If you are in the process of reviewing your child's financial aid award from Connecticut colleges then you need to know the insider tips that I reveal in this article that can save you tens of thousands of dollars. The first thing I want to tell you is that any Connecticut college financial aid officer may use professional judgment to either increase or decrease one or more of your family's financial data elements such as income and assets used in calculating the amount your family is expected to contribute. However, it is important to note that professional judgment can only be used if the Student Aid Report has been filed and the EFC calculated.

When you are considering appealing a financial aid offer then you need to know that it could include circumstances that were considered to be special conditions in previous school years, such as divorce, separation, or the death of a parent or spouse after the application was filed. If these situations occur, then you must immediately contact the college's financial aid office to see if the financial aid award can be increased.

Just so you get a feel of what we have seen accomplished when a family is determined to get additional financial aid we will give you some examples. We have seen financial aid officers adjust the COA to take into account special circumstances such as medical needs or excessive travel costs. We have also seen financial aid offers override the student's dependency status to make a dependent student considered independent. By the way in that case when the financial aid officer changed the status at a particular college to override the dependency status, the student will be considered independent not only at that college, but also at all the other colleges that were applied to by the student.

In every case that we have seen an appeal approved the student had a greater chance of success if the student matched the type of merit that the college needed to fill its enrollment needs. In the appeal letter, the merit of the student was emphasized to the financial aid officer.

If you are the parent of a college bound high school senior that has received a financial aid award letter that is mostly comprised of student loans then click here to learn how you can use your financial aid awards letter to get more real free money.

Find out the single biggest mistake 9 out of 10 parents make when applying for aid to Connecticut Colleges that literally cost them thousands of dollars! More importantly, how to avoid this fatal error! Click Here



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As a parent of a college bound student in Connecticut you do not have to feel helpless and forced to accept a financial aid awards letter. It probably shocked you when you first looked at the financial aid awards letter and realized that it was mostly student loans. If you are willing to put a little time and effort into evaluating financial aid award offers then here are some smart tips and strategies that can make a huge difference.

When you receive an awards letter the amounts should be compared to the percentage of need met, percentage of gift-aid, and percentage of self-help aid that the college advertises. If the amounts are different than what the college advertises, then you have grounds for an appeal. I tell all of my families that if the award letter does not meet your expectations you should appeal it to the financial aid officer.

* Do not ignore the obvious because if your family has special circumstances that have not been considered by the financial aid officer, then you should absolutely appeal the award letter.
* You need to know how "private scholarships" are handled. Do they reduce grants or loans in the award letter on a dollar for dollar basis? Additionally if the student has a "private scholarship," find out how it will affect a 4-year scholarship offered by the college.
* Make sure that you have a good understanding of the criteria that must be met to keep the grants or scholarships such as a minimum GPA in order to keep a 4-year scholarship.
* Compute and verify the terms (interest, repayment policies) of the loans that are part of the financial aid awards package are. Ask the financial aid officer what are additional sources of funding that the school recommends to cover the difference between what the family can afford and what the financial aid package covers.
* You also need to know the impact that outside scholarships the student receives after accepting the financial aid package would affect the financial aid package offer.

I realize that this is a lot of information to digest, but take your time or visit my website to get more great strategies to evaluate your financial aid award offers in Connecticut.



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