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JANUARY 4, 2018   |   VIEW AS WEBPAGE
 
 
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Diana Hawkins, a college coach at College Connectors in Ankeny.

Services Ease the Way Through College Application
BY STEVE DINNEN


Tuition and room/board at a top Ivy League university now runs about $65,000 a year. Add in books, travel back to Iowa a few times a year, a mom-and-dad-funded spring break trip—and your scholar is zeroing in on the $100,000 mark. Multiply times four to land a degree, and this makes college a very important financial decision.

It might make sense, then, to study very hard to make sure you get into the right school. A tutor in this endeavor could well be a college coach, such as Diana Hawkins at College Connectors in Ankeny. Her firm works with high school students to both formulate where they want to attend college, and then build applications that will be looked upon favorably by admissions officers.

Starting about this time of year, Hawkins likes to sit down with high school juniors and their parents to draw up a game plan. Big school versus small school, big city versus rural setting, liberal arts, science, Greek system, specialized sports, etc. She then works to refine their goals and aspirations, keeping parents in the loop but letting students lead the process.

“We want the student to be invested in this,” Hawkins said. “This is their first adult decision.”

Hawkins, a University of Iowa graduate, pulls together important data on retention rates, four-year graduation rates and academic standing for the selected schools. She said she visits about 25 college campuses a year to personally check their credentials.

This search process goes through the student’s senior year. By then Hawkins and the student will have developed a list of maybe 15 to 20 potential schools. Then they need more meetings with her as they go through the application process.

More than 700 universities accept a common application, so the task of applying to a dozen schools may not be as daunting as it first seems. It’s also easier that there is a common essay of up to 650 words that can be submitted with these applications. But many schools want a supplemental essay of 100-800 words, and this is a where a student—with the help of Hawkins —can craft a message that will be tailored to a specific school.

Hawkins didn’t provide what she charges for her services but said the fee “varies depending on student needs.”
Obviously you can do this on your own. And even if money is not a concern, the important thing is to develop a process. Doing so, Hawkins said, allows the student to learn about a school and learn about themselves.
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Legacy Bridge

In Iowa, College Savings Plans Can’t Yet Be Used for K-12
BY STEVE DINNEN


As of Jan. 1, the new federal tax law allows college savings plans to be used for K-12 education expenses—a pretty sweet deal for people with these plans who have schoolchildren and want to draw as much as $10,000 yearly to fund private school costs (public, too).

But not in Iowa. Not yet.

In a phone call with state Treasurer Mike Fitzgerald, he explained that Iowa’s law regarding these investment plans isn’t linked to federal law.

“Our legal counsel doesn’t think that’s a qualified expense,” Fitzgerald said of using money invested with College Savings Iowa, a state-sponsored investment program, for anything beyond higher education expenses.

Parents and grandparents have flocked to College Savings Iowa, investing some $5 billion in mutual funds managed by Vanguard. Iowa residents who participate receive a credit on state taxes for much of their contribution, and earnings are withdrawn free of taxes at both state and federal levels.

Fitzgerald has notified Gov. Kim Reynolds of this disconnect. He said it will be up to lawmakers to decide whether to change the program to extend it to K-12. He also said that state tax credits on this change could amount to as much as $4.5 million, just as the state scrambles to cover a budget shortfall.
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Whitfield & Eddy Law
801 Chophouse

dsmWealth's Picks on What You Need to Know

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  • While limited liability companies taxed as partnerships have been the default choice of entity for most businesses for decades, there remain millions of S corporations owned by individuals. Thus, estate planning frequently (and in the view of these authors, almost always) results in assets, including S corp shares, being held in trust. Read Wealth Planning After The New Tax Law – Part 1.

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