FAFSA

So it is 2010, this means it is time for a new FAFSA! And you don’t want to wait! The sooner you can get your FAFSA in order, the more likely you are for grants like the FSEOG and TEACH. If you have your 2009 taxes done, go get your FAFSA completed. If you need help, let me know!

College degree = $$

Earning a college degree can be an important investment in yourself and your future.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that full-time workers age 25 and older had median weekly earnings of $595 in 2006 if they were high school graduates. By comparison, earnings were $721 for those with associate’s degrees, $962 for those with bachelor’s degrees, $1,140 for those with master’s degrees and $1,441 for those with doctoral degrees.¹

¹Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Education pays…” Retrieved October 29, 2007, from http://stats.bls.gov/emp/emptab7.htm

Private counselors help college-bound chart career paths

This is the season for college admissions pandemonium. And as any college-bound student knows, it typically isn’t pretty. There are tests to take and applications to complete. Students have about 2,000 four-year undergraduate programs from which to choose, and that’s assuming they aren’t considering schools abroad. It can all be a bit much for even the most prodigious youths. So what’s an average 16-year-old to do? Most students have some sort of college guidance program at school, yet many increasingly seek private college counselors for direction. This year, about 6 percent of entering college freshmen nationwide — and as many as 20 percent of entering freshmen in the Northeast — used independent counselors, according to the Independent Educational Consultants Association (IECA). That’s up from about 1 percent in 1996. These counselors offer everything from the standard essay advice and test-taking tips to specialized career counseling. Sound like too much too soon? Not so, says ICEA’s executive director Mark. H. Sklarow. “Research has shown that kids who are thinking long-term are more successful in their studies at school because they see a direct connection between the two,” says Sklarow.

Read more: http://college-advisor.com/articles/calling.html

Search for Scholarships

“Think of any major, specialty or talent and chances are there’s a scholarship program intended for it. High school seniors, returning college students and their parents should consider this route as a source for financial aid – especially if their college will be minimizing its financial aid offers.

Most deadlines range between October and March. Stick to free scholarship search engines, such as Sallie Mae’s Scholarship Search and FastWeb.com. And reach out to your local community and clubs you’re involved in.

However, should a student’s total financial aid exceed his financial need by more than $300, certain types of federal financial aid, like the Perkins loan and the SEOG grant, could be reduced, says Mark Kantrowitz, founder of FinAid.org, which tracks tuition and financial aid changes, and publisher of FastWeb.com. Make sure that you’re using scholarships to replace federal loans and you’re not losing out on free money that you don’t have to repay – like grants.”

Read More: http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/college-planning/the-financial-aid-squeeze-is-getting-worse/

The Cost of Applyinjg to Colelge Creeps Up:

“As any high school senior knows, just applying to college can involve paying anywhere from $10 to $100 per application—and in recent years, those fees have been inching up. In 2008, the cost of applying to Columbia University increased from $70 to $75; two years ago, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, hiked the application fee for its three regional campuses to $65 from $60. The Virginia Military Institute also added $5 to its application, upping the charge to $40 from $35 two years ago.”

Read more: http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-finance/college-planning/the-cost-of-getting-into-college-creeps-up/

Personal Experience:

I love to advise students, preferably when they are freshman in high school, with plenty of time in front of them to grow and make something out of their lives that is based in wisdom, and rooted in their true strengths. I speak with hundreds of students who are really struggling to make the right decision with college, all of them in their late 30’s and mid 40’s. Going to school for them is a kind of ‘last ditch effort’. As the economy turns and jobs are lost we see struggling families turning toward education because many working men and women are losing out because they lack that little piece of paper on the wall.

One word of caution; school is an investment tool- it is not the solution to your problems. In fact, it can create a whole world of problems if you’re not careful. I owed over $60k to Sallie Mae because I went to a private school to earn a degree that has an ROI of about $25k per year (even in San Diego!!). If I were to give every dime I earned to my loan, it would still take 29 months to pay off! So now I work an 8-5 J.O.B. counseling students for a non-disclosed university, and while I appreciate it; I want to work for myself and more importantly, I want to advise students who are just starting out in this game we call ‘life’.

I do not beleive college is for everyone, but I do think that with over 60% of HS grads going to college, I want to be there with the advice and wisdom that wasn’t there for me. I want to be the voice of reason speaking to you in a world of reckless debt and spending, a world of “go to college at all costs”, and a world of crazy abandon of reason and common sense. For whatever reason I had the audacity to ignore sound advice and wisdom from the people around me; and in retrospect, I needed a good swift kick to the head (metaphorically speaking of course)! I would love to spend time with you and help you figure out this whole crazy world of college. There are some good tips on this blog and there are a ton of great resources on the web.

Feel free to call me directly at: 619-823-5974. My name is Nathan Cornett and I am a college advisor.

College Terms:

Since this college thing is completely new to some of you, I thought it might be a good idea to let you in on some of the college lingo. People who work for colleges will often throw around words you’ve never heard before, and expect you to know what they mean. This can sometimes create problems when you think they mean something entirely different from what their intention was. In addition, each college has slang terms for many policies and procedures, and you will need to be aware of what they are. This information might be particularly useful to print and keep for a while, so feel free to do that, if you like. Anyway, the following is simply a list of college terms I think you will find useful. It is written by a good friend of mine, Mr. Bill Etheredge, and he has used it with his high school students for many years.

Bill Etheredge has been in the field of Education for more than 30 years, 18 as band director and more than 15 as high school counselor. He is currently High School Counselor at The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas. In addition, he served as President of Band Boosters and Senior Advisor to the Band Alumni Association of his former school, Ardmore High School, in Ardmore, Oklahoma. He holds a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Education and a Masters Degree in Counseling from East Central University, in Ada, Oklahoma. A number of Mr. Etheredge’s college preparation materials are used statewide in Oklahoma by High School and Vocational /Technical School Counselors.

COLLEGE TERMINOLOGY

Academic Advisor/Counselor - This person will help you select the correct courses, review the course requirements in the field you have selected to pursue and help you with any academic problems you may encounter. At some institutions, academic advisement is conducted by faculty as part of their job duties. Other institutions may designate specific staff as academic counselors.

Read More: http://www.collegeprep101.com/articles/terminology.htm

Scholarships

Applying for scholarships is the most time consuming part of applying to college – by far!  And I’m granting an exception to my “no outside help” rule on this one.  It’s okay to ask for and receive some help when it comes to applying for scholarships – you should, however, still do most of it yourself.

To give yourself enough time to adequately prepare and submit all the scholarship applications you will likely fill out, you will need to plan ahead.  If possible, start during YOUR junior year.  Although the information may change some by your senior year, you’ll have the deadline, a copy of the application, and a person to contact to get more information.  This will give you a good idea what to expect next year from that scholarship, and you’ll be able to request information early in your senior year.  One strategy I suggest you try is to locate someone in the class above you who will be applying for numerous scholarships (the more like you they are, the better – major, college choices, GPA, ACT/SAT, etc.), and offer to help them find scholarships.  In return, after they’re done with everything, they agree to pass it along to you.  I wrote a column about it here.

You can work together or independently, but you will both search in magazines aimed at teens, check with local organizations that might award scholarships, contact professional organizations related to your major, scour the Internet for information, check out scholarship books from the library, obviously check your colleges’ web sites, and most importantly, stay in touch with your high school counselor.

Your counselor will be your best friend in this process.  Much of the information on local scholarships will come through your counselor, but you’ll also need recommendation letters, will want to have them read over your essays and question responses, and they may want to know what you’ve done in this area.  If you’re smart (and nice), you’ll offer to help your counselor with anything to do with scholarships and/or college admission for all of his/her students.  You could offer to type text into their newsletter, update the counseling web page, make announcements, distribute applications to your classmates, etc.

Some other helpful hints include:

• Print or copy all applications before you send them
• Double check to see that the application inside the envelope you are sending matches the address on the envelope
• Don’t hand-write scholarship applications (admission applications you could get by with this, not so for scholarships)
• On recommendation letters, contact those you want to have write letters for you early to ask, then give them plenty of notice when you need a letter
• Always have someone else read over your application to make sure you don’t miss an obvious type-o

Finish College

“Myths and Realities About Why So Many Students Fail To Finish College.”  The report is based on interviews with 600 students between the ages of 22 and 30.

It starts with a statistic to startle:

“According to the U.S. Department of Education, only 20 percent of young people who begin their higher education at two-year institutions graduate within three years.  There is a similar pattern in four-year institutions, where about 4 in 10 students receive a degree within six years.”

Then, it blasts through the stereotype that many of us might have about college students being 18 to 22 year olds and attending a 4-year residential institution (they represent only about 25% of the college population).  Here are some other demographic information about college students:

• Among students in four-year schools, 45 percent work more than 20 hours a week.
• Among those attending community colleges, 6 in 10 work more than 20 hours a week, and
  more than a quarter work more than 35 hours a week.
• Twenty-three percent of college students have dependent children.

The report then proceeds to highlight five myths and realities of why students don’t complete:

MYTH NO. 1: Most students go to college full-time. If they leave without a degree, it’s because
they’re bored with their classes and don’t want to work hard.

REALITY NO. 1: Most students leave college because they are working to support themselves and going to school at the same time. At some point, the stress of work and study just becomes too difficult.

• Key statistic:  2/3 of those who dropped out have thought a lot about going back to school but been constrained by concerns about working and going to school at same time.

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MYTH NO. 2: Most college students are supported by their parents and take advantage of a multitude of available loans, scholarships, and savings plans.

REALITY NO. 2: Young people who fail to finish college are often going it alone financially.  They’re essentially putting themselves through school.

• Key statistic:  Higher percentage of students who didn’t complete took out loans (69%) compared to those who did graduate (51%), which is the bad-bad quadrant of “have loans but have not improved earning power.”

—————————————-

MYTH NO. 3: Most students go through a meticulous process of choosing their college from an array of alternatives.

REALITY NO. 3: Among students who don’t graduate, the college selection process is far more limited and often seems happenstance and uninformed.

• Key statistic:  Among those who did not graduate, 2/3 chose their school because it was close to where they lived or worked.

——————————–
MYTH NO. 4: Students who don’t graduate understand fully the value of a college degree and
the consequences and trade-offs of leaving school without one.

REALITY NO. 4: Students who leave college realize that a diploma is an asset, but they may
not fully recognize the impact dropping out of school will have on their future.

So, what policies would help those who left return to school?

“Eight in 10 of those who did not complete college supported two proposals that they believe would make college graduation feasible: 1) making it possible for part-time students to be eligible for more financial aid (81 percent said this would help “a lot”); and 2) offering more courses in the evening and on weekends so that they could continue working while taking classes (78 percent said this would help “a lot”).”

• The next three most cited policies by non-completers were:
  • Cut college costs by 25% (78% of non-completers)
  • Have the government offer more college loans (76%)
  • Provide day care for students who need it (76%)

The report closes with a quintessential American yearning for a better life for its children:

“Even though they themselves left before finishing—and chances are that many of those we spoke to will never return to higher education—fully 97 percent of young American parents who dropped out of college say that they will encourage their own children go to college.”

Source: http://studentlendinganalytics.typepad.com/student_lending_analytics/2009/12/-myths-and-realities-of-college-completion-a-report-from-public-agenda.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+StudentLendingAnalyticsBlog+%28Student+Lending+Analytics+Blog%29

Finding Loans, Grants, and Scholarships:

What do you have to help with finding loans, grants, and scholarships?

By: Nathan Cornett

Funding loans is easy, anyone with a pulse can get a loan by simply filling out the FAFSA and indicating that you are interested in the FFELP program; from that point the college/university you apply to (by putting their school code on the FAFSA) will direct you to a list of lenders. Our school uses Elm Select (https://www.elmselect.com/oll/SchoolLenderList/?schoolId=8129) but every school has their own way to direct students to the lenders.

As far as Grants go, there are 2 applications students need to be particularly aware of, the FAFSA is still key note for the Federal Pell Grant; the goal in the FAFSA is to have the lowest possible EFC (expected family contribution); this is a number, not necessarily a $$ amount, but more of a code the DOE/school uses to determine your family “need”, thus determining how much aid to give each student.

The second application students need to be aware of as far as grants go is the CSS (College Scholarship Service) financial profile. In contrast to the FREE application for federal student aid (FAFSA), the CSS costs money. $9 for the registration fee, and $16 for EACH college you want the CSS submitted to. Also in contrast to the FAFSA, the CSS has personalized questions that differ according to the student, it is a customized profile. The FAFSA has standardized questions that are the same for everyone. The CSS is used to award NON-Federal funds (private loans, school funded grants, and other grant programs). This application would be especially helpful for students going to very expensive private schools that have excellent scholarship programs, and/or state schools in which you know of scholarship programs that you may qualify for; the CSS will help you get you foot in the door.

There are several web-based scholarship searches that students should also be aware of, I will list just two:
-www.fastweb.com
-www.collegedata.com (simply click on the link for “scholarship finder”)

In both cases, think “personal”, think “criterion”, think “mass”. You will want to craft a very personal (not mushy) essay about your personal achievements (that differ from your admission applications and CSS profile) and you will want to send that essay out to as many potential scholarships as you possibly can. The key is to connect on an emotional level with the people reading these thousands of essays. Yes point out that you have a 3.8 GPA and that you are on ASB or president of the “Save Africa” club, but you will want to convey the PASSION for which you live; the reason why you deserve a scholarship over the next average Joe.

In all cases, it helps to have someone there to coach you through each step, and to understand the terms and concepts that are going to thrown at you at 100mph by your school advisers, of the loan/grant/scholarship administrators. When in doubt, ask questions.