This week is FAFSA week. An entire week devoted to the FAFSA. Today, I am debunking some FAFSA myths.
As the week progresses, I’m going to scour the my blog, the web, and social media to find you the best information, tips and advice related to the FAFSA. If you’re not sure it’s worth your time, this advice should answer that question. If you want to be informed before you complete the form, this information will most definitely help.
Myth 1: If you can’t qualify for federal aid, there’s no point in filing out the FAFSA.
Reality: There’s more to the FAFSA than federal aid. Colleges use this form to disburse merit aid and grants. Also, if your student is considering a student loan or you are considering a Parent PLUS loan, you must complete the FAFSA. In addition, many states use your FAFSA data to determine your eligibility for their aid and many scholarships ask if you have completed the FAFSA.
Myth 2: I make too much money to qualify for financial aid.
Reality: There is no income cut-off to qualify for federal student aid. Many factors—such as the size of your family and your year in school—are taken into account. Your eligibility for financial aid is based on a number of factors and not just your income.
Myth 3: I have too many assets to qualify for aid.
Reality: Most colleges won’t care if you own a house and won’t count home equity against you if you do. The majority of schools rely on the federal aid application, FAFSA, which doesn’t ask parents if they own a home. If the college requires the CSS Profile, home equity is required, but because of the equity cap, has little impact on the award decision. In addition, money in qualified retirement plans, such as a 401(k), 403(b), IRA, pension, SEP, SIMPLE, Keogh and certain annuities, is not reported as an asset on the FAFSA.
Myth 4: I didn’t qualify for financial aid last year, so filling out the FAFSA form again is just a waste of time.
Reality: It’s super important to fill out a FAFSA form every year you’re in college. Why? Because things can change. For instance, your school or state might create a new grant or scholarship, or the factors used to calculate your aid could change from one year to the next. Either way, if you don’t submit a new FAFSA form, you’re out of luck.
Myth 5: The form is too complicated and since I’m sure I won’t qualify, it’s a waste of my time.
Reality: The FAFSA is actually pretty straightforward and can be completed in one sitting; and filing out the FAFSA is never a waste of your time. Colleges and states use this information when awarding grants and scholarships. (See Myth 1)
The bottom line: there is no excuse to not complete the FAFSA. It’s free and is well worth your time. Even if you can afford to pay for the entire cost of college, you should complete the FAFSA. Colleges use this data when dispersing merit aid as well.
At a time when home-based learning is becoming increasingly common thanks to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it is wise to think about other ways of learning at home. Traditionally, we think of homeschooling as textbooks and pens and paper, but it can be so much more than that.
Some parents opt for unschooling, which allows children to follow their own interests and talents at their own speed. Other parents look at things like forest schools or online schools. There are so many ways to do it these days – there really is an option for everyone.
Here, we look at how you can use everyday life to teach your children at home while making it fun for everyone.
Some homeschoolers love to use the theatre as their inspiration and creative starting point for a homeschooling topic, and that is because it encompasses so many things – drama, art, music, language, history – the possibilities are endless.
Use the arts
Some theatres even use curriculum tools that go right along with the shows they have. Theatre as a means of teaching helps to engage in learning in so many dimensions. Music opens up a high degree of brain creativity. When coupled with the visual elements of the set and the storytelling that is made to come to life by the performers, the elements of the production are distinct from any other method of teaching.
You can also use pieces of music, inspirational pieces of art or even your favorite movie as a starting point. Sit down with your children, and make a mindmap with all the things that they could do connected to that particular piece of art. Pinterest is a great resource for this.
Go outdoors
Forest schools have exploded in popularity in recent years and that is because more educators and parents are discovering the benefits that learning outdoors has on children. At it’s most basic, you can pick up your work and take it to a spot in the garden or the beach, but why not try actually using the natural environment as inspiration? Geocaching can teach geography skills, photography can be mathematical, building dens can be maths and engineering, looking for animal tracks can be science.
Let them lead the way
This takes us back to the point we made further up about unschooling, but it is one of the best ways to really engage children and give them ownership over their learning. If they show a particular interest in something – space, dinosaurs, cars, even toys, roll with it. Look at how you can incorporate that into learning and what they can get from it. Sure, they might bit be learning how to do deep algebraic formulations, but if they have their heart set on becoming a museum curator, they might not need it.
Many parents opt to homeschool because their children are under too much pressure at school. However you decide to educate your child at home, stay relaxed – otherwise you could end up defeating the object!
Financial aid can be a confusing part of the college application process. Even if you can afford to pay for college, it’s a good idea to learn what aid is available and apply for it. You aren’t obligated to accept it, but most students qualify for some form of aid and, if it’s available, why not use it?
What is financial aid?
Financial aid is intended to make up the difference between what your family can afford to pay and what college actually costs. With college tuition rising rapidly, more than half of the students currently enrolled in college receive some sort of financial aid to help pay for college. The system is based on the premise that anyone should be able to attend college, regardless of financial circumstances. However, students and their families are expected to contribute to the extent that they are able.
There are two types of aid: need-based, and non need-based. Need-based aid includes grants and scholarships that are issued based on the family’s ability to contribute to education costs. Non-need-based aid is allocated solely based on availability, not need.
There are three main types of financial aid: grants and scholarships, loans and work study.
What is “free” money?
Not all aid is equal and the best aid is the aid you don’t have to pay back. It’s like getting a huge coupon of savings to use for your college education.
What types of education loans are available?
Not all college loans are equal.
There are two types of government-based loans: subsidized and unsubsidized. Subsidized loans have lower interest rates and are awarded based on the student’s financial need with interest deferred until after graduation. Unsubsidized loans are awarded without regard to financial need with interest payments beginning immediately and regular payments due after graduation.
What is work study?
The Federal Work-Study Program provides a method for college students to earn funds to be used toward their education. The program is based on financial need and students must be accepted into the program to qualify which is determined by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.
What is the FAFSA and do I need to file it?
The FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and you should apply if you want any chance to receive federal and state student grants, work study, loans or merit-based aid. If you don’t complete the FAFSA, you can’t apply for student loans. Colleges also use these figures when determining financial aid eligibility for grants and scholarships. Plus, many states use your FAFSA data to determine your eligibility for their aid.
The FAFSA is available on Oct. 1 of every year and you should complete it as close to that date as possible in the fall of your senior year. Aid is dispersed on a first-come, first-served basis. The sooner you apply, the more likely you will receive a portion of the financial aid pie.
What is the EFC?
The Expected Family Contribution (EFC) is how much money your family is expected to contribute to your college education for one year. Typically, the lower your EFC, the more financial aid you will receive. Factors such as family size, number of family members in college, family savings, and current earnings (information you provide on the FAFSA) are used to calculate this figure. Once your FAFSA is processed, you will receive a Student Aid Report (SAR) with your official EFC figure.
You can calculate your EFC by visiting FinAid.org.
What is an award letter and how do you use it?
As the offers of admission arrive from colleges, the financial aid award letters will follow. 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 you 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 you. Money, in this situation, is everything.
If a college wants you to attend, they will back it up with money. No money means their offer is probably based on filling a quota and expecting you will decline to attend. And you should. Who wants to attend a college that doesn’t value you as a student?
The FAFSA for the 2021 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.
Surprisingly, many families don’t even take the time to complete the FAFSA. The most common reason is they believe they won’t qualify for financial aid; but nothing could be further from the truth. Most students receive some form of financial aid. If you don’t file, you could be missing out on some of that aid.
Here are 10 reasons to file the FAFSA:
1. College is expensive
Even if you can afford to pay for your child’s education, it’s expensive. Why would you pass up an opportunity to help with some of the cost?
2. It’s FREE
That’s right. It’s completely free to complete the FAFSA. You’ll spend some of your time completing the FAFSA and you could get thousands of dollars of financial aid in return. So one could say, it’s BEYOND free–they pay you!
3. Getting help is easy
If you get stumped, help is available. You can use the online help tool, submit a question on social media, or call the help number. You can even access the Help Center where you will find answers to their most-asked questions. Many schools even host a FAFSA day where they offer help to parents and students on how to complete the free form.
4. FREE money could be waiting for you
According to a recent Reuters article, about 1.8 million lower income undergraduates who might have qualified for aid neglected to file the FAFSA and missed out on financial aid. No matter what your income level, you should file the FAFSA because there is more money out there to be awarded than just need-based aid.
5. Federal aid
The federal government provides over $80 billion dollars in grants, loans and work-study programs every year. The only way to get Pell grants, , Stafford loans, Parent PLUS loans and other federal aid is by submitting the FAFSA. Federal loans offer the best interest rates and repayment terms for student borrowers and are superior to private student loans.
6. State aid
FAFSA is the gatekeeper for state financial aid programs. Each state’s programs are different but they all require the FAFSA to distribute the funds. Check with your state’s higher education agency for deadlines and requirements. In some states the financial eligibility ceilings are much higher.
7. Institutional aid
Colleges and private scholarship sponsors offer billions of dollars in financial aid. Even if you don’t have financial need, you may be eligible for these awards. Some school and private scholarship programs are specifically designed for students who were rejected by federal financial aid. Some schools will not award merit aid unless you complete the FAFSA.
8. Scholarship applications ask if you’ve applied
In addition to the aid that a student may receive from federal and state agencies, many scholarship applications include a box to check asking whether the student has submitted a FAFSA. According to Monica Matthews of How to Win College Scholarships, “Scholarship providers want to know that the student is doing everything possible to get financial help in paying for college and submitting the FAFSA is a very important step in the process.”
9. You have two or more children in college
With two in college, your expected family contribution (what the parents can afford to pay) drops by 50%. Even if you didn’t get financial aid with the first, file the FAFSA because having a second child in college can net you some financial aid.
10. You want to claim a “piece of the pie”
Look at it this way: FAFSA is the ONLY way to be considered for federal, state and college financial aid. Even if you don’t NEED the aid you still want to get it. Who doesn’t want FREE money?
I’m not really a math geek, but I do like to look at the statistics. Statistics are more than just numbers on a page; they tell a story. College statistics can tell you a story about the college your son or daughter is applying to.
Even though applying to college is an emotional decision, it’s important for parents to help students look beyond the emotions. Students use factors like sports teams, campus appeal, Greek life and more. While these factors should help your student choose the right college, it’s also a good idea to factor in the numbers.
Two good sources for college statistics are College Navigator and College Data. These two resources will help you make an informed college choice. Numbers aren’t everything, but consider these seven important stats when you and your student are looking at schools:
1. Financial aid percentages
If your student needs financial aid to attend college, these statistics are important. How much aid a college awards to its students is reported and tabulated each year. If your student needs financial aid, a college with a low percentage of merit aid might be eliminated from your list. Use the figures to help you refine your list.
2. Acceptance rates
There are many fine colleges that give credence to hard work and commitment. College truly is for everyone. If your student is an average student, don’t despair. Look for the colleges that will recognize potential and see your child as a viable applicant. Look for colleges with high acceptance rates. Better yet, look for the colleges where your child would be a top applicant in the applicant pool. This translates into more merit aid in the financial aid package.
3. Student-to-professor ratio
If your student has trouble focusing in class, is intimidated by large crowds, and needs more personal instruction to be academically successful, a large state university might not be a good fit. There are plenty of small liberal arts colleges with great academic records and majors. When my daughter was choosing a college, our decision was highly dependent on this factor alone. Once we found colleges that had low professor-to-student ratios, we were able to look at other key factors in making the decision.
4. Freshman retention rate
As many as one in three first-year students don’t make it back for sophomore year. The reasons run the gamut from family problems and loneliness to academic struggles and a lack of money. If schools you’re considering have a low freshman retention rate, there’s a reason. Some colleges do a great job of taking care of their freshmen; some don’t.
5. Graduation rate
Did you know that graduation rates differ wildly? About 400,000 students drop out of college each year. When you research the college, look up their graduation rates. Low rates could be a red flag. Graduation rates don’t necessarily determine the quality of a degree. Yet students who start college but don’t finish are typically no better off professionally and financially than those who never even started, and in some cases, if they took on debt, might be worse off.
6. Average indebtedness
Even if students graduate, it’s no guarantee they will secure jobs; at least not one that will pay enough to cover too much student loan debt. If the average student indebtedness is high, and your student needs financial aid, this college might not make the final list.
7. Percentage of students employed after graduation
If your student graduates and can’t find a job, it’s going to be a tough road ahead. Colleges with a strong alumni network and active career centers will have a high percentage of employment after graduation. Colleges with a high percentage of unemployed graduates should be avoided by students who need to incur high student loan debt.
*Portions of this article were written for TeenLife.com
Being an involved parent is crucial to your child’s success, especially as they explore the world of possibilities in high school. Not surprisingly, many kids don’t understand this; they want to do everything on their own.
A new platform, spikeview, helps parents prompt meaningful conversations about interests and potential career tracks, in part by showing the big picture with the various explorations and steps in their journey so far. By making kids be a key stakeholder in navigating their journey through high school and into their dream college, spikeview helps with planning early and often to avoid unnecessary panic. Beyond just a well organized, secure, portfolio, teens are encouraged to build a network with others, take on leadership opportunities in interest-based online groups, and find opportunities (like internships, jobs, and high quality classes, tutors, career counselors, and summer programs) to strengthen their college application.
Here are 3 unique ways you can support your teens’ journey!
Drive Interest Aligned Discussions
Nothing is more off putting to a budding independent high-schooler then pushing all those amazing activities and experiences that YOU believe are so good for them. While you may be right, you might need to consider how those opportunities fit into the overall interests of the student. Looking at a snapshot view of their experience and interests and discussing why those are so valuable or exciting for them will establish trust and open them up to the possibility of considering other opportunities. This enables a “data-driven” conversation which tends to be more objective and palatable to a teens. We love the “My Story” visualizing tool that does the job and is a fun way to acknowledge your teens efforts.
Finding a supportive online community, and tapping new opportunities
Let’s face it, it is hard to be the parent of a teenager. Whether you have one or multiple kids, each is different and each has unique interests and hobbies. While we are always bombarded with camps, classes, online programs, it is not easy to find good quality opportunities that will interest your teen and will be worth the expense. It takes a lot of time to find the right fit opportunities and maybe requires you to ask other community parents. But, what if based on your kids’ past experiences and interests, you could see specific opportunities that helped magnify their impact, explore other avenues they may not have considered previously, or strengthen their college application? What if you could create and participate in discussions with other parents in the same situation as you, or those with older kids who have learned some of the harder lessons. What if you could get access to good quality content and opportunities that actually align to their interest. What if you could see students and parent reviews to help you decide? Think of how much time you would save, and discover something that will truly resonate. Easily create your teens profile and let the auto-discovery save you some time.
Preparation prevents panic and panic prevents progress
For this generation of teens, technology and media play a large role. Kids enjoy using media, digital content socializing through online platforms. They are not as interested in boxes full of photos , certificates or badges sitting in the garage that make up their experiences. So why not become a part of their world as a parent, and even better, use a medium that is fun, ubiquitous, and permanent. Help kids digitally organize their assets, and give them control of who gets to see what aspect of their data. Once uploaded into the secure spikeview cloud, you can decide what to share using custom views tailored to each opportunity or interaction. It can be polished and professional for applying for an internship, or casual and fun when reaching out to an online club. It can cover all your achievements, or showcase just one of them. The profile can be built over time with all types of experiences, achievements, thighs they are proud of. This can serve as a digital journey book across all phases of life and an invaluable shared asset between you and your teens. Best of all, parents can rest easy knowing that the default setting on spikeview is privacy.
With all the blood, sweat, and tears we put into them, it is almost criminal that all the planning for camps, internships, and classes, all the effort in polling other parents for the best coach or tutor, all the time invested in weekend games, and all the endless drives to and from activities – is forgotten within a few weeks, with nothing at all to show for it. What’s more, in most cases, the kids themselves don’t remember these critical building blocks of their life within a few years, losing the key formative steps, friendships, and memories that could make for an engaging, compelling life story. Rather than panicking looking at a last-minute sparse “brag sheet” to prepare for college admissions essays, these small nuggets instill confidence and make all the difference between getting into your dream college and opening a thin envelope.
You’re likely to feel a little anxious about the idea of your teen going off to college. Your years of being able to protect and coddle your child are about to end, and you know how cruel the world can be.
One fear that you might have about your teen going off to college is that of drug and alcohol abuse. Many teens face problems such as peer pressure and the need to fit in with the “everybody’s doing it” crowd.
Here are some tips for talking to your teen about the dangers of succumbing to peer pressure and risky behavior in college.
Avoid Sounding Too Autocratic
The tone of your conversation is the most critical factor in reaching your college-bound teen about an essential topic like alcohol and drug abuse.
Young persons tend to get defensive if they feel as though a parental figure is “laying down the law” or restricting their lives. You should approach your child as if you are a friend and not so much a parent.
The best way to approach this subject is to wait until you can have a calm discussion about the matter. You might want to discuss it after dinner or while you’re driving somewhere with your teen.
Reassure Your Teen of Your Love and Trust
Your teen needs to know that you respect their independence and that you trust their judgment. At the same time, you must help them understand that unfamiliar situations are going to arise. They’ll have to deal with people who don’t have the best intentions.
Let your teen know that he or she will come across people from a variety of family backgrounds and cultures. Those backgrounds and cultures might clash with the ones that you established as you were raising your teen.
Tell your child that it’s okay to stand his or her ground and not go along with suggested behavioral changes just because it may seem trendy to others.
Draw From Your Experiences
Storytelling is an effective way to reach your teen about alcohol and drug recovery. It will help you to connect with your teen emotionally, and it will display your empathetic nature.
If you can think of a time that you overcame peer pressure, you should tell your teen a story about it. Tell your child who presented the peer pressure and what you did to overcome it.
Alternatively, you can share an experience that you had experimenting with drugs or alcohol. Be honest if you ever had to seek alcohol and drug recovery.
Use Scientific or News-Based Quotes
Sometimes, young people don’t believe anything until they can see hard evidence that it’s not good for them. In that case, you might want to gather news reports and statistics that pertain to drug and alcohol recovery.
Find articles and statistics about the health hazards of drugs and alcohol. Collect news stories about college students who have suffered the negative effects of drugs or alcohol.
Many students have failed out of college, gotten into accidents, and lost their lives because of substance abuse. Your teen needs to know the reality of such incidents. Don’t sugarcoat the truth at all.
Boost Your Teen’s Self-Esteem
It’s important to point out your teen’s good qualities when you’re discussing peer pressure.
Many teens fall victim to peer pressure because they need to feel as though they belong to a particular group. They desire acceptance, and that desire for acceptance sometimes gets them into trouble.
Spend some time giving your teen positive affirmations that will help encourage self-esteem. Your teen will be less likely to fall into the trap of peer pressure if he or she is aware of all the positive qualities that make that person unique.
A person who has a strong sense of value won’t feel the need to fit in with anyone else.
Establish Positive Communication Lines
Finally, you must establish healthy communication with your college-bound teen. Your teen should feel confident that you will be available for questions or concerns or to tell you about each day away at college.
Let your teen know that you are available to talk at any time of the day or night. You might even want to set up a regular day and time that you can voice or video chat with your teens to let them hear your voice or see your face. Your teen might find a lot of strength in knowing that you’re present even though there’s a distance between you.
The tips mentioned above should help you communicate your concerns to your teen without causing him or her to get offensive. Hopefully, your son or daughter will go on to have a fruitful experience in college and live to his or her full potential.
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Author Bio: Patrick Bailey is a professional writer mainly in the fields of mental health, addiction, and living in recovery. He attempts to stay on top of the latest news in the addiction and the mental health world and enjoy writing about these topics to break the stigma associated with them.
Due to the pandemic, the college admissions system has been forced to adapt.
Last year’s group of graduating high school seniors and soon-to-be college freshman, could not visit colleges due to the nationwide response of sheltering at home to flatten the curve.
In addition, students dealt with problems regarding standardized testing online causing many colleges to eliminate or pause standardized testing requirements. Students will have limited access to traditional extracurricular and volunteer opportunities. In addition, sports programs have been shortened or eliminated at many high schools.
Parents and students are wondering how all these changes will affect the college admissions environment and will it change what colleges expect from this year’s crop of future students.
To answer these questions, The Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Making Caring Common project coordinated with admissions leaders to detail what exactly should be considered in the application process during the school year ahead. After interviewing 315 college admissions professionals, they published a joint statement:
“As admission and enrollment leaders, we recognize that we and the institutions we represent send signals that can shape students’ priorities and experiences throughout high school. This collective statement seeks to clarify what we value in applicants during this time of COVID-19. We are keenly aware that students across the country and the world are experiencing many uncertainties and challenges. We primarily wish to underscore our commitment to equity and to encourage in students self-care, balance, meaningful learning, and care for others.”
These admissions leaders emphasized that students should communicate if and how the coronavirus pandemic has negatively impacted them, including if they have not had access to the internet or a quiet place to study or if they have had increased family responsibilities such as taking care of sick relatives, supervising younger siblings or working to provide family income.
To sum it up, they will value five aspects in the upcoming admissions year: self-care; academic work; service and contributions to others; family contributions; and extracurricular and summer activities.
Following are the specific explanations provided for parents and students from the college admissions professionals outlined in their statement:
Self-care.
Self-care is of high importance, especially in times of crisis. We recognize that many students, economically struggling and facing losses and hardships of countless kinds, are simply seeking to get by. We also recognize that this time is stressful and demanding for a wide range of students for many different reasons. We encourage all students to be gentle with themselves during this time.
Academic work.
Your academic engagement and work during this time matters to us, but given the circumstances of many families, we recognize that you may face obstacles to academic work. We will assess your academic achievements in the context of these obstacles. In addition, we will assess your academic achievements mainly based on your academic performance before and after this pandemic. No student will be disadvantaged because of a change in commitments or a change in plans because of this outbreak, their school’s decisions about transcripts, the absence of AP or IB tests, their lack of access to standardized tests (although many of the colleges represented here don’t require these tests), or their inability to visit campus. We will also view students in the context of the curriculum, academic resources, and supports available to them.
Service and contributions to others.
We value contributions to one’s communities for those who are in a position to provide these contributions. We recognize that while many students are not in this position because of stresses and demands, other students are looking for opportunities to be engaged and make a difference. This pandemic has created a huge array of needs, whether for tutoring, contact tracing, support for senior citizens, or assistance with food delivery. We view responding to these needs as one valuable way that students can spend their time during this pandemic.
We also value forms of contribution that are unrelated to this pandemic, such as working to register voters, protect the environment, combat racial injustice and inequities or stop online harassment among peers. Our interest is not in whether students created a new project or demonstrated leadership during this period. We, emphatically, do not seek to create a competitive public service “Olympics” in response to this pandemic. What matters to us is whether students’ contribution or service is authentic and meaningful to them and to others, whether that contribution is writing regular notes to frontline workers or checking in with neighbors who are isolated.
We will assess these contributions and service in the context of the obstacles students are facing. We also care about what students have learned from their contributions to others about themselves, their communities, and/or their country (Please see Turning the Tide for additional information about the kinds of contributions and service we value). No student will be disadvantaged during this time who is not in a position to provide these contributions. We will review these students for admissions in terms of other aspects of their applications.
Family contributions.
Far too often there is a misperception that high-profile, brief forms of service tend to “count” in admissions while family contributions—which are often deeper and more time-consuming and demanding—do not. Many students may be supervising younger siblings, for example, or caring for sick relatives or working to provide family income, and we recognize that these responsibilities may have increased during these times. We view substantial family contributions as very important, and we encourage students to report them in their applications. It will only positively impact the review of their application during this time.
Extracurricular and summer activities.
No student will be disadvantaged for not engaging in extracurricular activities. We also understand that many plans for summer have been impacted by this pandemic, and students will not be disadvantaged for lost possibilities for involvement. Potential internship opportunities, summer jobs, camp experiences, classes, and other types of meaningful engagement have been cancelled or altered. We have never had specific expectations for any one type of extracurricular activity or summer experience and realize that each student’s circumstances allow for different opportunities. We have always considered work or family responsibilities as valuable ways of spending one’s time, and this is especially true at this time.
Making the most of a college degree requires a knowledge of the career path your student will be pursuing. This post is one of many I have provided to help parents and students make an informed college major choice.
Utility engineers are highly specialized professionals who usually work with public utilities that provide gas, water, power or sewer services to communities. Most utility engineers have a background in mechanical or civil engineering.
Utility engineering consultants work on how to improve the delivery of utility services to homes and businesses. They often are employed in public works activities that offer new utility services to communities. Utility engineers also work to improve current services with new technology and best practices.
Common utility engineer tasks include:
Devise plans, designs, and operations for utility systems, including gas, water, and sewage systems.
Identify and resolve any failures of utility systems and oversee preventative maintenance.
Direct utility project groups and offer guidance on how to install or improve utility systems
Gather data on utility processes, monitor utility system effectiveness and material usage.
Manage construction projects involving utilities, devise utility project scope, specifications, and budgets.
During times when there are utility outages, utility engineers are engaged in directing and managing work crews to restore services as quickly as possible.
Utility engineers also are involved in boosting service quality by reducing service interruptions. This is done by enhancing infrastructure and working to reduce any existing problems. For these types of projects, the utility engineer works in planning and execution.
Example of a Utility Engineer Project
For example, a utility engineer may determine that a plot of land with dozens of old trees is a high risk to power lines. He or she will design a project to run electric cabling underground or to reinforce current aerial lines and electric poles. He or she would collaborate with work crews to ensure these utility projects are properly carried out and thoroughly inspected for effectiveness and safety.
As a utility engineer, you may work on many different types of projects for different entities. Some may work for a city that is designing a new energy distribution grid. These utility engineers may act as consultants to provide guidance on the power requirements of a growing urban area. Others might work at smaller utilities that keep power going in all buildings, and also work in installing backup electrical generators for any power outages.
Some utility engineers also work at manufacturing plants and job sites outdoors overseeing the construction of electrical turbines and other types of equipment that produce power.
Utility engineers work on infrastructure projects that are vital to the continuing growth and viability of our society, and therefore are engaged in work of great importance.
Over a lifetime there’s a huge financial payoff for going to college, but how can students avoid taking out outsized student loans for their education in the short term? The key is to make your ‘out-of-pocket’ expenses as low as possible. You can do this by putting strong merit aid colleges on your list. Applying to colleges that are likely to give you merit aid is one of the best ways to make ‘financial fit’ choices and save thousands of dollars a year.
The largest pool of non-loan money available directly from colleges is merit aid scholarships. Colleges award over $8 billion dollars in merit scholarships annually. Understanding how colleges award these scholarships requires a thoughtful strategy that can result in significant savings. Merit aid awards are mostly given to applicants who show academic excellence and are in the top 25% of a college’s most recently admitted freshman class. Since many colleges offer merit scholarships, you don’t need to have straight A’s or a 1600 SAT score to be awarded merit aid. Each school has its own top quartile stats.
Merit aid grants are unlike other forms of aid in several ways. Federal government grants like Pell are primarily targeted at low-income families and are limited in size. Private scholarships are generally not renewable and require a separate application. And loans, of course, have to be repaid with interest. Merit aid, on the other hand, is not income dependent, doesn’t require a separate application, doesn’t have to be paid back and it’s renewable.
Finding merit aid can be tricky and time-consuming. Using a college’s Common Data information will provide some information. You can find lists of colleges that give merit aid awards online, but those lists won’t show you if a particular college is likely to give you aid based on your profile. A new tool called MeritMore uses your stats to match you with colleges most likely to give you aid and shows you how generous those colleges have been to students with similar profiles. You can check to see if your top schools are likely to offer you merit aid and then compare aid offers against each other. MeritMore also finds colleges generous with merit aid that match your criteria, but may not have been on your radar. This is a great strategy for finding financial fit gems.
The best way for families who don’t qualify for need-based aid to avoid paying sticker price is through merit aid. Awards can be in the thousands and tens of thousands of dollars per year. These scholarships help make college more financially accessible and help families avoid getting caught in the student loan trap.
