It’s exhausting searching and scouring the internet for the right information when it comes to helping your student prepare for college. But what if you could use ONLY ONE RESOURCE and find everything you ever wanted to know about college prep? Wouldn’t that be amazing?
Here it is. I’ve done the research, examined the links and their resources, and compiled a list of 100+ college prep resources for you. (If you know of others, please leave them in the comments and I will add them to the list!)
I’ll admit (willingly) that I like to offer my unsolicited advice to my children, often in the form of southern truisms (I grew up in the south and was raised by a family of southerners). Even though they are grown, I feel the need to continue to parent. As they did when they were younger, they smile, listen, and then do things their own way. It’s a type of dance parents and kids do with one another.
The hardest part of the college admissions process for a parent is finding a balance in your parenting. You want to encourage them, guide them and help them make the right choices. But when you push too hard, nag and set guidelines that interfere with their independence and individual choices you create a stressful and frustrating college preparation experience. This is a monumental step in your child’s life and you don’t want to taint it with fighting, frustration and family discourse.
Following are 5 tips for parents of college-bound teens (based around good old southern truisms) to keep peace in the home and reduce the stress related to the college admissions process:
Those two little words — “financial aid” — can be music to a parent’s ears. I know they were to me!
What I didn’t know as I began the college application process with my daughter was that there are a number of different types of aid available. Not only that, but the awards colleges offer when they offer admission can vary tremendously.
I was surprised to find that many private colleges can be generous with merit aid because they have institutional funds to distribute as well as federal dollars, while public universities with tight budgets may offer less aid. This can result in a private college with a higher “sticker price” costing less to attend than a public university.
Back to the example of my daughter, who applied to a mix of public and private universities. We knew we would need help financing her education, so when she applied to college she also applied for financial aid and we completed two online forms: the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE (administered by the College Board and required by many private schools and some flagship state universities).
For college-bound students, scholarships can fill in the gap between what you can afford and the cost of the school. Most students believe college scholarships are a pipe dream if they aren’t athletes or 4.0 students. But nothing could be further from the truth. There are thousands of scholarships available for the taking. You just need to find them.
There are six key places to look. But remember: Finding them is half the battle. You have to put in the effort to apply and be vigilant in paying attention to requirements and deadlines.
The FAFSA for the 2022-23 school year will be available on October 1. The earlier you file, the better your chances of getting some of the money colleges allocate for financial aid. In order to help parents understand the FAFSA and answer some of your questions, this week is FAFSA week.
According to a new SallieMae study, 70% of families reported submitting the FAFSA for AY 2021–22. This figure represents the first time in four years that FAFSA submission rates did not decline-last year it was 68%. Low- and middle-income families submitted the FAFSA® at a higher rate than their higher-income counterparts.
Many families believe their income is too high to submit the FAFSA. Most families who didn’t file the FAFSA® said it was because they believed their income was too high (36%). While families earning more than $150,000 annually were most likely to select this reason (74%), 26% of families making less than $150,000 also believed their income is too high to qualify for aid.
Here are the other reasons for not submitting the FAFSA:
Completing the FAFSA® form is the first step to obtaining federal student aid to pay for your college or career school. Follow these eight simple steps for FAFSA filing to set your student up for success and submit the form on time.
For many parents, understanding the FAFSA can be complicated. It’s not meant to be, but as with all government forms, it can be daunting.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) form is the student’s responsibility, but when a student is considered a dependent student for FAFSA purposes, parents have a large role in the application process. Educate yourself about the process and opportunities so you can provide the guidance your child needs to do their part.
This year’s FAFSA changes are mainly cosmetic. The online FAFSA form is receiving a visual update that gives it a similar look and feel that puts it more in line with other tools featured on StudentAid.gov. A new simplified form being released in October of 2022 also has just 36 questions to answer, down from the 108 of previous years.
Noticeable changes you may see if you fill out the FAFSA later this year include:
STEM careers have become a national priority and students who aspire to careers in science, technology, engineering, and math will be happy to know that STEM scholarships abound.
Often, when you apply for scholarships in a specific area of interest, the competition is much less than if you apply for national scholarships with thousands of applicants. The fact there are fewer applicants improves your odds of being offered the scholarship.
STEM scholarships may be plentiful but how do you find them?
I will never forget the moment we received our Student Aid Report and I saw the EFC (Expected Family Contribution) on the right-hand corner. I was in shock as most parents are. How could the powers that be believe we could afford to pay that amount for college? It was a mystery to me how they came up with that number, as it is to most of you.
The EFC determines how much financial aid the colleges will award to your student. You can’t receive any federal or institutional aid without getting an EFC when you complete the FAFSA. We are stuck with it and will probably never truly understand how they use to determine how much money your family can afford to pay.
If you are going to need financial aid for college (and who doesn’t?), you will need to understand the EFC.
