Paying for College with Dr. Andrea Johnson | Ep. 36

• Dr. Johnson recommends starting scholarship searches as early as age 13 and no later than the summer before senior year.

You actually should start, you can start as early as 13 years of age looking for scholarships. So if you have 13-year-olds, then I tell parents, make that their part-time job, bring some money into the house.

• Waiting until senior year creates unnecessary stress due to SAT/ACT testing, extracurriculars, and application deadlines.

• FastWeb is a free database recommended for high school students (age 14+), college students, and graduate students.

• Dr. Johnson offers a webinar called "How to Find Thousands in Scholarships" and authored the book "How to Save Thousands on College Tuition."

People say, how many scholarships should we apply for? And I tell them, until you can't remember, it needs to be consistent.

• Grants and scholarships do not require repayment; loans must be repaid with interest.

• Scholarships often come from private organizations; grants are frequently government-based (e.g., Pell Grant via FAFSA).

Compound interest is nice when it's in a bank account, but it's not good when that interest is adding up on your loan.

• Each scholarship has its own rules—some send checks to students, others pay schools directly.

• Dr. Johnson's nonprofit BRIDGE requires transcripts showing completion of the first year before disbursing funds.

When you apply for a scholarship, they're going to tell you exactly what they will fund, how they will fund it, how you will receive your check, and what you can use it for.

• 529 plans are ideal for young children to allow time for savings to grow; not suitable if the child is already in 11th grade.

• Tiffany shares that opening 529 accounts for her children was a long-term gift to herself.

If you have younger children, you know, definitely open up that 529 plan so that you can have those.

• Many assume high income, assets, or lower grades disqualify families from scholarships.

• Merit-based and non-traditional scholarships exist that ignore income, assets, and GPA.

There are scholarships out there where you don't even have to write essays for that. Like there are legitimate raffles that you can put your name in and do it every month.

• Federal loans can lead to garnishment of Social Security wages upon default; co-signers are also at risk.

• Dr. Johnson offers a webinar titled "Student Loan Debt: There Is Life After."

If your kids don't want to apply for scholarships, make them take out them loans themselves.