College Smart Families,

The decision letters are starting to roll in, which is an incredibly exciting time, but it can also bring an element of stress as the financial reality sets in to be able to afford college. It doesn’t help that there’s a plethora of unintuitive lingo that seems designed to confuse you. To help decode the various financial aid package offerings, we’ve created a spreadsheet that will help you compare apples-to-apples when assessing your options. The spreadsheet is available to download at this link: College Cost Worksheet.

If you are looking for resources to learn more about financial aid, check out the following resources:

• https://studentaid.gov/
• https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/financial-aid-basics
• https://www.usa.gov/financial-aid

If you need any help from the College Smart Advising team, please reach out to your counselor!