Archive for the ‘Transfer Student’ Category
Don’t Wait to be Accepted. Find the Money Now!
Just as important as completing a persuasive and complete application for admission is completing a persuasive and complete application for financial aid. Don’t wait until your student is accepted to try to figure out how you will pay the college bill. If you wait for the acceptance letter it will be too late. Now is the time in order to give colleges the opportunity to put together a financial aid package.
Most important first step is to go to the website of every college to which your student applied and read it carefully and thoroughly. Each college has different aid forms and deadlines. Dont hesitate to call the financial aid office if you have questions.
To follow is a list of terms you will encounter as you research the financial aid requirements of each college:
Financial Aid: A general term used to refer to all types of money awarded to student based on financial need. It can include grants, loans, work-study and scholarships.
FAFSA (Free application for federal student aid): Completing the online (or paper) FAFSA is the first step toward applying for federal financial aid at any college. Dont wait until your 2006 taxes are complete, you can begin completing it now. The site walks you through step by step and even the technically challenged like myself can get through it.
CSS Profile (College Scholarship Service): some colleges that award non-federal funds require that this profile be completed. It is a division of the College Board who charges a family $5 registration fee and $18 to submit to each college. AGAIN check each college’s web site to see if this is necessary.
SAR (Student Aid Report): The Department of Education will send a SAR to the applicant and the colleges selected by applicant based on information provided in the FAFSA. The SAR will contain a dollar amount, EFC(Expected Family Contribution) that the family is expected to contribute to college expenses that year.
Demonstrated Need: The difference between the EFC and real cost of attending college.Some colleges are committed to meeting this difference and others are not.
Grants and Scholarships: Federal government and states have systems for granting or giving money to students with demonstrated financial need. It can be used for public or private colleges. Scholarships can also be awarded by colleges or outside sources for achievement, special talents or other particular reasons. These do not need to be repaid.
Loans: Loans must be repaid by students and/or parents and can come from federally funded loans, colleges themselves or banks. Watch the terms carefully and be proactive whenever possible to improve them.
Merit aid: Merit scholarships are awarded to students to entice them to attend the college. They do not have to be repaid.
Work-study: The federal work-study program is a way for students to earn money to help pay for college expenses. Jobs can be on or off campus, though off-campus jobs are usually related to community service. Even if your student does not qualify for work study have them seek work opportunities organized through the college as they are often more understanding of college testing schedules and vacations.
College “Wrong Carrot” for Some?
In an article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal entitled “What’s Wrong With Vocational School” Charles Murray argues that too many high school graduates are going to four-year colleges. Getting past Murray’s troubling reliance on an IQ of 100 as a cut-off of sorts for students going to a four-year college, Murray should cause parents and educators to pause and consider both the personal and societal value of alternatives to a college education. Assuming value in a vocational education is found, the obvious first step is to expose high school students (or even middle school students) to classes that expose them to the various vocations, just as high schools currently expose their students to the sciences, math, music etc. But how can we expect high schools to offer vocational classes if their success is judged both locally and nationally by student performance on standardized tests in math, science and english to say nothing of the reality that parents often select their child’s high school based on how many graduates go on to a four-year colleges? Murray’s article correctly focuses attention on the symptom–“wrong kids” going to college, but readers should recognize the source of the problem is not the kid or the parent, but is state and federally mandated curriculum that dangles the “wrong carrot”–college for all. In fact , a large percentage of high school students might be better off in their adult lives if they were “left behind” from college and attended vocational school.
Scholarships in a nutshell.
What to ask about scholarships.
Keep these questions in mind:Â Â Â Â
- What is the maximum scholarship award?
- Is the scholarship one-time or can it be renewed?
- What’s required for renewal?
- Is the scholarship based on merit or need, or a combination?
- How does the scholarship define merit?
- Does the scholarship require admission to a certain college program?
- Is full-time enrollment required to get and keep the scholarship?
- What are the other requirements, if any?
- Is an essay required?
- Are recommendation letters required?
- What is the deadline?
- How does the college treat “outside” scholarships? Some schools let students combine outside scholarships with financial aid from the college with no impact on a student’s financial-aid package. Others will reduce the package if you get outside scholarships. Check with the college.
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