Ed Bove's College Planning Blog

Free Admissions Assistance Available

If you are the parent of a high school senior then you realize that college application time is right around the corner.  We have a special, limited-time promotion to help you and your child deal with that monumental task.  If your student needs guidance writing a compelling admissions essay, perfecting the college application and brag sheet, and making a successful transition to college, visit www.smarttracktoolkit.com/enroll and enter promo code EB7595AA to receive the Admissions Assistance component for FREE! (This is a $247 value!!!)

This special promotion ends at midnight on Labor Day. So don't delay!  Enroll for your free component now!

PS -- Once you've experienced the benefit of the Admissions Assistance component, you may be interested in some, or all, of the other valuable components that make up the toolkit.  If so, click on those components and use promo code EB7595 for a special discount.

 

 

IRS Will Accept Returns During Government Shutdown, Will Not Extend Filing Deadline

The IRS has announced that it will continue to accept tax returns despite the possible federal government shutdown. Taxpayers are still required to file their 1040 forms by the April 18th deadline. If the government shuts down after midnight tonight, the IRS will suspend the processing of paper returns, but will continue to accept electronically filed returns.

E-File will remain open for both individual and business returns. The IRS has urged individuals to file electronically, because most of these returns are processed automatically and should not be delayed.  Because of limited IRS staffing in the event of a shutdown, paper returns will be accepted, but will not be processed. Taxpayers who file paper returns will experience a delay in receiving their refunds. Limited telephone customer service functions will remain available during any shutdown.

 Tax Payments

Tax deposits and payments will continue to be processed, both for electronic and paper tax returns. Taxpayers should continue to make these payments as normal if the government shuts down.

 Audits

The IRS will suspend audits during the shutdown, so examination appointments will have to be rescheduled.

 Reason for the Shutdown

The shutdown may occur because Congress has not reached an agreement on a continuing appropriations bill to fund the government. Government funding officially runs out at midnight on April 8th. It is difficult to predict how long any shutdown may last. In the past, shutdowns commonly extended from a few days to a week. However, the 1995 shutdown lasted 21 days, the longest government shutdown on record—so far.

California Dreamin' on Such a Winter's Day

While it's tempting to escape the next snow storm, the last thing I wanted to do on Monday was sit on a plane for six hours.

Why?  A couple of reasons.

First and foremost, it was my birthday.  And who wants to spend their birthday traveling across the country alone.  Certainly not me.

Secondly, I'm right in the thick of pulling together everyone's financial aid forms, which need to be filed by the end of the month.  And losing a week in that process is not a great thing.

So, for me to get on that plane to California, it must have been for something really important.  And it is!!!

I can't get into too much detail at this point, but when I return there will be lots to tell.  In fact, what comes of these next few days are going to turn the college planning world on its ear.

Don't mean to be cryptic, but that's all I can say at this point.  Stay tuned....it'll be worth the wait!

The Calm AFTER The Storm

Well the record-setting Blizzard of 2010 is behind us, but it certainly has left its mark.  Here it is, a full 2 days after the fact and things are still a mess.

I only live 10 minutes from my office, but it took me forever to get here today and even longer to find a parking spot.  The township, which usually does a superb job of plowing and cleaning up, must have really been overwhelmed with this fierce storm, because the streets of Union Center are a total mess.

The public parking lot behind the building has yet to be plowed.  Cars on the side street adjacent to my office are plowed in.  Even Stuyvesant Avenue, the main drag, is in a bad way.

So, even though it is theoretically back to business as usual, things are far from normal.  In fact it is eerily quiet around here.

Why am I telling you all this?  Simple.  If you don't already have an appointment this week, you may be better off waiting until after New Year's Day when things are more thoroughly cleaned up.  And if you do have an appointment this week, you'd better give yourself some extra time to get here and find a much sought-after parking spots.

Be careful out there.

PS -- Here's a picture I took from my office window this afternoon.  See for yourself.

Final Free College Planning Workshop of the Year!

If you or someone you know has a high school student who hopes to attend college someday, you can't afford to miss this invaluable FREE seminar.  Learn the insider secrets that the schools don't want you to know!  It could mean literally thousands of additional dollars in financial aid.  And who can afford to miss out on that?

Tomorrow, Nov. 20th, will be my last free worshop until next Spring.  Believe me, you don't want to wait until then.  The sooner you start positioning yourself both educationally and financially, the better chances you have of getting significant assistance.

Don't miss out!

To learn more and reserve a seat, visit www.beaconworkshop.com

I hope to see you there!

College Will Be Here Before You Know It. Prepare Now!

School is back in full swing and your high school students are creeping ever closer to college.  Will you procrastinate like most people?  Or will you start preparing for it right now?  Attend one of our upcoming FREE College Planning Workshops to learn how to deal with this major life event.

Check out our workshop schedule at www.beaconworkshop.com to learn more and register.

Free College Planning Workshops This Week

We had a very successful workshop last night in Maplewood.  It was extremely well attended, which tells me that people -- more than ever -- are concerned about the college process and how to pay for school.

We have two more workshops on tap for this month: Tonight, Aug. 5th at 7:00 at the Union Public Library and Saturday morning at 10:00 at the West Caldwell Public Library.

If you, or someone you know, have high school students who will plan to go on to college, then you need to drop everything and attend one of these sessions.

The event is free, but seating is limited by the size of the room.  To reserve a seat, call (908) 686-0668, or visit www.beaconworkshop.com

Deadline Extended...Don't Miss Out!

By overwhelming demand, I've decided to extend the deadline for ACT Crash Course -- as well as all the added-on bonuses -- to Monday, June 14, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. EDT.

This will be the absolute, final deadline, so if you want to take advantage of this great course, along with all the additional benefits being packaged with it, you must get back to us no later than 5 p.m. Monday.

By the way, here's ANOTHER GREAT BONUS that I neglected to mention in my previous post.  When you accept this offer, I will also send you a copy of my mentor Ron Caruthers' book ‘What Your Guidance Counselor Isn’t Telling you.’  We normally charge $20 for this book, but the information inside is priceless and worth many times that. Ron wrote this based on 17 years of experience in the college planning industry and after working with over 3,000 families to determine what the most common mistakes were, so it’s full of inside tips and information about steps that most families completely miss, and that most guidance counselors don’t have the time to share.

For all the details on this tremendous offer, see my previous blog entry here.

Don't miss out, call us NOW at (908) 686-0668 or email us at info@beaconcollegeplanning.com

Improve your ACT score up to 4 points in under 2 hours?!!!

I don’t think I can stress enough how competitive today’s college admission and scholarship environment is, but it helps to give your student every possible advantage. These days, schools are using ACT and SAT scores not just to determine whether a kid gets in or not, they’re using them to determine what sort of merit AND need based financial aid packages they’re going to hand you. So, your student’s ACT and SAT scores don’t just determine admission, they can be the difference between paying full tuition…..or getting thousands of dollars of grant money, so you must pay attention to this.

Here's a killer offer for a 100 minute ACT crash course that can raise their scores by up to 4 points (that’s like 200 points on the SAT!) in just a couple of hours if they’re taking the ACT this Saturday. So, here are the details:

First, you’ll get immediate access to the video course run by Dr. Kuni Beasley, who has taken the SAT and ACT more times in the last few years than he can count, and he’s cracked the code on amazing test taking strategies and techniques that will instantly help your student to score better.

In this video, he’ll explain the following:

• The simple mistake on the reading comprehension and science sections that 97% of all students make and how to instantly overcome it to improve your score with no studying required;

• The one technique that will have other students thinking you might be crazy (or homeless), but that will give your grammar scores an instant boost by activating ‘that’ part of your brain. Your friends may laugh now, but they’ll be amazed when they see how much better you do than they did;

• How to answer 89% of the math questions that seem to trip everybody up with 8 simple rules that do NOT require you to even use your calculator. For instance, you’ll learn ‘the bikini rule’ which will help you answer all fractions questions in seconds, and 7 other rules like the CRACK the safe rule, the POE rule, the PAW of averages rule, and the travel rule;

• 6 rules for acing the reading and grammar portions of the essay, and the exact order to answer each section and question in. Plus, he’ll give you a simple test booklet tip that will save you 7-10 minutes per section and help you to avoid transposing answers;

• And much, much more.

Now, here’s what this video will NOT do: it is NOT designed to ‘teach’ any high school subjects. It is focused on simple, easy-to-learn rules and techniques that are designed to help you ‘out-smart’ the test. However, as Dr. Beasley says, the ACT doesn’t care how you get the right answer, it only matters that you HAVE the right answer. So this video will give you a ton of fast and easy techniques that your student can use immediately.

So, here’s the deal: the video normally retails for $197 (and it is worth every penny at that price and then some) but I’ve gotten him to allow me to offer it at $97 for the next 48 hours only. Plus, I’ll throw in a few bonuses that will make this a complete no-brainer for you.

First, I’m going to add a 1 hour video taught by the World’s Fastest Reader Howard Berg called ‘How to Learn Anything in Half the Time’ that’s worth $197 also. You’ve seen Howard in the Guinness Book of World Records and in Sony commercials with Payton Manning and Justin Timberlake. This is a great, immediately usable video that will help your student for high school, college and beyond. In fact, many parents like you will benefit from it as well if they have to continue to learn new things in today’s economy.

Also, I’m including a certificate for a free College Evaluation in our office that’s worth $245. We will evaluate your situation based on 21 different areas ranging from your student’s preparedness to your ability to financially afford college and make suggestions for you to improve your overall ‘college readiness’. This even includes a mathematical prediction of your student’s chances of getting in to the schools he or she is interested in and an analysis of what they can do to improve those chances, as well as an evaluation of what the colleges will expect you to pay for each year your student attends school and how low that amount can go with proper planning. The only catch is that this must be used by August 31, 2010.

So, you’re getting $639 of value for only $97. That’s 85% off for savings of $542!

But, there are a couple of catches: First, this offer is only good until 5pm, Thursday June 10th OR when I feel like we’ve released enough of these. See, because the one bonus includes my staffs and my time, if we get a ton of these immediately, I may simply call this off because we’ve sold too many and I want to make sure that we can fit everybody in before my super-busy season starts (which is September 1st every year). So, if you’re interested, don’t mess around.

Catch number 2: Dr. Beasley is brilliant, but he’s also a little dry. So, you have to warn your kids in advance that they have to stick with the information and they can’t just give up after 10 minutes. Trust me, the information is amazing.

Catch number 3: Because I’m offering this at the last minute, I didn’t have time to set up a fancy web page or anything, so you have to call in or send an email to order it. My number is (908) 686-0668.

If we don't pick up, you can simply leave a message and say you want ‘Ed’s $97 ACT Crash Course Special’ and leave your phone number, credit card info (it’s safe. It will only be us listening to it), your expiration date and your billing address. The phone number is especially important so we can call you in case we can’t understand you. As soon as we’ve processed your credit card info, we’ll immediately give you your login information so your student can instantly begin accessing the information, and we’ll immediately send out your bonuses.

If it’s easier for you, you can also send an email to info@beaconcollegeplanning.com with all the same information.

I’ve been searching for good ACT and SAT information for years, and this is the best I’ve seen. Plus, we’ll give you a 100% money-back guarantee if you’re not completely satisfied with the stuff you’re getting.

Well, sorry for such a long message, but this is super important. My staff will be waiting for your call. Remember, don’t put this off! Call us now at (908) 686-0668.

BY THE WAY -- If you’re student is going to take the SAT at all, Dr. Beasley has a 2 hour SAT crash course that normally sells for $197 that you can add for only $50 more! That’s both plus all the bonuses for $147, so you save another $150 and get the course for 75% off! Call us now to get this started.

Changes in Tomorrow's SAT Test Locations

According to the College Board website today, 46 SAT test locations in 15 states (including 2 in New Jersey) have been closed for this weekend. In some cases, the website lists an alternate test date that your student needs to know about, or you have to call and reschedule.

Information on Test Center Closings