Category Archives: admissions

admissions, college guidance, college planning, college prep, parenting

Should Your Student Apply to 40 Colleges?

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colleges

I read a post from a parent on one of the Facebook groups I follow. Her son was applying to 40 colleges and she asked how he was going to do it using the Common App since there is a maximum of 20 allowed in the application.

Parents chimed in with suggestions on how to supplement the Common App by applying via college websites and choosing alternate college applications. I read all the suggestions, which were logical and helpful. I kept wondering if anyone would respond by encouraging her to help her son narrow down his list.

Finally, someone spoke up with that suggestion. I’m hoping the mother took their advice because it was the most logical of all.

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admissions, college planning, college prep, FAFSA, financial aid, financial planning

Do You Understand the EFC?

EFC

I will never forget the moment we received our Student Aid Report and I saw the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) on the right-hand corner. I was in shock as most parents are. How could the powers that be believe we could afford to pay that amount for college? It was a mystery to me how they came up with that number, as it is to most of you.

The EFC determines how much financial aid the colleges will award to your student. You can’t receive any federal or institutional aid without getting an EFC when you complete the FAFSA. We are stuck with it and will probably never truly understand how they use to determine how much money your family can afford to pay.

If you are going to need financial aid for college (and who doesn’t?), you will need to understand the EFC.

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admissions, college news, college planning, parenting

Try Harder–Is This the Message We Want to Convey?

try harder

There’s a new documentary on PBS called “Try Harder!”. It chronicles the lives of some students at Lowell High School, a prestigious high school in California with predominantly Asian students. Their goal–get into the Ivies or the UC colleges. Why? Because according to them, anything else communicates failure.

I was struck by one young man who said, “If I don’t get into one of these schools, I won’t make a difference in the world or be successful.” How sad. What type of message are we conveying to our students? Try Harder.

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admissions, graduation, orientation, parenting

From Acceptance to Graduation and Beyond

GRADUATION

The acceptance letters have arrived and your student is ready to make his final college decision and then move forward to graduation. Check the box–going to college! It’s a tremendous accomplishment for both students and their parents.

It’s not just your student who is graduating–you are too! You planned for years for your student to go to college and now he has been accepted. After years of planning it’s time to start a new chapter in your life as well. 

First things first–do some celebrating. You’ve earned it. It was a difficult task to raise a successful high school graduate and soon-to-be college student. Allow yourself some time to bask in the accomplishment. This is also time to flood him with showers of praise and words of encouragement. He’s worked hard for this and he needs to hear that you are proud of him. 

Once the celebration dust settles, to help you head into the next phase, we have some suggestions to assist with the transition.

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admissions, college planning, college prep, financial aid, parenting

You Heard from the Colleges – Now What?

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colleges

For seniors who applied regular decision, March brings those long-awaited college decisions: deferred, accepted, rejected, and waitlisted. One knowledgeable college counselor once told me, “I don’t like to call these letters of acceptance. I use the term—offers of admission.” As a parent, I like that distinction. This alternative wording makes it easier to stomach those not-so-pleasant responses and help your college-bound teen work through the gamut of emotions that come when decisions arrive.

Your student may be the one receiving these communications from the colleges, but you feel every emotion they do from failure to excitement and everything in between. But unless you understand what each term means, it’s hard to know how to help your student (and yourself) with appropriate responses and proper action.

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admissions, college costs, college guidance, college planning, financial aid, parenting

Weighing Your College Options

college options

It’s that time of year when seniors will be weighing their college options. Choices will be made as parents and students evaluate colleges who offered admission.

The long wait is over and it’s time to make a decision. Which college will your student attend? This decision feels like the most important decision in his life up to this point and will weigh heavily on his mind and yours over the next month.

Before your teen makes the decision, however, you should weigh your college options. You would never purchase a home without determining its value, its fit for your family, or even its location. This college decision should be approached in the same manner. And to complicate matters, the decision has to be made in a timely manner—the National Candidate’s Reply Date is May 1st.

If your student didn’t get an offer of admission from his first or even second choice college, or he is accepted without enough financial aid, it’s time to re-evaluate the colleges on his list. Your teen should take a closer look at those schools on the list that weren’t on top. If he did his homework before applying, these schools should be more than sloppy seconds.

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admissions, standardized tests, test optional, test prep

Test Optional–What You Need to Know

test optional

Does your student want to avoid taking a standardized test? Do they bomb them every time they take them? Are you hesitant to pay for a test prep tutor? Good news. There are hundreds of schools, large and small, who will use the SAT or ACT for placement only or other minimal requirements.

Due to the 2020 pandemic, most colleges became test-optional because students were unable to take standardized tests. Rumors abound that this will have a future impact on the value colleges place on standardized tests or eliminating the test requirement altogether.

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admissions, financial aid, financial planning

5 Lessons We Learned From an Award Letter

award letter

After my daughter applied to colleges, we waited with anticipation to receive those offers of admission. But just as important, was the financial aid award letter. That letter could mean the difference between attending a college, deciding to incur debt, or attending a less expensive college.

When the letter finally began to trickle in, I realized that choosing the colleges to apply to was only the beginning of some very tough decisions. We learned some lessons along the way.

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admissions, SAT, test prep

The New Digital SAT

digital sat

Moving into the digital age, the College Board has made the move to provide students with a new digital SAT and PSAT.

The College Board is trying to retool the exam that has stressed out millions of students in the face of questions about whether college admissions tests are fair, or even necessary.

A growing number of colleges have eliminated the requirement that applicants submit scores from the SAT or the competing ACT, and the trend of “test-optional” admissions accelerated greatly during the coronavirus pandemic. More than 1,800 schools did not require standardized test scores for 2022 admissions, according to the nonprofit organization FairTest.The number of SAT test takers declined from 2.2 million high schoolers who graduated in 2020 to 1.5 million in the class of 2021, according to the College Board. About 1.7 million students in the class of 2022 have taken the test to date.

Priscilla Rodriguez, vice president of college readiness assessments for the College Board, said the changes would make the test more relevant.

“In a largely test-optional world, the SAT is a lower-stakes test in college admissions,” Ms. Rodriguez said in a statement. “Submitting a score is optional for every type of college, and we want the SAT to be the best possible option for students.”

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admissions, financial aid

What is a Financial Aid Appeal?

appeal

Just like any other large consumer purchase, college tuition prices are negotiable. The sticker price you see is very rarely the price you pay. Data collected by the National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) revealed that colleges discounted tuition for the 2018–19 school year by over 50 percent.This year, because of the pandemic, you can anticipate that many (but not all) colleges will be even more flexible in order to lure students due to low application numbers based on the fact that families are struggling financially.

When you appeal your financial aid award, you are simply asking for more money. Don’t be afraid to do this; the college will not be offended or react by rescinding their offer of admission. They may say no, but it does not hurt to ask. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by appealing your award.

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