A recent poll found that families are making decisions about college based on inaccurate information. There's lots of information available, but it may be hard to find and confusing to understand. Two articles in the Wall Street Journal recently help families sort through costs/financial aid and paying back student loans.
From the poll article, we hope families learn that the government has begun to require that colleges provide information comparing the "sticker price" to the "discounted price". The sticker price is the total cost of attendance as published by the college and includes tuition, room & board, books, travel and other miscellaneous expenses. The discounted price takes into account all of the scholarships and financial aid that colleges award to students. The specifications of how to calculate the discounted price so that families can compare the data across colleges are vague at this point. We'll be blogging about this further as new approaches are developed. The goal is to find an affordability index comparable across colleges that provides accurate information.
One of the most important items included in the Wall Street Journal articles is the notion of "Professional Judgment Review". That's a phrase that every family should know when talking with college and university financial aid officers. They have lots of discretion and it behooves families to have frank and open discussions with the financial aid office personnel.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
Parents - College Admissions has changed. Tips for remaining calm.
Parents are bombarded with information about how college admissions has changed since they were in school. True enough. For some folks, that news creates a hysteria. Macalester College advises their alumni to calm down and think ahead.
Donna Kelly, College Connectors consultant, offers helpful advice on how to navigate the maze and stress of finding the right set of colleges for each student and getting into them. Even more importantly, she advises.
The article discusses current admissions topics like: 'pronoun confusion', 'sticker price', and 'matchmaking'. How many applications should a student submit? The Understanding the Numbers heading in the Admissions Mania article addresses this topic too.
Congratulations to freelance writer, Laura Billings, and the Macalester Today editorial staff for providing helpful information to parents.
Donna Kelly, College Connectors consultant, offers helpful advice on how to navigate the maze and stress of finding the right set of colleges for each student and getting into them. Even more importantly, she advises.
The article discusses current admissions topics like: 'pronoun confusion', 'sticker price', and 'matchmaking'. How many applications should a student submit? The Understanding the Numbers heading in the Admissions Mania article addresses this topic too.
Congratulations to freelance writer, Laura Billings, and the Macalester Today editorial staff for providing helpful information to parents.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Unhappy with your Financial Aid Offer?
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!
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!
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!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
College Tuition Discounts - Really????
For all of you who received your acceptance letters and financial aid awards - Congratulations. Now, you're faced with the nitty-gritty details of how to pay for it.
The results of a new survey released recently claim that Tuition Discounting reached record high levels - oh, but that was in 2008. What about 2010 and what is tuition discounting anyway.
Tuition discounting refers to the practice of colleges providing non-need-based scholarships to meritorious students. In other words, merit aid. Over 40% of aid colleges provide to students has nothing to do with whether or not their families can afford to pay.
Is this fair?
Some say yes: Students should be financially rewarded for high academic achievement just like athletes are for high athletic ability. I guess it's like parents paying $10/A on your report card.
Some say no: Most students with high academic achievement are already advantaged from families with above average incomes. More should be done to support needy students.
How about a compromise? How about awarding more aid to needy students with high academic achievement?
The study also points out that there are risks to universities that discount too much. Hmmm.
What do you think about tuition discounting?
Survey Results
The results of a new survey released recently claim that Tuition Discounting reached record high levels - oh, but that was in 2008. What about 2010 and what is tuition discounting anyway.
Tuition discounting refers to the practice of colleges providing non-need-based scholarships to meritorious students. In other words, merit aid. Over 40% of aid colleges provide to students has nothing to do with whether or not their families can afford to pay.
Is this fair?
Some say yes: Students should be financially rewarded for high academic achievement just like athletes are for high athletic ability. I guess it's like parents paying $10/A on your report card.
Some say no: Most students with high academic achievement are already advantaged from families with above average incomes. More should be done to support needy students.
How about a compromise? How about awarding more aid to needy students with high academic achievement?
The study also points out that there are risks to universities that discount too much. Hmmm.
What do you think about tuition discounting?
Survey Results
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Beware
Whether someone's trying to scare you about the danger of the Ides of March or about charlatan College Advisors, you always need to do your own research and draw your own conclusions.
The author of a Smart Money article titled her section in a way that tries to make you leery of people in the business of helping families through the college admissions process.
However, readers of the article will likely conclude that if your high school counselor has a load of more than 40-50 students, you're likely to need help. Unless a student is in a selective college preparatory high school, it's likely that the counselor has a caseload 8-10 times that large.
Also, readers learn that consultants who belong to the Independent Educational Consultants Association agree to a set of ethical standards that prohibit us from the types of promises and false claims that the article warns about. Further, it details that Certified Educational Planners willingly allow themselves to be evaluated and reviewed every five years, it's a very selective process.
So, I can summarize the key points of the article: Students from high schools where counselors are overloaded with students and non-college advising workloads can benefit by working with IECA member consultants who maintain their credential as a CEP.
Smart Money Article comments
The author of a Smart Money article titled her section in a way that tries to make you leery of people in the business of helping families through the college admissions process.
However, readers of the article will likely conclude that if your high school counselor has a load of more than 40-50 students, you're likely to need help. Unless a student is in a selective college preparatory high school, it's likely that the counselor has a caseload 8-10 times that large.
Also, readers learn that consultants who belong to the Independent Educational Consultants Association agree to a set of ethical standards that prohibit us from the types of promises and false claims that the article warns about. Further, it details that Certified Educational Planners willingly allow themselves to be evaluated and reviewed every five years, it's a very selective process.
So, I can summarize the key points of the article: Students from high schools where counselors are overloaded with students and non-college advising workloads can benefit by working with IECA member consultants who maintain their credential as a CEP.
Smart Money Article comments
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Summer Job Prospects
The Wall Street Journal on March 10 had a great article about the summer job market for teens. We don't need anyone else telling us how tough the job market is. I thought the author had some great ideas. Here's a summary and a link to the article.
If at first you don't succeed; try, try again.
Now's the time to start looking for summer work. Apply everywhere and make sure to ask for work at places that focus on summer activities, like government-run youth programs, resorts and vacation spots, camps and amusement parks, child- and elder-care providers where replacements are needed for workers on vacation, moving, packing and lawn-care companies, landscapers. And, don't forget the regular places: movie theaters, restaurants and clothing or accessory stores.
Don't accept that nobody is going to hire a teenager - if you don't apply they sure aren't going to hire you.
Colleges prefer that students take overseas service trips rather than have a summer job.
What? Are you kidding? Colleges know that most of those exotic summer experiences, including leadership programs at top colleges, are opportunities for kids whose parents can pay. Actually, paid or volunteer work in your hometown shows grit and determination. Plus, it shows colleges that you're dependable enough to hold down a job.
Actually, colleges want to be sure that you're doing something other than sitting at home playing videogames or networking yourself socially all day long. Paid work, volunteer work, or one of those great summer experiences can be equally beneficial to your college application. The real value of the experience is what you learn from it and how you tell the story about what you learned, on your college application.
Think you're too cool to flip burgers?
One of my best summer jobs was the chief cook and bottle washer at the Tip Top Diner, a small cafe(accommodated 12 patrons at a counter!) specializing in chili dogs. It was real work, believe me, and I met interesting people. Maybe future employers never ate there, and maybe they never wanted to, but they learned that I could handle responsibility and get along with people and multi-task(stir the chili, flip the pancakes and ring up payment!!).
The point is that you never know what you're going to learn from a work situation. If it's honest work, try it.
Maybe you're an entrepreneur!
Mow lawns, shovel snow, do errands.... sell needed services to your neighbors and friends. What other chores do people need help with - wash cars, clean garages, wash windows, baby sit. The cash can add up. If you do good work, your customers will tell their friends. Heck, maybe you'll even have to hire other teens to help get all that work done. Hard physical labor is what people used to do before there we all went to the gym to work out.
Thanks to Sue Shellenbarger for her great WSJ article.
If at first you don't succeed; try, try again.
Now's the time to start looking for summer work. Apply everywhere and make sure to ask for work at places that focus on summer activities, like government-run youth programs, resorts and vacation spots, camps and amusement parks, child- and elder-care providers where replacements are needed for workers on vacation, moving, packing and lawn-care companies, landscapers. And, don't forget the regular places: movie theaters, restaurants and clothing or accessory stores.
Don't accept that nobody is going to hire a teenager - if you don't apply they sure aren't going to hire you.
Colleges prefer that students take overseas service trips rather than have a summer job.
What? Are you kidding? Colleges know that most of those exotic summer experiences, including leadership programs at top colleges, are opportunities for kids whose parents can pay. Actually, paid or volunteer work in your hometown shows grit and determination. Plus, it shows colleges that you're dependable enough to hold down a job.
Actually, colleges want to be sure that you're doing something other than sitting at home playing videogames or networking yourself socially all day long. Paid work, volunteer work, or one of those great summer experiences can be equally beneficial to your college application. The real value of the experience is what you learn from it and how you tell the story about what you learned, on your college application.
Think you're too cool to flip burgers?
One of my best summer jobs was the chief cook and bottle washer at the Tip Top Diner, a small cafe(accommodated 12 patrons at a counter!) specializing in chili dogs. It was real work, believe me, and I met interesting people. Maybe future employers never ate there, and maybe they never wanted to, but they learned that I could handle responsibility and get along with people and multi-task(stir the chili, flip the pancakes and ring up payment!!).
The point is that you never know what you're going to learn from a work situation. If it's honest work, try it.
Maybe you're an entrepreneur!
Mow lawns, shovel snow, do errands.... sell needed services to your neighbors and friends. What other chores do people need help with - wash cars, clean garages, wash windows, baby sit. The cash can add up. If you do good work, your customers will tell their friends. Heck, maybe you'll even have to hire other teens to help get all that work done. Hard physical labor is what people used to do before there we all went to the gym to work out.
Thanks to Sue Shellenbarger for her great WSJ article.
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