February 10, 2026

Unpacking College Loans and ROI with Matt Carpenter

How can families appeal financial aid offers? And how can you decide whether you're taking out too much debt for your degree? In this episode, Matt Carpenter answers these questions, and many more.

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About this episode

In this episode, Matt Carpenter, the cofounder of College Aid Pro, guides students through the process of appealing financial aid offers, advises parents who feel they have fallen behind in the admissions process, and describes the transparency issue in college pricing today. He goes into detail about the many advantages of college, both personal and professional, and describes the effects of the federal student loan caps that passed in 2025.

He also theorizes on the reasons behind rising college costs and gives a great rule of thumb for deciding how much debt your family should be comfortable taking out. He stresses that major, not just college choice, should affect a student’s tolerance for loans. The episode closes with some reasons why college continues to be an important investment in today’s world.

Mentioned in this episode

Host

Will Geiger

Will Geiger is the co-founder of Scholarships360 and has a decade of experience in college admissions and financial aid. He is a former Senior Assistant Director of Admissions at Kenyon College where he personally reviewed 10,000 admissions applications and essays. Will also managed the Kenyon College merit scholarship program and served on the financial aid appeals committee. He has also worked as an Associate Director of College Counseling at a high school in New Haven, Connecticut.Will earned his master’s in education from the University of Pennsylvania and received his undergraduate degree in history from Wake Forest University.

Guest

Matt Carpenter

Matt started his college planning career in 2005 after realizing both he and his parents had made some major mistakes in navigating the college admissions and financial aid processes.

It became Matt’s mission to show other families how to avoid making similar mistakes in one of the biggest investments of their life. Today, Matt is recognized as one of the nation’s leading authorities within the College Funding niche and has been recognized by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox, ABC, NBS and more.

When he’s not busy saving families from the college loan crisis, Matt enjoys hanging out with his wife Rosey, their daughter Emma, and their lab Tommy. They reside in Beverly, MA.