Your college search should be about creating an awesome college experience that will help propel you into the life you want to live, not about winning a popularity contest.
Now that January has arrived, it’s time for high school seniors and their parents to fill out the FAFSA, or Free Application for Federal Student Aid. The FAFSA is the form you are required to fill out if you want colleges to consider you for financial aid.
While families have their own unique circumstances, here are some of the top questions I come across this time of year and my answers which will hopefully help you along the way as well.
1. We make too much money, we probably shouldn’t bother filling out the FAFSA, right?
Wrong. Regardless of how much (or how little) you make, you should always fill out the FAFSA. Even if your EFC is very high, there are still non-need based loans like the Direct Unsubsidized Loan or Parent PLUS Loan which can help you spread out the costs. But, to qualify you must fill out a FAFSA.
2. How do parents who have joint custody and are both remarried with new spouses file the FAFSA??
When students come from divorced families, financial aid eligibility is based on the income and assets of the custodial parent. This is the parent who the student lives with for the majority of the year, even if it’s six months and one day. Even if the non-custodial parent has a considerably higher salary than the custodial parent, this parent’s income and assets are not factored into the federal financial aid eligibility calculation.
3. We’re going to have two kids in college at the same time, how will this affect our financial aid eligibility?
How many kids you have in college at the same time has a very big impact on financial aid eligibility. Consider that your EFC is divided by the number of children enrolled in college. If you have one child in college and your EFC is $40,000, then that’s what colleges would expect you to pay. If you have two kids in at the same time, the EFC will be $20,000 each. This is why it’s also important to file a FAFSA each year. Even though you may not get a lot with one child in college, if you have a second one entering a year or two later, you may end up qualifying for something.
4. We won’t have our taxes done until late March, can we just apply for financial aid then?
You can, but you shouldn’t. Financial is aid is very much a first-come, first-serve process. Additionally, some states like Connecticut have February deadlines for state grants which you don’t want to miss. If you wait until after you file your taxes, colleges won’t have as much money to give out as they would have if you had applied in January. File your FAFSA now with estimated income and then use the federal data retrieval tool after you file your taxes to update your information.
5. My daughter’s grandfather has put away money in a 529 for her which we plan on using this year. Since it’s his money and not ours, do we have to report it on the FAFSA?
Yes, you have to report any distribution from a 529. The more important factor here is that the 529 is owned by a grandparent and, therefore, may reduce your aid eligibility considerably. Where a distribution from a 529 owned by either parent is considered a parental asset, a distribution from a 529 owned by someone who is not the parent is considered student income. When calculating aid eligibility, student income and assets are assessed at a much higher level than parental assets so even though the intention is a good one, the outcome may not be helpful.
If you want some help and guidance on your college application and financial aid process, check out what other families are saying about Dobler College Consulting and then contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation.
As I talk to students about the college application process, one of the concepts I try to get them to understand is how they can create opportunities to demonstrate their interest to colleges.
Demonstrated interest is a relatively new phenomenon in college admissions over the last several years. While some schools won’t care how many times a student has shown his or her interest, a lot of schools will.
These schools aren’t the ones you will find at the top of the U.S. News or Forbes rankings – but then again, you should already know what to think about these lists – because those schools don’t have to care. Being that highly ranked and being that selective in their application review means they don’t have to do anything and kids will still fall all over themselves to apply each year.
Other schools, however, are very interested in just how interested their applicants are in them and will often say so right on their websites. For one, they are trying to find students who are eager to attend rather than ones who are just eager to apply. A student who wants to attend is likely a student who will enroll and do well resulting in a student who graduates in four years. In the college world, this is called yield. And when an admissions staff can more accurately predict their yield, they can enroll a class that meets the institution’s goals. This is also why the elite schools who crowd the top of the rankings don’t have to put any value on demonstrated interest – their yield is already incredibly high.
So, just how do you demonstrate your interest?
1. Social Media.
Colleges are on social media just waiting for you. Go find them on Facebook, Twitter & YouTube. Like them, tweet them and follow them. Some colleges are tracking this information very closely.
2. Campus Tours
One of the best ways to get a feel for a college is to visit campus. But when a college asks you to RSVP and then to sign in when you get there, you can bet they’re tracking you. When you’re there, get business cards from everyone you meet and follow up with a thank you or a brief note saying what you enjoyed most about your visit.
3. Interview
One way to really make the most of your college visits is to schedule an interview ahead of time. It’s a great way for you to get your specific questions answered but it’s also a great way to make an impression with an admission counselor. Ideally, you want to interview with the counselor who will be reviewing your application. ALWAYS follow up with a thank you email.
4. Applying Early
You have choices in the way you apply to a college and applying early is one way to show a college how interested you are. By applying early, you show that you’ve done your homework and researched the college well before senior year arrived. You show that you’re a more serious applicant and, when combined with a visit, an interview and connections through social media, a college is more likely to feel that you are an applicant who wants to do more than just apply.
If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation. Also be sure to snag your free copy of the Top Ten Tips For Navigating The College Admissions Journey.
Last week I talked about the importance of paying attention to a college’s personality. Campus culture is often overlooked but colleges do have unique characteristics which make them WHO they are. It is these characteristics, these personalities, that often make a campus feel like home or nothing like it.
If you missed the post, you can catch it here.
Today, I’d like to take a step back and talk about the characteristics that make a college WHAT it is.
With over 4,000 colleges in the country, students must do their research and thoroughly investigate the schools they are interested in to determine if these schools really are worthy of their interest. Here’s a few characteristics you should be paying attention to if you’re not already:
1. Size
There’s a big difference between a large research university like Penn State with 37,000 undergrads and a small liberal arts college like Assumption which tops out at 2,000. You are going to stand out a lot more at a smaller school where classes are built on active discussion and debate, and where professors teach undergrads and will have time to meet with you to talk about internships and your career aspirations. At larger schools, you are more likely to be just one in the crowd. And sometimes that crowd can be to the tune of as many as 400 other students in your Introduction to Business course.
2. Location
Location, location, location. It’s the buzz word in real estate and it can also be rather important in choosing colleges. Visit Brown University and there’s a lot of hustle and bustle going on around you in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. You’ll be in a concrete jungle surrounded by businesses, restaurants, and traffic not to mention thousands of other students from Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence College and Rhode Island College. Visit Susquehanna University in rural Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania and you’ll find a very open and green campus nestled alongside a small college town where you’ll quickly become a “regular” at the local coffee shop.
3. Majors
Colleges aren’t created equal and neither are majors. As a graphic design major, will you have to produce a portfolio? For nursing, will you have to complete pre-requisite courses in your freshman year before you can be admitted to the major? As a business major, do you start taking business-related courses right away? Regardless of your major, is there a required internship? Is there an involved alumni-mentoring program? How are graduates of the program doing and where have they ended up? You want to know the answers to these questions so that you know what it takes to get into your program and, more importantly, what it’s going to do for you.
4. Cost
Cost matters, but it matters even more when you pay attention to how strong of a candidate you are at each college. The stronger your candidacy, the more likely you are to receive a merit scholarship. This is especially true at private colleges where tuition and fees far exceed those at public schools. So, while you might have a dream school like Boston College, you need to understand that, even if you do get in, you probably won’t get much, if anything, in the way of merit money and will be stuck with a sizable bill that may not work for you and your family.
If you would like some assistance with your college search or financial aid process, contact me today for a free 60-minute consultation.
Here’s what other families like yours are saying about how Dobler College Consulting made a difference for them.
Last month I spent some time travelling in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island where I met some amazing students, faculty and admission counselors at several colleges. As much as I enjoyed the trips personally, it also brought to mind just how important it is to understand what a college is all about before you apply.
In a post from last year, I talked about some of the major distinctions that make a college who it is. However, it’s so important to get beyond the basics like size, geography, ranking and cost.
Why?
Because if you don’t understand a college’s personality, you may end up in the wrong place. End up in the wrong place, and you may be very unhappy.
For example, at Messiah College, a Christian college in Mechanicsburg, PA, everything is about meaning and faith. What does it mean to be me, what I know and what I believe in? What does it mean to be an athlete, a writer, a musician, a male, a female, straight or gay? Messiah encourages deep conversation about everything we experience in life and how it relates to our faith.
At Clark University in Worcester, MA, the student body is very liberal and very unique. Clark is a place where difference is celebrated as diversity and the more diverse, the better. Cliques do not exist at Clark as all students are involved in a little bit of everything; it is common to find a student who is a strong athlete and a great artist as well.
I walked around Messiah feeling peaceful, like I wanted to take it all in and figure out the meaning of life. At Clark, I was constantly wondering what else I would see around the next corner and how colorful or loud it might be.
My personal reflections aside, there’s so much to like about each school. They both offer a liberal arts education strengthened by their pre-professional programs in business, engineering and health sciences. They also have generous merit scholarship programs for their best students which you can check out here and here.
But they are very different places and that’s important for you to know because a student at either school would more than likely feel very much out of place at the other school.
So, as you look at colleges and visit their campuses, pay close attention to how the campus feels, how the people feel and how the atmosphere feels. You want to walk away with a more informed opinion of how you would fit in so that you make sure to end up in the right place.
If you want some help and guidance on your college search and application process, contact me today to set up an appointment for a free consultation.
