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Fri, Mar

Tuition Gateway helps students pay for college

Education

The creators of College Connect 101 are putting a greater focus on helping students with their financial aid packages.

Gigi Frye, co-owner of Tuition Gateway.
Gigi Frye, co-owner of Tuition Gateway.

Preparing for college is a difficult and at times overwhelming task.  The process of selecting the right colleges and then going through the application process presents many challenges.  After many students receive the joyous news that they have been accepted into college, the next question is how are they going to pay for it.  

Gigi Frye and Terrence Watkins have been helping high school students achieve their goal of making it to college through College Connect 101, a college advisory firm that helps high school students navigate the rigorous college admissions process by helping build their college list, assist in write their essays, and guide them through the complicated financial aid structure.  Click the link for more information on College Connect 101. https://lastandardnewspaper.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=769:college-connect-101-helps-high-school-students-navigate-through-the-college-admission-process&catid=75:education&Itemid=244

Frye and Watkins are now putting a greater focus on helping students finance their education.  They have created Tuition Gateway to reach more people who unfortunately have to drop out of college, or worse, never have the opportunity to attend college due to the constraint of college affordability.  

Tuition Gateway offers a more concentrated financial aid service beyond just advising on filing out the FAFSA correctly.  They analyze a student’s entire financial profile to strategize the best options of maximizing their financial aid award package, legally.  Tuition Gateway’s Standard Financial Aid Package offers college financial planning, financial aid processing, and financial award analysis.

Tuition Gateway’s financial planning involves mapping out important school specific financial aid deadlines. Often because of the high number of schools that students are now applying, sometimes crucial deadlines are missed resulting in lower award packages.  Tuition Gateway manage the entire process.

Tuition Gateway also provides financial aid processing where they expertly fill out and submit the FAFSA, CSS Profile, institutional and verification forms, Parent Plus Loan, custodial and non-custodial forms, IDOC documents, and all institutional financial aid forms.

Lastly, after the student’s financial aid has been awarded, Tuition Gateway performs a comprehensive award letter review and advises students on how to further lower the total school costs.  Tuition Gateway provides a college cost comparison to illustrate all of the award packages available and decides which school is the best from both a financial and academic perspective.  If necessary, Tuition Gateway will initiate a direct appeals process which may include submitting a professional judgement letter to increase the amount of aid necessary to bridge the gap of what’s needed.  Sometimes loans are needed in addition to the financial aid provided by the school, and Tuition Gateway will offer counseling on your loan choices.

For those who need help finding the right schools which historically give the most aid for a student’s academic profile, Tuition Gateway offers a Ultimate Financial Aid Package which includes building a student’s college list.  This step is crucial because directly steering students to the schools which offer generous packages is the first step to overall savings for college education.  From experience, Tuition Gateway knows there are schools and programs that are highly impacted and the chances of receiving a lot of aid is futile, if not impossible.

Clients who purchase the Ultimate Financial Package also receive access to Tuition Gateway online college planning portal, where Tuition Gateway administers a personality assessment to determine a student’s learning style and natural college preference. This step will help to ensure a “best-fit” and help achieve a great overall college experience.  Included in the portal is unlimited access to the Fiske Guide to Colleges which is arguably the best resource to research most schools in the country.

Tuition Gateway’s mission to help give everyone access to an affordable education by making college more affordable for everyone.  For more information call (424) 227-9124, visit www.thetuitiongateway.com, and follow them on social media.