Cracking The College Funding Code with Expert Jonathan West

“You don't want to apply to any schools without having an idea of what that school is likely to cost your family.” Our hosts, Dan and Natalie Slagle, close out their two-part college funding series with Jonathan West of College Aid Pro. He’s a financial planner who has personally guided his own four kids through four very different college paths. Jonathan recommends that parents run the numbers before falling in love with a school. Every college calculates a Student Aid Index through the FAFSA, or, at roughly 250 more selective schools, the CSS Profile, and that number (meaning not the sticker price) is what families should react to. High earners often assume they're locked out of aid entirely and skip the exercise, but need-based aid is only one lever; merit aid, tied to grades and test scores, varies wildly and unpredictably from school to school. Jonathan also discusses community college as a legitimate, underrated on-ramp; the modest payoff of most private scholarships; a shrinking pool of college-bound teenagers; and growing openness to gap years and trades. Regardless of income, Jonathan encourages all parents to keep saving, in a 529 or elsewhere, and don't let uncertainty about the future of higher education talk you out of it. Nobody, he says, has ever regretted having more! Key Topics: How College Costs Got So Complicated (02:36) Need-Based Aid vs. Merit Aid, Decoded (06:07) Merit Aid's Secret-Recipe Problem (12:30) Private Scholarships: A Nice Bonus, Not a Strategy (20:45) Community College as a Financial Strategy (24:44) Gap Years, Trades, and Alternatives to the Four-Year Path (28:45) Inside the College Aid Pro Software (36:59) When Should Parents Start? A Timeline Guide (42:30) Resources: College Aid Pro: https://collegeaidpro.com/ Jonathan West Email: [email protected] Schedule a Free Consultation Here: https://www.equalvoices.co/start Join our newsletter to stay up to date on the latest financial resources: https://www.equalvoices.co/contact Natalie Slagle, CFP®, and Dan Slagle, CFP®, are the founding partners and lead financial planners at Equal Voices Wealth https://www.equalvoices.co/ — an independent firm dedicated to helping high-earning couples in their 30s, 40s, and 50s confidently navigate the complexities of managing money together. At Equal Voices, they specialize in turning financial stress into strategy, guiding couples through everything from cash flow and investing to aligning money with shared goals. Disclaimer: For updated disclosures, please visit https://www.equalvoices.co/legal