Every family we know is considering college cost as an important factor in their child's college decision. Regardless of a family's ability to pay, they're all considering cost and value. As I mentioned yesterday, Net Cost is the most important number.
Families want to know what options they have when the Net Cost still seems impossible. Should they negotiate with a college to try to increase the amount of scholarship money offered? We discourage people from thinking of the discussion with financial aid officers as negotiation. Actually, what you want to do is ask the financial aid officer to reconsider your case and ideally you'll provide the college with new or additional information clarifying your situation. Including information about scholarship offers from other colleges may be part of that clarification.
Here's a great article - great, because I agree with all of it's points!
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
April is Decision Month
In the College Admissions world, April is one of the most stressful months.
April 1 is the long awaited deadline by which colleges must notify students of their status. There are three categories: accepted, denied or wait-listed. Newspapers print selective college admissions rates. Students have until May 1 to make their decisions and send in their deposits.
Few students are admitted everywhere or denied everywhere. There are feelings of jubilation, disappointment and resignation with parents and teens moving back and forth as they try to sort things out. And there are decisions to be made.
Plus, there are scholarship and financial aid award letters to sort out. Some parents are swayed by the amount of scholarship a college offers their child. CAUTION: The amount of the scholarship is important, but not as important as the Net Cost. Net Cost is the difference between the Total Cost of Attendance and the scholarship(s) awarded.
My advice is to gather as much information as you can, participate in admitted student programs, evaluate your options and compare them to the criteria you used when you selected your application list. You've grown and matured since you submitted your applications in the fall, so some of your priorities may have changed. For almost all families, no matter their financial situation, the cost or value of the choices ranks highly in the list of important factors to consider.
For many students, this is one of the first major, adult decisions they've been involved in. It's a great learning opportunity.
Plus, remember - Graduation is right around the corner!
April 1 is the long awaited deadline by which colleges must notify students of their status. There are three categories: accepted, denied or wait-listed. Newspapers print selective college admissions rates. Students have until May 1 to make their decisions and send in their deposits.
Few students are admitted everywhere or denied everywhere. There are feelings of jubilation, disappointment and resignation with parents and teens moving back and forth as they try to sort things out. And there are decisions to be made.
Plus, there are scholarship and financial aid award letters to sort out. Some parents are swayed by the amount of scholarship a college offers their child. CAUTION: The amount of the scholarship is important, but not as important as the Net Cost. Net Cost is the difference between the Total Cost of Attendance and the scholarship(s) awarded.
My advice is to gather as much information as you can, participate in admitted student programs, evaluate your options and compare them to the criteria you used when you selected your application list. You've grown and matured since you submitted your applications in the fall, so some of your priorities may have changed. For almost all families, no matter their financial situation, the cost or value of the choices ranks highly in the list of important factors to consider.
For many students, this is one of the first major, adult decisions they've been involved in. It's a great learning opportunity.
Plus, remember - Graduation is right around the corner!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
