Your Child’s College Aid Window Is Closing
December 31, 2026 is a Critical Deadline. Waiting will increase expenses and reduce college options.
If Your Child Is in Grades 8-11, This Is the Year That Counts
Most families begin thinking about financial aid when it is time to submit the FAFSA. By then, the income year used in the calculation may already be over.
TBG College Affordability Planning helps families identify which years matter, model the starting point, and evaluate lawful planning opportunities involving taxes, income, business ownership, real estate, family and student assets, FAFSA, CSS Profile, and school-specific financial-aid rules.
This is not simply FAFSA Preparation.
It is a coordinated planning process designed to help your family understand what colleges may expect you to pay – and whether anything should be reviewed before important options disappear.
December 31, 2026 Is A Critical Deadline
Every month that passes leaves less time to review the family’s position, model alternatives, coordinate with existing advisers, and implement any appropriate action before year-end.
Once December 31, 2026 passes, certain income-related decisions made during the year generally cannot be recreated retroactively.
Income and assets run on different clocks. Income generally comes from an earlier tax year, while many asset values are reported as of the day the FAFSA is submitted. Before year-end, a family may need to review decisions involving:
- Business income and legitimate business deductions
- Discretionary bonuses, commissions, and equity compensation
- Capital gains, asset sales, and other liquidity events
- Retirement distributions and Roth conversions
- Business or real-estate transactions
- Other one-time income events or major changes in family circumstances
These are not automatic ‘strategies.’ They are questions to model before acting. Every recommendation should be legally supportable, economically substantive, and worthwhile after considering taxes, liquidity, transaction costs, risk, and school-specific treatment.
Once the available review schedule is filled, TBG may not have enough time to evaluate and implement planning before year-end.Cut Your College Costs in Half
TBG helps families understand the interaction among college financial aid, taxes, business ownership, real estate, assets, cash flow, and timing.
Depending on the family’s circumstances, the service may include:
Identify the Planning Window
Determine the student’s likely award year, relevant tax year, FAFSA filing period, CSS Profile requirements, and school-specific deadlines.
Model the Starting Point
Estimate the family’s baseline Student Aid Index and identify the income, asset, ownership, and household assumptions driving the result.
Review Income and Tax Events
Evaluate wages, bonuses, capital gains, business income, retirement distributions, Roth conversions, equity compensation, and other one-time events.
Review Assets and Ownership
Examine cash, brokerage accounts, 529 plans, student-owned assets, business interests, real estate, trusts, and associated debt.
Separate FAFSA from CSS Profile
Model federal and institutional treatment independently. A change that appears helpful under FAFSA may be neutral or unfavorable at a CSS Profile school.
Coordinate Implementation
Work with the family’s existing CPA, attorney, financial adviser, or other professionals when an approved action is appropriate.
Prepare for Qualifying Appeals
Organize documentation for
special-circumstance requests when current facts differ materially from the earlier tax information used. The college’s financial-aid administrator decides whether an adjustment is granted.
Review the Plan Annually
Update the analysis as income, assets, colleges, laws, award-year rules, and institutional policies change.
How This Planning Can Help Your Family
- Identify important planning and filing deadlines before they pass
- Understand what colleges may expect your family to pay
- Build a more financially realistic college list
- Compare athletic, merit, need-based, and institutional offers on the same basis
- Understand how business ownership, real estate, and student assets may be treated
- Coordinate college decisions with tax planning and long-term financial goals
- Avoid poorly timed transactions that create unnecessary tax, liquidity, or aid-formula consequences
- Reduce senior-year surprises and make decisions with better information
You’ll receive an honest and sincere assessment of your unique situation.
An honest fit assessment matters
Some families will have little or no actionable planning opportunity. TBG will say so rather than manufacture a strategy.
What Your Family Receives
A formal TBG College Affordability Planning engagement may include:
- A family-specific planning timeline and identification of the relevant tax and filing years
- A baseline FAFSA and financial-aid model
- Review of income, assets, businesses, and real estate
- FAFSA and CSS Profile distinctions for the colleges under consideration TBG College
Affordability Planning | Final landing-page copy | August 11, 2026 Scenario comparisons and
prioritized planning opportunities - Estimated tax, cash-flow, liquidity, transaction-cost, and aid-formula effects
- Important implementation deadlines and assigned responsibilities
- Written recommendations and coordination with current advisers
- Annual updates, FAFSA review or completion, and appeal support when included in the
engagement scope
A Scholarship Does Not Automatically Make College Affordable
For student-athlete families, recruiting can create momentum before the full price is clear. The NCAA states that most athletics scholarships are partial rather than full rides.
The family still may need to compare:
- Athletic scholarship amount and renewal conditions
- Merit and academic awards
- Need-based and institutional grants
- Work-study and student or parent loans
- Remaining annual cash cost
- FAFSA, CSS Profile, and school-specific treatment
- The full four-year financial commitment
Loans may reduce the amount due today, but they do not reduce the total cost. The strongest recruiting opportunity is not always the strongest financial offer.
Before your student commits, compare every school using the same categories and focus on the lowest sustainable four-year net cost – not simply the largest scholarship headline.
What Happens After the Initial Call
Initial Planning
Identify the student’s timeline, colleges under consideration, major financial issues, and whether a deeper review appears warranted.
Opportunity Evaluation
Review the relevant tax returns, household circumstances, assets, business interests, real estate, and preliminary FAFSA and CSS Profile issues.
Scenario Modeling
Compare the family’s current position with lawful alternatives and estimate possible tax, liquidity, cash-flow, and aid-formula effects.
Written Roadmap
Provide prioritized conclusions, assumptions, deadlines, risks, and required professional coordination.
Implementation Support
Coordinate approved actions with the family and its existing professional team when implementation is appropriate.
Annual Review
Update the plan for later award years, filing cycles, college choices, aid offers, and changing family circumstances.
The initial call does not require sensitive financial documents and does not obligate your family to make a major financial decision. If a formal review appears worthwhile, TBG will explain the scope, fee, document requirements, and timing before work begins.
Why We Built This Service
For Tab Burkhalter, college affordability planning is both professional and personal.
Tab has spent 30 years as a tax attorney and CPA, helping families and business owners make informed decisions about taxes, income, businesses, investments, and long-term financial goals. He is also the father of three daughters, two of whom are currently in college.
That combination gives him a close view of the questions parents face:
– How much will college really cost?
– Are we overlooking financial-aid opportunities?
– Could a decision made today affect what we pay later?
– How do we fund college without unnecessarily sacrificing retirement or business stability?
TBG created College Affordability Planning to help families ask those questions earlier – while there may still be time to make thoughtful, supportable decisions.
Our goal is simple:
Help families understand their options early enough to avoid preventable surprises, preserve college choices, and protect the financial goals they have spent years building.
Why Families Trust TBG
- 30 years of tax and legal experience
- Planning led by a tax attorney and CPA
- Robert Chesser, CPA, CCFS — Certified College Funding Specialist
- Family-specific analysis rather than generic FAFSA tactics
- No guarantees, manufactured strategies, or high-pressure recommendations
- No request for sensitive documents before the introductory call
Who Should Schedule a Call?
This service may be especially relevant if you:
- Have a child in grades 8-11, especially a student expected to begin college in fall 2028
- Own a business or investment real estate
- Have variable or higher household income
- Expect a bonus, gain, sale, distribution, Roth conversion, severance payment, or other income
event - Hold meaningful nonretirement assets or student-owned assets
- Are considering private, selective, or CSS Profile colleges
- Have more than one child approaching college or a complex family structure
- Have a student-athlete navigating recruiting, scholarships, and commitment deadlines
Frequently Asked Questions
Find Out Which Year Matters Before It Ends
Even a difference of several thousand dollars in one academic year can become meaningful across four years or multiple children. But no responsible adviser can determine the opportunity from a website alone.
The purpose of the introductory call is to identify your student’s timeline, determine whether time is a factor, and decide whether a detailed evaluation is likely to add value.
| Do not wait for the aid offer to ask what could have been planned differently By the time the final price becomes clear, the relevant income-planning window may already be closed. |
Important Information
Current-rule review completed August 11, 2026. The 2028-29 FAFSA had not yet been released as of that date, so fall 2028 timing references are based on the current prior-prior-year framework and must be confirmed when 2028-29 guidance is issued. FAFSA rules, forms, dates, and institutional policies change and should be confirmed for the relevant award year and each college under consideration.
FAFSA generally asks for tax-return information from two years before the applicable award year. Many asset values are reported as of the date the FAFSA is submitted. CSS Profile is used by participating colleges and programs for nonfederal institutional aid, and school-specific requirements and methodologies vary.
Results depend on household income, assets, student status, family circumstances, business and real-estate interests, applicable laws, implementation timing, colleges selected, available institutional funds, and institutional methodology.
This page is educational and is not tax, legal, investment, or financial-aid advice for any particular family. The Burkhalter Group does not guarantee financial-aid eligibility, admission, scholarships, grants, tax savings, a particular Student Aid Index, or a specific college-cost outcome.