College Admissions

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It’s January And For Seniors, That Means FAFSA Time

In a world of acronyms, FAFSA may be the one that families dread the most. FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. If you want to be considered for any federal assistance at a college or university, you must go online and fill out the FAFSA. For nearly 250 private schools, you will also need to fill out the CSS Profile if you have not done so already. While the Profile can be filled out as soon as you’ve identified the schools you are applying to, the FAFSA cannot be filled out until January 1st of senior year.

Prior to filling out the FAFSA, both the student applying for aid and his or her parents will need to secure a PIN from the federal student aid website. Once you have your PIN, you’re ready to go!

The FAFSA has long been considered a beast of an application. But, don’t fear, it has been simplified over the years and as long as you have set aside the information you will need and have completed a worksheet, you really should be in good shape. Oh yeah, set aside some time to do it. Don’t expect to just blow through it in ten minutes. Like any other financial application that requires you to enter personal information, you want to take your time and enter everything correctly. In other words, double-check everything you enter. One wrong entry can skew your results significantly. While you are working on your FAFSA, if you run into a problem and realize you need some help, you can always call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4FED-AID (1.800.433.3243).

If you want to read through some great tips on how to avoid mistakes on the FAFSA, check out a recent blog entry on The College Solution by Lynn O’Shaughnessy. I love Lynn’s blog – it’s informative, easy to read and always has references to other web-related resources that will help you feel more confident about working your way through college financing issues.

Good luck with the FAFSA and if you have any questions you would like to ask or stories you would like to share, please use the comment section below.

You can also email me directly ateric@doblercollegeconsulting.com.

Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.

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Eric Jan 08, 2012 No Comments
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Making The Most of New Year’s Resolutions!

Happy New Year! And, what comes with the New Year? Resolutions, of course! You know, those promises we all tend to make and hardly ever keep. I don’t make them anymore because I find that I hardly ever follow through.  For me, the essential problem with resolutions is I tend to make them too big, too gray, and too immeasurable. I’m going to work out more, or read more, or call more – good intentions all around, but very hard to follow through with once the day-to-day craziness of life takes over again on January 2nd. Now, if I were to say my resolution is to lose 15 pounds, then I can at least measure that. I can set the goal, work out a couple times a week, make better food choices and celebrate my progress when I step on the scale each morning. Of course, that celebration only comes if I follow through.

I want you to think about your college process in the same way. Think about measurable goals that you can follow through on. Instead of saying, “I’m going to visit all the schools on my college list in the spring,” say, “I’m going to visit four schools from my college list in March.” Instead of saying, “I’m going to get better grades in the second half of the school year,” say, “I’m going to invest four hours every week in studying, working on homework and school-related projects”. Instead of saying, “I’m going to spend a lot of time preparing for the SAT,” say, “I’m going to take four practice tests to prepare for the SAT.” Each of these is measurable and doable if you follow through.

So, go ahead and make your resolutions. Celebrate the arrival of the New Year and look forward to what good things may come your way. Just take a moment to think about what it is you want to accomplish first. Then, set the bar high and go out and work your tail off to reach it. You will be so glad you did.

Happy New Year to you and yours! May the New Year bring health, happiness and good news to you and your families!

I invite you to post any comments or questions below. You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com.

Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.

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Eric Dec 29, 2011 No Comments
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Do Your Best And Forget The Rest!

The other day, Lynn Field wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post that had a really great message. She talked about the irony of December holiday celebrations while, at the same time, high school seniors are being subjected to incredible amounts of stress and anxiety due to an increasingly complex and competitive college admissions process. She closed out her article saying, “As educators, parents, psychologists and counselors, we need to encourage teenagers to do their best for themselves — and often this can mean setting their sights on a good-enough school. The fact of the matter is, no matter what school you attend, you can get the education you desire.”

It is this message that I hope a lot of you will take to heart. A great college education is so much more about what you put into it, than it is about where you got to school. If you are fortunate enough to get into a highly selective school, then good for you! I hope you will make the most of the opportunity by networking with faculty, staff and other students. I hope you will work hard in your courses and challenge yourself to be excellent at what you do. I hope you will complete an internship or a co-op, study abroad, volunteer your time or get involved in a club or organization that it is tied to your passions. At the same time, if you go to your state’s flagship public institution, a regional state university or even the local community college, I hope you will still do the same things.

You see, it’s about the collective experiences you have during your time in college. If you choose to just go through the motions and “receive” your education, your experience will leave a lot to be desired. However, if you really buy into the opportunities around you, engage with the people you meet and go and “earn” your education, you will be so much better for it.

As you continue to work through the college admissions process, do your best and forget the rest. Find the school that is the right fit for you and invest 100% of yourself into the experience.

I invite you to post any comments or questions below. You can also email me directly at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com.

Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.

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Eric Dec 18, 2011 No Comments
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Looking For A Good Sale?

With the holiday shopping season in full, chaotic swing, you don’t have to look hard to find a sale. I open my email to find advertisements from one store telling me I can get 40% off one item if I shop before the end of the day while another one tells me that I can use their HOLIDAY code to get 35% off all items. Another one offers a staggering 65% off everything in their store. I guess they felt their offer of %50 off, which was sent to me just two days earlier, didn’t drive enough business their way.

With the federal mandate that colleges and universities publish a net price calculator on their website, students can now find similar sales. The net price calculators are supposed to allow you to enter some information about you and your family’s finances to see what the school will actually cost you. Of course, it’s not as simple as just opening your inbox to see today’s great deals. Some schools have made it quite difficult to find their calculators and others have made the process a little daunting and time consuming by requiring that you enter financial information about your family.

Despite some of these difficulties, at the end of the day, this is a step in the right direction. Being able to see what a school may actually end up costing you is valuable information. A school’s price tag should be one of the most critical factors in how a student develops their college list – understanding how a published tuition price can be reduced only allows your college list to be more realistic. You may find out that a school you originally thought you could not afford is now within reach, after running their net price calculator. In my opinion, it is worth the time to find the calculator and enter some information. Wouldn’t you agree?

Here’s a tip on making the process easier: If you’re having trouble finding a school’s calculator, just Google the school’s name and net price calculator. I did this myself with ten randomly chosen schools and each time the search results produced the school’s calculator without fail.

Have you had any experiences with net price calculators? Use the comment form below to share your story!

Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.

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Eric Dec 11, 2011 No Comments
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Why Should You Go To College?

“If I want to start my own business, why do I even need a degree?”

This was a question posed to me recently and I was glad to see the student in question was really thinking about why he was going to attend college and what he may or may not get out of the experience. I thought it was a great question and while a degree itself may not end up amounting to much in the long run, the overall college experience absolutely can to many things:

1.) Develop Critical Thinking Skills: Any successful business owner will tell you that his or her day is spent solving problems. At any number of institutions, especially liberal arts colleges, one of the expected outcomes of their curriculum is to help you think critically. In other words, you should learn how to think outside the box, become a better problem solver, and be able to successfully navigate your way through issues involving moral dilemmas, diversity and conflicts of interest.

2.) Networking: While you are enrolled in school, one of the best things you can do for yourself is cultivate relationships with other students, faculty and staff. By expanding your network you will have the opportunity to share your ideas, gather support and fine tune what you want to do with your business. You may even identify future business partners or investors. Some schools like Yale even house entrepreneurial programs where students can develop their ideas into tangible businesses.

3.) Have a Back-Up Plan: More business fail than succeed and while you could turn out to be the next Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, the chances of this actually happening are not favorable. By going to college you can immerse yourself in a degree program that, should you need it, can help you put together a back-up plan in the event that your business venture doesn’t pan out.

Ultimately, college can offer so many benefits outside of just earning a degree. In fact, many of the greatest benefits may take place outside of the classroom. The people you will meet, the experiences you will have, the conversations you will take part in – all of these things and more will help you grow into the person you are in the process of becoming.

Have any thoughts, comments or suggestions on branding? Use the comment form below to tell me what you think!

Eric Dobler is the president and founder of Dobler College Consulting. Follow him on Twitter.

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Eric Dec 04, 2011 No Comments