## Intro to the financial aid rumors that hurt real families [00:00] All right, welcome, welcome everyone. This is Coach David. Uh, I'm going to be your guide on this financial aid journey today. Uh, today we're going to be talking about financial aid 101, right? Uh, for those that have been me for me with a for been with us for a while in our trainings, uh, you'll you'll kind of recognize uh, kind of the information I'm going to provide here. And it's because every once in a while I do need to kind of go back to the basics. Okay. Uh there's a lot of new people joining our Facebook group, right? I want to make sure that everyone has the information that they need so that they know what the process is coming forward. Okay. Now, as a favor to me, if you guys can go ahead put and put your child's grade in the chat, that'd be great. And we're going to get started right away. Okay. But just as far as kind of what we're going to be covering today, we're ## Quick policy update on Pell Grant and income driven repayment changes [02:00] going to be kind of covering financial aid in a nutshell, right? We're going to be going over the FAFSA, excuse me. We're going to go over the CSS profile. We're going to go over the ID do, right? And some additional forms and additional systems that some colleges use, right? Uh this replay will be available for families uh kind of on our Facebook and on our private YouTube channel, right? Uh if you guys are in our Facebook group, I I will be making a post about this later on uh this evening, right? You just respond to that. Our team will make sure that you get that replay. Okay. Now, for those of you guys that know me, obviously you guys know my story, but for those of you guys that don't, um, just to give you guys a little background, I am a former lawyer, right? Uh, I worked at a lot of large law firms and I actually worked at some large companies as well. But I came back to college admissions and financial aid because that's what I was really passionate about and that's where I felt like I could make the biggest difference in the world, helping families get to college and pay less for it. Okay. I have helped thousands of families. I hopefully can help yours, right? either through our financial aid edge program or by giving you guys the information that you guys need in order to kind of get through the process on your own. Okay, so we're going to be talking a little bit about like I said financial aid in a nutshell, but I always like to start off with some breaking news. Okay, so um for the first time in a long time there is some good news, right? Or not good news, right? But different news, right? More positive news, right? So on May 22nd, so just last week, right, a federal judge blocked uh President uh Trump's attempt to dismantle the Department of Education. Basically, everyone that got fired or laid off, terminated is going to be reinstated. Right now, there was a lot of consequences to the layoff of over,300 people at the Department of Education. Right? There was a lot of chaos in school districts, different educational groups, and the state attorney's offices. They all banded together to file the lawsuit basically saying that you know what you guys cut the department of education but because you guys did that we cannot do our jobs anymore. So you need to reinstate and provide the staff that is needed. Okay. So since the cuts these are the things that have been happening right there's delays in processing financial aid. Right? Again there's just no workforce to go go through things right. Uh there have been major concerns across the country about students access to federal aid. Right? there have been regional office closures right around the United States and so those people that provided like that kind of like support gap right um other than the kind of main office right 30% of institutions noted that they weren't able to get the support that they needed to work on financial aid right there was also communication breakdown staffing issues right growing workloads right I'm sure anyone that is uh working at a company can attest to this but when there's a whole group that gets fired and the work gets redistributed to the people that are left, right? There's more work on your plate. There's more stress, right? But hopefully now with the reinstatement of ## How schools actually determine what you owe [05:00] all the kind of key employees that are going to be needed, right? We can get rid of the backlog and provide people with the certainty that they need. Again, I don't know what's going to happen next week or next month, right? But what I do know is that this is one step in the direction that we do need to make sure that financial aid is secure, right? And going the right way and there are no delays for the third year in a row. Okay. So again, a little bit more good news. Now, I will try to update you guys with the newest information, the latest and greatest all the time, right? But there's still a lot of stuff that's up in the air. Unsure, right? But I will try to provide the most up-to-date information possible. Now, let's get into the training. Okay. Now, I always warn people, okay, well, if you guys are here and you're just like, well, you know, I'm just here because, right, you know, I had a little free time in my schedule, but you still think, oh, my family makes a little too much, right? uh you've heard your family's not eligible, you guys own your home and you guys know that you guys are not going to qualify, right? If you have a rental property or if your neighbor didn't get aid, right, and you know that you're not going to well then I have something to say to you guys. You guys are all wrong, right? Um there's a lot of different rumors out there, myths out there that that kind of put people into a mindset of being defeated even before it starts, right? But there are usually opportunities for for financial aid and for families to get it. Okay? So, I will have a link and a phone number that you can text in order to sign up for a consultation at the end. So, stick around, right? It's a pretty interesting kind of conversation we're going to have. I do like to have it be interactive. So, if you guys do have questions, please ask me. There's no bad questions. Right? Now, I know that I say that, but a lot of people are scared to ask questions anyway. So, if you ask in the Q&A, right? No one will be able to see it except for me, right? uh if you put it in the chat and you just send it to host and panelists, no one will be able to see it except for me. So, no one will know that you asked. Okay? So, go ahead, you know, ask your questions because again, there's no one else out there that's necessarily going to answer all these questions for you straightforward like I will. Okay? So, let's before we kind of get into the full bulk of our training, I wanted to make sure that we have a quick word from our sponsor, right? Our sponsor is Eagle Lock, right? Eagle is our parent company. Financial Aid Secrets is part of that. Okay. Now, one of the things that I always tell parents is yes, paying for school is one thing, but first we have to get in. That's what the college application intensives are about, right? So, our college application intensives have already started, right? They started since April. We've had a lot of students go through it and the student our students are making great success on their college application essays. Okay? Now, we have two pieces to our college application intensive. The first one is a one-day event called Kickstart and the second day is called accelerator. Okay. Both are made to get the students further along in the process. And the accelerator is hopefully there to get your students to four final drafts of their PIQs for the UC's and their personal uh their personal statement for their common app. Okay, if you guys are interested, go to collegeappensive.com. I will also have a link and a phone number that you can ## The two buckets of money... loans versus free aid [08:00] reach out with so that you guys can learn a little bit more from our team. Okay, now just one other kind of quick thing. We will be in the Bay Are Bay Area this weekend. We will be in this kind of like peninsula, South Bay area. We are going to be in Mountain View. Okay. If there are families that are like, you know what, I want to meet Coach David in person this weekend, right? Uh reach out to me, right? Uh you can reach out to our email, right? And you can have an inerson consultation. There's going to be a lot of families there, right? This is our biggest event of the summer, right? The Bay Area is always the most crowded, right? Uh there will be 65 students, right? And if and if you know and if all the parents are there right there's there might be you know 65 pairs of of you know uh parents there right um but again seating is for students only right but if you guys want to kind of set up a consultation with me this weekend go ahead and reach out to support or find a eagle.com I'm putting that into the chat right now so that you I can set up a spot for you on Saturday right we will be in Mountain View uh from 9 to 4:00 p.m. Right? There'll be 50-minute slots for me to talk to you real quick, tell you what the situation looks like, and then I'll send you an email if you guys want to take advantage, right, of kind of our offers, then you can go ahead and do that this weekend. But I will be well, I'm from the Bay Area, but our the rest of our team will also be in the Bay Area in person this weekend, right? Unfortunately, you can't sign up for the college application intensive this weekend. It's sold out. We are out of seats, right? But we do have other dates. Make sure that you reach out to us so that we can tell you a little bit more. Okay? All right, so that is that. Let's go into our training again. Financial aid 101. Okay, so first off, financial aid. What is it? Right, a lot of people are kind of misguided when it comes to this word. Financial aid is money given to families and students in order to make college more affordable. Okay, there's a lot of different things that things are called. They might be called a grant or a scholarship or work study, institutional aid, departmental aid, and loans, right? But everything in ## Top 10 myths... income limits... the one time application myth [10:00] this list is considered financial aid. If they are giving you any amount of money towards your college kind of expenses, that is considered financial aid. So whatever it's called, it is in the college's mind considered financial aid. Right? Now for me, I break it up into two smaller categories. There's free money and there's loans. Okay? Free money is money that the college gives to you that you never need to pay back. Right? On the flip side, there are loans. Now, everyone understands what a loan is usually, right? For those loans, right? That is kind of like a separate category for me because those are things that we do need to pay back, right? But as far as the free money, don't try to differentiate between the types of free money. If someone is calling a discount an elephant, are you not going to take the elephant? No, we are going to take the elephant. So don't worry about what the name is. Just see if it's free money or not. Right? If it's free money, don't ask too many questions. Just say thank you. Right now, as far as these two areas, right? One of the things I always tell families is you need to understand how colleges think, right? And so the one thing I will tell you about the financial aid process is this. If a college it costs $90,000 to go to that school per year, tuition fees, housing, right, food, all these different pieces and it's $90,000 and the school gives you a $90,000 loan, right? And says here, this is what we can offer you. They have provided you 100% financial aid. loans are considered financial aid. They're giving you money. It's not something that you need to pay for right now. You can pay for it later. Right? So that's in their mind how it works. Now in our program, what I am trying to do is get you more free money, not loans. Right? I get the question all the time when I have consultations and we go through it and then like wait, I'm still a little confused. Are you, you know, are you talking about free money or loans? And I'm talk and I say, I'm talking about free money. Everything that we're trying to get you as a part of our program is free money. Now loans are always going to be part of the equation because the colleges do want you to take some responsibility for your education. So the students will always be offered loans, right? Parents might be offered a certain amount of loans, but I am trying to maximize your free money back. Okay? So that is what I'm trying to do. Okay? Now, when it comes to the financial aid process, the first part of the financial aid process is the FAFSA. Okay. Now, again, I just kind of alluded to this a little before, but the class of 2025 was delayed. The class of 2024 was delayed. If the class of 2026 is also delayed, that is the third year in a row that they cannot get their beep together. Okay? And so, the normal open date is October 1st. Do I think it's going to open October 1st? Well, with the way things are going, no, I don't. Right? But I'll keep an eye on it. I will let you guys know when it does. Okay. Now, the website that you need to be on is the studentaid.gov website. The reason I tell you the exact website is because there's a lot of spoof kind of websites out there. Oh, you know, it's like studentaid.com, right? And it takes you to a place where you enter your personal information and then they send you a bunch of like weird scholarships and things like that and they ask for your credit card information. That is not what the FAFSA looks like. It is a free thing. You never need to provide credit cards or anything like that. Okay? I've had a bunch of families reach out saying, "Hey, they asked for my credit card. What's up with that?" And I'm like, "You're on the wrong website." Okay, so keep that in mind. Now, what do you need to fill it out? You need your appropriate year tax return. Okay? Now, the appropriate year tax return for your student is the tax return for two years before the year they're going to graduate. Okay? So, if your student's graduating 25, you need the 23 tax return. If they're graduating in 26, you need the 24 tax return. So on and so forth. You need social security numbers. Okay? You need the parent social security numbers. You also need the students social security number. Now, one of the things that I always ask students and parents to do before they start filling out forms is make sure that you have the right social security number. I've had situations where parents could swear that they knew their social security number and their students social security number by heart, right? And when I actually when we actually checked it against a social security card, it was actually wrong. So, make sure you check those numbers. You also will need an email that you check regularly, right? You'll need one for the student. You'll need one for the parent. You also need two separate distinct phone numbers that can receive text messages. One for the student, one for the parent. Again, it's it's for like the two-factor authentication, right? They need separate emails, separate uh phone numbers. So, if you wanted to kind of create everything under your account parent, unfortunately, you're not going to be able to do that. You do need to have another phone number there. Okay. Now, the form again, it's pretty it looks pretty simple, but there's a lot of different places where we can go wrong. Okay? So, they ask you kind of like who's filling it out. They ask you your state of legal residence, right? This for a lot of families might be confusing, right? Again, you might have two different places of residence, right? You might uh, you know, have a driver's license in multiple states, right? You might uh, you know, be ## The truth about independent students and FAFSA [15:00] temporarily living somewhere. uh you might be a kind of you know green card holder and you know you're not sure if you have you have established legal residence. There's a lot of different things that could happen here. Uh but for general purposes it should be the place where your student is going to high school, right? Unless your student is going to high school away from the family home, right? If they're going to boarding school, if they're going to an international school overseas, so on and so forth. Okay, this part is also another part that that needs to get done. You need to provide consent to link to your account to the IRS, right? They're going to ask about your school or like kind of your kind of college plans, right? Are you a first year, a second year, right? Or a junior or senior, right? Uh and also, will you have your first bachelor's degree? The reason why they ask these questions is to see if you are an independent student or a dependent student, right? Uh but most students that are in our programs are students that are going through their undergraduate degree for the first time. Okay. Uh they also ask about, you know, personal circumstances, right? Right? If you're a ward of the court, a veteran, if you were homeless at any time, things like that, right? Um, again, another homelessness question here, right? Uh, this part has changed, right? Uh, so the f the federal government has mandated that there are only two genders on any federal forms now. So, the the the only options that will be available to students are male and female. Non-binary and prefer not to answer will no longer be available to students. Okay. They'll ask about race and ethnicity. Again, a lot of parents are always like asking about the race and ethnicity parts of the FAFSA about on the application. Those are just used for survey purposes. They are not part of your application. They don't have any effect on the way that your application is processed. Uh they're going to ask about kind of the different citizenship statuses, right? So again, uh for kind of FAFSA, there's kind of different categories of people that may be eligible, right? So there are US citizens or nationals, right? Um so again if you were you know you know born here or naturalized right either way right that's US citizen international eligible non-citizen maybe someone that is on a particular visa type right uh a refugee so on and so forth those types of situations right and then neither US citizen nor eligible non-citizen these are these are usually kind of the students that are part of the deferred action plans right um and they have been given status u because they were brought over as children they didn't really have anything to do with their parents uh you know coming to the United States okay u and not you know and and coming and not having an immigration status okay so there's different people that are eligible right so just because you are in a certain situation doesn't make you ineligible but we have to look and see which category you're a part of okay they're also going to ask about you know high school completion status they'll ask about tax returns usually our students don't have tax returns just because your student works doesn't necessarily mean they have a tax return it's only after they made over $14,000 roughly speaking that they will have to have like their own tax return. But usually parents file kind of that income under their own taxes. Okay. They'll al also ask kind of like how many students will be in college, right, in in a certain time frame. Okay. This is one of the areas where families uh actually kind of fall into trouble, right? Uh because the number in college that is actually kind of default there is going to be one, right? And so if you don't read carefully and keep and kind of like look at the question carefully, you might not realize that if you have other students in college that you need to add them in here because it defaults, right? A lot of people think that it pulls information from your IRS and it shows like, oh, there's a there's a kid that's 19. They they must also be going to college. It doesn't do that, right? It's not that smart of a form. Okay. Now, here, right, they're going to ask you to add in the colleges that you're going to. Right? Now, one of the problems with the FAA form, and I'm not sure why they put this limitation on it, but they limit you to 20 schools at one time. Now, if you live in California, let's say that you apply to all the UC's, you apply to a couple CSUs, right? You're already at like 12 or 13 different colleges that you're applying to. And no, there isn't a way to send it to all the UC's with one click. You have to put in every single individual UC campus, every individual single CSU campus, right? So, you have 20, right? Right? And it seems like that's it, right? So, kind of pro tip here, right? Most students that are kind of in our coaching program, they actually apply to 20 or more, right? So, if they are applying to financial aid, right? How do you do it? Well, you actually have to turn in 20 first, right? And then you actually need to let it go through, let it get processed, get everything done, and then once it says processed, you actually have to go back in, delete the schools that you originally had, and then put in your next set of schools. Okay? That's what needs to happen if your school is 20 or if your school list is over 20. Okay. Now, we have a quick question here. It says, "Does the application need to be filled updated every single year?" Yes, it does. Just like your taxes, the FAFSA is a form that will need to be updated every single year. Okay. Now, um again, just real quickly, again, this is what it looks like on the student side, right? Again, I'm working ## What happens if you say no to applying for aid [20:00] on the parent side right now. Um, my account is a little frozen because I have gone in and and selected student so often that it won't let me get to the parent side, but I will be doing that side soon. Okay, so that's a quick look at the FAFSA. Right now, let's take a quick look at the CSS profile. Okay, now a lot of people might be asking, well, we did the FAFSA and when I went to college, that's all we did, right? But here is the thing, right? College has changed since you have gone to college, parents, right? It's been a long time, right? I don't want to say the exact number of years it has been since you have since you have graduated from college but things have changed right so the CSS profile is an additional form now the CSS profile is a form right for colleges themselves to see what they can do for your family out of their own pocket not out of kind of like other other pots like not from the state government not from the federal government they're looking for what can they do from their own pot of money to make it easier for you to choose them. Okay, the CSS profile stands for the college scholarship search profile and it connects colleges and students to see what they can do beyond the federal and state levels of aid. Okay, that is why this form needs to be done right now. Does everyone need to do this form? Right, not necessarily. It's only if the colleges ask for it. Right now, that's why this process is so confusing. Some schools ask for the FAFSA. Some schools ask for the FAFSA and CSS profile. Some schools ask for the FAFSA, CSS profile, and ID do. And some schools ask for FAFSA, CSS profile, ID do, additional forms, and other forms that you need to fill out. Okay, so there's a lot. Okay, now as far as the CSS, I also want to give you a quick view here, right? So there's terms and conditions you have to do. They're going to ask for your name. They're also going to ask you for your preferred name, right? So again, if your name's Jonathan, but you go by John, right? That might be something that you want to put in here, right? It's just about how they reach out to you. Okay? In addition, um, well, we have a ## Why you should not trust your neighbor’s experience [22:00] question here that's kind of in line. It says, "Is CSS only for California residents?" No, that is not the case. The majority of colleges that use the the CSS profile are private schools. There are select out like other state p uh public schools that use the CSS profile just namely like one that I can think of off the top of my head is like University of Michigan, right? So, there are other schools that use it. It's not just for California residents. Okay? Now, here, right? Parent information. Okay. This is very important because we have to understand who's paying for college, right? And who we want to present as paying for college, right? So again, there has been a huge huge huge huge lawsuit and it's currently ongoing right now about the CSS asking for information about two parents when the custodial parent is just one parent. Right? Now, obviously there are situations where the custodial like the custody is kind of like joint and there's like joint custody of a certain student, right? Um, but again, uh, when they're talking about custodial parent, they are kind of they should be asking about the parent that has custody 51% of the time, unless it's it's supposed to be exactly 50/50. Okay? Um, so just keep that in mind, right? But there is a huge lawsuit going on because they've been asking about information from the non-custodial parent, right? and then been bringing in that parents information for the purposes of financial aid which increases the amount of income that household has when in reality that non-custodial parent might not be helping out at all. Okay. Uh we have another question here and it says the CSS profile should be filled out for every school. Yes, there I'll we'll kind of get to that section in a bit but yes we do need to send it to every school that needs it. Okay. Now, college choice, we're already there, right? So, here you can go ahead and turn in as many as you want, right? One of the things that you have to keep in mind is that the CSS is not a free service. It is a paid service. Okay? Each school or the first school that you turn in is $25. Each school that comes after is 16. So, if you're applying to 11 schools, the first one's going to be $25 and then the second and then the second to the 11th one, that's 10 schools at $16. That's 160. That's $185 that you have to pay the college board, right, that runs the CSS profile in order to do that. Now, if your income is under a certain amount, your fee will be waved. Okay? Uh but again, you can add as many as you want here. Okay? So, um, one of the other pieces that I want to make sure that parents understand is this, right? So, I'm going to give you guys a situation and a kind of example so that you guys can understand. Let's say that I live in PaloAlto, right? And my student is wants to apply to Stanford, right? And if my student gets into Stanford, he's going to live at home because we lit literally live half a mile away from Stanford, right? But you have to understand the whole purpose of financial aid. It is to kind of lessen the gap between what your family can afford and what the college costs. Now, if we tell them that we're ## Real results... how we helped families get 30K to 42K in aid [25:00] going to be living with parents instead of living on campus, what do you think happens to the overall cost of your attendance? It goes down by 25 $30,000 because they know that you don't need housing and you don't need food because you're going to be living with your parents. Okay? Now, why would we want to make a school that's $95,000 a year, $65,000 a year, and then say that we need less money because now it's only 65. That's never the situation that you want to be in. So, I don't care if you're living with residents. I don't care if you're living with your best friend that's a year older than you, right? Off-campus, you are going to choose on campus. And then obviously, whatever your your decision kind of was, early decision, you know, early action, regular decision, if you are applying to any college with the CSS profile, onampus living, onampus food is the most expensive type of living available. that is what you want to choose so that your cost of attendance is as high as it can be. Okay. When it comes to your housing information for parents that own your home, right? I know that you're really proud of the equity that you have built up and the market value of your house, right? But that's not something to brag about on the CSS profile. Okay? When they ask you the value of your home, tell them the value of your home that the government has told you you are paying taxes on. That is what the government has stated your house is worth. Okay. So that So where can you find that? On your property tax statement. Okay. Even if the market value of your house is $1.5 million, you're probably not paying taxes on that unless you bought it recently. Okay? So if you bought your house 28 years ago and you bought it for, I don't know, $750,000, right? You don't pay taxes on that increase. You pay taxes on the market value and an increase each year. So, you want to use the lowest number possible when you're talking about your current market value. That is the number that you pay taxes on. Okay? So, keep that in mind there. Okay? Um, so one of ## How to get support by booking a call or joining our coaching program [27:00] kind of the biggest pieces of of advice I'm going to give you about the CSS profile is this. There's only about five questions that are required on the CSS profile. The other ones, it's just asking you to volunteer information. But if you're trying to get more money, right, and you're trying to say that you have less money, why would you tell them about your retirement fund? Why would you tell them about, you know, you know, this asset or that asset or a pension that you're getting, right? Because unless it's a required question, do not provide it to them, right? If they ask for it later, we can provide it later, but we don't need to offer it off the bat. So, make sure that you guys are only answering required questions. Okay? Now they also ask about student resources and kind of like other pieces of the of the pie right that they are going to be getting right like oh is David going to have a job right is David going to get any other earnings is the you know are parents going to help or this or that so on and so forth we want to put zeros across the board right you're going to be a mean parent you're going to be a mean uncle mean aunt mean grandparent right we want to show that we're we have the least resources possible there's no problem about this right again maybe I changed my mind parents you're going to give zero, but then when school's about to start, you're going to give them 20,000. Whatever the situation is on this form, at least you can put zero across the board. Okay? So, quick takeaway again, do not volunteer information. Answer the basics and then if they ask later, provide it later. Right? The CSS is more than what I just showed here. Right? Again, I just pulled out some of the more important areas so I can kind of point out some things to you, right? And if anything is kind of like a little complicated, things like that, make sure that you talk with me about your situation so that we can figure out the best options for your for your situation. Okay. Now, another piece of the puzzle is also ID do, right? Again, this is another system that's run by college board, right? This is where you turn in additional documents, right? There might be a tax return that you turn in or W2 or non-custodial parent waiver forms or different letters, right? Um, be aware, right? Not all colleges that use the CSS profile are part of ID do. Okay? So again, I told you some colleges want this like part one. Some people want part one, part two. Some people part want part one, two, three, right? So it just it just adds on, right? There's some colleges that want four, five, six, seven different things, right? So just keep that in mind. Okay? Now, the quick way to find out if your stu if your school is a school that requires all these different pieces, right? Everywhere requires FAFSA. That is a given, right? But if you go and actually type in CSS participating institutions on Google, you'll actually be able to see like a full list of all the colleges that require the CSS profile. If you actually go and look a little bit closer, you'll see that here there's also like a a way to see if they ask for ID do, right? And you can click yes or no, and then you you'll be able to filter, right? Not that we're necessarily choosing colleges by what they ask for, right? But it's good to know what they will be asking for so you can prepare. Okay? Now, this is not the end of the story. There's a there's like a bajillion other things that could happen, right? So, you have to be searching in all these different places to see what additional information they want. So, it could be on the student portal. It can be on different like it can come to your email. There might be something that they say that you need to do on their website, right? But they make it purposely hard so that people miss out on financial aid, right? I'm going to give you some examples of different schools that have very complicated processes. And again, if it wasn't for me, sometimes families wouldn't be able to navigate the process, right? So, let me give you an example. USC USC makes you turn in FAFSA. They make you turn in the CSS profile. Then they have you log in to their own kind of system and use a a pro a process called fast in order to kind of like uh submit documents and turn in other things instead of using ID do. Right? Again, I think there's like a lot of economics at play here. they're probably paying a lot to use ID do. So they decided not to use ID do so. So they create their own portal, right? But again, this is a separate portal from anything else that you're working on, FAFSA or CSS. So there's three different portals that you need to do. There's probably about 10 to 12 different documents that you need to turn in. Okay. Baylor, right? Baylor requires the students to to just turn in FAFSA, no CSS, and then upload documents through their own specific financial aid portal. Okay? Now, think that you're applying to 20 different schools. How many of them can you be sure about what the financial aid process is? Well, usually for more common schools, if I had 20, I could tell you exactly what the process is at the different schools, right? But again, Baylor is another school that has their own process. Princeton is kind of like one of the worst ones I've ever seen. They make you do the FAFSA, they make you do the CSS profile, then they make you go onto their student profile, turn in tax documents, then they have another form that looks exactly like the FAFSA that they have you do again and turn in on the student portal. Right? It's like how more convoluted do you want to make this process, right? It just seems like every school is like vying to make theirs the most convoluted, right? Um but takeaways, right? This is not an easy process. Okay? Again, if all the if all the schools use the same system, same forms, same portals, things like that, then I wouldn't even be here, right? This the process would be simplified enough that parents and students could go and do things themselves, right? But it is not that way. So, you have to stay vigilant. so that you can make sure that you get the aid that you deserve. Okay. Now, a little bit about why we're different and a little time to brag about financial aid secrets. Okay. We don't tell you to buy things or like, you know, insurance vehicles, annuities, things like that. I actually got approached by a like someone texted our line today and was like, "Yeah, can I talk to you?" And so, I I gave him a call, right? It was another kind of like person that sells life insurance that is that was trying to sell me on hey make your make people join your program buy my life insurance policy or this or that or like you know in this way so they can lower their income and I'm like no I don't need that right uh we take you as you are right I also don't make it a condition that your student needs to be a 4.500 plus student on their SATs right I also don't force you to apply to colleges that you would never want to go in the first place right now if there are if you guys want suggestions about schools that have more generous and less generous. Sure, I can provide those. Right? But again, the schools that you want to go to are the schools that you want to go to. Okay? Um, a lot of other programs say, "Yeah, we're going to help you find the colleges where you can get the best deal, right? I can find you guys the best deal. No problem." Right? But you're not going to want to go, right? I know that the families that are coming to our coaching programs, I know the families that are coming to our financial aid programs are families that are, you know, looking for help, but they know that they want, you know, they have high expectations, right? And so again, the schools that I know that I can get, you know, 50, 60, 70, 80, $90,000 a year, you're not going to want to go to them. Okay? So, come one, come all, right? We can find solutions for your family in most situations. And if there is no like opportunities for your family, I'll tell you straight up and you don't have to worry about it anymore. Okay? Now, some of our recent results, right? Uh again, this family, we were able to get them, you know, like 30 to $40,000 at multiple different schools, right? Their family makes around about 350. This family made right around $230,000. We were able to get them right around $40,000, right? This family went to Baylor, right? $437,000. Own their own home. They have, you know, their own business, right? Uh I was able to get them $42,000 a year. So, the results aren't just kind of like things that I kind of throw out there. They are on paper. They are kind of right in front of us, right? The results are here. Okay. So, again, I want to make sure that we give you guys opportunities to reach out to us. Okay? So, if you are interested in talking to us, go ahead text money uh to uh you know 949-7750865 or if you're interested in our college app intensive or our coaching programs, text 949-775865 and just put college in that text. Okay. You can also book straight with us uh you know for our kind of you know assessment calls and for our financial aid consultation with the QR codes that are there as well. Okay. Um, but if you do want to meet me this weekend in person, right, you just you have to make sure I'm not AI and I'm a real person. Go ahead and reach out via email and then I'll I'll find a spot for you so that we can go ahead and make sure that you're all set. Okay, so it's just fine aid like financial aid, right, at eaglelock.com. Okay, but if we do have questions, I do want to open it up for questions as well, right? Go ahead, put them in the Q&A, put them in the chat. I will answer them and then we can kind of get on with our evenings. Okay. So, uh I will kind of wait for some questions, right? I'll give it a minute or two. Um but make sure that you take a screenshot of this last page. It's probably the most important page because it's how you get in touch with us, right? Our email is also in the chat right now. You guys can reach out there as well. Okay. All right. All right. All right, we have a question in the Q&A and it says, "Is there an income limit?" Right. So, generally, no. Right. But I I usually tell families like if your family is making upwards of 7 $800,000 a year, um I probably can't help you, right? But if you're somewhere under that, then yes, usually I can, right? So, um, you know, if you're kind of getting closer to that million-doll mark, I I probably can't do anything for you, right? Um, but I mean, I can definitely try, but it's not going to be beneficial for me for sure, right? Because obviously, you know, uh, we have a money back guarantee. If I'm not successful, I just give you your money back. But, you know, I can definitely try for you if that's something that you want. Okay. Oh, okay. We have another question. Are net price calculators accurate? They seem like you can afford more than the reality. Yes. So, a lot of colleges do that and in a lot of my trainings like kind of like a couple months ago, one of the things I was talking about was that you cannot trust a net price calculator. For a lot of colleges, they make it seem like a prettier picture than what it actually ends up being. Okay? So, generally I will say no, you cannot trust the net price calculator. Um, that's why we can have a conversation about your family situation. I can get the numbers. I can kind of do calculations, you know, calculations and then I can tell you what I might be able to save you, what I might not be able to save you. Okay. Uh, we have another question here. It says, "Was the money that you got for the high AGI family merit or need-based?" So, that's a great question. So, here is the answer to that. There is no such thing as merit-based aid, right? A lot of colleges use that to kind of say like, "Oh, you your student's great, right? And so, uh, we're going to give you a bunch of money." But a lot of the times it's not that, right? Um, so I always tell families merit-based aid is not well it it doesn't exist. You have to think that it doesn't exist. If we get something that is really purely merit-based, that's great, right? It's just kind of like the cherry on top. But let me give you a very quick example, right? I use this all the time, right? So at the UC's, there are 10,000 acceptance letters sent out every single year to students across, you know, California and the United States, right? out of those 10,000 acceptance letters, there are 50 merit scholarships that are sent out. Right? So, your chances of getting a merit scholarship at the UC's is 50 out of 10,000. But, right, even though it's a merit scholarship, the amount of money that you will get is based on your financial need. So, they put you on a totem pole, the the person that has the lowest income, they're going to get the most money, close to around $20,000. The person that has the highest income, they're going to get about $2,000. So, is it easy to say that there are like exactly merit-based only awards? Very far and few between. Okay. Uh, but as far as kind of like again, what I always I always tell families, don't worry about what it's called or what the category is. If we got you free money, that's what's important. Okay. Um, but I don't remember the exact breakdown, right? But there was no merit needed. There was no merit involved in that particular case. Okay. We have another question. and it says, "Will you be advising us with all the applications and due date notifications for financial aid?" So, the good thing about our program is that is that it's completely done for you. All you have to do is fill out a couple forms for us, send us your tax returns, we will kind of take care of the process for you. You don't really necessarily need to worry. We'll make sure things get in on time, right? If there are additional pieces of information that they ask for, then you just reach out to us, let us know. We will always play the filter or middleman between you and the financial aid offices so that we're telling the same story over and over again, right? But yes, we will be the people that are kind of like controlling that situation. What is the cost of your financial aid service? Well, it is cheaper if you get on a consultation right away, right? Uh we are running some discounts, right? I told you guys last week we are running a Memorial Day discount, right? I hate talking about money in a large group setting. So, we'll talk about it kind of there. And also you need to understand kind of the pricing over the next four years so that you can understand what your investment is and also the money back guarantee. Um and so those are all different pieces we need to talk about during the consultation. So again sign up for that consultation so that we can figure out kind of what your situation looks like and the cost of our program. Uh if you if we sign up to you help us fill out the FAFSA and the ID do. It seems intimidating. Yes, we do all of that for you. You don't need to worry about anything. Okay, I think I do see some families here that I will be seeing in San Jose or in in Mountain View this weekend, right? Um, so if you guys are interested, we will be sending out an email, I think either later on today or tomorrow for you guys to sign up for a quick, you know, 15-minute consultation in person. Um, so if you can kind of, you know, uh, sign up for that, uh, go ahead and do that, right? Again, if you want to meet me in Mountain View, right? Uh again, send me an email so that I can kind of get you on the schedule u and make sure that you are um kind of on the books. Okay. All right. Sounds good. So, I don't see any other questions. Oh, I see one last one. We'll kind of do this one um and then we'll go ahead. Uh if FAFSA and CSS are optional and you don't fill them, does it mean zero aid? FAFSA and CSS are not optional if you're looking to get financial aid, right? So, if a school is saying that FA that you have to turn in FAFSA for financial aid, it's not optional obviously, right? Right? And so if you don't fill it out, you will not get any aid. Okay? All right. So we will be back next week 5:00 same time, right? Again, if there are topics that you guys are interested in, reach out to us on on Discord, if you're in our coaching program, on Facebook, by email, so that we can kind of bring up those topics, right? If we think that they're relevant, right? We want to make sure that we are, you know, um doing, you know, topics that make sense for our families. Okay? So again, thanks for spending a little time with me. Uh, again, I'll leave this up real quickly so you guys can take, you know, screenshots or do whatever you need to do. And if you guys do have any other questions, uh, you know, reach out in any way possible. Okay, everyone, have a great night. I will talk to you guys again soon. Bye-bye.