Guides

College funding, explained in plain English

Short, honest reads that make paying for college make sense: how aid works, how to get the most from the FAFSA, how to read an award letter, and how to avoid scams. Then the free guide turns it into your own plan.

Put this to work, free

The guide turns all of this into your own plan: the grants and scholarships you qualify for, a FAFSA estimate, real college costs, and every deadline in one place. No account, and nothing you enter is ever sent to us.

Start a free plan

Not starting today? Get the deadlines once a month.

One email a month with the aid deadlines coming up, and a reminder a week before the big ones. The printable FAFSA night handout comes first. The 2027-28 FAFSA is open now.

A mailing list, not an account. It holds your email and nothing else: no tracking pixels, never sold, and never connected to anything a student enters in the guide. One-click unsubscribe on every email. What you get · Past issues

Start here

How to move your plan to another device, privately Move your ClaimYourCollege plan to a second phone or laptop with optional encrypted sync to your own Google Drive, or a backup file you carry yourself. No account, and we never see your plan. How to get the most financial aid: the FAFSA, decoded The FAFSA formula in plain English: what it counts, what it ignores, and ten legal, free ways to qualify for more grant aid. No advisor fee needed. How to read a college financial aid award letter Award letters are built to look generous. The 4-step way to find your real net price, the traps to check for, and how to appeal a weak offer. The Parent PLUS loan cap: what parents can borrow now From July 1, 2026, parents can borrow at most $20,000 a year and $65,000 in total in Parent PLUS loans for each dependent student, for all parents combined. Who keeps the old rules, what it means for your family's gap, and a free way to see your own numbers. Your parents won't pay for college. The FAFSA still wants their income. If your parents won't pay for college, you are still a dependent student on the FAFSA. The 12 questions that make you independent, the two options at a college's aid office, and what your parents are and aren't agreeing to. Scholarship scams and how to spot them instantly Real scholarships never charge you. The red flags that mean walk away, where your SSN actually belongs, and the habits that keep your money safe. How college financial aid actually works Sticker price, grants, the FAFSA, and net price, explained simply. The four buckets of aid, and why net price is the only number that matters. How to write college and scholarship essays, the efficient way Write one strong essay and reuse it, find your story with eight questions, sound human not machine-written, and ask for recommendations the right way. Financial aid glossary, every term in plain English Plain-English definitions of the financial aid terms that matter most: FAFSA, FSA ID, SAI, COA, net price, Pell Grant, CSS Profile, work-study, and loans. How to write the Common App essay: the 7 prompts, coached The 7 Common App essay prompts for 2026-27, what each is really asking, the traps to avoid, and how to find your story. We coach, we never write it. When does the FAFSA open, and how to file it early The 2027-28 FAFSA is open now: it opened to all students on September 23, 2026, a week before its usual October 1 opening date. Here is what to have ready and a plain fall checklist so a Class of 2027 family files early and leaves no aid on the table. The CSS Profile, explained: what it is and who needs it The CSS Profile is a second aid form some mostly-private colleges require to award their own grant money. What it costs, who fills it out for free, and how it differs from the free FAFSA.