how to pay for college

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Worried About College Costs? Look For Merit Aid

Dobler College ConsultingLast week I talked about several things any family can do to help themselves as they attempt to navigate the college admissions journey.

Here’s the post in case you missed it.

Since that post, I’ve heard from a few families and, inevitably, what they are most concerned with is college costs and how to pay for them. One mom in particular asked about what private scholarships to apply for and when to start looking. It was a great question, not because I think there are a ton of difference-making scholarships out there for her daughter, (or for any student, to be honest) but because it paints the picture of misinformation that parents are operating under.

You see, while you can invest time in searching for private scholarships, the likelihood that your son or daughter is actually going to win enough money to make a difference is slim. Your chances are better if you start searching for local scholarships first but, ultimately, your time would be better off spent looking for colleges where your son or daughter would qualify for merit aid.

Merit aid is the “free” money – grants, scholarships and discounts – that a college awards to an admitted student without regard to their financial need. Merit aid is often renewable money while private scholarships are typically one year awards and, the more competitive a student’s grades and test scores are, the more merit aid they can qualify for.

Knowing that private colleges, as a whole, discount about 50%, a competitive student admitted to a college that charges $40,000 for tuition and fees (room and board is extra) could expect to receive upwards of $20,000 in merit money. By competitive, I’m talking about students whose grades and test scores fall into the top 25% of who a college admits. You can rather easily find this information by looking up a school on the College Board’s Big Future website and then plugging in your grades and SAT scores under the Applying tab.

Considering that the average private scholarship is less than $3,000, don’t you think it makes more sense to look for merit money?

Me too.

Want some help navigating the college admissions journey? Give me a call now at 203.525.4096 or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com to schedule a FREE consultation to discuss your college counseling needs.

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Eric Jun 15, 2013 , , , , , , , , No Comments
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How To Survive The College Application Process

Dobler College ConsultingWhenever I meet with new families, the one thing I try to reassure them about is that they can and will survive the college application process. They don’t always believe me at first but as I work with their son or daughter and the pieces begin falling in place, the doubts start to melt away and a funny thing happens. They actually start enjoying the process.

And you should enjoy this process. You won’t enjoy all of it, but the college search and application process can be a lot of fun if you do your homework, stay organized and remember that your son or daughter will get accepted to a college somewhere.

Having said that, here are several suggestions to help you along the way:

1. Utilize ALL Available Resources

Start with the college’s website and learn everything you can about admission requirements, application dates, costs and special attributes. Then check out reviews on sites like Unigo and College Prowler. If the college is visiting your school or attending a local college fair, go and meet them so you can ask questions and potentially meet the person who may be reviewing your application. If your high school hosts a financial aid night, you should be there. Turn over every rock!

2. Make The Most Of Your High School Courses

How well a student has done academically is the single most important factor in gaining admission. Studies done by NACAC have supported it year after year. Students need to max out their coursework in high school by taking the most challenging course load they can handle and then doing well in those classes.

3. Know What You Want

Choose a school because you like it, not because your friend likes it or because your Uncle Harry thinks you should go there. Understanding your VIPS and defining what you are looking for is critical to identifying the right schools for you. Once you know more about what you want and what schools look for in their applicants, you should be able to develop a list that meets your priorities, gives you a great chance of being admitted and also receiving some money.

4. Look Beyond The Price Tag

Don’t assume a school is out of reach, financially, until you have used their net price calculator and thoroughly reviewed how much they discount tuition. The average tuition discount at private schools is now just over 50%.

5. Make Your Essay Shine

Your essay is your chance to get beyond mere grades and test scores and put YOU and why you matter into the admissions equation. Be willing to devote the time and effort that is necessary – writing is a process.

6. Pay Attention To Details

Double check everything on your application to ensure you answered all the questions thoroughly and have accurately reflected YOU on the application. Also meet all deadlines. In fact, be early just in case you do miss something. There is nothing fun about running up against the midnight deadline to submit your application and then losing power to a freak storm.

7. Manage Your Time Well

That last point in #6 is so important I’m going to mention it again. Plan ahead and get things done EARLY. This is critical to your application and all the supporting materials especially in how you manage your time with your essay and securing your recommendations.

8. Get Them On Your Side

Don’t be afraid to contact the admissions counselor for your area for information or for an interview if you really want to go to a school but are worried about your chances. I’ve honored requests for interviews time and time again because the student wanted to talk about their interest and what he or she could do to improve their chances of gaining admission. In fact, some schools track how many times you contact them and show interest in their school. In some cases, it may affect the outcome of your application.

Want some help navigating the college admissions journey? Give me a call today at 203.525.4096 or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com to schedule a FREE 60-minute consultation to discuss your college counseling needs.

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Eric Jun 10, 2013 , , , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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Reducing The Costs Of College

Dobler College ConsultingIt seems like every time I go out to meet a new student and his or her parents, the thing we spend the most time talking about is college costs.

And it’s completely understandable. With costs rising at astronomical levels over the last couple decades, there are very few people out there who aren’t worried about how they will pay for college.

Consider that in 1993, when I graduated from Naugatuck High School, the average cost for tuition, room, board and fees was $24,504 for a private college and $9,513 for a public school. In 2012 those numbers increased to $39,518 and $17,860, respectively.

Let me do the math for you. That’s a 61% increase for privates and an 87% increase for publics.

And that’s just in 20 years. If you go back to 1972, the cost of a private school education has gone up 137% while it’s only gone up 124% for public schools. How’s that for sarcasm?

Once you pick yourself up off the floor, you can look up these numbers yourself on the College Board website.

The funny thing is that even though these figures are out there for everyone to see, I still see so many college applicants falling in love with schools that will be completely out of their reach financially. I hear things like, “we’ll figure it out” and “well, maybe I’ll get more money” when the reality is that they won’t figure it out and they won’t get more money.

What they will get is disappointment. Frustration. Anger. Resentment.

If you don’t want to get what they’re getting, pay close attention to just how generous or stingy colleges are with their money. Understand your EFC and what it means in the context of what a college may offer for you financial aid. And, most of all, make informed decisions.

I’ve written a few posts about these very ideas and if you haven’t read them yet, now would be a good time:

What You Need To Know About The Costs Of College

Why Some Financial Aid Offers Will Underwhelm

Why You Should Know Your EFC

You can trust Dobler College Consulting to help you navigate the college admissions journey. Give me a call now at 203.525.4096 or drop me an email to schedule a FREE 60-minute consultation to discuss your needs for college admissions counseling.

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Eric May 28, 2013 , , , , , , , , , , No Comments
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What You Need To Know About The Costs Of College

Dobler College ConsultingI originally posted this entry back in February but as I meet with high school juniors and their parents, the conversation eventually comes around to talking about cost and how to know which colleges are more affordable than others. While the answer is subjective to the individual student and his or her situation, this post has a couple great ideas to help you figure it out how it could play out for you:

As you’re building your college list, there’s no limit to the things you will consider. Is your major a program at which the school is particularly strong? Is it a cool college town? Big time football on Saturdays? Is the campus safe? Is it clean?

Depending on your VIPS, what you are considering is specific to you.

But there is one aspect that you all think about.

And that’s cost.

Let’s be honest here, there’s nothing to like about college costs. They have risen at astronomical levels over the last few decades to the point where students are graduating, on average, with over $26,000 in debt.

And that’s an average.

Back in the late fall, I wrote a post about the difference between a college’s sticker price and the real price that families pay. I then followed it up with a post about understanding your EFC. If you haven’t read them already and don’t know what EFC is, take a minute and check them out and then come on back.

There’s a lot of things to cover in the college search, but if you don’t understand the costs of college and how to reduce them, you could be in for a big time let down next year when your financial aid awards show up. So, outside of figuring out your EFC, here are a few things you can do to help yourself:

1. Don’t pay attention to sticker price:

Look for net price and, specifically, the net price for families in your income bracket. If your family’s income is over $100,000 you don’t want to be looking at net price for families whose income is only $50,000.

2. Figure out just how admissible you are:

Based on grades and test scores, look at who the college admits. Then take a good, hard look at yours. Are they similar? Sort of? Not close? The easier it is for a college to admit you, the better (read BIGGER) your award will be.

3. Check out merit awards:

Some colleges publish the amounts and qualifications of their merit awards (free money) on online and the information is easy to find and understand. Your GPA and SAT score combination earn you X amount of dollars. Others, not so much. Look it up and if you can’t find what you’re looking for, call the admissions office.

Have something to say? Use the comment box below or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com. If you think this makes a lot of sense, consider sharing it with someone you know.

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Eric May 05, 2013 , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments
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Why Some Financial Aid Offers Will Underwhelm

Dobler College Consulting

Last week I talked about three things you need to know about the costs of college: your EFC, how admissible your son or daughter is and merit awards. If you missed the post, here it is:

What You Need To Know About The Costs Of College

Today I want to take that conversation a step further and give you an example of why it is so important for a student to know just how desirable he or she is.

When the conversation rolls around to how much aid a college is going to award, sometimes the more desirable a student is plays a significant role. According to NACAC’s 2012 State of College Admission report only 32% of publics and 18% of privates were able to meet 100% of each student’s demonstrated need.  The remaining colleges have to decide how to allocate their money and not everyone gets the same amount. If they did, every college would meet 100% of everyone’s need.

And we all know that doesn’t happen.

So what dos end up happening is that colleges have to choose which students get the most aid. To put it simply, the more desirable the student, the more aid they will be awarded. So what makes an applicant more desirable? It depends on the college and while you can’t know everything they are looking for in a given year, there are at least two things any applicant can easily figure out.

GPA and test scores.

Knowing what kind of grades and test scores you will need for admission is something you should seek out about every school you are interested in. You can find this information rather easily on the College Board’s Big Future website. As I talked about in a post I wrote in September called, College List Tip: What Are Your Chances, you will find a range of test scores, GPA’s and even class ranks. This is valuable information for any applicant to look at and understand. These figures are provided by the colleges themselves. They are real numbers and they will show you just who the college thinks is desirable and, therefore, who will receive the more generous aid awards.  Applicants should read them and understand them as they search for colleges.

There’s a big difference between a college A where SAT scores for Math and Critical Reading of 500 fall in the top 25th percentile and college B where those same scores fall in the lowest 25th percentile.

If an applicant has fallen in love with college B and is expecting a lot of aid, they are very likely going to be disappointed.

Have something to say? Use the comment box below or email me at eric@doblercollegeconsulting.com. If you think this makes a lot of sense, consider sharing it with someone you know.

 

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Eric Feb 11, 2013 , , , , , , , , , No Comments