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The FAFSA – the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – is an acronym with a hefty job. It’s responsible for determining student eligibility for federal loans, grants, and work study jobs. For most college students in the United States, that means that the FAFSA (and other school-required financial aid forms!) is some of the most important paperwork you’ll ever file.

The FAFSA was designed to help the government calculate what your family can contribute towards college expenses in a single year. This “Estimated Family Contribution,” or “EFC,” is based on your assets and what you earn. It is important to note that the FAFSA isn’t just utilized by the government. Many colleges use that information as well in order to figure out how much they will contribute of their own funds to your total financial aid package. That’s right – if you want money from the school, you most likely will need to complete the FAFSA.

It’s best to think of college loan refinancing in simple terms: “Refinancing” means taking out a new loan in order to pay off your old loan(s). The new loan has new terms, a new interest rate, and a new monthly payment amount. Depending on your circumstances, the new loan – the refinancing loan – may save you a significant amount of money.

Of all the alphabet soup acronyms that loom large over the financial aid process, no term is as important as FAFSA: The Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA is the gateway to federal financial aid, which includes grants, loans, and work-study programs. It’s important to understand FAFSA guidelines as you begin to plan for educational costs. The FAFSA process and application guidelines have some major changes coming this year to help more families access financial aid and assess the true cost of college earlier on.

Each year, the College Planning Center of Rhode Island teams up with the Pawtucket Red Sox to host one of the biggest college fairs in New England. This year is the 7th annual college fair held by the CPC & Pawsox and each year the fair gets better! 

High School sophomores, juniors, seniors and their parents should mark their calendars for September 21, 2016 from 6pm - 8pm. At the fair, students will have the opportunity to speak with college representatives and learn about the academic culture of individual colleges. Over 100 colleges are expected to attend.

Rhode Island employers now have a free new benefit they can offer their employees to help them get a grip on their education loans

The non-profit Rhode Island Student Loan Authority (RISLA) announced today at its College Planning Center in the Warwick Mall that it will be offering a new online tool to help graduates and parents of college students conquer their student debt. The Student Loan Repayment Solutions tool, offered for free to employers by the non-profit Rhode Island Student Loan Authority, will allow employers to provide a free benefit to their employers which can help them organize, manage, and analyze their education debt, as well as get personalized counseling on how to pay off their college debt.

Since the advent of college, Freshmen have reveled in the new fredom that comes with moving away to start school. No curfew, nobody enforcing housekeeping rules, no restrictions on schedule or socializing – those revelations are all a part of what it means to ease into adulthood as a college student. But there are drawbacks, too! Without family support, Freshmen tend to find themselves – we’ll phrase this gently – domestically challenged.