You’d never tour an open house before a lender told you your number. With college, almost everybody does. This guide flips the order.
Pre-qualify, like a house
Why knowing your budget before you tour a single campus is the move that saves families thousands — and a brutal dinner-table conversation.
The three numbers
What they are, what each one reveals, and which two you can pin down about your own family this week.
The costly assumption
Why “we make too much for aid” is the single most expensive thing parents tell themselves — and why it’s usually wrong.
Who this is for: parents of 10th–12th graders who want a great-fit college without raiding retirement or co-signing decades of debt.
Michael Korch spent 32 years in tech, holds a finance degree and a Foster MBA, and saved over $40,000 putting his own twins through college. Now he helps families do the same.