Often as family law attorneys we draft agreements that address future college expenses of children, or we represent parents before the Probate and Family Court when there is a disagreement about the allocation of college expenses between parents.  Given the complexities, and the importance of planning ahead, we have decided to have a multi part blog series addressing the numerous issues surrounding college expenses for children of parents who are living apart. 

Part 1: Financial Aid Application Basics

It’s never too early to start thinking about your child’s potential eligibility for financial aid, and how to maximize that eligibility.  Decisions that your family makes about custody, support, and college savings will impact your child’s eligibility for aid down the road.  Likewise, different colleges require submission of different applications: either the FAFSA, or the CSS Profile.  These two applications produce significantly different outcomes for separated families, and it is important to keep this in mind when deciding which colleges your child should apply to.

We turned to Shannon Vasconcelos, a college finance consultant at Bright Horizons College Coach, to get expert insight into the financial aid process for divorced and separated families. The video below, brought to you by Shannon, provides some great information for completing the FAFSA and the CSS, and highlights their differences.

If you have any questions about applying for financial aid or about the college application process, please feel free to contact with Shannon here.

If you have any questions about allocation of college costs between parents living separately, please feel free to contact the experienced family law attorneys and Wilchins Cosentino & Novins at 781-235-5500 or schedule a call here.