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Richmond’s College Funding Group Creates First Comprehensive Local Scholarship Database

February 25, 2010 - College-bound high school students and their families can face challenges when searching for information on college scholarships. Athletic and academic scholarships offered by colleges and universities are easy to identify, but what about scholarships offered by local business, civic, and faith-based organizations?  Where can Richmond-area   families find a list of all the local scholarships for local students?

College Funding Group, a Richmond-based college funding company, has given students and parents an easy answer to that question. CFG has created a comprehensive database of scholarships provided by metro Richmond organizations to local students, and made it available online as the CFG ScholarBank™.

“We thought that it would be a great community service to share this information on our website,” says Jonathan West, President of College Funding Group. “Our mission at CFG is to help students and their parents navigate the college selection process and then paying the right price for that education by exploring all financial options, including scholarships. The ScholarBank™ is part of that mission.”

The ScholarBank™ provides easily-searchable listings with up-to-date information on the contributing organization, student eligibility criteria, scholarship amount, and application deadline. Active scholarships are linked directly to the contributor’s website, or have information on who to contact to apply.

About College Funding Group
College Funding Group helps Richmond families navigate the complexities of finding the right college for their student and paying the right price for that education. Offering custom funding plans tailored to a family’s needs, goals, and values, with resources and guidance for college-bound students to help them find the right college match and unlimited support during the college selection and application process, College Funding Group is your College Companion.

Why do I need a college funding plan?
by Jonathan West, Montgomery Capital Management

Top 5 Reasons to Have a College Funding Plan

You’ve been saving money for college since the day your child was born. You’ve got a tidy bucket of cash in a 529 plan. Now your little one is a rising junior, and it’s time to plan for her or his college career.

What’s your plan?

If you think that, given your income and/or assets, that you’ll just have to write a check, you’re making a mistake. Would you pay sticker price for a car? Why would you pay sticker price for a college education?

Here are the top 5 reasons to have a college funding plan:

1. You can pay for college with pre-tax dollars
o By taking advantage of often overlooked portions of the tax code, your family can create “tax scholarships.”  A tax scholarship is any new-found tax deduction that creates money you can use to reduce the cost of college. In essence, you can have the IRS pay a big piece of your college expenses.
2. You can get tuition discounts from schools, even if you don’t qualify for need-based aid
o If your child is a great fit for a school, that college or university will want your child to attend. Use that to your financial advantage and negotiate with the school, ask about discounts and grant programs that can reduce the sticker price of tuition.
3. You can send your child to a top school for the same price as a small state college
o Using tax scholarships, tuition discounts, merit-based aid, grants, and your negotiating skills, you can reduce the cost of an expensive private university to less than a state school.
4. You can achieve your family’s educational goals without sacrificing your values
o Help your child get a great education without putting yourself in debt, or sacrificing your retirement planning. Demonstrate financial responsibility in service of a life goal.
5. Your child learns the value of planning, and participates in charting his or her own future
o Your college-bound child can learn valuable life lessons by leading the charge on discovering private scholarships, learning how to assess their interests and skills to find the right college fit, and becoming the project lead on one of life’s most important projects.

Work with your college-bound student to help get him, or her, off to a great start on a meaningful education, and career. It’s all in the planning!

(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)is a college funding planning expert. His firm, Montgomery Capital Management, is affiliated with Fox College Funding, a leading college funding planning service. He works with families & school counselors to develop customized college plans that get the most college “bang” for your scarce tuition bucks.