I have been busy lately updating my website to include new ways to offer information to clients, prospective clients and anyone interested
in college planning. I have been creating an e-newsletter for a while to help those interested in college planning issues and trends stay informed. My plan is to produce these monthly or bi-monthly. If you are not receiving the e-newsletter, you can now sign-up to be on the mailing list on my website headforcollege.com on the homepage.
More in-depth information will be offered through my teleseminars. First up is a program on College Financial Aid, which will cover the process, forms and types of financial aid. It is scheduled for April 21st from 7-8pm. This teleseminar is free, so please take advantage of this session. You may use the Sign-Up form on the Seminar page of the website.
Since last Fall I have done a number of radio interviews and have been a regular guest co-host on WESO 970 AM. I am now able to post audio and video recordings to the wesite on the Media Clips page of the site. Currently you can listen to my guest hosting appearance on WESO of March 19th. We discuss the timely topic of College Waitlists.
The Resource Page has links to college planning related sites such as the Dept of Education and FAFSA, the College Board and CSS Profile and http://www.wecomparebooks.com/ a discount textbook website.
If you are interested in scheduling a college planning consultation, looking for information on my tutoring services or inquiring about my Corporate Services you can contact me through the Contact Page.
So check out the new website and take advantage of the information and services available that I offer. Feel free to let me know what you like or don't like about it, and what you would like added to the website.
Showing posts with label college planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label college planning. Show all posts
Monday, March 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
In Retrospect: Choosing to Go to B-School
I found Rishonna Campbell's blog post on BrazenCareerist.com and felt it was a good example of the thought process adults go through when deciding to go to college or return to college. What questions or concerns do you have about returning to college? Let me know and I will may use your question for a blog topic.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
College Planning Does Not Take a Holiday!
While you may be focused on preparing for the holidays, you should not slack off on your college planning process. In fact there is plenty that can and should be done between December and January. Here is a mid (academic) year to do list:
1. Admission Applications- Now that Early Decision/Early Acceptance deadlines are past, you need to make your final choice of colleges for regular admission. Apply for admission! Keep records of your application materials.
2. Scholarship Search- If you haven't begun your scholarship search yet, now is the time to start. Most private scholarships will have deadlines ranging from January through June. Great sites to help you with your search are http://www.collegeboard.org/ , http://www.fastweb.com/ and http://www.finaid.org/. You can even do a search on Google. For example if you are interested in a scholarship for orchestral music, search that phrase and you will find a link to the John Belushi Memorial Orchestral Music Scholarship. While a search of poetry scholarships will provide you with information for The National High School Poetry Contest. Beware of scholarship scams that promise scholarships or require an application fee. Read the Federal Trade Commissions warning at http://www.ftc.gov/
3. Financial Aid Applications- You can complete and submit the CSS Profile any time from mid-fall on. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is available in paper form from high schools and college begining in December. Although you can not file the form until January 1st 2010, you can complete the paper form or the online worksheets found at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ to have it ready to go January 1st. (The online FAFSA form itself is not available until January 1st.) You will need to gather tax, income and asset information, some of which may not be available at this time. Be aware that you can estimate on the FAFSA if your W-2 forms and other tax statements are not available when you are ready to finalize your FAFSA information and submit the form. Don 't worry you always update the information once you have received the missing data. It is important to get the FAFSA in as soon as you can after Jan 1st as financial aid is awarded on a first come- first serve basis.
4. Register for Selective Service- If you are a male age 18 to 26 years old, you need to register for Selective Service in order to be eligible for financial aid. You can either pick up the the SS Registration Form at any US Post Office or register through the FAFSA form itself.
5. Exams- It is also time to register for SAT I and SAT II, if needed. Check with the Admissions Offices of all the colleges you intend to apply to for information on test requurements. Also make sure to register for your AP tests, as well. Note that unlike past years, CSS allows you to send your best scores to colleges. So it may be advisable to retake your SAT I or SAT II. Discuss this strategy with your parents and counselor.
6. Transcripts- Have mid-year transcripts sent to colleges. Colleges will use your mid-term transcripts in the admissions review process. But don't think that you can let your grades slide in the spring! College will required you to provide final transcripts later at the end of the spring semester as well and if your grades tank, your admissions offer may disappear!!
7. Plan Your Summer - Winter is a great time of year to apply for summer jobs, internships and volunteer programs. With the current unemployment for teenagers (as of December 4, 2009, Bureau of Labor Statistics) was 26.7%, you can start to look for summer opportunities and get a jump on the competition!
8. Financial Planning for Parents - Year end is a great time to review your 529 plans. Remember that this only year (2009) you are allowed two opportunities to change your plan without changing beneficiaries. So if you are unhappy with your current 529 plan you have until the end of this month to make a move, even if you made a change earlier in 2009. Beginning in January 2010 the rule reverts to an annual change. Parents should also pay down credit card debt, as the FAFSA and Profile do not consider that form of debt in the calculations. By doing so you reduce your cash/savings and decrease your assets, which are considered on the forms.
Include these tasks on your holiday to do list and you are sure to reap the rewards this coming spring!
1. Admission Applications- Now that Early Decision/Early Acceptance deadlines are past, you need to make your final choice of colleges for regular admission. Apply for admission! Keep records of your application materials.
2. Scholarship Search- If you haven't begun your scholarship search yet, now is the time to start. Most private scholarships will have deadlines ranging from January through June. Great sites to help you with your search are http://www.collegeboard.org/ , http://www.fastweb.com/ and http://www.finaid.org/. You can even do a search on Google. For example if you are interested in a scholarship for orchestral music, search that phrase and you will find a link to the John Belushi Memorial Orchestral Music Scholarship. While a search of poetry scholarships will provide you with information for The National High School Poetry Contest. Beware of scholarship scams that promise scholarships or require an application fee. Read the Federal Trade Commissions warning at http://www.ftc.gov/
3. Financial Aid Applications- You can complete and submit the CSS Profile any time from mid-fall on. The FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) is available in paper form from high schools and college begining in December. Although you can not file the form until January 1st 2010, you can complete the paper form or the online worksheets found at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ to have it ready to go January 1st. (The online FAFSA form itself is not available until January 1st.) You will need to gather tax, income and asset information, some of which may not be available at this time. Be aware that you can estimate on the FAFSA if your W-2 forms and other tax statements are not available when you are ready to finalize your FAFSA information and submit the form. Don 't worry you always update the information once you have received the missing data. It is important to get the FAFSA in as soon as you can after Jan 1st as financial aid is awarded on a first come- first serve basis.
4. Register for Selective Service- If you are a male age 18 to 26 years old, you need to register for Selective Service in order to be eligible for financial aid. You can either pick up the the SS Registration Form at any US Post Office or register through the FAFSA form itself.
5. Exams- It is also time to register for SAT I and SAT II, if needed. Check with the Admissions Offices of all the colleges you intend to apply to for information on test requurements. Also make sure to register for your AP tests, as well. Note that unlike past years, CSS allows you to send your best scores to colleges. So it may be advisable to retake your SAT I or SAT II. Discuss this strategy with your parents and counselor.
6. Transcripts- Have mid-year transcripts sent to colleges. Colleges will use your mid-term transcripts in the admissions review process. But don't think that you can let your grades slide in the spring! College will required you to provide final transcripts later at the end of the spring semester as well and if your grades tank, your admissions offer may disappear!!
7. Plan Your Summer - Winter is a great time of year to apply for summer jobs, internships and volunteer programs. With the current unemployment for teenagers (as of December 4, 2009, Bureau of Labor Statistics) was 26.7%, you can start to look for summer opportunities and get a jump on the competition!
8. Financial Planning for Parents - Year end is a great time to review your 529 plans. Remember that this only year (2009) you are allowed two opportunities to change your plan without changing beneficiaries. So if you are unhappy with your current 529 plan you have until the end of this month to make a move, even if you made a change earlier in 2009. Beginning in January 2010 the rule reverts to an annual change. Parents should also pay down credit card debt, as the FAFSA and Profile do not consider that form of debt in the calculations. By doing so you reduce your cash/savings and decrease your assets, which are considered on the forms.
Include these tasks on your holiday to do list and you are sure to reap the rewards this coming spring!
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Wait List Dilemma
This past spring you were placed on a Wait-list at your top college choice and have made plans to attend another college. You've made the required deposit, are preparing for orientation, have been emailing your soon to be roommate(s) and generally getting g more excited about college life. Then over the summer you receive an unexpected call from your first choice college offering you admission for the fall. You’re overjoyed and want to immediately accept the offer. But is it the wisest move to accept an admissions offer from a college that has waitlisted you? Not necessarily.
Getting an admissions offer from a college that has placed you on a wait listed, may sound like a dream come true, but unless you take the time too ask the right questions you may be headed for a nightmare.
You need to weigh the pros and cons of opting to be admitted off a college’s waitlist. Here is a list of questions to ask the college and to discuss with your parents.
1. Does the offer of admissions extend to your chosen major? You may be accepted to the college, but find that your major is a high demand program of study and is closed for the upcoming semester or year. You need to clarify if you will need to wait a semester or a full academic year to be accepted into your major. Are you guaranteed acceptance when the program is re-opened?
2. Is housing available? If you need to live on campus, you will need to ask if on campus housing is available. The later in the summer the college goes to the waitlist, the harder it might be to get on-campus housing or the options for on campus housing may be limited. The same may be true for off-campus housing options. Note that many colleges require incoming freshman to live on campus and if you are trying to arrange housing in mid to late summer you may end up with living arrangements that are less than optimal. For example you may end up with 3 or 4 roommates when you would prefer to have one roommate. The type of dorm that is available may not be what you want. You may want a coed dorm, but all that is available is a single sex dorm, or the dorm is too far from the main area of the campus or is in a noisy area. It is also possible that the college housing is not even on campus. Some colleges lease or own off campus housing to deal with the overflow of resident students. In that situation you will need to find out about transportation to and from campus and the level of onsite security.
3. Is there a financial aid award? If so, compare it to the award that you have received from the college that originally accepted you. Don’t be afraid to negotiate for additional aid. But realize, as the summer progresses, you may not be able to negotiate a better award, as the majority of the funds have been disbursed. What remains are the funds made available by students who decided to attend other colleges and that may not be enough to meet your needs.
4. What about your deposit (to the other college)? If you have accepted an offer at another college previously, know that any deposit you have made to that college is non-refundable. Can you and your family afford to lose that money and pay another deposit to the new college? If your family has made tuition payments, those will be refunded. You should ask how long the refund process will take.
5. Is it possible to defer admission? If, after you and your parents review all these factors, and decide that is best not to take the offer for the fall, your hopes to attend your first college are not lost forever. Ask if you can defer your enrollment for a semester or two. Deferring your acceptance until the spring semester or the following fall, allows you to continue with your fall plans at your back up college and possibly transfer your credits, when you start at your first choice college. Keep in mind that transferring credits can be tricky. Usually, you need a grade of C or better. Stick to basic requirements such as Freshman English, Intro of History, etc. These are general in scope and more easily transferable than technical courses or courses for which the knowledge base is more apt to change.
So ask these important questions, consider the consequences and your options and you will be sure to make the college choice that is right for you.
Getting an admissions offer from a college that has placed you on a wait listed, may sound like a dream come true, but unless you take the time too ask the right questions you may be headed for a nightmare.
You need to weigh the pros and cons of opting to be admitted off a college’s waitlist. Here is a list of questions to ask the college and to discuss with your parents.
1. Does the offer of admissions extend to your chosen major? You may be accepted to the college, but find that your major is a high demand program of study and is closed for the upcoming semester or year. You need to clarify if you will need to wait a semester or a full academic year to be accepted into your major. Are you guaranteed acceptance when the program is re-opened?
2. Is housing available? If you need to live on campus, you will need to ask if on campus housing is available. The later in the summer the college goes to the waitlist, the harder it might be to get on-campus housing or the options for on campus housing may be limited. The same may be true for off-campus housing options. Note that many colleges require incoming freshman to live on campus and if you are trying to arrange housing in mid to late summer you may end up with living arrangements that are less than optimal. For example you may end up with 3 or 4 roommates when you would prefer to have one roommate. The type of dorm that is available may not be what you want. You may want a coed dorm, but all that is available is a single sex dorm, or the dorm is too far from the main area of the campus or is in a noisy area. It is also possible that the college housing is not even on campus. Some colleges lease or own off campus housing to deal with the overflow of resident students. In that situation you will need to find out about transportation to and from campus and the level of onsite security.
3. Is there a financial aid award? If so, compare it to the award that you have received from the college that originally accepted you. Don’t be afraid to negotiate for additional aid. But realize, as the summer progresses, you may not be able to negotiate a better award, as the majority of the funds have been disbursed. What remains are the funds made available by students who decided to attend other colleges and that may not be enough to meet your needs.
4. What about your deposit (to the other college)? If you have accepted an offer at another college previously, know that any deposit you have made to that college is non-refundable. Can you and your family afford to lose that money and pay another deposit to the new college? If your family has made tuition payments, those will be refunded. You should ask how long the refund process will take.
5. Is it possible to defer admission? If, after you and your parents review all these factors, and decide that is best not to take the offer for the fall, your hopes to attend your first college are not lost forever. Ask if you can defer your enrollment for a semester or two. Deferring your acceptance until the spring semester or the following fall, allows you to continue with your fall plans at your back up college and possibly transfer your credits, when you start at your first choice college. Keep in mind that transferring credits can be tricky. Usually, you need a grade of C or better. Stick to basic requirements such as Freshman English, Intro of History, etc. These are general in scope and more easily transferable than technical courses or courses for which the knowledge base is more apt to change.
So ask these important questions, consider the consequences and your options and you will be sure to make the college choice that is right for you.
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