Category Archives: work study

admissions, financial aid, financial planning, parenting, work study

Different Types of Financial Aid

types of financial aid

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).

Continue reading Different Types of Financial Aid →
college visits, orientation, work study

Dorm tips for new college freshmen

1 Comment

 

Female College StudentMoving into the dorm as a college student is exciting— so exciting that germs and bacteria are the last worry on a freshman’s mind. The come-and-go sense of independence, co-ed hallways, late-night weekend hangouts— by sharing such close communal spaces though from the dorm room to the bathroom, immunity from germs and sickness is impossible.

Teach your kid these dorm tips to keep your future college student happy and healthy.

Communicate About Cleanliness

Mix laziness, zero communication, assumptions and passive aggressiveness and you have an ongoing unclean room shared between two people. Encourage your kid to be upfront and communicate with the new roommate by discussing who cleans what and when. Open the doors for discussion and explain that holding in irritations will only worsen the living situation and energy exchanged. Also, your own college student may be the dirty culprit himself. Remind him that a those nasty food plates will bring in bugs and a dirty room will make him sick. Gross!

Stock Up on Sanitizing Wipes

Regularly wiping down the doorknob, microwave oven, computer keyboard and mouse, and other areas that are highly touched eliminates germs and bacteria from growing. Shop for sanitizing wipes in bulk and your college student can just easily take an antibacterial wipe to anything for a quick clean. Whether you prefer Clorox or Lysol, these wipes are an easy cleaning solution for a college student who struggles with maintaining a spotless space.

Use Hand Sanitizer

Public surfaces like the dormitory bathroom door handles and classroom stairway railings are hotspots for germs. Sanitizing these surfaces before using them is a faux pas, okay — and who has time for that anyway? Do the next best thing. Tell your kid to keep a small bottle of liquid hand sanitizer with her. She can discreetly spritz hands after touching something in a public area, especially during cold and flu season.

Keep Multiple Sets of Sheets

Buy several sets of sheets so it’s always easy to put fresh and clean ones on dorm bedroom mattresses. The desire to be clean is likely to be trumped by the desire to not do laundry, or at least frequently. By having plenty of spare sheets, trips to the laundromat are kept to a minimum and the bed stays clean for healthy nights of sleep.

Take Vitamins

College kids live on pizza and chips? Unfortunately, dining hall food choices, dorm room snacks and alcohol aren’t the most nutritious. Make sure your college student keeps his immune system strong by taking a multivitamin daily. Although vitamins can generally be expensive, there are less costly options. Try Vitacost’s Synergy Once Daily Multi-Vitamin for a supplement that is high-quality, reasonably priced and easy to take between classes.

Work It Out

The value of exercise isn’t groundbreaking news, yet emphasize to your kid how staying active improves the immune system. Walking for 30 minutes a day can prevent colds, for instance. Nobody wants to wake up with a sore throat and sit in the germ-infested waiting room at the on-campus clinic. Between cramming for exams and hanging out with friends, the gym can be a place of neglect. During that weekly phone call with your son or daughter, remind them that an active body is a healthy body!

Let’s face it though–rarely do students listen to us or take the time to follow these healthy habits. I know my kids didn’t, in spite of my constant insistence. The best we can hope for is that they grasp onto just a few of these tips. And it’s our right to “remind” them every chance we get!

college guidance, college planning, parenting, work study

Should you encourage your child to have a job in college?

The parenting community seems to be strongly divided on the issue of whether or not kids should work during their time in college. In many cases, students have no choice but to take on part-time or full-time work as a way to make ends meet, even if that means they have to cut back on their studies in the process. The first priority is a roof overhead and food on the table, after all. Attending college is a privilege that some students take for granted, but others must work a lot harder during their college years. For students that don’t necessarily have to work, the question becomes whether or not they should, and as a parent you likely have some thoughts on the issue. There are pros and cons to both positions.

Unknown

Following are a few pros and cons you might want to consider before you urge your kids to take on a job in college and add the additional burden of employment during their time in school.

There are many reasons why parents might prefer that their children avoid working while they’re in college. For one thing, the main point of attending college is to earn a degree (hopefully increasing job prospects), and it requires students to focus on their studies. Carrying a full course load is not only a time-consuming undertaking, what with class time and studying, but it can also take a lot of energy and concentration. A job can be disruptive on all fronts. So if students are able to cover their expenses with funds provided by scholarships, student loans, and of course, the help of their parents, there’s no reason why they should be distracted by the demands and stress of a job. In truth, attending college is like having a full-time job to begin with, and while many young adults enjoy the stamina required to take on additional work, it doesn’t make sense to tax them needlessly. Or does it?

If it’s purely a matter of money and there’s no other option, then students may have no choice but to work in order to support themselves and pay their way through college. But why would parents that can afford to help their kids financially encourage them to take on a job anyway? There are a couple of compelling reasons for parents to take this position, as well. For one thing, having a job builds confidence and character. When kids contribute financially to their own education, they are likely to place a higher value on it, thus making their performance in school more important (since they have more invested).

In addition, working a dead end, part-time job will no doubt help them to realize what their future job prospects look like if they fail to finish their degree, providing ample motivation to succeed. Of course, they might also nab an entry-level position in their field of interest, helping to build a resume and get a leg up on their peers when it comes to getting hired after graduation.

Whether your kids angle for a medical degree from Johns Hopkins or NEU’s online MST degree, you may not know if you should encourage them to take on a job during their time in school. Focusing on studies without the added stress of a job is definitely a consideration. However, encouraging your student to contribute to the cost of their education certainly builds character and communicates that hard work and perseverance pay off in the end.

The bottom line–only you know your student and can help them decide whether or not to work during college.