Paying for School

Every stop on this line

1. Step by step · 10 min How to Fill Out the FAFSA, Step by Step The form itself takes less time than most people fear. The parts that trip people up happen before you start and after you hit submit. Here is the whole sequence, in order.
2. Explainer · 8 min Grants, Scholarships, Work-Study and Loans: How Each One Works Financial aid is four different things wearing one label. Some of it is free, some you earn, and some you repay with interest. Knowing which is which is most of the battle.
3. Explainer · 9 min How to Read a Financial Aid Offer: Spot the Loans and Find What You Owe One illustrative offer, marked up at six points: what's free money, what's a loan dressed as aid, what's a job you might get, and the two numbers to write over the school's bottom line.
4. Explainer · 7 min Net Price vs. Sticker Price: What School Will Actually Cost You The published price of a school tells you surprisingly little about what you will pay. One subtraction tells you a lot more, as long as you subtract the right things.
5. Questions answered · 9 min Workforce Pell Grants: Which Short Programs Count and How to Check One Since July 1, 2026, a Pell Grant can help pay for some job-training programs as short as eight weeks. Straight answers to the questions people ask, including the parts that aren't working yet, and how to check a program before you pay a deposit.
6. Explainer · 10 min Education Tax Credits: Which One Fits You, and the 1098-T to Watch For Two federal tax credits can give back part of what you pay for school. We itemize one illustrative year line by line, mark what counts and what doesn't, and run the math, so you can see which credit is yours and what to check on your 1098-T.
7. Decision guide · 7 min Should You Borrow for This Program? Six Questions to Answer First A student loan is a bet that a specific program will pay off for you. These six questions help you size the bet before you place it.
8. Explainer · 10 min Student Loan Rules Changed July 1, 2026: New Limits and Who They Hit Undergraduate loan limits didn't change. Almost everything around them did: part-time borrowing, parent and graduate limits, the repayment plans a new loan can use, and the options for some people already repaying. Find your row, then read only your section.
9. Questions answered · 8 min Employer Tuition Assistance: How It Works and What to Ask HR Plenty of employers will help pay for school, and plenty of employees never ask. Here is how these benefits usually work, what the tax rules say, and the fine print to read before you enroll.
10. Explainer · 11 min Keeping Your Financial Aid: The Grade and Completion Rules Schools Check Federal aid comes with a progress check, and every class you start counts toward it. We follow one illustrative transcript term by term to show where a warning, a loss of aid, an appeal and probation happen, and end with an appeal outline you can adapt.