Episode summary introduction: Segment #9 of the 10-Segment Podcast Series to help students in 11th Grade build standout US College Applications. This segment covers the Cost of College, Financial Aid avenues, the Criteria for Financial Aid and Applying for Merit-based Aid. Subscribe for Assignments. In this segment, Ben Stern leads us through the discussion. In particular, we discuss the following: The College Cost What is Financial Aid? Criteria for Merit-based Financial Aid The Process, and Available Resources. Topics discussed in this episode: Introduction to Segment #9 [0:51] Cost of College [2:46] What is Financial Aid? [6:06] Types of Applications [8:17] Aid - “All Coupons” [12:32] Criteria for Financial Aid [15:52] Merit-based Aid Stats [17:55] Financial Aid Process [20:18] Financial Aid Resources [25:45] Call 2 Action - Subscribe for Assignments [30:28] Our Guests: Benjamin Stern, Founder and CEO of IvyAchievement, USA, focuses on international students applying to US Colleges from India, Vietnam and others. IvyAchievement students have been accepted by top universities in the US, a number of them with generous Financial Aid packages. Check out IvyAchievement’s Financial Guide for International Applicants. Memorable Quote: “And he [Jeffrey Selingo] explains that financial aid is really another way to say both both merit based and need based aid, … they're both more polite ways of saying tuition discounts or tuition coupons.” Ben Stern. Episode Transcript: Please visit Episode’s Transcript. Recommended Podcasts: Segments in this Series. Calls-to-action: Subscribe for Assignments Subscribe or Follow our podcasts at any of these locations:, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, RadioPublic, Breaker, Anchor. To Make a List of Colleges to Explore Visit almamatters.io and signup. For Transcripts of all our podcasts, visit almamatters.io/podcasts.