Yes, the term “financial aid” means both merit aid and need-based aid. Financial aid is money or credits, from the school or an outside entity, that is designated to pay for higher education expenses (including student living expenses). Merit aid is certainly included in this definition.
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Ugh. Yes, it’s a good thing to keep in mind. X26’s current favorite school in a different state is (we did the calcs including airport wait times etc) roughly the same time if not even slightly less door to door as a college or two in socal might be, but of course you are much more in control of the logistics when you’re driving. (To the extent that navigating around LA traffic en route can be considered “in control”, but I digress). At the moment there are a number of direct flights per day from our closest airport to there, but if the airline moves those flights to another airport in the bay it will add more time and costs on.
Be careful here. At many schools, “scholarships” can be part of the need-based aid program. It’s best to differentiate between merit aid and need-based aid by using those terms, which are common to all U.S. higher education institutions. “Scholarships,” “grants” and some other descriptions of aid being provided are used in different ways by different schools, which can lead to confusion.
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Fair point.
Let me clarify…
Some colleges only give out need-based aid and do not award any non-need-based grant or scholarship or tuition-discount money (aka free $$ at that specific school, based on your GPA and/or SAT/ACT test scores).
Therefore, if you know that your family does not qualify for need-based financial aid AND you have a specific $$ amount per year that your family can afford to pay, keep that in mind if you get your heart set on a Lottery School.
…because then if/when you get into the Lottery School, in order to attend, you might be looking at needing you and your parents to take on an awful lot of college loan debt.
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Is there a thread or other listing somewhere of all the auto admit schools and their requirements? This could be quite useful. I sometimes look at a college website and it seems like it is auto admit, but there is nothing actually saying “admission guaranteed if you meet these criteria” (ASU is an example here). Others will be more clear about it.
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Thank you!
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I was thinking more along the lines of major not overall admission.
I usually use Pitt and Penn State as an example. Pitt’s business school is direct admit. Once you’re in, you’re in. No risk. PSU business admits after sophomore year as long as you meet the prerequisites and their GPA requirements. Some risk.
UVA and UNC business are holistic admit after sophomore year. Even with a great GPA there’s no guarantee of admission. More risky.
Most competitive majors are not guaranteed at a lot of schools. Nursing is another great example. Everything being fairly equal I would take direct admit almost always.
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Ok, got it. I was looking at it from the perspective of safeties on the college list, but definitely in the field X26 is interested in (for now), being architecture, there are differences between schools whether or not there is a second hurdle to continue in the major or not.
Here are my opinions:
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If you have any parent restrictions on colleges, please let your student know these up front. This could be almost anything…distance from home, costs, religious, size, anything. Just discuss this and let them know.
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We thought it was important to agree where our kids were going to apply before the applications were sent. That way, once acceptances came in, the student was able to make a decision amongst the acceptances. This included costs.
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Be realistic, and also help your student be realistic. Yes, it’s fine to apply to some reachy schools (both of our kids did. One was accepted and the other was not. The accepted one chose to enroll elsewhere). Also, discuss how they will feel if they have multiple rejections.
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This is important. The very first college your kids should choose is one they like and would be happy to attend, that is affordable, and where they have a very strong likelihood of acceptance. Choose two of those, in my opinion. That way if other colleges don’t work out, your student will have a choice. It’s nice to have choices.
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Be realistic about what your family can actually pay each month/year for college costs.
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This is so important! You need to know this in order to build a list of schools that are or could be affordable. Schools like to say that they are affordable … and maybe they technically are, but if a school isn’t affordable for you, it’s not affordable. If the amount that the parents are expected to pay is more than the parents are able (or willing) to pay, it’s not affordable.
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I would add that time management is crucial in the admissions process, so we had separate “process” spreadsheets that listed application requirements and deadlines:
| Amherst | Brown | Columbia | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parchment % | 46% | 32% | 28% | ||
| Early Action | |||||
| Early Action Single School | |||||
| Early Decision | 15-Nov | 1-Nov | 1-Nov | ||
| Standard Admissions | 1-Jan | 1-Jan | 1-Jan | ||
| Common App | Y | Y | Y | ||
| School Supplement | Y | Y | Y | ||
| SAT | Y(NSC) | Y (SC) + 2SM | Y(SC) | ||
| Subject Matter SAT | Optional | 2 w/SAT | Optional | ||
| ACT | Y (NSC) | Y (SS) no SM | Y (SC) | ||
| AP | |||||
| Counselor Recommendation | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Teacher Recommendations | 2 | 2 | 2 | ||
| Peer Recommend | |||||
| Mid Year Transcript | Y | Y | Y | ||
| Interview | No | Y | Y | ||
| Financial Aid | |||||
| EA/ED | |||||
| Standard |
A To Do list with date references:
| Weeks Ending | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To Do’s | 6-Nov | 13-Nov | 27-Nov | 4-Dec | 11-Dec | |
| Prepare US History ST | Pract Test 11/12 | PT 11/19 | PT1/1; Test 12/3 | |||
| Prepare Chemistry ST | ||||||
| Status | ||||||
| Amherst | 2 essay (175/300) | |||||
| Brown | 4 essays (150/150/100/100) | |||||
| Columbia | 3 essays (150/300/300) |
And finally an essay matrix to identify if there were common themes with target dates:
| Done Date | Why __? | Why Major? | Your Community | College Community | Inspirational Class | Extra Curricular | Something you love | Challenge/Adversity | Roommates | Diversity | Unique to School | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Amherst | 27-Nov | 2 essay (175/300) | 175 (11/27) | 300: Either this or Diversity | 350: Either this or Adversity (11/27) | ||||||||
| Brown | 13-Nov | 4 essays (150/150/100/100) | 150 (11/13) | 150 (11/13) | 100 (11/13) | 150 (11/13) | 100: Places you have lived (11/13) | ||||||
| Columbia | 27-Nov | 3 essays (150/300/300) | 300 (11/27) | 300 (11/27) | 150 (11/27) |
It is critical to identify and break down tasks into manageable chunks.
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2 posts were split to a new thread: Helping child deal with unexpected results
To add the fine points about understanding your college budget- Schedule your financial review NOW (even if your kid is only a junior or a sophomore). It is not too early.
You’ll need all your bills. Mortgage, car payment, property taxes, credit cards and recurring expenses (those pesky monthly subscriptions to channels you don’t watch). You’ll need all your assets-- what’s in checking, savings, IRA, 401K,529, the IRA you inherited from your Mom which you are depleting annually with your required RMD.
Then comes the carnage. Most people that I have suggested this to get back to me with “our budget for college is much smaller than we thought it was going to be”.
Excellent. You have time. It isn’t August when the first semester’s bill comes due when you realize you’ve bit off more than you can chew. If you and your spouse are both employed it is very easy to assume “we don’t have college savings but we can definitely pay 2K a month for college” until you look at your actual financial situation and realize “we won’t have enough money for food if we pay 2K a month for college”.
OK. Income side of the ledger- moonlighting? Stop volunteering as a Ref for your local kids sports league and drive two towns over and get paid for the same thing? Tutoring? If your job pays overtime- start taking overtime after years of refusing? Take a look at your benefits paperwork/dashboard (yeah, I know, you forgot your password because you signed up for your current healthcare plan so long ago and never looked at it again). Are you overpaying? Many people are. Dental- it’s profitable for the insurance company because it covers so little for the employee. Vision- get your glasses at Costco. Think of all the ways you can boost your paycheck.
Expenses side of the ledger- take a deep breath. I recommend figuring out things to cut which the entire family can sign on to, rather than punishing one person. So Sally’s clarinet lessons- she’s been begging to quit for two years- so that goes. The other things get tougher.
But I’m being very serious- if you cannot cut your expenses now, before your kid enrolls, you have to believe me that you won’t be able to cut them down the road. Your muffler will still fall off. Your compressor on the freezer will still malfunction. All the reasons why you haven’t been able to sock away money for your kids college fund will still be there. And the temptation to do something dumb- a Parent Plus loan you can’t afford, a HELOC on a house which isn’t appreciating, etc- will be very intense if the choice is “find cash quickly” vs. “Tell Timmy he can’t got to college this year because we got his first semester bill and we have no idea where the money is coming from”.
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All of these are good points.
One thing in regards to distance: If your kid likes a school that is a plane flight away or eight hours away by car, would that affect HOW OFTEN they will come home? Are you, the parent (or the kid in some cases) willing to pay for frequent plane tickets? Even if the tickets aren’t too bad price wise, they can still add up if your college kid flies home frequently. That’s something to figure out, will you pay for plane tickets home at the start and end of the year, Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break only? Or will you also pay for plane tickets home for long weekends and other weekends as well? That’s one thing to discuss with kids, going across the country may mean fewer trips home.
Also, try to visit while school is in session if you can. That way you can see what campus is like on a normal day.
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Travel expense to and from said school is important. Sometimes students have the need to return home for familiar surroundings as they negotiate the transition to living elsewhere. As they settle, the travel can become less frequent.
Some students head to college easily. Others don’t. (And that doesn’t include students that have challenges foisted upon them by adverse circumstances/experiences at school.)
Being within affordable commuting distance can become very important if your student experiences a health crisis.
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