Q: Our son is headed to college. While he got into his match school, we haven't heard from his first choice school yet, which is also the most expensive. We need a financial aid package. Should we wait until we hear from them all to apply for aid?

A: Don't wait until he's accepted to apply for aid. At a minimum, you'll need to file a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form from the U.S. Department of Education (fafsa.ed.gov). The FAFSA form for the 2013-14 school year went online Jan. 1.

"The FAFSA is used to apply for federal student financial aid, such as the Pell Grant, student loans and college work-study jobs," says Kalman Chany, a financial adviser who has helped families obtain college financial aid for nearly 30 years. "Most schools and state agencies use FAFSA information to award aid. Some schools and states require additional forms.

"Be sure to file all required documents by their respective priority deadlines (set by the school or state agency) to ensure maximum consideration for funds."

Chany, author of "Paying for College Without Going Broke" (The Princeton Review Inc., 2013 edition), offers more tips:

-- Assume your child is eligible for aid. Don't rule out a college because you think it's too expensive. The higher the cost, the more aid you may receive.

-- Research the forms you'll need and due dates. "The process can be overwhelming," notes Chany. "Many colleges have different deadlines for different aid forms. Chart each school's and your state's aid application requirements so you don't miss any deadlines. While most are due in February and March, some are due in January.

"Check to see if any of the schools require the College Board's 2013-14 CSS PROFILE or other forms besides the FAFSA."

-- Figure out your "expected family contribution." Before you apply for aid, use the worksheets in financial aid guidebooks to calculate what the college will estimate you can afford to pay.

"Make sure you have the most up-to-date information, as rules and formulas change every year," Chany cautions.

-- Maximize your child's eligibility. Consider making appropriate adjustments to your assets, debts and retirement provisions before you submit the FAFSA.

For those with high school juniors and younger: Freshman year need-based aid awards for college are set in part on income for the tax year ending Dec. 31 of the student's senior year of high school.

-- Do your 2012 tax forms early. To meet early aid application deadlines, you may need to estimate your 2012 tax return data.

-- Practice and proofread! "Many parents make costly mistakes in aid applications and fail to get the aid they're eligible to receive because they don't understand how their responses impact aid eligibility," says Chany. "The forms are complex and take time. Do a practice run on paper before you submit anything online. Double-check everything. Do you have forms for the correct academic year you are seeking aid? Have you answered all the required questions? Did you sign and date them? Keep copies!"

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: Our family overspends, and our 2013 resolution is to budget! Our kids are 15, 13 and 6. Are there materials to help teach them how to manage money better than their father and I do?

A: According to the Financial Educators Council, most parents don't talk to their kids about money because they don't feel they know enough to guide them. Yet learning good financial habits early helps young people avoid common mistakes, such as accumulating too much credit card debt. Young adults ages 20 to 25 make up the largest group filing personal bankruptcy, so helping your children become savings-savvy will give them a good foundation for money management.

While learning to budget is important, make financial literacy your goal, says Gail Karlitz, author of "Growing Money: A Complete Investing Guide for Kids" (Price Stern Sloan, 2010). "Financial literacy is knowing how money works," she says. "It's a set of skills to help you earn it, manage it, invest it to earn more money, spend it and donate it to help others."

Karlitz likes to use allowances to teach children to manage money. "Don't tie allowances to household chores -- those should be done without pay as part of being a member of the household," she says. Pick an amount you feel comfortable with. Many parents give a dollar a week per year of age.

With your family, discuss needs (food, clothes, housing), wants (treats, entertainment, things we like but aren't essential), goals (things we must save for, such as a new car) and giving (church collections, presents or charity), says Karlitz.

Explain to your kids that, as parents, you will take care of the family's needs while they are growing up. Have your two older children keep notebooks with sections for their needs, wants, goals and giving. List what they want to include in each and estimate how much of their allowance will go to it.

Involve your older children in a similar discussion of the whole family's needs, wants, goals and giving. The Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy has a simple online calculator called "reality check" to make this a fun learning exercise. Plug amounts into key expense categories to see the relationship between your spending and your income. The exercise will not only help your family create a framework for budgeting, it will give your teens a snapshot of what they have to earn to maintain the lifestyle they envision. (For more information, go to jumpstart.org/reality-check.html. Check the site's map for financial education programs in your area.)

Your 6-year-old can join in too. A new nonfiction series called "Smart Start: Money" (Red Chair Press, 2013) provides a good introduction to financial literacy. The four stories -- "Super-Smart Shopping," "Kids Making Money," "Saving for the Future" and "Sharing With Others" -- align nicely with the concepts your older kids will be discussing.

"Smart Start: Money" author Mattie Reynolds says, "Young children can easily grasp the concepts of earning, saving, spending and sharing money if they read about them in the context of their daily lives." (Go to redchairpress.com to find the four-book set.)

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)

Q: My 7- and 8-year old sons participated in a holiday toy drive. It made a great impression and they want to do more. How can I nurture their desire to help others without it becoming a full-time job?

A: Parents work hard to help kids develop kindness, empathy and a motivation to act charitably -- to do things that benefit other individuals, groups or society as a whole. Kid-generated projects can "grow" these skills quickly.

"Neuroscientists say something goes on in the brain that makes us feel good when we help other people. When kids learn to lend a hand, they are motivated to do more," says California counselor Marissa Gehley, founder of KNOW (Kids Need Our Wisdom) consulting.

Learning to give back shapes a child's life. "It builds character and encourages personal responsibility that helps them succeed in adulthood," says Jan Helson, co-author of "The Global Game Changers" (Pixel Entertainment, 2012), a kids' book on doing for others without expecting anything in return (theglobalgamechangers.com).

Your sons' project should fill a genuine need, have a realistic plan for execution, and be something the young organizers are passionate enough to see through.

"Start small. If it works, expand it," Gehley advises.

How do you identify a genuine need? "News stories are a great way for children to learn about challenges and spot opportunities to help," says Helson, especially when young people are part of the solution. Google "kids making a difference," and you'll find many inspiring stories.

Your sons' project doesn't have to take over your life. Once it gets rolling, folks will join in. For example, Kayleigh Crimmins, a police officer's daughter, noticed that some police dogs lacked bulletproof vests because departments couldn't afford them. She started Kids for K9s to raise funds so more dogs could have vests. Jaylen Arnold, a bullying victim featured in "The Global Game Changers," started Jaylen's Challenge to educate kids about the effects of bullying. Others joined to help both organizations grow.

Consider integrating your sons' effort into an existing framework. "Local service clubs and youth groups like to support young people's good ideas," says Gehley. "Many schools have community service programs to tap into."

Visit websites for charities such as Goodwill, the Red Cross and Habitat for Humanity. Identify the need that the organization fulfills, and discuss with your boys whether there's something they can do to support it. For example, many kids participate in the program Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF. (The website unicef.org offers videos of children helped by Trick-or-Treat's donations.) Is there a way to expand the program in your community? Or, can your boys help collect, sort and donate gently used clothes, small appliances and toys to benefit a local charity's thrift shop?

These conversations are important, says Gehley, especially at this time of year when parents want to talk about the spirit of giving, not just spending. The Central Carolina Community Foundation created a card game, Talk About Giving, to help families have this conversation. For more information, go to yourfoundation.org.

(Do you have a question about your child's education? Email it to Leanna@aplusadvice.com. Leanna Landsmann is an education writer who began her career as a classroom teacher. She has served on education commissions, visited classrooms in 49 states to observe best practices, and founded Principal for a Day in New York City.)