Negotiating with Colleges to get the Best Financial Aid Offfer

College is very expensive in the United States. 

   While a lot of schools offer needs based financial aid which means schools provide you more grants and loans based on your income.  The less you earn the more aid you get.  If you make a lot of money the less assistance you get.  Sounds fair?  If your like many Americans who have survived the downturn in the economy your savings have evaporated.  The college may provide you more assistance if your earning less the amount of money your expected to contribute may no longer be possible.  And doesn't it feel like the more aid is available the more expensive schools become?  Many countries value education so highly that their governments contribute enough to make education either free or very affordable.  Parents do not have to sacrifice their children's education because they can't afford it.  Access to a college education is based on your academic ability.

   Colleges are in competition for students.  Colleges are investing millions to build better and better dorms, school buildings and recreational space to attract students.  Of course that has a cost.  Schools take out loans to build these facilities and pay those loans by raising tuition.  Since there is no law to stop schools from raising their tuitions, most schools raise tuition in the hope that financial aid will help students get into schools with these fancy new buildings. 

   How does the average parent pay for college living at a time where getting a job is more and more dependent on a college education and is getting more and more impossible to pay for it?  While we all wish for free or low cost college education, until that day comes in the United States you can either 1) study in Europe and avoid these outrageous tuitions or 2) negotiate between schools to get the best financial aid packages. 

How Social Class and Education Affect You

A short video explanation on how social class, race and access to college impact our lives. (Click on the picture)

Save Money on Colleges, Study Abroad

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/why-american-students-are-flocking-germany-staying-n515961

 

Families are opting to study outside of the United States after the crazy prices colleges charge here.  Click, read and listen to students going to Germany to study.

The importance of taking Advanced Placement Classes in High School

Some parents and students can sometimes be a little intimidated about having a high school student take college classes. An important consideration for taking an advanced placement (AP) class is how it can prepare you for college. Taking an AP class in high school will be college level, hard work and time intensive (sounds like college right?) But it has a lot less ramification if the student couldn't handle it as well.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is advanced classes can help students to be better prepared for the ACT test.  

 

Students should meet their counselor to talk about AP being a good fit for the student.  Keep in mind that most colleges will accept 4 and 5 scores for college credit. 

School Breakfast for Hungry Students in Illinois

The state of Illinois launched a campaign to reduce the number of kids going to school without breakfast.  Research shows kids going without breakfast do worse in school than kids who have a regular breakfast.  The campaign is called Rise and Shine Illinois.  You can find out more about free breakfast for needy kids at http://riseandshineillinois.org/

How To Write A Killer Thesis Statement

One of the most important things you will be doing in high school and college is writing.  Here is a video by Schmoop on how to write a thesis statement.

Immigration Advice for Immigrants Including Undocumented Students

For immigrants, especially undocumented immigrant students there are a lot of questions about the impact their immigration status will have on getting college financial aid.  EdducationRealSimple has written in the past about universities that accept undocumented students.  But there are a lot of questions that need the help of immigration experts.  Here is a list of organizations that can help immigrants with their immigration status questions.  Manny helps students even with Dream Act questions.  They speak your language, are happy to answer your questions and some are free.

For a List of Agencies who can help: Click here. 

Financial Aid for a Study Abroad Program

Adventure is the best way to learn!

WHAT TYPES OF FINANCIAL AID ARE AVAILABLE?

Federal and state governments, foundations, private and public organizations are primary sources of financial aid. Be sure to check with your financial aid office, study abroad office or bursar’s office about whether your financial aid can apply to study abroad. Note the following types of financial aid:

Grants and scholarships

• Federal Pell Grant is awarded to exceptionally needy undergraduate students. Part-time enrollment reduces eligibility. 
• Federal Supplemental Educational Grant (SEOG) is awarded to exceptionally needy undergraduate students. Must be enrolled at least half-time.
• Benjamin A. Gilman Scholarship Program is sponsored by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State and is administered by the Institute of International Education (IIE).  This scholarship program is only open to undergraduate Federal Pell Grant recipients who intend to study abroad for a semester, summer or year-long program.
• The National Security Education Program (NSEP) and the Fulbright Program funded by the Federal government have grants and fellowships for undergraduate and graduate students for study and research overseas. Students should be aware that government organizations in other countries such as the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) offer funding opportunities.
• Foreign Language & Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship program funded by the U.S. Department of Education provides study abroad funding to undergraduate and graduate students who are pursuing foreign language and area studies.  The Critical Language Scholarship Program, a program of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, funds intensive summer language institutes in thirteen critical foreign languages. 

What should you do before you start your junior year in high school?

The summer before you become a junior in high school will be important.  The summer after your junior year will be filled with visiting colleges, preapring for standardized tests and working on college applications.  So being productive the summer before becoming a junior will help you aviod a lot of stress.

Take a Year Off Before Going to College - Gap Year

Taking time off before you start going to college is becoming more common among high school graduates.  It is more common among European students than students from the United States.  

Students who take time off are living abroad learning a new language, doing an internship, volunteering or working in a potential career job.  There many reasons to take time off.  Here are some reasons you should consider taking a gap year:

What I wish I Knew Then What I Know Now

A lot of people ask, what do know now that you wish you would have known back when you were in High school.  I had to think about that a lot.  I am the first to admit that I made a lot of mistakes in my education career.  For one thing I did not take grade school seriously enough.  I also made every mistake possible when it came to going to college.  But now that I have accomplished a few things in my life, I think I can give some advice.

Let me start by saying what you don't need to know in high school.  You don't need to know what your career will be when you grow up or what you will do with your life.  in reality there is no hurry to decide what you will do with your life at age 16 or 18.  
 

How to Pick Your College

As the first person to go to college in my family I made a lot of mistakes.  Here are some suggestion that I learned about picking your college:

1. Visit your top two or three college choices before you apply to the school.  You need to visit schools to see if you will be successful in a big school, small school, urban school or a school in the middle of the countryside.  Do you like the environment in the school.

2. There is no alternative for reason number 1.

3. Don't pick a school because the school name is familiar to you.  

4. Research colleges you don't know anything about but have strong program in the area your interested in.  If you are interested in the arts then research strong colleges with strong arts programs.  

5. Don't pick a college because your friend or girlfriend or boyfriend will be going to that college.  You have to pick a school you are going to like.  

6. Don't pick a school or not pick a school because of someone's opinion.  A lot of people don't pick a school because people are told that a school is a "party school" or "hard to get into."   You need to research for yourself. 

7. Don't give up on a school because you think it is an expensive school.  Most schools have scholarships and loans that can help you make it affordable.

8. Deadlines.  Make sure you meet all the deadlines.  There is no option to miss any deadline.  Mark it on a calendar.  You miss a deadline and you may not get into a school or you might have to wait another year.

9. Pick three schools that you have a good chance of being accepted in.  Pick three schools that might be a reach.  Make sure all six of these schools will be places you will be happy attending.  

10. Talk over with your family and mentor or someone you trust when your trying to make a decision of which school offer to accept. 

11. Don't pick your college by looking in the yellow pages.  Don't ask why.  

Is an internship important?

Getting a bachelor's degree is important. But many employers are looking for employees with more than just a degree, they are looking for employees with some relevant job experience.  Often the best way to get experience is to do an intership (more than intership is even better).  Here are three reasons to do an intership:

1. Interships can help you see if your chosen career is what you want to do.  Getting an intership in your chosen career will give you a chance to try out the career.  You can find out if you like the work and see if you have the skills to do the job.

2. Internships make you more competitive.  The competition for entry level jobs is high.  In a global economy you may be competing with job applicants from around the world.  Having work experience through an intership can make you a better candidate.  

3. Internships can get you connected. Most jobs are found through networking. Networking is knowing people, talking to them and asking about jobs.  Networking helps you get known to people looking for future employees.  Employers tend to hire people they know and interships is a great way for employers to get to know you.

Being the First to go to College

I was the first in my family to earn a Bachelor's degree.  I did not have anyone in my family or friends who I can turn to who could give me advise on what to do and not to do.  As an immigrant my parents and I did not really understand how the education system worked.  I felt confused about what to do or where to get help.  

My father and mother came to the United States to build a better life for myself, my brother and sisters.  They both worked hard in a foreign country, learning the language and trying to help in our education as best they could.  Like a well built house is built on a solid foundation, my parent's hard work gave me the foundation to study hard so that I had a chance to go to college. 

What is a Community College?

A community college typically offers two years of college classes. It offers courses you can use for general education requirements. You can then transfer to a four-year university and finish your bachelor’s degree.  Look for community colleges with "University Articulation programs" which will make it easier for people who want to go to a university after starting in a community college.

Another thing community colleges do is provide adults the chance to improve their skills in a subject.  For example you can learn a special computer software or learn to weld. 

How to Study - What Everyone Should Know

How to Study:

Probably one of the more important things to do in school is studying and taking tests.  It all starts with taking good notes.  If you take good notes you're half way there (the other half is understanding the topic). 

Every Day

1. Keep a separate notebook for each topic.  Spiral notebooks or a computer are good ways to keep things organized.  If your school allows the use of a laptop or tablet then download an app like Evernote (free) or Penultimate (my favorites) to take notes.   

2. Date each note. 

3. Buy notebooks with dividers so you can divide the subject by school quarters or subjects.

4. When you take notes do not write every word down.  Write ideas down.  New words should be carefully spelled out.  

5. Anything your teacher writes on the blackboard (some schools now use white and smart boards).  If you use Evernote you can photograph the board with your phone and insert the note into Evernote.  If your teacher took the time to write it on the board then you should write it into your notebook.

6. Try to take notes in an outline form.  It is easier to go back and reread your notes and find the important information in an outline form.  

7. If you can use a highlighter to underline important information.

How Many Years of Foreign Language do You Need to Get Into College?

 

How much foreign language do you need to take in high school to be selected by a good college? The foreign language requirement is different in each college.  Every college will list its minimum requirements.  Keep in mind that other students from other high schools will be applying with more than the minimum!  So the more the more years of foreign language you take in high school the better. And it is better to be really good at one language than knowing very little about many languages.

In general most colleges require two years of a foreign language in high school.  Top colleges like Standford require three years and Harvard is interested in four years of foriegn language.  Colleges that write "two or more years" are giving you a hint that you do more than two be competitive.  Besides of the importance of knowing a foreign language to get into college, knowing another language than English will help you in the future where more and more jobs require you to work with people from other parts of the world.   

You should be able to read and speak another language well.  It is important that you do not take time off from a language.  You should take foreign language in your senior year so you don't lose your ability to speak and read the language.  A good high school will offer the language for four years and have you learn the foreign language by also reading literature in that language. 

You can still get into many colleges if all you have is the minimum amount of foregin language if you have other strengths.  Some less competitive colleges don't even require a foreign language and assume you will take a language in college.  

Below is a chart ahows the foreign language requires of several colleges:

Foreign Language Requirements for College Admissions

College	Language Requirement
Carleton	2 or more years
Georgia Tech	2 years
Harvard	4 years recommended
MIT	2 years
Stanford	3 or more years
UCLA	2 years required; 3 recommended
Univ. of Illinois	2 years
Univ. of Michigan	2 years required; 4 recommended
Williams	3 years required; 4 recommended

College Entrance Test - Which is Which?

Getting into most colleges requires taking entrance tests.  Check the college your interested in applying to for their entrance test requirements. But what are these tests? 

PSAT: Usually taken in your junior year in high school.  You might want to take it earlier to practice.

Description: Two 25 minute critical reading sections, two 25 minute math sectionsk one 30 minute writing skills section.  The PSAT was designed more to prepare you for the SAT (more on SAT later).  It looks the same as the SAT but shorter.  Score range is between 20 and 80.  A score of 80 would be a perfect score.  Average score for juniors is 49.  

SAT: Usually taken in the spring of your junior year or fall of your senior year. 

Description: Has a 70 minute critical reading secion, a 70 minute math section and a 60 minute writing section.  The scores for each section range 200 to 800 points.  Scores on the essay range from 1 to 6 points.  Keep in mind the SAT penalizes you for a wrong piont.  If you guess correctly you get a point.  You can the SAT more than once but your high school will send the results of each test you took.

ACT: Usually taken in the spring of your junior year or the fall of your senior year.

Description: The ACT is a three hour test in English, math, reading and science.  The ACT Plus has a 30 minute writing test.  The scores of each section are averaged (scores are added up and the divided by the number of sections) to get a composite score.  A perfect score is 36.  The score is based on the number of correct answers only.  Wrong answers do not count against you so take a guess it might help you. 

Plan ahead: Look into test preparation courses.  Some high schools offer free or lower cost courses. Ask a teacher or a counselor. 

Writing a College Entrance Essay

I am not going to kid you, writing well is hard.  

It is hard to write a college entrance essay well is not easy.  Sometimes you don't even know who will be reading your essay.  Does the reader have a sense of humor or should you write a serious essay with a lot of fancy words?  It is also hard because often essays have word count limits.  As much as you want to write your life story, you only have 500 words to write everything you need to write to convince the committee to select you.  

But writing well is important.  It is not only important when you write your college entrance essay, it will be important all your adult life.  People who write well get paid better, are able to explain themselves better.  

So reviewing high school grammar lessons would be a good use of your time.  Hopefully you are starting to write your essay well in advance of the deadline.  Writing the essay the night before it is due is a very bad idea.  Strunk and White's Elements of Style is a good choice.  It is written in plain English and it is a thin book. 

Here is a short list of key points about writing:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Another thing about writing an essay for college is don't be boring, melodramatic, hard to read or impersonal.  One of the biggest mistakes you can make is try to follow the example of essays on the Internet that use big fancy words that don't tell anything interesting about yourself.  The writer that follows the examples of the sample essays on the Internet sound like robots, writing the same story that a million other high school students have written.  Nothing new, interesting or unique.  And do yourself a favor, do not use buzzwords or fancy words.  

You are unique. No one else has had your life or experiences.  The trick is being courageous and write an honest essay about you and why you want to go to that college and in that program.  Use your own voice when you write.

The Importance of Going to School Everyday

One of the most important thing your student can do to do well in school is to go to school.  The more your child is in school the more they will learn.

Why go to school everyday?

Students will be able to keep up with their homework and take tests on time.  But there are more reasons to go to school everyday:

School is easier because you learn more.  Students who go to school everyday are more likely to do well in math and reading.

Students learn more about being reading for college.  Students who go to school more learn about getting ready for college. What entrance exams to take and the imprtance of grade point average (GPA).

Learn English language better.  For students learning the English language going to school everyday gives the student more practice.  Of course learning English faster helps your student learn the other subjects being taught in English.

What you can do:

No excuses: Other than serious illiness or phyiscal difficulties in getting to school you should not allow your child to stay home.  Every time he or she stays home from school the harder it is for your child to keep up.  Your child never just keep up they should get ahead (see our posts about tutors). 

Check homework:  Check every night what homework your child has and that she understands the homework.  Have phone numbers of parents of children that go to your child's class.  Sometimes other parents can help explain the homework.

Ask questions:  Ask your child about their day at school.  Pay attention to any compliants about school being hard or complicated.  Anything sounds like frustration.  Go talk to teachers if you can't fix the problem at home.  The teachers are there to help.  Don't be afraid to ask questions.  

Is your child safe?  Check to make sure your child is not being bothered by bullies.  If your child is unable to tell you what is going on at school or on the way to school talk to the school counselor, teacher or principal.  

Don't miss school because of vacation or medical appointments:  Families that take their kids out of school early or the middle of school session for a medical appointment or vacation are making it hard for their child to learn.  Aviod it!

Don't be late for school: Plan ahead.  Have homework and the next day's clothes ready the night before.  Get plenty of sleep.  

By making your child's school attendance a priority, you will be taking an important step in supporting your child's school success, and setting a good example. Remember every day counts!