It’s seems unreasonable for us to think that our college-bound teens should know what they want to study in college. They haven’t had many career-related experiences other than part-time jobs while in high school or during summers and breaks. Knowing this, should we assume that our college-bound teens should be able to choose a major when they enter college?
Let’s consider some key points about college majors:
In today’s world, we are all looking for bargains. How much can I save on this purchase? Is there a coupon for that item? The college decision process should be no different. You never want to pay full sticker price on a car, and you shouldn’t pay full sticker price for the college education. Here are just a few money saving tips on how to find the best college bargains.
Use online information to find the most generous colleges.
You can start your search by looking at the colleges who are generous with their financial aid by meeting the highest percentage of financial need. How do you find those colleges? It’s simpler than you might think. You can research them at the College Board’s site: Big Future. You need to follow the box at the bottom of the page that says “Find Colleges” and click the search button.
For a step-by-step guide, you can read The College Solutions Blog with photos of each step and how to use the tool.
I want to take a gap year before I go to college” are some of the most feared words by parents. What do we fear? We fear they won’t want to go back to school after being off for a year. We fear they will lie around the house, watch TV and play video games. We fear they aren’t thinking clearly and have no idea what they are saying. And for those competitive parents, it’s not what they planned.
Don’t fear the gap year. Not every student is ready for college after high school. Some simply aren’t mature enough, and others simply don’t know where they want to go or what they want to study. And if this is the case, would you want to spend thousands of dollars on college if it meant they dropped out their first semester? Of course you wouldn’t want to do that.
I spend a good deal of time talking about preparing your student for college and offering good college advice. But believe it or not, that’s not my total focus. My focus is helping parents help their child find the best path after high school graduation.
If you’re on Facebook (where most of us moms hang out) you’ve probably come across posts from proud parents announcing their high school senior’s college plans. Hiding in the shadows (and they shouldn’t be) are those parents whose senior chose to take a different path after graduation.
Your children are going to college. You may think it will be easy because you’ve been saving for it. But seeing the college fee structure, you’ll know it will not be easy. Coming out of the stress-induced fog might help you manage the costs.
Here are five things you can do to help you on this journey of paying for college:
Understand your financial situation
Now that your child is off to college, as parents, you’re now left with taking care of the expenses like tuition, housing, and school supplies. Sitting down and looking into your finances is step one for parents. The next step is to make a budget, reevaluate your finances, and look into every savings account because the college costs are now added to your other expenses.
If you are a mother of a college-bound teen, it’s easy to become a smotherer. After all, there are deadlines that need nagging. There are scholarships that must be applied to. There are battles to fight and recommendations to be secured. It’s impossible to expect your young teenager to handle these matters on their own. They need help. They have always needed help.
But, and I say this will all humility, it’s hard to let go and let them handle these things on their own.
Being a mother is one of the hardest jobs you will ever have. You want your teenager to become independent but you worry they never will. What if they fail? What if they forget to do something that’s important? What if they are hurt or rejected? It’s in our nature as mothers to fix things and help them avoid anything that would be painful. Some mothers have mastered this technique so well that their kids don’t have a clue how to deal with failure, disappointment, and pain.
As teens grow into young adults, their horizons begin to expand. They begin to explore their interests more, make new friends, and think about leaving the nest. As they head to college, there are skills they will need even if they live in a dorm. If they live off campus, these skills will be even more valuable. It’s important to prepare your teen for independent living.
Here are five ways you can help your prepare your teen for living away from home.
It’s something that we hear so much, that we need to “follow our dreams.” But as parents, we may have fought hard for our children to get scholarships and have started on their college journey, but if they have turned to a different path, this could be a big shock to us. If they choose to change their major it could shock you.
But this may warrant a more important discussion. Do we encourage our children to follow their passions when they’ve worked so hard towards one path in college and suddenly changes paths?
When parents and students enter the college-bound process, issues arise. It’s the inevitable clash of what parents think is best for their kids, and what the kids want. Over the past 18 years the clashes have been over such things as food, friends and entertainment choices. As college approaches, the parent-student conflict intensifies.
Following are five areas that typically cause parent – student conflict along with some advice on how to handle it and work toward a compromise.
Debt from college tuition has skyrocketed over the last several years. Parents and students are weighing their ROI (return on investment) before making their college choices. As college costs have shot up, so has student debt. How can you pay for college without incurring debt?
According to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, outstanding student loan debt stood at $1.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021, an $8 billion decline from the third quarter. About 5 percent of aggregate student debt was 90+ days delinquent or in default in the fourth quarter; the lower level of student debt delinquency reflects a Department of Education decision to report current status on loans eligible for CARES Act forbearances.
That’s the bad news. But if you’re a savvy consumer and research the costs before signing on the dotted line, you should be able to go to college without incurring debt. Zac Bissonnette, author of DebtFree U, is proof that it can be done. He graduated from college with zero debt.
Believe it or not, you may be able to graduate without debt if you use these 10 ways to pay for college:
