My sister and brother both attend college and this week they received their tuition refunds. Since my mother has told us numerous times that paying for college is our responsibility, we’ve tried to get as many grants and scholarships possible.
While I attended college on a mix of financial aid grants and scholarships, so far my [...]

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Earlier this week, we talked about the value of a “high end” college degree. Today, I wanted to follow that up by highlighting this list of the five lowest paying college majors…
Lowest paying college majors

Social work
Special education
Elementary education
Home economics
Music and dance

Rounding out the top (bottom?) ten are: drama, leisure studies, philosophy, art, and audiology. I’ve [...]

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This is a guest post from Neal Frankle of Wealth Pilgrim. If you like what you see here, please consider subscribing to his RSS feed.
Have you ever wondered if it makes sense to spend big bucks on an undergraduate education? Some time ago, I read another blogger’s post explaining why college is worth the cost.
The [...]

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As a complement to this morning’s post on the best 529 plans, here’s a list of the worst 529 plans, once again courtesy of Consumer Reports. Without exception, these funds have to be purchased through a broker or financial advisor, which translates into significantly higher fees and correspondingly worse performance.
The five worst 529 plans

Tomorrow’s Scholar [...]

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As a followup to my recent article on 529 plans, I thought I’d highlight the most recent batch of 529 plan ratings from Consumer Reports. For those that aren’t familiar with them, 529 plans are tax-advantaged savings plans that are designed to encourage people save for future college costs.
The following list of the best [...]

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I’ve written in the past about the best 529 plans, but I’ve never really written an article explaining exactly what these plans are all about. In short, 529 plans are tax-advantaged savings plans that are designed to encourage people to save for future college costs. But there’s more to it than that…
In general terms, 529 [...]

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This is a guest post by Nate of Debt-free Scholar. To learn more money saving college tips, consider subscribing to his free RSS feed.
Most college students cannot pay for college out of pocket. Therefore, they must apply for loans or financial aid. Because financial aid is basically free money, all students should apply for it [...]

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With Tax Day officially behind us, I thought I’d put together a list of things to do with your tax refund. Remember… Your tax refund isn’t some sort of magical windfall — it’s your money, and you worked hard for it. Do something smart with it.
1. Start an emergency fund. If you don’t have an [...]

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I’ve written previously about what I think are the three best 529 plans, so I listened with great interest when Brian Preston covered college savings during a recent episode of the Money Guy podcast. During this episode, Brian talked about his favorite 529 plans and also listed seven of the worst plans according to Morningstar.
For [...]

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A reader recently wrote in with the following inquiry:
I am looking to pay off a student loan of just under $22,000 and saw that I can borrow from my IRA to pay for school without incurring the added 10% tax penalty, would this also apply to paying off a student loan? This is a private [...]

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