn’t your only option. There are countless merit scholarships available if you take the time to seek them out.
Let’s look at how to find and apply for merit scholarships.
In addition to navigating the college admissions cycle, students and families need to prepare for the costs of college and understand the financial aid process. Much like admissions, there are a few steps that go into applying for financial aid, and it’s important that students understand every component of the process.
