In this week’s episode you will hear

In the News (3:21): Hilliary shares some observations from things that stood out while reading applications this year (Length 17 minutes)

This week’s question (20:02): A mom asks a very important question, How can I know if a college is genuinely caring about all kids but especially about an unorganized student? Lisa Rouff and Lynda Doepker answer this question. (Length 17 minutes)

This week’s interview (37:11): Frequently Asked Questions about 529 Plans, Julie Shields-Rutyna and Jonathan Hughes from MEFA, Part 1 of 4. Preview of Part 1

• Friends, even if you have had a 529 plan for a decade, I am convinced you are going to learn some things that you didn’t know about 529 Plans in my interview with Jonathan Hughes and Julie Shields-Rutyna
• Jonathan and Julie share their backstory
• Jonathan tells us who MEFA is
• Jonathan tells us what a 529 Plan is
• Julie tells us who the beneficiary and successors are and whether it is easy to transfer beneficiaries
• Jonathan tells us how to open a 529 account, including what you will need, and he tells us about how long it takes to open an account
• Julie tells us how you can contribute to a 529
• Julie tells us what your investment options and the resources that are available to help you with your investment options
• Julie talks about whether others beside the owner can contribute. (Length 19 minutes)

Second Question from a listener (56:22): Hilliary Dickman joins Mark to answer a question about how colleges use the Future Plans”

Speakpipe.com/YCBK is our method if you want to ask a question and we will be prioritizing all questions sent in via Speakpipe. Unfortunately, we will NOT answer questions on the podcast anymore that are emailed in. If you want us to answer a question on the podcast, please use speakpipe.com/YCBK. We feel hearing from our listeners in their own voices adds to the community feel of our podcast.

You can also use this for many other purposes: 1) Send us constructive criticism about how we can improve our podcast 2) Share an encouraging word about something you like about an episode or the podcast in general 3) Share a topic or an article you would like us to address 4) Share a speaker you want us to interview 5) Leave positive feedback for one of our interviewees. We will send your verbal feedback directly to them and I can almost assure you, your positive feedback will make their day.

To sign up to receive Your College-Bound Kid PLUS, our new monthly admissions newsletter, delivered directly to your email once a month, just go to yourcollegeboundkid.com, and you will see the sign-up popup. We will include many of the hot topics being discussed on college campuses.