“They let the kids apply wherever, then it’s decision day, and the parents say, ‘We can’t afford for you to go there.'” Just in time for FAFSA season, college finance expert Vicki Vollweiler shares money-saving advice. From divorced parents to married parents from undecided students to students with a dream career, she has a creative tip for every situation. In this week’s interview, we discuss why your best chance of financial aid comes from the colleges (and not external scholarships), how to negotiate for more money, why it’s crucial to tell your kids exactly how much you’ve saved for college, and Vicki’s best FAFSA practices.

“It’s not a bad idea to actually have the people writing your letter of recommendation read the personal statement,” says University of Maryland College Park social psychology Ph.D. candidate, Nadya Teneva. In the final installation, the 5th year doctoral student shares tips on nailing the Ph.D. personal statement, choosing between academic and non-academic jobs, expected salary ranges, and getting full funding.

“I imagined that I would enjoy the freedom of from not having a nine to five. And I’ve actually learned that it can be a little intimidating to not have any structure and sort of have to be a self starter.” An international student who got accepted into a fully-funded Ph.D. program straight out of undergrad, Nadya Teneva shares her best tips for future doctoral candidates. We discuss the dos and donts of Ph.D. apps, minimum GRE scores and GPAs, the expectations vs. reality of being a social psychology doctoral student, and the questions that stumped her in the admissions interview.