Financing a College Education - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
At this time of year, many families are beginning to wonder how they will be able to pay for their child's college education. This is a valid concern particularly for those who have not done a great
deal of advance planning. Remember that financial aid can take the form of gift aid or loans, and how that breaks out in your final package from the college will make a difference in what you have
to pay back. I have the following suggestions which may make the process easier for you.
- Be prepared: In the financial aid process, it is important to remember that the early bird gets the worm. By that I mean that it is imperative to file your Free Application for Federal Student Aid
(FAFSA) as early in January as is possible. Many of my client families tell me that they don't have their taxes ready to file in January. That's OK since it is perfectly permissible to file the FAFSA
using estimated tax information which you can get from the last pay
statement that you receive in December. This will, figuratively, put you to the front of the line in the college financial aid office.
About a month after filing this form, you will receive the Student Aid
Report which will give you your estimated family contribution and will allow you to make any changes to the information that are necessary. You may wish to check out www.finaid.com which will provide a great deal of information and even allow you to get a calculation of your Estimated Family Contribution.
- CSS Profile: Some colleges require you to file a CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA. This document is usually due early in the Senior year and you will have to pay a fee for each college to
whom you want the results sent. Be sure to carefully review the financial aid requirements for the colleges you are applying to in case they need you to file both the FAFSA and the Profile.
- Scholarships: No one should pay for a scholarship search service. Information on scholarships for which your child may qualify is readily accessible both in the high school guidance office and on the web. You may wish to access the College Board site at
www.collegeboard.org/fundfinder/bin/fundfind01.p13. This site allows you to enter information about yourself and it returns information on scholarships for which you may be eligible.
- Student Savings: It is important to know that any savings in the student's name is likely to affect the Estimated Family Contribution since it is the conventional wisdom that 50% of this can go to college expenses each year. Parental savings are reviewed at a much lower rate.
Questions? If you have questions about this or other educational topics of general interest, please send them to me at the Community Advocate. We will use the questions as a basis for future columns.
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Potpourri - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
Juniors: At this time of year, I am often asked whether it is too early for high school juniors to begin thinking about college. The answer is emphatically, “No!” Your junior has taken the PSAT and the results are now available to you. I suggest that you review the PSAT with your child and his or her guidance counselor so that you have plenty of time to correct any academic deficits which exist or to enhance those skills which are the strongest for your student.
It is not too early to begin thinking about the kinds of colleges to which you will apply. In order to make a more informed decision about this issue, it is worthwhile to make some casual visits to colleges of different types in the area. At this point, you are looking for size of college and campus environment rather than trying to make a definitive decision on colleges to which you will apply.
It is definitely not necessary for your student to know what course of study he or she will follow. There is no reason to lock down this decision for some time. Allow your child the luxury to explore all the wonderful options which exist. If you think that you will need or want help to refine your college list or to get through the application process, call a professional now. Independent educational planners usually limit the number of students with whom they will work in any given year. It is to your benefit to sign up with the professional of your choice early in junior year.
Seniors: Early decision responses should be coming in soon. If your response is not what you were hoping for, try to remember that our most disappointing moments sometimes turn out to provide us with our best opportunities. I do hope that you have other applications ready to be filed immediately. If not, I suggest that you begin working on these now as a “just in case” process. The time to write essays that are meaningful and well constructed is not immediately after receiving bad news.
College Students: If you are thinking about transferring to a different college, it is important that you give serious thought as to the issues you have at your current school. If you are still in your first year of college, I urge you to try to separate true unhappiness from the natural homesickness that comes with your first experience away from all with which you are familiar. Think about ways in which you can make the college in which you are enrolled right for you. Are you actively involved in the campus community? Do you come home every weekend? Have you honestly discussed with your roommate issues which you may have? Did you have unrealistic expectations about your college experience? Did you make an emotional rather than a reasoned choice as a senior in high school? Some of these are issues which you can fix and stay where you are. Others may indicate that you should look elsewhere for a meaningful experience. Only you can decide. In any case, complete at least one full year at your college before transferring and put a great deal of informed effort into the choice of a different school. Get help from a professional, if necessary, and look carefully at transfer application deadlines since these differ from freshman deadlines.
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What Makes a College Selective - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
It is very difficult for parents and professionals alike to make sense out of the often-contradictory sets of numbers one sees in relation to particular colleges. The rankings published by long-respected magazines only seem to add to the confusion. It might be helpful to keep the following in mind.
- The formula upon which colleges are ranked changes from year to year. This makes it difficult for the lay person to truly know why some colleges move up in the ranking or move down. For example, alumni giving is an oft-used criteria to determine the academic quality of a college. It does stand to reason that those who were happy in the undergraduate years would be more willing to give to their alma mater. Since colleges are very good at marketing strategies and they know that a higher percentage of alumni givers enhances their ranking, the college will try to get as many alums as possible to give even a very small donation to allow the school to increase the percent of alumni givers.
- Which students are targeted for a particular year depends on how the college wants the incoming class to look. For example, if a new fine arts center is being built and the college formerly did not have a strong reputation in this area, fine arts students would stand a better chance of admittance. Alternatively, if the engineering program has been over enrolled for the last few years and the department's resources are being stretched to the limit, an applicant to that program may need to present much higher credentials than were required in prior years.
- Because of the flood of students entering colleges over the past few years, many colleges have significantly underestimated their yield and are, consequently, very short of beds. To help the problem, they accept fewer students in the next year or two. This lowers their acceptance rates which may make them appear more selective when in fact the institution is simply responding to a short term problem. Yield refers to the number of accepted students who ultimately send in a deposit and attend the college.
- Finally, at the very top schools, being the valedictorian or having perfect SAT scores is simply not enough. The question they ask of their applicants is: "What have you done with the opportunities you were given and how have you used your gifts to help your fellow man?"
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Changes to the SAT - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
Much has been written in the national press of late about the changes that are being made to the SAT. Unfortunately, few specifics have been given about those changes other than to say that a writing section has been added to the test. I would like to attempt to clarify the information in this column.
The SAT is the standardized test dreaded by high school students because it in many ways controls their access to college. Although there are several hundred colleges that do not consider the SAT score in their admission decisions, most still require it or the sister test, the ACT. As it stands now, the SAT I is composed of a verbal and a math test on each of which the perfect score is 800. In 1995 the score was re-centered so that more students would achieve the 500 mark than had done so previously. This means that one cannot compare scores of someone who took the test prior to 1995 and one who takes the test today with much accuracy.
As of March 2005 the test is being completely overhauled. There is speculation that this is happening in response to the consideration to eliminate the SAT results as an admission standard by the University of California system, which is one of the largest users of the test. This speculation seems to have some validity given that the response by the College Board to this announcement was an acceleration of implementation of changes that were under consideration at the time.
The most significant change is the addition of a Writing Exam that consists of both a multiple-choice series of grammar questions and a student-written essay. In many ways this is similar to the old SAT II in Writing which many colleges required in addition to the SAT I. For those of you who are older, the SAT II is what were once called the Achievement tests in particular subjects.
The Math Exam will now cover three years of high school math as opposed to the two years of math covered by the current exam and the quantitative comparisons will be eliminated. Quantitative comparisons involved evaluating two mathematical statements and deciding which amount is greater. The Verbal exam will be replaced with the Critical Reading Exam. Analogies will be eliminated and short reading passages will be added to the longer ones currently on the test. These short passages will come from a wide range of subjects and are purported to be of more interest to student readers.
The battery of three tests will raise the cost from $10 to $12 and a perfect score will go from 1600 to 2400 points. Fee waivers will continue to be offered for those who cannot afford the cost of the test. The College Board asserts that the reason for these changes is to make the test more reflective of both the high school curriculum and the skills students need to be successful in college. Past research has shown that SAT scores are an indicator of success in the first year of college but not beyond that. Finally, the test will now take three-and-a-half hours to complete rather than the current three hours.
If you have a high school freshman, that student will be taking the new test at the end of junior year. To successfully negotiate the changes, try to ensure that your child is writing regularly in the classroom and that both the writing instruction and remediation he or she is receiving is robust. It is also important that your student read regularly to increase both fluency and rate because that is the best way to help the Critical Reading score improve.
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Is the Ivy Worth the Price? - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
I recently came across an article by Dan Askt in MSN Money that discussed whether it pays off over time for students to attend very expensive colleges. I don't think anyone would disagree that a college degree today is vastly important in determining the future earnings potential of a person. A Bachelor's degree today is equal to what a high school diploma was when I was graduating from secondary school. Now that you all know how old I am, stop laughing and read on.
One of the intangibles in the college process has always been whether it makes any sense to spend up to $120,000 on a four-year education for your child. I am sure that most parents can find some other way to spend that money. The issue is not whether you want to do what is best for your student; we all know that you do. This issue is whether you have to bankrupt the family to do so. Is a degree from a well-known, high-priced college worth it in the long run?
According to economist Alan B. Krueger of Princeton University and Stacy B. Dale of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the lifelong earning of a person is more related to how smart that individual was in the first place. In other words, if you are smart enough to get into an elite private college, you probably will earn a bunch of money no matter which college you go to. Mr. Akst also says that a lot depends on what your child plans to do with his/her life. If he/she plans to be a teacher or a social worker or a minister, which school he/she attends will have little effect on lifelong earning potential because these careers are self-limiting in earning power.
Akst goes on to say that where you are accepted is more of an indicator of what you can earn than is where you actually go. Researchers found that students who were accepted at elite private colleges but decided to go elsewhere (for that free ride, perhaps?) made the same money as those who attended the high-priced college. It is the quality of the student that counts most.
As tuition at the most prestigious private schools continues to spiral out of control, I wonder why more families are not maximizing the potential of that very smart student and sending him/her to the top of the second tier of colleges. You can save some money and still get a fantastic education. Your student will naturally gravitate to the top students at that college and develop the contacts necessary to survive in today's networking world without your having to give up retirement. If you live in Virginia or Michigan or Wisconsin, by all means take advantage of the quality of your state system. If you have a very bright kid but don't live in those places, look at them anyway and save some money while still getting a high quality education for your student. Don't worry. You can still put the Harvard or Yale or BC sticker on the back of your car. I won't tell!
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Creative High School Choices - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
In this year of very difficult State and local budget issues, one of the primary concerns on the minds of parents is whether the quality of their child's education will be affected. I have no doubt that it will, not due to any lack of talent on the part of teachers or administrators at the local level but because, to paraphrase Bill Parcells, you cannot cook a meal without buying the groceries. Although I am sensitive to the need for stringent budget cuts at the State level, I remain particularly concerned about the effect on education at the local level. The most troubling issues are the significant decrease in the number of teachers, the program cuts which affect educational depth and a shortfall in budget lines that go beyond the most basic needs.
I want to make it clear that I am now and always have been a champion of public education. My teaching career has always been in public schools and my children have been educated in public systems in three states. When we buy a home, we look at the statistics for the schools, visit the school buildings and, if possible, speak to members of the staff before we decide where to buy. This is exactly what we did when we moved to Massachusetts and just what many other homebuyers do.
For the first time in my professional career as both an educator and a Certified Educational Planner, I find myself recommending to parents that they might want to consider private secondary schools for their children since there is more funding for innovative programming in those institutions than is currently available in the public sector. I am particularly concerned with high school students who are unable to get into classes because of programming cuts. When applying to colleges, the program deficits might be problematic since your child is in competition with students from high schools, both public and private, who have been able to take a full academic load. For those families who are feeling the economic pinch and cannot afford to consider private secondary school options for their children, the question remains, "What to do?"
There are creative means by which you can increase programming options for your child. One is to discuss with the high school the availability of dual enrollment options with local colleges. For example, if your child wants to take an advanced course that is no longer offered at the high school or that does not fit into the schedule, your child can enroll at a local college to take the class. The high school must agree in advance to accept the credit towards the high school diploma. Virtually any first-year college class can be used to broaden the scope of the student's academic record. These classes can be taken in the evening or at the end of the regular high school day. It is generally the responsibility of parents to arrange transportation for their children.
Another option is for the high school to recommend particular teachers to teach a special course to a few students after hours and the teacher/tutor is paid by the parents. Fees would be negotiated by the parents and classes can take place at the high school or somewhere else. Some of our most prestigious local private schools offer these kinds of programs after school to their students for subjects, such as Chinese, which are not part of the normal curriculum. The high school needs to approve the curriculum and set the level of competency for students to get credit on the high school transcript.
The pay-as-you-go method can also be used to enhance the cuts in the Fine Arts curriculum. Parents can arrange to hire an art or music teacher, at their own expense, so that their children are not denied the benefit of a fully enriched academic program. For example, in many districts parents currently pay for full-day kindergarten because it is a program they want which the school district cannot afford to fund. This concept can be enhanced to other programming areas if parents are willing to pay for them.
I believe that it will be imperative for parents to advocate for their children at all levels of K-12 public education in order that our students not be left behind when they are measured against students from high schools, both public and private, all over the nation. Parents should educate themselves about the budget process. They can do that by contacting their school committee members, attending meetings, networking with other parents, joining the PTO, etc. Our School Committees want to hear from the public they serve. They need our input to help them make the right decisions on behalf of the children who will be our future.
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The Real Financial Aid Story - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
Financial Aid is a confusing topic for most parents. This article should clarify some of the confusion.
- You will often hear parents say that they received no financial aid. This statement normally translates to, ""I received no free money." Colleges and the federal government consider loans and work study as financial aid. If you qualified for a loan, that is financial aid.
- Student Loans come in a variety of types and some are more advantageous to the family than others. Stafford loans come in two varieties, subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized Stafford loans do not accrue interest until after the student graduates. Unsubsidized Stafford loans accrue interest while the student is in school although you can defer these payments until after graduation. If you defer interest payments on unsubsidized Stafford loans, the interest amount increases the size and cost of the loan. Every student qualifies for an unsubsidized Stafford but financial need must be demonstrated to receive a subsidized Stafford loan. Students may take both subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans to help meet their educational expenses. These loans are attractive because of the very low rate of interest on them.
- Perkins Loans are available for students with significant financial need. Students have ten years after graduation to repay these.
- The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) must be filed to qualify for any of the above-mentioned student loans, including the unsubsidized Stafford loan. This document can be completed online. This is the best way to expedite processing of the FAFSA. The web address is www.fafsa.ed.gov. DO NOT GO TO fafsa.com or you will end up paying $35 to have the FAFSA filled out for you. This is not necessary! Unlike hiring a professional for advice to find the right college fit for your child, having the FAFSA completed requires no expertise that you do not already have. The FAFSA cannot be completed until January 1st of the student's senior year.
- If your student gets the PIN number from the FAFSA web site, an electronic signature is permitted. You do not have to wait until January to get this PIN number. If your student is your dependent, two PIN numbers are required: one for your student and one for yourself since you are both required to sign the form. This electronic signature also expedites processing.
- If you plan to use the electronic FAFSA, and I strongly recommend that you do so, use the electronic worksheets rather than the paper ones since the information is presented in a slightly different way.
- The FAFSA also asks for an email address, if you are going to include one it is best to use the parents' email rather than the student's. If you include an email address, your Student Aid Report (SAR) will be sent to you electronically and you will not receive a paper copy. If this is a problem, don't include an email address in the document.
- Some colleges require that you complete the CSS Profile in addition to the FAFSA to be eligible for aid. The Profile is how some colleges get the information to figure your standing for aid according to the institutional methodology. This differs for each college. Some colleges simply use the Federal methodology which comes from the FAFSA. Others want more information. You can find out if the colleges to which your student is applying requires the Profile by going to www.profileonline.cbreston.org. You can also complete the Profile online at this site. Once again, this is preferable to doing the paper forms since the process is quicker. Unlike the FAFSA which cannot be completed before January 1 of the senior year, the Profile should be completed in the fall of senior year. If you register online for the Profile, the cost is $5. If you do it by phone, the cost is $7. You pay $18 for each college whose code you indicate on the Profile.
If you do your own taxes or can collect information for your accountant to do your taxes, the financial aid process is much simpler. You can do it! If you have questions, you can call 1-800-433-3243 or go to www.finaid.org.
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Financial Aid - Part II - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
As I told you in the last article about financial aid, most of the aid being given to students today is in the form of loans and many of these loans are parent loans. I have been asked by parents, particularly of older students, if the student is living on his/her own, many parents believe that their income should not be calculated into the student's FAFSA. In some cases, I agree with this assessment, unfortunately, the federal government does not. The premise on which Financial Aid is calculated is that except in some specific circumstances, parents are responsible for the education of their children through college. Therefore, any decision made by the parents in regards to their child does not affect the independent student rule. If as a parent, you agree to let your child live on his/her own, you are still obligated to pay for his/her college education.
An independent student is one who is over the age of 24, is married, has children or other dependents who receive more than half their support from you, or is enrolled in a master's or doctoral program, is an orphan or ward of the court or is a veteran or who attended a service academy and was released unless the release was by dishonorable discharge.
Two other glitches exist in the calculations for financial aid eligibility of which your student must be made aware and probably much earlier than senior year of high school. The primary one of these is that students who have been convicted under federal or state law of sale or possession of illegal drugs are ineligible to receive financial aid. The period of ineligibility varies and you should call 1-800-4-FED-AID to determine your child's particular status if this is an issue in your family.
The second problem involves registration with the Selective Service. If your child should be registered and is not, eligibility is in jeopardy. In case you are tempted to fib on the application, the information you present is verified with the following agencies: Social Security Administration, Selective Service System, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice and Department of Veterans Affairs. These are federal documents and you do not want to invite a problem by not telling the truth on them.
One last thing to remember, when you are looking at those college packages which are offered to you, is that you must look at the full Cost of Attendance and not just tuition, room and board when deciding if you can afford certain schools. The Cost of Attendance (COA) is a number you can get from the Financial Aid office of the colleges which you are considering. For example, in our own state university system, the media has touted a consistent decrease in tuition over the last few years. What they haven't shared is that the fees at our state schools have risen steadily and far outstripped the tuition 'savings' which are quoted. The Cost of Attendance for in-state students in Massachusetts is high. You may be better off looking at a state school in another state and compare what you will really be paying overall. Sometimes, the merit aid your student may be eligible for in one of these institutions may counterbalance the in-state tuition here.
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Class of 2006 and the SAT Changes - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
Those of you with high school sophomores are probably well aware of the changes to the format of the SAT which will be inaugurated with the March 2005 administration of the test. The most significant change will be the addition of a Writing section. The total possible score will go from the current 1600 to 2400 divided equally among the Verbal, Math, and Writing sections of the test. The verbal section will change with the elimination of the analogies section. In addition, the Writing SAT II will be offered for the last time in January of 2005. The question for the Class of 2006 becomes what should be done to ensure that the best possible picture is presented to the colleges when applications are filed.
I recently attended a conference where I was able to hear Mark Greenstein, founder and president of Ivy Bound SAT Test Prep speak to this issue. Mr. Greenstein has done significant research with some of the top colleges to try to discover both how they plan to use the writing section of the test and whether they will take only the new test or if they will also accept the old version. About 35% of the colleges said they would accept either the old or new version, 35% indicated that they would accept only the new version and the remaining 30% were still undecided. I believe that much of the uncertainty on the part of the colleges is due to the fact that they don't know what the validity of the scores on the test will be. The instrument has not been used on the general population and we as yet do not know how much it will truly reveal about our students.
In reference to the Writing section alone, there is concern as to how the colleges may use the information presented by the student. Colleges will have the ability to buy from ETS the full essay that students write for this portion of the test and, if a concern exists as to who actually wrote the college essay presented with the application, the style of writing can be compared to the Writing section which the student produced in a venue within which no help was possible. This is going to present an interesting dilemma not only for those few students who choose to buy their essays from the Internet or have friends write the essay for them but also for those parents who have more than a little intervention in the essay. You have frequently heard me say that the student's voice must not be lost in the essay and, although it is expected that the college essay will be well polished, that polishing should not result in an essay that sounds as though it had been written by a 40 year old. It always amazes me when I hear parents say that their child's essay sounds "juvenile" or is not "sophisticated enough." How adult and sophisticated do you expect a 17-year-old to be? These comments are frequently made in cases where the student's English grades are B's or C's. The colleges are truly bright enough to know what these students can produce on their own and what is done for them.
My recommendations for the Class of 2006 are the following:
- Students should do significant test preparation over the summer between sophomore and junior year. Yes, that is this summer! This will help not only with the SAT I in December or January but also with the PSAT in October.
- Students should take the SAT I for the first time in either December 2004 or January 2005. This will be the old version of the test.
- Students should take the SAT II in Writing in either December 2004 or January 2005.
- Students should take the new version of the SAT I in May and in October 2005. Avoid the March test with which there may be problems.
- Students who plan to apply to the top 100 colleges should also take the SAT II in Math and one other subject in June of 2005.
With this testing schedule the student will have both versions of the test completed in case there are difficulties with the newer version and the colleges will be able to see all scores and choose those which make the student admissible. For more information on the changes to the SAT, see the earlier article on this web site on that subject or go to the College Board web site (www.collegeboard.com).
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Paying for College - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
At this time of year, parents of seniors are wondering how they can navigate the maze of financial aid forms and whether they can pay for the colleges from which their children are receiving acceptances. One might say that it is a little late for this concern, but if you stay organized, it is not nearly as difficult as it may first appear.
First, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA): This form must be completed and sent to every college to which your child applies even if you do not plan on asking for financial aid from the school. This may seem like a great deal of work for money that you are not planning on getting, but it is necessary for a number of reasons. The primary reason to file a FAFSA is that you are hoping to get financial assistance for your child. Most colleges require only this form and it is not that difficult to complete. The secondary reasons to complete the FAFSA even if you do not plan on asking for financial assistance are: 1) without this data, many colleges cannot offer merit aid to your child and 2) if you have a family emergency requiring you to ask for financial help to keep your child in school, without these numbers, the college cannot help you.
The time to complete the FAFSA is right now. You may use preliminary tax numbers for last year and you can get these numbers from your final pay stub of 2004. In about a month, you will receive the Student Aid Report (SAR) which will show your Expected Family Contribution (EFC). You will then have the opportunity to correct any numbers which were not available to you when you sent the original document in. The reason to process the FAFSA as early in January as possible is that you are first in line for aid when the college begins to put packages together. This is done on a first come, first served basis.
It is never necessary to pay someone to complete your FAFSA for you. It is much easier than you may think. You can get free help at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov. Be careful to use only this web address since many others charge you to use their service to complete the FAFSA. Another trap that many families fall into is giving too much information on the FAFSA. Include only the information they request as it is defined in the instructions.
Many of the more prestigious colleges require more information than is available on the FAFSA. To get this information, they either have a school form for you to complete or ask that you complete the CSS Profile which is available from the College Board. You can check the College Board web site (www.collegeboard.com ) for a list of colleges requiring the CSS Profile. If none of the colleges to whom your child is applying appear on the list, none require the Profile. You should also check the college web sites to see if they have their own financial aid form and what the deadlines for processing these forms are.
Finally, paying for college is a plan that should begin when your child is young and this plan should be a holistic approach to your family finances. By a holistic approach I mean that planning for college should be done in conjunction with retirement planning and planning for other things that are important to your family.
The key to this is not to panic and don't ignore private colleges because you believe that you cannot afford them. It is not unusual for a private college to give a better financial aid package than a public institution and, thereby, cost less in the long run. When you review the packages offered, remember that it is not only the bottom line that you should focus on, but also look at how much you are getting from each institution in grants as opposed to loans and work study.
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The Right to a College Education - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
One of the most difficult issues for families to face is the rejection of their student from a college which that student wishes to attend. I have heard parents question the fairness of the system and many have lamented, "I have the money to pay for any school my child wants. Why won't they let him/her in?" I hope to explain this in the following paragraphs.
In this country, everyone is guaranteed a free public education from grades K through 12. No one has this guarantee beyond that point. After successful graduation from high school, we move to a system in which one must earn the right to attend. Even those who work hard and acquire the credentials to move on must understand that this does not entitle them to proceed to a particular institution. Obviously, the achievers are pitted against all the other achievers and the rank ordering begins.
What makes it even more difficult is that in this age of rampant grade inflation, students have an unrealistic sense of their level of accomplishment. Parents also believe that a B or B+ average is enough to qualify their child for a top-notch school. Nothing can be further from the truth! Almost 50% of students begin their college careers with a high school GPA of A- or better. To further complicate the issue, the GPA is not the only criterion colleges use to develop their freshman class. The student must have earned top grades in the most challenging curriculum available at the high school and must also be involved in both school-based and out-of-school activities which includes a heavy dose of consistent community service commitment. When we add to this mix the insanity of standardized testing, you can see that the issue is very complex.
The good news is that approximately 75% of students are accepted to and attend their first-choice college. If the list of colleges to which the student applies is derived carefully with attention to both the college's history and the student's strengths, a happy college career usually follows. The difficulty is that the list is frequently made up of only ‘name’ colleges and these are often not the best fit for the student. When families look at a list of colleges, they don't always recognize that there are great colleges beyond the 100 names they know. It is also important to not rely on old information when choosing colleges. Because someone's uncle had a bad experience at a particular school 25 years ago does not mean that your student will, nor does it mean that the college in question is the same place it was then.
I often hear, "I can't let my child apply to ABC University because it is a party school." This is extremely naïve. Every college can be a party school if that is what your student is looking to make of the college experience. Conversely, even party schools have serious students in attendance. This comes down to the issue of the values your child has developed over the last 18 years.
If you don't know how to construct a list whose primary thrust is the best fit for your child, get help from a professional who has current information on colleges.
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SAT News from March 2005 - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
The new SAT was administered on March 12th to those who were not affected by the Northeast snowstorm. The consensus among test takers was that, aside from being incredibly long, the test brought no surprises. Tested for a whopping 3 hours and 45 minutes, many students felt wrung out by the experience. This was of particular difficulty for students who did not have an adequate breakfast before the test and those who require frequent feedings, such as diabetic kids. This is a good fact to know for those who will be taking it later this year. Eat a good breakfast which includes protein and take a snack and a drink which you can have at the break to the test with you. The brain needs fuel to function.
As to the test itself, the dreaded essay turned out to not be too bad for those who had prepared and knew what they were facing. The essay is a basic five-paragraph essay in which it is important to stick to the topic, provide backup for your opinions and wrap up referring back to the original prompt. The essay will be scored on a 1 - 6 scale by two independent graders. If more than one point separates their scores, a third grader will score the essay. It is important for students who have concerns about the new Writing Skills section to remember that the essay represents only 30% of the grade for this part of the SAT. The remaining 70% is related to grammar and improving paragraphs.
The Math section no longer required quantitative comparisons but did include a few Algebra II questions. Most of the questions in this section came from older versions of the SAT and, therefore, held no surprises for students. Some of my clients who took the test regretted having forgotten their calculators as this was important to the test. Included in this section were questions about averages, percents, ratios, geometry and some questions related to exponents and absolute value.
The Critical Reading section included sentence completions as in the past but the reading passages themselves required the test taker to make inferences on the author's meaning more than in the past. For kids who read regularly and for pleasure, this is usually not an issue. The best way to prepare for this test is to read, read, and read some more.
I wonder about students bemoaning the length of the test. When I took the SAT, we were required to begin at 8AM and go until around 11:30. We then had a 45 minute break for lunch and returned to take three one-hour subject tests. I doubt that kids have gotten weaker in the last 40 years or so and I am concerned that we have set the bar on expectations for kids so low that they may be beginning to believe that they cannot do what we did before them.
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Financial Aid Basics - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
This is the time of year when many parents begin to be concerned about how they are going to pay for their child's upcoming college education. With the cost of attendance at all colleges, both public and private, spiraling to unheard of levels, this is a valid concern. The College Board quotes the 2005-2006 average yearly cost of attendance as follows: $11,692 for students attending two-year public colleges, $15,566 for students attending four-year public colleges and universities in-state ($23,239 for out-of-state students), and $31,916 for students at four-year private colleges and universities. This is a significant investment for most families. How to maximize this investment is the question. The following might help:
- Bring your child into the financial ramifications of college early in the process. We tend not to discuss family finances with our kids. I don't think this is a good thing. It is important that our children know both that we are willing to spend whatever is necessary to provide them with an education and that they have a responsibility in this process. First, they must maximize their high school experience so that they are eligible for merit aid or other scholarships. Second, they must realize that they may have to incur some indebtedness to go to the school of their choice; and third, they must recognize that they not only have to earn the right to be accepted at an institution but that they must earn, through their individual attention to academic excellence, our willingness to pay for it.
- Become acquainted with the Financial Aid process and know the requirements of each school to which your child applies. You can get this information through the college web site or the application packet, or by calling the financial aid office at the college and asking what forms they require. Some colleges require only the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) which cannot be filed before January 1 of the senior year in high school. Some also require the CSS Profile which is available by fall of the senior year. You can find out which colleges require the Profile and complete it online by going to the College Board web site (www.collegeboard.com ) . This site also has much more information on financial aid for you to consider including an estimator which will tell you how much you might be expected to pay toward your child's education.
- Don't be frightened by the sticker price of a particular school. If the college really wants your child, they will dig into their coffers to find merit scholarships for him/her. This may mean that your child does not attend the most competitive college that accepts him/her, but it might be nice to be the brightest bulb in the tree for awhile. Your child will still get his/her intellectual curiosity tweaked because the professors will appreciate seeing someone with a genuine willingness to learn.
- Don't be afraid to ask for more. Once the financial aid packages come in, evaluate them carefully paying particular attention to which schools are giving you more free money (scholarships and grants) rather than simply looking at the bottom line. Remember that you are free to take only those parts of the package that you want. For example, if you don't want your child to work during the first year, you can decline the work study part of the package.
Like the rest of the college application process, the financial aid piece requires attention to detail. I suggest that you buy "College Financial Aid for Dummies" which is very clear in its explanations and visit the financial aid web sites ( www.collegeboard.com and www.finaid.gov ) for more information.
Finally, don't let college costs take away from your retirement. Visit with a financial planner who looks holistically at the family picture early in your child's high school career.
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The PSAT Is Back - Now What? - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
This is the time of year when 11th and some 10th grade students get their PSAT results. They are given a score report and the booklet with the questions they have answered. It consistently amazes me when I speak to students and parents that they know so little about what they should do with the information they have in hand. All of them know that the results they received are not as high as they hoped for but they don't know what to do next. The following might be helpful.
- Test Results: The PSAT scores are similar to the SAT Reasoning scores except that the student has had about one year less learning before the PSAT than before the first SAT. It is important to look at the numbers but what is more important is to look at the percentiles to see how your student stacks up against his/her peers with whom the SAT Reasoning Test will be taken. This will most probably make your student feel better about the results particularly if (s)he took the PSAT as a 10th grader.
- The Booklet: The test booklet that was returned to you is very important and should be treated accordingly. The purpose for sending it back to the student is so that the student can see what questions (s)he got wrong and to discern why the answers were incorrect. This will tell your student if there is a tendency to make careless mistakes or if there is a gap in his/her knowledge base. If you determine that there is a conceptual deficit in one of the categories, teach the concept to the student or have the appropriate teacher at the high school work on the missing concepts with your child.
- SAT Prep: If you are planning on an SAT prep course for your child, and you should, the PSAT booklet and answer sheet should provide the starting point for the instructor to determine what it is that your child will need to learn in order to be more successful on the actual SAT Reasoning Test which (s)he will take in late spring of the Junior year and in October of the senior year.
- High Achieving Students: If your student is among the top 10 to 15 of his/her graduating class, you may wish to consider having your child prep for the PSAT before the 11th grade. The test is used as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying (NMSQ) Test for this population. A little prep may mean the difference between having a Commended Student and a Semi-Finalist or Finalist. These designations mean a lot in college admissions, since the colleges love to brag about how many students of this caliber they have in their entering class.
One final thing to note is that students usually do better on the actual SAT than they do on the PSAT primarily because they recognize both that the SAT is important and that the colleges will see the results of the SAT. Colleges do not get the PSAT results.
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Is It Really Harder To Get In Now?
- Nancy Federspiel, Associate Director, College Consulting Services
People say to me all the time, "We keep hearing that it has gotten ridiculously hard to get into college now…is it really harder now than it used to be?" If this were an SAT question, it wouldn't be multiple choice - it would be an essay question. The answer is not simple and it needs some explaining. Here's my take on it.
Let's start with the indisputable facts. First of all, there is actually a "baby boomlet" going on. There is a ripple effect - a smaller but still significant escalation in population because the original baby-boomers had babies of their own. These "boomlet" kids happen to be college age now and the numbers in this age bracket are projected to rise until 2009, according to the US Census Bureau. Okay, so there actually are more students competing for the same number of college slots.
Another indisputable fact is that now nearly 300 colleges accept the Common Application as the means for applying for admission to their institution. This means that with the click of a button a student can apply to 10 colleges at once instead of just one. You can bet that this means the number of college applications at each institution is up. High school grads are applying to many more colleges at a time because it is so much easier to do so. Okay, so the applicant pools have increased at many colleges.
Think of the impact of both of these factors on the college admission and high school guidance offices across the country. They have an incredible increase in demand on them in terms of handling and processing data. The high schools have more transcripts and recommendations than ever to get out the door and the colleges have more files to process and review than ever before. Funny how there isn't a trend of budgets growing in both of these types of offices. This is one of the tragic impacts of the increasing numbers of applicants.
But what about the impact on today's high school senior - is it harder for them to get into a college than it used to be? Probably, but let's keep the facts in perspective. The change in the number of applications because of students applying to many more schools than they used to is significant. But let's not forget that each student can only attend one college at a time. This means that the colleges' yields (the portion of students who actually matriculate) are going down. So yes, they are having more applicants but they are also having to admit more students. It is not quite as bleak as it may seem at first blush.
The final piece of good news is that with over 3,600 accredited colleges and universities in the United States, there are still more than enough spaces to go around. The challenge, of course, is to find the one that is the right fit.
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What Do Early Options Mean in the Process?
- Nancy Federspiel, Associate Director, College Consulting Services
The early options month is here! There is no doubt that the early options for applying to college have gotten a little complicated and somewhat confusing. There is Rolling Admissions, Early Decision, Early Action and Restricted Early Action or Early Action Single Choice. Oh yes, and some schools offer both Early Action plans and Early Decision plans, not to mention two rounds of Early Decision (EDI and EDII). If you haven't studied up on the particulars of these plans it can be overwhelming. The first thing to do is to understand the differences among these options. The second thing to do is to evaluate these choices for your individual situation and decide if any of these options is right for you.
Rolling Admissions is pretty straightforward. Many large public universities use this style of admissions to spread out the workload for their admissions staff. With an institution that uses a rolling admissions plan, you can apply early without any strings attached. You don't have to promise to go there if accepted - you simply apply early and they will get back with an answer as soon as they can (usually between 2 and 6 weeks later). You have until May, like with most schools, to decide if you want to enroll there or not. I am working with a student who applied to one of his top choice schools that happened to have a rolling admissions policy. He had his application in by the beginning of October and he had an acceptance letter in hand before Halloween. Not a bad way to go.
Early Decision plans, on the other hand, involve a binding agreement. Under this plan the student must sign an agreement up front that says that he is not applying Early Decision to any other institution and if he is accepted then he must enroll at that Early Decision school and withdraw any pending Regular Decision applications. Typically the Early Decision applications are due in early November and the student gets notified of either an acceptance, a denial or a deferral by Christmas time. (Unless, of course, it is a college that offers ED II in which case they may have a second deadline in January with notification coming in February.) A great option, but only if the student is 100% certain about which school is her first choice. Harvard University recently eliminated this plan and other leading universities are rethinking the option as well.
Early Action plans are similar in that applications are usually due in early November and answers are usually received in December. With EA, however, the agreement is not binding. The student does not need to promise to enroll if accepted by the college. The student may apply to more than one college under an Early Action plan. (Unless, of course, the school follows a plan called Early Action Single Choice or Restricted Early Action. In this case the student does not have to promise to enroll if accepted but they do have to promise to apply to only one school under an Early Action Plan.) EA can be a great way for students to reduce their stress level while waiting for the final outcome in May.
No wonder the National Association for College Admission Counseling came out with an entire directory that addresses only the early application policies for four-year colleges and universities. It will go to good use. Clearly, there are many early options in college admissions. Keep in mind that they were originally designed to reduce stress and not to add to it. Early plans are not for everyone. They are merely an option, and if you are not ready to commit early, then don't.
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College Costs Part 1 - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
It is an interesting commentary on the ethics of colleges that we have seen an unprecedented increase in college costs over the last five years that outstripped the rate of inflation. Lest we try to place the blame for this only on private colleges, the rise has included both public and private colleges and universities. According to the New York Times (Jonathan D. Glater, 10.24.2006), this was the largest increase in the last 30 years. The increase in public college costs was 35% and at private colleges an 11% increase was seen. The Times, which took its data from the annual College Board report, states that, for the current academic year, "… the average cost of tuition, fees, and room and board at public four-year universities, attended by 35% of undergraduates, was $12,796, up 5.6 percent ... At private four-year colleges and universities, attended by 16% of undergraduates, those costs were far greater: $30, 367, up 5.7% from last year."
We might begin to wonder if these increased costs are worth it. Statistics show that a college education is definitely worth whatever we have to pay for it. We are told by a CNN Money.com (Rob Kelley 10.27.2006) article that, "Full-time workers aged 25-34 with college degrees make an average of $14,000 a year more than those with high school diplomas." Over the working life of an individual this adds up to much more than what was paid in college tuition.
Additional encouraging news comes from the New York Times (Glater and Finder, 12.12.2006), which tells us that few pay sticker price at any college or university and that the rate of student aid has increased. According to the College Board report, average tuition at private colleges rose 81% in the 1993 - 2004 timeframe but institutional financial aid rose 135% in the same time period.
Who's to blame? We should blame ourselves in our status-conscious society where we perceive cost to equal quality in education and other areas. Some colleges, among them Ursinus, University of Richmond, Bryn Mawr, University of Notre Dame and Rice University, have increased tuition as a means to match the costs of the colleges they consider to be their competition. The increase in merit aid available at these and more highly priced institutions is a method by which they pay to attract students whom they want to enroll. Lucie Lapovsky, who was president of Mercy College (New York), did a study in which she asked students to choose between a college that cost $20,000 without aid or a college that cost $30,000 but would give them a $10,000 grant. The students chose the latter over the former. Dr. Lapovsky concluded, "Americans seem to like college on sale."
We need to rethink our approach to choosing colleges. Perceived value is not a good measure of quality. There are many, many colleges, both public and private, whose costs are not what we hear about in our area, but who offer excellent quality of education to their students. Look beyond the 50 names you all know and find the college that fits your student's particular needs. That school may be a bit farther from home, but it may also provide the right education socially, emotionally and academically for your student - and the difference in costs can pay for quite a few flights home.
Resources: "Meeting College Costs: What You Need to Know Before Your Child and Your Money Leave Home." (2006 Edition) available from the College Board
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College Costs Part 2 - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
In my last article we discussed the rising cost of college and the concomitant increase in merit aid at many institutions. Today, I want to discuss the ins-and-outs of applying for financial aid for your student as well as those issues that will affect overall cost for college.
The key to having college cost less overall for you and your student is to make good choices as to which colleges will receive applications from you. College planning has become a trophy hunt for many families and that is just the wrong way to go about the process. A dispassionate look into the real issues that are important to a student's growth emotionally, academically and socially, as well as some idea as to what the student is good at and enjoys doing, is a much more important piece of the application puzzle. When we meet with students, that is precisely the kind of information we spend a great deal of time trying to ascertain, in order that we can develop a list of colleges which will meet as many of these needs for the student as possible and which will also include colleges that are reaches, targets and likely acceptances. Financial safety is also built into the list, if the family indicates that this is an issue. Without the proper investigation, students will very often make the wrong choices.
When students transfer from one college to another, it costs money and effort. Not all credits taken will be accepted at the next institution and the student will have to adapt to yet another new situation. In our society where kids are used to instant gratification, the bit of discomfort that all kids feel when they arrive at college is often not tolerated. The student wants to leave either immediately or at the end of the first semester. This is not a good thing for the student or for the college. Alternatively, the parents allow the student to come home every weekend and then cannot understand why s/he has not become a functioning part of the college community and wants to transfer. We need to help our kids learn to tough it out a bit and to take responsibility for their decisions. We need to help them grow up!
Assuming that your student has done the right amount of visiting and investigating the colleges to which s/he will apply, the next thing to do is to learn what the financial aid requirements for that college are. Do they require only the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)? Do they also require the College Scholarship Service (CSS) Profile? Do they have their own institutional form to complete? Usually, the last two forms will be due prior to the filing dates for the FAFSA which cannot be submitted prior to January 1 of the senior year. You can, though, get a PIN number for yourself and for your student before that date so that you can electronically sign the FAFSA and send it in as early in January as possible.
You can find out if the colleges to which you are applying require the CSS Profile by going to https://profileonline.collegeboard.com/index.jsp and looking at the list of colleges that require it. If your schools do not appear, they do not require this document. Then you can review the colleges' web sites or call their financial aid offices to determine if they have their own institutional forms and ask them to send you copies.
One of the things students often forget is to keep their fingers on the pulse of local scholarships that may be offered in the community. Many school systems have scholarships for students who have attended their schools throughout their K-12 careers; some have scholarships for special talents such as art; Rotary, Kiwanis, Eagles, Lions and other local business and social groups offer scholarships to students in their service areas, as do many businesses for the children of their employees. Don't forget that the Corridor Nine Area Chamber of Commerce offers scholarships for students who live in Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough, or Westborough, regardless of the location of the high school they attend. Lists of these kinds of scholarships are available from your guidance office or by contacting the sponsoring groups.
It is often less expensive to attend a private college than it is to attend your public college, depending on the amount of gift aid that is provided in the package. Look carefully at what you are offered and don't only look at the bottom line of the package.
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Is ED for Me? - Nancy Federspiel, Associate Director, College Consulting Services
In the last article I talked about the different types of early applications that exist in the world of college admissions. It seems fitting that a discussion about who is best suited to the Early Decision option should follow. As a refresher: Early Decision is a binding agreement - you may only apply to one school under the Early Decision plan and if you are accepted you must enroll at that institution. Since this agreement is binding, it is often the hardest decision for students and their parents to make during the application process. I am often asked, "Will applying ED increase my chances of being accepted?" or simply, "Do you think I should apply ED somewhere?"
In order for me to encourage a student to apply ED, certain conditions must exist. First and foremost, the student must have a school in mind that is clearly her first choice. She must have visited the college and have absolutely no doubt that if she could get into this school she would rather go there than any other college. This, as you may guess, is a tough hurdle to cross. Many seventeen year-olds do not have such convictions about what they want and, let's face it, there are so many good options out there that it is not an easy decision. Second, the school must be a good match in terms of selectivity. If a student wants to apply ED to a school that is essentially a "likely admittance" for that student then they will never know what may have happened if they had applied to a "reach school." If the school is truly the student's first choice this shouldn't be an issue but in reality there are often lingering questions over the missed opportunities - the "I wonder if I would have gotten into ____?" Third, the student must be far enough along in the process to have all of the required materials submitted by the usual November deadlines for early decision plans. Sometimes a student may need the first-semester grades which come out after the ED deadline to help build their case for an increasing trend in GPA or a set of SATII scores that will not be available in time.
It can also help to approach the question from the other angle - are there reasons why I should not consider applying ED? Absolutely. If a student is going to need to rely on financial aid to help finance his education then he should not apply ED. Students will be considered for aid if they apply ED but they will not have the benefit of being able to weigh one school's offer versus another school's offer. He will instead be committed to his ED school which may not be the best financial deal.
But what about that initial question? "Will ED increase my chances of getting in?" There is no easy answer here. It truly depends on the school. If it is an extremely selective school then applying ED probably won't make admittance any easier because they are going to have plenty of qualified candidates that they will not be able to accept as it is. They are not going to lower their standards for admittance simply because you promised to attend if you are accepted. There are, on the other hand, some less competitive schools that may be enticed by your level of commitment to them - after all they are trying to increase their yield. My advice here is that you stick to the basic conditions I mentioned earlier to decide if you are a good candidate for ED and don't use it as means to try to beat the system - it may not work.
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College Campus Trends 2006 - Charlotte M Klaar, Director, College Consulting Services
I, like many of us, like to reflect on the events of the past twelve months as the year draws to a close. For me, this usually happens after the flurry of the holiday season rather than before. I thought that I would take some time to reflect on the college visits that I made in 2006 and share my thoughts.
In the year 2006 I visited 38 colleges and universities ranging in geographical location from New England, to New York and the eastern seaboard, to Colorado. I spent time on each of these campuses attending information sessions, taking campus tours and talking with admissions folks. I asked myself, what is the common theme on these campuses? What generalizations (if any) can I make about the state of college campuses in this year?
It only took seconds to realize that at just about every college campus that I visited I was dodging yellow hazard tape and skirting temporary chain link fences. Out of the 38 colleges that I visited I can think of only one that was not undergoing some major construction project! Assuming that my list of colleges is a good representation of a cross-section of American campuses, it is safe to say that college campuses are physically changing dramatically these days.
What does all this growth and all of these improvements mean? In some way, it helps to aid our understanding of why college tuition bills continue to go up and up. Clearly colleges are spending tons of money lately, and it has to come from some place.
I also noticed that a large percentage of the construction projects that I saw were for quality of life enhancements such as student centers, residence halls, exercise facilities and dining halls. It occurs to me that not only have the stakes been raised in terms of students competing for spaces at American colleges but the colleges are also competing heavily amongst themselves to win students' tuition dollars. One college is not going to sit by idle while watching other colleges upgrade their facilities. If a school wants to maintain (or gain) popularity these days, it must have state-of-the-art facilities.
The message in this to parents is that if you saw a college campus twenty years ago, don't assume that means that you are familiar with the school. It may be unrecognizable today. I'm afraid that our impressions of colleges as they were "when we were in school" no longer hold water. A college search today deserves taking the time for a second look and doing considerable research; after all, the financial stakes warrant serious consideration.
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