There are some great apps out there that can help you through the college application process... here are the 7 top rated apps every student should have!
Join us for the replay and hot topics from college admission representatives from the Private Colleges & Universities of Florida- including the University of Miami, Florida Southern College and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Hear from your area’s admissions representatives on updates to their admissions and scholarships! Including who is going TEST OPTIONAL!
As the largest university in Florida and 2nd largest in the nation, the University of Central Florida offers 99 bachelor’s, 89 master’s, 31 research doctorates, 3 professional doctorates and 3 specialist degree programs.
At the end of it, I want her to have as much knowledge about the high school to college process so she is in control of it. I receive so many frantic phone calls from parents and students who simply are not prepared, and I know that starting early will be much more beneficial to my child than pretending it will just magically happen or my student will just know how to do it.
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Inevitably in college counseling, I am always asked about one thing- SCHOLARSHIPS!! Parents and students alike want to know how to make college as affordable as possible. They hear stories on the news, from friends or families about students getting this scholarship or that one. However, many parents do not about the many different types of scholarships available to their child, thus limiting their search. It can be a confusing and daunting task if you do not have the right information- think of needle in a haystack! Because of this, I am excited to bring you this one-of-a-kind guide to college scholarships. This resource is a must-have for any parent and student starting the college process.
I hope you enjoy this free resource!
College Terminology: Scholarships & Financial Aid
Finding Money in Micro-Scholarships: Raise.Me
The Value of a College Planning Professional
An Overlooked College Funding Source
Financial Aid & Loans: Considerations for Parents & Students, Part 1
Financial Aid & Loans: Considerations for Parents & Students, Part 2
afsa.ed.gov – main site for applying for federal financial aid
pin.ed.gov - for requesting a PIN for FAFSA online.
FAFSA Forecaster - provide estimates for your 'expected family contribution' or EFC
College Board.com: profile online for EFC estimates.
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.
nelliemae.com - online calculator to interpret financial aid packages
collegenet.com/mach25 - search for scholarships
fastaid.com - free scholarship search.
studentaid.ed.gov – federal financial aid planning website
profileonline.collegeboard.com – CSS Profile
floridastudentfinancialaid.org/SSFAD/bf (Bright Futures)
fastweb.com – searchable scholarship database
Bright Futures- Florida Residents
SW Florida Community Foundation
For more help in the scholarship search, review my course Scholarships Step-by-Step, which will guide you through the entire process of searching and applying for all types of scholarships.
I have had many students recently start asking about scholarships and how to begin applying for the many different types of scholarships out there. There is money to be had- the issue is finding the time and will to go through the process. Often both parents and students become very frustrated with the process as it is easy to spend hours and hours with nothing to show.
If this sounds like you, I highly suggest you consider taking my course on Scholarships Step-by-Step! Click on the button below and this will walk you through the whole process. After helping my current students earn close to $37 million in varying scholarships, this information is guaranteed to be tried-and-true!
Before we go further, we need to explore debt payments. With each mortgage payment on my house, I pay off some interest and retire some principal (the amount I borrowed). Since my monthly interest charge is based on the outstanding (yet-to-be-paid) principal balance of my loan, it follows that, as the balance gets paid down, the amount of interest in each successive payment shrinks and the amount of principal in each payment rises by an equal amount. Thus, my initial mortgage payments consist mostly of interest owed and retire (to my mind, much too) little principal, but for my final payments, the order is reversed; I’m now paying mostly principal and very little interest. Plus, if I can pay off a large chunk of principal ahead of schedule, not only does the loan get paid earlier, but subsequent loan payments will also retire a larger percentage of principal (the amount I pay for each future installment remains unchanged, however). Early (or faster) payoff spares me (the borrower) from having to make additional interest payments, and saves me a chunk of money I’d otherwise have to shell out over time in interest payments on my loan.
Besides applying to mortgage payments, this same form of loan retirement -- with the proportions of interest falling and principal rising through successive installments -- applies to other debt as well, including student loans for college. Suppose, after you’ve applied to a college for admission and financial aid, that you’ve been offered admission and the college informs you, As part of our financial aid package, we will award you a grant of X dollars per year, and you will incur a loan of $5,000 per year for each of the four years you will be attending, meaning you can expect to incur $20,000 in debt altogether. One way to think about this is that it’s like buying a car when you finish college -- which is what many students do, so we’ll discuss a loan as though you are paying for a car.
But wait; there’s yet a little more:
Many students don’t understand that interest is accruing on your loans from your first day of college. Once the grace period expires, that interest is added to your balance, so then you’re paying interest on the interest (emphasis added). -- -Madeline Barr, Chicago Booth Magazine, Fall 2016 ed., pps. 10-11.
From Ms. Barr’s description, it is clear that the meter for interest on borrowed funds starts ticking the moment you register for your first year of college. And accrued interest is one additional component of a student loan that you should be aware of. And, oh yes, the loan provider is not the college.
“If you can live with the debt, then take it on, and if you cannot then think seriously about attending a college that features a more robust financial aid program or a lower term bill.”
For this question, there’s no pat answer, so I’ll offer up a parable instead. Over a century ago, an associate of J.P. Morgan had been speculating in securities by buying them on margin, meaning he bought stocks with borrowed money, and he’d borrowed so much that he couldn’t sleep at night because he worried excessively over how precariously far out on a financial limb he had climbed (bankers term this condition highly leveraged). He mentioned his sleeplessness to his boss and asked how to cure it. J.P., ever practical, replied, “Sell stock until you are able to sleep comfortably.” (Bankers and economists have a term for this, too; they call it risk tolerance.) Note that J.P. did not specify how many dollars worth of securities his associate should unload; that decision, he wisely left to his associate. And so it is with debt to finance a college education. Perhaps also worth noting, investor Warren Buffett has a different view on borrowing for speculative purposes, “It’s only when the [financial] tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.” Clearly, Buffett, who addresses himself to all who would emulate J.P. Morgan’s associate, is no fan of debt, and had he been J.P. Morgan’s associate, the conversation over speculating on margin would not have taken place. Whoa! Wait a minute: is taking out a student loan a form of speculation? Well, yes, it is. By applying for the loan, the borrower implicitly places a bet that, after he graduates, he will do well enough financially to not only repay the debt but to accumulate much more wealth as well.
If you are pondering how much debt to take on to help pay your way through college, I couldn’t begin to suggest how much you should borrow, but if borrow you must, J.P.’s advice seems timeless. If you can live with the debt, then take it on, and if you cannot -- if the amount seems so unduly burdensome that worrying about it would keep you awake at night -- then think seriously about attending a college that features a more robust financial aid program or a lower term bill, someplace for which the loan will be lower, or for which there will be no loan at all.
Our discussion has highlighted three two key points: how student loans are structured; and, if the borrowed funds are used wisely and repaid, college loans can make an enormous difference in a student’s future -- the tricky part is determining how much to borrow. In the process, you have been given a free tutorial in finance, which is all about borrowing and (its flip side) lending.
And this brings us to the point in the admissions cycle I came in. After early admission decisions get handed out, admissions committees across the country will hunkers down to the selection of the remainder of next fall’s entering class. But there’s no need to go further because we’ve already covered this.
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In closing, I hope I’ve helped explain how the admissions process works for selective colleges and universities, and maybe debunk some myth. The old adage that an ‘informed buyer makes the best buyer’ applies fully here. This by itself won’t earn you college acceptance; that you must do through your efforts in and outside the classroom. But I hope it have given you a framework within which to understand the admissions process and thereby helps make the task of applying to college that much sharper and clearer.
Dear Readers, I sincerely wish you the very best luck in your college admission quest. You will make new, lifelong friends. Your academic accomplishments will make your family proud, and will reflect great credit on your family, your teachers and your school. You may endure an impossibly difficult academic regimen, and when it is finished, you will be amazed at what you have been able to accomplish. I believe that for many of you, regardless of where you end up in college, you will take a class or come upon a teacher who transforms your life. And for some, college may open up and gain you entry into a world which you could scarcely have imagined to exist. Best of all, perhaps a few of you may someday be motivated to serve as alumni interviewers for your college!
--Bill Parker
William B. Parker, University of Chicago (MBA-1978)
Member, University of Chicago Alumni Schools Committee since 1983.
Cape Coral, Florida
December, 2016
It is that time of the year when the college process is on the minds of senior students and parents. College visits are being made, applications are starting to be filled out, and the dreaded conversation of, “How much is this going to cost?” is happening.
Photo Credit by: Sal Falko
I will admit I was not a student banking on a full-ride scholarship, but fortunately for me college was much cheaper 20 years ago. However, today you will find website specifically dedicated to finding money for your student to attend college. The biggest issue I have is that students do not often know how much they will be awarded while applying, and it becomes a wait-and-see type of game.
That was before a new scholarship website emerged and is taking earning scholarships to a whole new level. Raise.me has taken a new concept institutional scholarships. Rather than the old, “Apply and wait game”, they now do, “Put in your resume, get scholarship money on the spot, and then apply!” A student will know how much they earn even before they spend the money for an application!
So how does it work? Well, each college determines mini-scholarships for things students do every day at school. Earn an A, earn anywhere between $10-1,500! Play after school activities, another $10-500. Take Dual-Enrollment, AP or IB credits, another $15-2,500. The small micro-scholarships begin adding up quickly. I have seen students earn over $50,000 from Raise.Me!! Students may also as early as 9th grade year earning scholarships!
All the student has to do is to put in a list of their grades, standardized test scores (ACT/ SAT), list of activities, and select schools they are interested in. Raise.Me then begins the matching process for guaranteed scholarships once the student is admitted. Often these scholarships are stackable with other local, national, and institutional scholarships. The savings can be HUGE!
Think they don’t have your school? They have schools from all over the country like Tulane University, Carnegie Mellon, Oberlin College, Penn State University, Temple University , to name a few. For Florida, colleges such as Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Barry University, Rollins College, Stetson University, Flagler College, and Jacksonville University. It is a great mix and more are being added each year.
A quick suggestion- before you begin any admission or scholarship application, be sure to write out a thorough resume of all the student’s activities from 9th-12th grade, as well as have an academic transcript handy. This will make your process so much easier, and keep it consistent from one application to another.
As I start writing more blogs for your information, I realize that some of the terminology might be a bit foreign to you. If you have ever done a college visit, your head begins to spin with what they are saying. I have compiled a great list of college terminology that will help you through the entire process, whether you are thinking of the a 2- or 4-year school.
