Princeton Ups the Ante

Hello Reader,

I hope your month is going well so far. One of the big news items coming out of the higher education landscape this week is that Princeton University increased its commitment to meet 100% of admitted undergraduate students' financial need. Princeton was already on the list of schools to do this, but what is new is that the threshold for receiving a full ride increased from an annual household income of below $65,000 to $100,000 and below.

So it used to be that for families making less than $65,000, if their child got admitted to Princeton, they would get a full ride as the expected family contribution is $0. Now families making $100,000 or less should expect a full ride if their child gets accepted.

Of course Princeton is able to do this because it is one of the wealthiest higher education institutions with an endowment of about $37 billion. Princeton is also one of the hardest schools to get accepted at because supply far outstrips demand, hence an acceptance rate of about 6% or less.

The interesting takeaway here is that there are scores of colleges/universities just like Princeton that are committed to providing full funding to students -- that means meeting the full demonstrated financial need of the student if accepted. These schools are not necessarily as well known and hence demand for them is not as high, which means they have higher acceptance rates. But they are just as great at providing a transformative education for students. In the College Fully Funded program we help students find and apply to colleges that provide full funding and put them in the best position to get admitted. Students in the current cohort have already built their college lists using our proprietery method. The Fall II session is coming up soon.

Fall II Session of College Fully Funded Program

The Fall II session of the College Fully Funded Program will begin October 17 and registration will begin soon. You are invited to a free webinar and information session to learn more about the program. Please feel free to share this invitation with your networks. You can RSVP here.

More News on Student Loan Forgiveness

As you may know Congress passed a law that instituted the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program in 2007 that promised forgiveness of federal loans following 10 years of work in public service -- either for a government agency or a non-profit. The program was riddled with problems and many borrowers did not get the forgiveness they expected after 10 years of work.

Now with Covid emergency powers, the Biden administration instituted a PSLF waiver that allows for many who missed out on forgiveness to be reconsidered. The deadline to apply is October 31, 2022. Here is a trusted non-profit to work with and get guidance if this is applicable to you. You can also check your eligibility on the help tool on U.S. Department of Education student aid page.

I hope you have a good week and I will see you in your inbox in two weeks. Thanks for reading.

Dr. Faith Okpotor Founder and CFF Head Coach National Center for Higher Education Access Award-winning academic and tenured professor

P.P.S. Do not forget to forward this newsletter to at least one person (3 is better) who would benefit from the College Fully Funded program to help them get them started. I appreciate you.

Sources

1. ​Princeton will enhance its groundbreaking financial aid program​