Early vs. Late Stage College Planning — What Parents Need to Know
00:00:00.000 | I like to divide things into what I call early stage planning and late stage planning.
00:00:04.400 | So early stage planning is college is someday, I've got a four-year-old, we've got some extra
00:00:08.760 | cash flow, maybe we should save it and invest for college.
00:00:11.320 | Okay.
00:00:12.320 | You know, whether you do it or not, that's great.
00:00:13.480 | But then we get to what I call late stage college planning.
00:00:16.320 | Now you've got a high school, sophomore, junior, senior, and you're there.
00:00:19.960 | And you may have done a great job of saving a big pile of money, but that you're still
00:00:23.600 | not done, right?
00:00:24.600 | You've got a lot of work to do around visiting colleges, figuring out just because I have
00:00:29.200 | it, do I have to spend it?
00:00:30.680 | Should I spend it?
00:00:31.680 | How much is a reasonable amount to spend for college?
00:00:34.440 | Are the privates worth it?
00:00:35.560 | Are the public's worth it?
00:00:36.840 | All that work that needs to be done.
00:00:38.880 | Using loans to fill the gaps, filling out financial aid, all that stuff.
00:00:42.880 | That should start, in my opinion, freshman, sophomore year, especially for your first.
00:00:47.600 | Because it's a learning curve of, well, I need to understand, will we qualify for need-based
00:00:51.960 | aid?
00:00:52.960 | Will we qualify for merit aid?