College Planning

A, B or C? Giving Your Prospective Colleges a Grade

Okay, so you’ve signed up for a college tour and you’ve set up your GPS to find the school. What more do you need to do to make the most out of your trip as you begin the college search process?

Well, that is a good start, but there are other ways to make sure your visit is really worthwhile. In a five-minute date, you get 300 seconds to meet, greet and evaluate a potential partner. Fortunately, you have more time to mull over a college visit. But in order to maximize your tour, you should take the time in advance to think through what it is you want to evaluate while you’re on campus. In other words, before you started the car and set foot on the road, you should create a report card to grade the school.

It is very important to develop some sort of rating scale for your report card. By this I mean identifying the aspects of a college you think are important to gauge as well as an actual grading system. Perhaps your child is a finicky eater or a vegetarian or has some other dietary considerations. Then be sure to include the dining hall food on your list and make it a priority to sample a breakfast, lunch or dinner there.

Or, is your child a homebody who needs to feel comfortable in his or her surroundings? Then, the layout of a dorm room or the amenities the dorm offers might be really important criteria. Perhaps your kid is athletic and fit? Then you’ll want to be sure to check the college workout facility, the athletic fields, the roster of club sports or the indoor pool.

Whatever your customized list includes, you’ll then need a rating system. Perhaps a simple thumbs up or down is sufficient, or rank each criteria with a one to 5 scale or some other scale of measurement you’ve come up with. Just be sure to be consistent and use the same criteria and scoring system school to school.

That way, when you’ve arrived home after your last college visit, you have a report card on the schools you’ve visited that will mean something because you’ve developed it with your child’s particular needs in mind.

Photo by arvindgrover via Flickr.

When It Comes to College Tuition, Is There Such a Thing as a Free Lunch?

As history has it, there was such a thing as a “free lunch” and refers to the practice by saloons during the 1870s of giving out a lunchtime meal. The idea was that by attracting patrons with the promise of a lunch, the customers might, in turn, buy one – or several drinks.

These days, when it comes to college financial aid, there is usually some similar quid pro quo arrangement. It’s very unusual for a prospective college student to be awarded a “full boat” as they say. In other words, there is no cost to the student for either tuition, room and board, books or expenses. Rather, far more often, a student may be offered some combination of scholarships, tuition waivers or reimbursements, grants and loans.

This may include work-study, as well, which means that the student has to work at a campus-generated job to earn some of his or her financial aid. In order to get the money, some work has to be performed. It could be quite easy work, such as shelving books at the college library or answering phones for the environmental studies office, however, the work study money is really not free.

In other words, just like with most things in life, you give a little, get a little and with any luck, you give a little and get a lot.

Photo by D. Sharon Pruitt via Flickr.

Identifying your child's aptitude to prepare for college.

Remember when you were a child and well-meaning adults would ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” It’s a common question but one not always easily answered.

Some of us were fortunate. We knew from an early age what drives us, we could easily recognize what fulfills us in life and could identify which career we wanted to pursue. But what about the rest of us? The ones who are completely befuddled and stumped by that question - especially, if the one who’s having trouble coming up with an answer is your college-bound child. How do you help?

The ability to answer that question is particularly important if you’re heading off to college because presumably, that is where you prepare for the career you intend to pursue, so it is a time of transition and a period in your life where identifying your aptitude is pivotal. Fortunately, there is help for parents and their children.

Many guidance departments offer aptitude testing to help students identify the academic areas that are most suited to their skills and interests. But, there are resources beyond those found at your child’s high school guidance office. Consider, for example, the Johnson O’Connor Research Foundation which offers testing at major urban centers across the country and has been involved in aptitude testing and research since 1922 – pretty much since aptitude was a field of study.

Talk to your child, consult with your child’s guidance counselor and identify a plan that makes sense because identifying aptitude — and being able to answer the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” —  is an important foundation for future success.

Photo by puresolitude via Flickr.

Is FAFSA a Friend or Foe?

The mere mention of the term FAFSA, which stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, can strike fear into grown and otherwise reasonable adults.  Parents of prospective college students are terrified of FAFSA, and just the mere thought of logging in to apply for financial aid can make them panicky, tense, and anxious.

But the truth is that FAFSA is neither friend nor foe.  Rather it is a gateway to help. 

FAFSA is the official application used by all colleges to determine eligibility for federal aid.  Children applying to most private colleges will also be required to complete a College Scholarship Service Profile Application (CSS). 

And the Department of Education has gone a long way to making the site user-friendly and accessible – it is now more navigable than ever.  Although, that is not to say it is easy to complete the forms.

On the other hand, it is not so much hard as it is mostly time consuming.  You will need to devote yourself to gathering the financial documents you need, such as your and your child’s tax returns.  And, you will have to do it each year again.  This is because a family’s situation changes each year and income may go up or down, inheritances may have been received, or assets may have been reduced.

But, the bottom line is... the effort is worth it.  FAFSA is the federal door to thousands of dollars worth of grants, loans, waivers, tuition reductions, and work-study programs.  And this is true for those attending public colleges, as well as private.

Photo by cydneycap via Flickr.