Using Twitter Chats for College Prep

March 20, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer 3 Comments

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Twitter chats offer a goldmine of information for parents. Any question you need answered or advice you need to hear related to college prep and higher education can be answered in a Twitter chat. College admissions officers, financial aid officers, college counselors, parents, parent advocates and college experts congregate in Twitter chats.

For those of you who are novices to Twitter chats and hashtracking, I’m going to answer your basic questions and offer some guidance. If you have additional questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will respond.

What’s a Twitter Chat?

A Twitter chat is a group of like-minded people gathering on a specific time to chat on Twitter. It’s just like a chat room, without the room. Tweets to one another are recognized by using a hashtag (#beforethename) that indicates you are participating in the chat. Others will be able to easily see your tweets by using the specific hashtag.

Most Twitter chats have moderators and guests that answer basic questions. You are encouraged to participate by asking your own questions and offering any advice you might have on the topic.

How do I participate?

Simply use the hashtag (#twitterchat) and read those who use the same tag. You can tweet to them, retweet their tweets and participate in the conversation.

What tools do I need to participate?

You can use any Twitter program to follow the tweets. Some suggestions are Hootsuite, TweetChat, and TweetDeck. All you need to do is do a search for the specific hashtag and follow the thread.

Can you recommend some chats that would be helpful?

Following is a list of chats that will help college-bound parents navigate the college prep process:

#CampusChat 9PM ET weekly on Wednesdays
#CollegeChat 9PM ET weekly on Tuesdays
#CollegeCash 8PM ET weekly on Thursdays
#EdChat 7PM ET on Tuesdays

If you have any others you would recommend, please add them in a comment.

parenting, Wednesdays parent

Wednesday’s Parent: Spring Fever and Your Teen

March 19, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer 1 Comment

Sign up for my FREE parent tips email and get my FREE Ebook on college financing! Or subscribe to my blog on the left and get email updates.

Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Wendy and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from pocsmom.com to parentingforcollege and vice versa.

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For some of us (especially those of us in the South), spring has peeked it’s head out for a few days and spring fever has arrived. You know the feeling—restlessness creeps in, a desire to play instead of work, and a lack of motivation. If you have a teen, they struggle to get back into the swing of things, especially after their break.

Why do these feelings crop up, especially during a time of year when the dreariness of winter is lifting and the promise of warmer weather and sunshine should bring a positive attitude? There may be many causes:

It’s prom season. Need I say more?
Seniors are feeling the stress of college decisions and being on their own.
It’s also a time when parents may verbalize their own fears about the future, such as, “Do you know how much college costs?” making it a concern for the entire family.
Some parents don’t ask their kids if they even want to go to college, causing kids to feel pressured and panicked about the future.
Spring means midterms. Midterms bring pressure, especially with seniors who worry about graduating if they fail.
Parents are also tense wondering what kids will do to stay busy in the summer. Working parents wonder how they’ll keep the children from getting into trouble.
Parents of seniors begin to realize that the inevitable will happen: they will eventually have an empty nest and it’s a frightening feeling.

This is a time when tension rises and you hear parents say, “Just three more months, and you’re out of here!” Imagine the impact those harsh words have on kids already acting out because they are scared about leaving home.

Recognizing the symptoms of spring fever should help you weather the next few months with minimal upheaval and conflict. In addition, being open to communication from your children, can go far in your own awareness of your child’s particular situation so that you can stay ahead of more serious issues such as depression. And don’t forget to stop and smell the roses!

For some tips on how to deal with spring fever, read Wendy’s post on the

6 Antidotes for Spring Fever.

admissions, college guidance, how to

How to Sift Through College Information

March 18, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer

College prep overload. If you’re a parent of a college-bound teen, you’ve got it . . . big time. The high schools bombard you with information (which is usually very little concrete advice). The colleges bombard your student with beautiful brochures and promises of academic success if you attend their college. You are bombarded with tough financial choices when choosing the colleges that make the final cut on your student’s list.

How do you sift through all that college information without losing your mind?

Find a handful of good sources and go to them for answers.

You’ll go crazy if you try to read, watch and listen to every source available on the college prep process. How do you find the good sources? Glad you asked! I’ve compiled a list of resources in just about every category pertaining to the college prep process, along with a list of Twitter accounts to follow and a list of 50+ college info websites. Follow them on twitter, subscribe to their blogs and look for them on Facebook and Pinterest. By doing so, you won’t miss a thing and the amount of information you receive just got smaller.

Use Pinterest to save information on boards.

Pinterest is a great place to save and catalog all the information you find for future reference. It’s simple and easy to use, especially if you already have an account. You can set up boards for scholarships, financial aid, college admissions, college prep, and test prep. Once you set up the boards, start pinning!

Create a filing system that works for you.

All the information you collect won’t always be online. Create some sort of filing system for relevant college information and be vigilant in keeping it organized. Piles of papers and brochures create clutter and frustration when you’re looking for that flyer from the school on college parent night or a financial aid seminar. If you use a smartphone, there are multiple apps to help with organizing and remembering dates and deadlines.

Toss out ALL information that doesn’t apply to you or your college-bound teen.

If it’s not pertinent, don’t keep it. If you get a brochure from a college that doesn’t interest your student and never will, toss it. It’s just taking up space and adding clutter. Once you’ve cataloged information, toss the hard copy if you can.

admissions, mom approved tips

Mom-Approved Tips: Listen to College Podcasts

March 17, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer 3 Comments

Every day I grab my trusty iPod and head to the mall to do my 2.5 miles of walking. I hate walking. To me, it’s boring and a waste of my time. However, it’s critical to my health and every day I tell myself it’s just something I have to grin and bear.

But then I discovered podcasts. Not only are they great when exercising, you can listen when you’re cooking dinner, commuting to work on public transportation, eating your lunch, or any other time that you are performing daily tasks and want to make them more productive.

Why college podcasts?

When I say “college podcasts” I’m not suggesting you listen to podcasts from the colleges themselves; although many of them have excellent podcasts providing good information to prospective and current students. The podcasts I am recommending have to do with higher education and the college admission process.

The information you will glean from these podcasts will blow your mind. You can learn about everything from how to pay for college, to admission tips, to how colleges look at applicants, to how to find scholarships, and the list goes on. If you subscribe to podcasts, you are automatically notified when a new one is posted. And it will automatically be added to your podcast directory for you to listen to at your convenience.

Don’t have an iPhone or Apple device? Many are also available for android on Google Play. A quick search on Google can get your hooked up and ready to listen.

Where do you find these podcasts?

As luck would have it, I’m going to give you some incredible podcast links for you to begin with. If you need more you can do a google search for “higher education podcasts” or search within iTunes and Google Play. The links I’m providing are for iTunes and some site specific podcasts. But most, if available on iTunes, are also available online through other podcast listening channels.

Following are my favorites and you can start with these.

How to Pay for College HQ

The How to Pay for College HQ Podcast will provide inspiration and guidelines to help parents and students learn what preparation and steps can be taken to earn a degree debt free without the assistance of loans. Each week, Celest Horton, interviews guests from all facets of the college prep business in the hope that what you learn will help you finance your college-bound teen’s college education.

College Cash Man

From the Author of Free Ca$h for College and CollegeMoneyMan.com, Jose “JR” Vazquez (AKA The College Money Man™) gives real advice from someone who knows what it takes to find the money you need to pay for college. With real stories from listeners, interviews with experts, and answers to listener questions, JR explains financial aid comments in a way that makes sense.

Chronicle of Higher Education

This podcast provides interviews with prominent researchers, college leaders, and Chronicle reporters about pressing news and big ideas in higher education. What better way to learn about admissions than from those in the field of higher education?

American Radioworks

American Public Media’s American RadioWorks creates documentaries, series projects, and investigative reports for the public radio system and the Internet. They offer good information and data about higher education. You can pick and choose the podcasts that interest you.

NPR Education Podcasts

You can listen to NPR’s podcasts related to education on their website. Great content and interesting debates over the cost of college and all things college prep.

The College-Bound Chronicles Podcast

This podcast offers advice for parents on the college admissions process; hosted by expert/psychologist Dr. Nancy Berk and broadcaster Lian Dolan. It’s information, advice and empathy in a light-hearted format.

Every parent knows that knowledge about the college prep process is half the battle. These podcasts will help educate and inform, while providing good solid advice to help you navigate the college maze.

Do you know of or listen to others? Leave a comment here and we’ll add them to the list.

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: ScholarshipExperts.com Scholarships

March 14, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer

Each year, ScholarshipExperts.com funds several unique scholarship programs for high school students, college students, grad students and non-traditional adult learners. To make it easy, they have listed their scholarships and the application links on for each of them.

Here’s a list of available scholarships:

financial aid, how to

How to Decipher the Financial Aid Award Letter

March 13, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer

As the offers of admission arrive, the financial aid award letters will follow. If you’re a novice to the award letters, as most first time college parents are, they can be confusing and vague. Added to the confusion is that every award letter is different, making it hard to easily compare them side by side.

Thankfully, there are tools available and information to help you look at these letters for what they are: the college’s pitch for your student to accept their offer of admission. You are in control of this process and you hold the cards. It’s your decision to accept or reject their offer based on the amount of aid they are willing to give your student. Money, in this situation, is everything.

If a college wants your student to attend, they will back it up with money. No money, means their offer is probably based on filling a quota and them expecting you will decline to attend. And you should. Who wants to attend a college that doesn’t place value in your student?

But before you accept, reject, or negotiate with the college, you need to understand the award letter and its components.

Want to know more? Read an article I wrote for TeenLife:

How to Break Down the Financial Aid Award Letter

Wednesdays parent

Wednesday’s Parent: Finding the Best Fits–A College List Part 2

March 12, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer 3 Comments

A lot is riding on making a good college list. Your student will be applying to the schools on the final list so they better offer the best chance for student success. It’s so important that Wendy and I are giving our tips in two parts. Today’s Part 2 is about refining the college list.

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Last week, we discussed how to create a college list and what criteria to include. This week it’s time to refine the list and pick and choose which colleges would be a perfect fit. All the experts have advice on how many schools to apply to: some say 7, some say 10 and others say the more you apply to the better your chances. For me, the number isn’t as important as the content. A good college list needs to be well thought out and researched.

A good college list should have three “fit” criteria: financial fit, academic fit, and emotional fit. Once your student has a tentative list, ask if they have all three criteria before finalizing the list.

Financial Fit

Does the college fit into your family’s budget? If it doesn’t fit financially, cross it off the list. While you should never consider a college solely based on the sticker price, you should certainly examine what will happen if your student is accepted and doesn’t receive any financial aid. Remember when factoring in cost, don’t forget about the add-ons. They can add up and have a substantial effect on your budget.

Academic Fit

Does the college fit into your student’s academic aspirations? This might seem like a no-brainer, but the education is a key factor in attending college. Cross the college off the list if it doesn’t fit into your student’s academic learning style. For instance, is your student looking for smaller class sizes and strong relationships with his professors? A larger university won’t offer this.

Emotional fit

Can your student see himself attending college there? When he visited the campus, did it “feel” right and did he have a rapport with the students he came in contact with? You might think college shouldn’t be an emotional decision, but it is. After all, they will be spending at least four years of their lives there. If they don’t fit into the social climate they will be miserable.

Another thing to consider is positioning. Is your student positioned well with the other applicants, especially if you are looking for merit aid. Are their scores, grades, and achievements good enough to put them at the top of the applicant pool?

As you can easily see, there’s more to refining a college list than picking a college with Greek life or college sports rankings. It’s a place your student will call home and he needs to feel comfortable there. Once you’ve determined if the college has all three criteria, add it to the list. It’s a keeper!

Read Wendy’s blog: Parent Hunting and Gathering-A College List Part 2

financial aid, infographics

A Financial Aid Flowchart

March 11, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer 1 Comment

Financial aid can be confusing for parents and students. From scholarships, to loans, to 529 funding, it can be an overwhelming process.

Student financial aid comes in all shapes and sizes – and one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to paying for college. With many different student loans to choose from, finding the optimal path to college funding can be tricky. eStudent Loans created this graphic to help those who need more than just scholarships and grants to fund their education and fund it in a way that will help save you money.

So, if you’re one of the thousands of students that are not sure where to start, relax. Simply use their financial aid flowchart to help you explore nearly every possible option available to help you cover the costs of earning your college degree. At the same time, they also show you the order in which you should pursue each funding source.

Financial Aid Flowchart: A Guide for Students Paying for College from eStudentLoan

Download the interactive Financial Aid Flowchart

Uncategorized

Why go to college?

March 10, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer

With all the college prep advice, parents rarely ask the question: Should my kids go to college? Parents should never assume that college is the best path for every kid. Today I’m going to examine and discuss five good reasons to go to college.

College is an expensive and competitive undertaking. The decision to attend should be a thoughtful one. If your child is leaning toward higher education after high school, here are five good reasons to answer the question–Why go to college?

1. To get an education in a rigorous academic environment

College, like anything, is what you choose to get out of it. If you attend class, challenge yourself academically, and explore new interests it can be worthwhile. But, if you skip class, take easy courses, and skate by with the bare minimum of work, it’s not worth your while.

2. To prepare for a career and gain earning potential

A college degree today does not guarantee a job upon graduation. But with some research and proper planning, that degree can increase earning potential over a lifetime. The job market is highly competitive now and a degree in a career that is in high demand can set you apart from the pack. A new study recently released by the Pew Research Group, found those with a college degree now make $17,500 more per year than those without — a wage gap that’s doubled in recent decades. Those without a degree are four times more likely to be unemployed.

3. To pursue a passion

College is a good place to pursue an academic passion. If you know what excites you and know what needs to be done to achieve it, college can help you reach your goal. In this case, the college choice is even more important because you want to find a school that caters to your passion; be it acting, writing, art, politics or even social media.

4. To discover who you are and what you want in life

It may seem like college is an expensive way to find yourself. But coupled with the benefits of academics and experiences while attending, it’s an excellent place to explore interests and find what you want to do in life. Not every student knows when they enter college what they want to do, and for these students, it’s an opportunity to expand horizons and find their passion.

5. To develop a network of friends and contacts

After college, graduates will be entering the job market. The contacts and friends you meet while in college will offer you networking opportunities that will help you in your job search. Alumni, fellow students, and faculty can all help with professional contacts and job opportunities.

Any one of these is a good reason to go to college. But all five of them means your student is ready to take the plunge into the college world

Scholarship Friday, scholarships

Scholarship Friday: Scholarship Search Timeline

March 7, 2014 Suzanne Shaffer

Most parents believe that the scholarship search begins at the beginning of senior year. But if you wait until then, your student is going to be overwhelmed and frustrated. Senior year is so busy, they have little time to search for scholarships, let alone apply.

Here’s a simple scholarship search timeline for each grade of high school that should help you plan ahead to avoid last minute panic:

Freshman Year

Start the search. Begin to look at scholarships that you could qualify for and apply to. Make a list and review the past winners to determine what made them a winner. If there are any scholarships that have no age or school grade requirements, apply now.

Sophomore Year

Continue the search, digging deeper and unearthing local scholarship opportunities. Talk to the organizations and ask them what types of scholarships they offer and if you need a member to sponsor you. Sign up for scholarship search engines to receive weekly emails matching you to scholarships.

Junior Year

Narrow down the scholarships you’re going to apply to and make a calendar of all the deadlines. Review the essay requirements, if any, and begin thinking about how you would write about them. Summer is a good time to begin writing any essays.

Senior Year

Hit the ground running. Apply, apply, apply. Most college scholarships have deadlines for seniors. Don’t let them creep up on you and use a calendar reminder to stay on track. Pay attention to local news for scholarship announcements and deadlines. Gather all your necessary information: transcripts, recommendation letters, and any honors and awards that might help.

Don’t make the mistake of waiting until senior year to start the scholarship process. In order to win the most money, you have to put in the most effort. Stay focused and keep your eye on the prize.