Red Kite guides you through the college financial aid process. We give you options and then we help you with the timing. We help you find the right money… in the right order.
When people learn that I work for Red Kite, I am amazed at how quickly they start sharing their anxieties about how they are going to pay for their kids to go to college. Each time I help someone, my wife calls me the “financial aid whisperer.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” my friends and neighbors are forever confiding to me. (Usually as I’m rushing to a soccer game!) If this anxiety sounds familiar, relax. Over the coming weeks, I’ll share the Red Kite approach to paying for college. Today, I want to talk about finding “smart money” for college.
The first thing about smart money is having options.
There are lots of option to paying for college. There are scholarships and grants, which normally don’t need to be paid back. There’s federal aid and state aid, which often free or have reduced interest rates. Red Kite can help you find all of them. And you’d be surprised how many there are.
The second thing about smart money is timing.
So we know there are lots of options, but how do you know which financial aid to pursue first? The trick is to chase free money first (like scholarships and grants). Then look for federal aid and state aid. Then compare education and parent loans.
When you join Red Kite we guide you through this process. We give you options and then we help you start as early as possible.