Our schools answer to lack of Naviance. Last spring they handed out a list of all IB seniors with first initial and last name last year to all the IB juniors, listing schools where the student was accepted.
No rejection info. Nothing else.
I thought it very weird and intrusive. The kid was very easily able to match initials to people she knew.
@jeepgirl, it’s not hard to fill out FAFSA. It will be nice because 2015 taxes are already completed so you can use “link to IRS” to import your tax return info right into the FAFSA.
Just make sure you fill out the correct one. 2017/18 version is not going to be available until Oct 1.
@RightCoaster from our school the average on naviance for Northeastern is a GPA of 91.5 and an ACT of 30. Our district is one of the top in the country and has sent many students there in the last 6 years. Their were many above the average and almost as many below. It looked like quite a few denied under the average as well. Good luck!
Re: Naviance data…… at our school we have about 350-400 kids graduate each year and they go all over the place. But the # of kids that apply and get into the smaller LAC schools is small so the data gets “blocked”. It’s kind of annoying, but I understand why they do it. There should be some sort of work around for that though,IMO.
I have found Naviance helpful, and it is fun to look at. But really, the Common Data set info is just as good and tells you where your kid needs to be in terms of scores/stats to have a chance of getting in.
@VickiSoCal that’s a really weird Naviance work around that your school used. I’m sure you could protest " “Students Privacy Matters” and get on the news, lol.
QOTD: I’ll only file if required for merit scholarships. So far, I don’t believe any of the ones D applied for requires it. If the school she will attend tells me to, I will. Otherwise, I won’t. I’m annoyed by all the schools telling families to apply just because, even when the family doesn’t qualify for grants and doesn’t want the loans.
The FAFSA is simple. Surprised to learn on CC that people are paying financial aid advisors to fill it out for them.
@jeepgirl – I just checked our Naviance for Northeastern - we have large suburban NY high school - ave is 92 and ACT of 31.
@itsgettingreal17 That is what our plan is as well. Just trying to be prepared.
Does anyone know if you don’t fill out the FAFSA for one child, does it matter if you need to fill it out a few years later for another child? For D17 according to UA we do not need to fill it out. For D19 if a school requires it, do you think it will matter that we did not do it for D17?
The most important thing about the Fafsa is remembering your username/passwords… and just in case There are a bunch of challenge questions so you might want to write your answers down. I tend to forget those sort of things…
@Agentninetynine, try looking at the school stats instead of the graph (if your school usues this choice) for the blocked schools. On our Naviance it is next to the graph tab. It isn’t as visual as the graph, but it give you the statistics for the acceptances, defferals, denials, GPAs, test scores, etc. Our HS is small and, because of that, may graphs are blocked for “privacy”.
One question I have wondered is whether not filling out fafsa as an incoming freshman (I am fairly certain we’ll be full pay) would preclude an evaluation for aid if a major life circumstance change occurred vastly altering the household financial picture.
Well it will definitely be a learning experience. Prior to this year all 1200 kids were divided by last name between 6 counselors. The CC position was added to this year to relieve the other counselors of some of the college app and planning stuff. Hopefully the 6 that have been there will be help her transition into the new role.
We will see…
@vandyeyes It actually does for some schools. (I had no idea until I read about it on a homeschooling loop. The student was not able to qualify for school aid bc they had not filled out FA forms in the past.) I would definitely make contact with the FA dept at schools being considered and ask.
But, it is not the case at all schools.
QOTD: We filled out the FAFSA for D14 when she was a HS senior and it wasn’t too bad. However, no surprise, she only qualified for unsubsidized student loans and we qualified for Parent PLUS loans (as I think most people do). We didn’t want any of these, and declining the loans but accepting merit aid was hard to figure out on her school portal (at least for me). It really only gave “accept” or “decline” for the entire package and we ended up calling for assistance. You should also be able to accept only part of the federal loans in your fin aid package, but I didn’t see a way to do that. We haven’t filled it out for her since and she only needs to log on to the school portal every fall and accept her merit scholarships.
We will fill it out for S this fall since it should be quick and painless and I haven’t investigated whether it matters for merit aid for any of S’s schools, but I don’t foresee anything different happening.
I haven’t been able to find out if you can fill it out for one student and not the other (as D will be a senior in college next fall) or if it matters whether your first FAFSA is filed as a freshman or an upperclassman, if as @vandyeyes suggests, circumstances change. It will be interesting to see how this works out.
Just accepting the loans in the portal should not mean you are applying for them, at least as a freshman.
As far as I know entrance counseling and master promissary note need to be completed by student first.
But my D’s school does let you accept, decline and change amounts of any loans.
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That’s a great suggestion re: sitting in classes. I will definitely look into that as an option on future visits. Thanks!
Naviance back up. Seven years of data, so distorted.
Northeastern admit stats:
GPA----3.6, SAT—1984, ACT—30
Last few years, one or two attend, 13 of 37 admitted, then going back two years—10 of 41, 13 of 32.
43% early admit rate & 26% RD. Early admits had slightly higher stats.
Avg GPA lowish b/c Val only has a 4.35 most years, so typically only 20 or so students above 4.0 out of a class of 330-ish.
@stlarenas we have a similar set up. 4 GC’s that divide up the entire school by last name (so 300 or so each) and then one college and career readiness counselor.
I have found the CC to be amazingly responsive when I ask questions. She is not nearly as proactive as I’d like (I would ask a lot less questions if the info was asent out) but I have to remind myself that 74% of the kids are going in state and maybe half of those to CC. And our in state options do not require LOR’s or much in the way of additional essays.
On the other hand our GC is brand new, has had zero interaction with my kids and yet is the one who will write the counselor letter. That makes me nervous!
@Agentninetynine I agree to try looking at the school stats. It paints a more detailed picture. Sometimes. As @RightCoaster mentions for theirs, we see a lot more numbers showing as applied then we do dots on the scattergram or data in the school stats. That is because ultimately it is self reporting beyond the “school I am attending”
Drives me nuts.
I have that same complaint. One way around this would be to have schools group together for data, say in my case data by district. Still show just for our school, but also an option to see a larger set of data. I’m told by others that the schools/districts have the option of how this is setup. I guess our school just doesn’t offer it.
I’m getting a message today that Naviance seems to be down for maintenance. I’m wondering if that is everywhere or just for my school/district.
@curiositycat333 – our Naviance was down a few hours ago but is now back up. Perhaps they are moving across the country…
Since you all checking Northeastern data on Naviance, I did same. Last 5 years only one student went to that (from our school in CA). 8 applied, 6 admitted, 0 accepted.
We are not filling FAFSA unless mandated for merit. Our counselors stressed that no one should be paying someone to fill FAFSA.