Need college planning tips from the Pros

[powellrj]

We are on #3 and all of the took a different path.

#1 started at community college, hated school and joined the army. He went back to community college after the army and found most of the classes didn't transfer when he went to a 4 year school. They assured him they would, but it is what it is. He is now in a small local private college and loves it. The 4 year school has so much more to offer than the community college did and he is thriving now at school. The GI-Bill is paying for his school, so that was the great thing about the army for him.

#2 goes to a state school. Lets just say he was what you think of when you hear frat boy. He loved the frat lifestyle and lived it to the fullest. He is now a 5th year senior and has finally settled down and will graduate in May. He will be paying student loans for the rest of his life, but I will say, he has learned alot about life and has learned lessons many people don't learn until much later. Believe it or not, I do think his job prospects are good at this point, but he will be making his own way and is working on a ground floor project that has lifelong potential. He could write the book on how Not to do college and come out debt free.

DD is #3. She is valedictorian of her class and has lots of awards and honors. Her experience is 100% different than her brothers. She has decided on a medium size private school. They have early admission weekend this weekend so we are going up to pick her classes and dorm.

Somethings we have learned over the years. There are somethings more important than money when picking schools. She has had schools offer more money, but the fit wasn't as good as the school she picked. She has loved this school for several years and has been attending lots of activities there before she even thought about being a student.

Keep taking the SATS and ACTS. Every time she takes them she gets more money from the school. Last time, she only raised her score a few points, but it was worth $2000!

Really talk to people before you decide to play a sport or attend the honors college. It tends to consume your life. Her coach was talking up playing golf, but her student advisor talked her out of it. She is taking a 5 year course of study in 4 years so things like The Honors College and sports really take a huge bite out of you time. Her advisor told her he had only had one student be successful playing a sport and keeping up with school in all of his year of teaching.

Apply for all the small scholarships. Sure $500 doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. She got a call last night that she had gotten $500 for an essay she wrote and mailed to a club her brother is a member of. Those $500 add up fast! She had tried for many bigger ones and didn't get those, but has found the smaller ones easier.

 

[TLuvsD]

I came back to add make sure your kids understand how much money is available for college. Whatever it is, they need to know the limits. It can avoid a lot of heart break at decision time. Talk about the safety as positively as the reach...and the safety should be doable in both money and likely admission.

I would suggest applying to private schools, they can be generous with scholarships. Our D attends a private college. Just be sure you understand the financial aid package before you commit. Is it scholarships and grants or parent/student loans? The financial aid package may include both--don't just look at the bottom line, look at all the details.

 

[SEA333]

I came back to add make sure your kids understand how much money is available for college. Whatever it is, they need to know the limits. It can avoid a lot of heart break at decision time. Talk about the safety as positively as the reach...and the safety should be doable in both money and likely admission.

I would suggest applying to private schools, they can be generous with scholarships. Our D attends a private college. Just be sure you understand the financial aid package before you commit. Is it scholarships and grants or parent/student loans? The financial aid package may include both--don't just look at the bottom line, look at all the details.

Yes - agreed. We are not living large kind of people...our biggest "luxury" expense is our kids' activities. We do not take expensive vacations, live beyond our means, or even use credit cards. I drive a 10 year old car, and DH drives a 12 year old car. Both were bought for cash. We live in a modest 1300 sq foot house in a middle-class suburb of Chicago. I feel like I am ALWAYS saying no, or how expensive something is. We have the same conversations about college. I had student loans and am very familiar with the process.

When DS was in 6th grade and going through some social issues with some of the kids (we moved here just before 5th grade ended for him, so he was pretty much the "new kid" in MS) and his grades dipped, we had a serious talk with him about his gifts (he is identified as gifted in math and analytical thinking) and how he has a responsibility to himself and to the community around him to use those gifts to his best ability to do something good in this world - AND that his natural gifts are the way to a better life through college and beyond. This was a natural lead in to what type of college he wanted to go to and what we, as a family, need to do to get him there, and what plan A, B, C, and D are. This is an ongoing conversation to this day. I don't think he has any delusions about where we stand as a family, but I think I will check with him just to make sure! He is 13 going on 30 LOL, so he usually "gets" what we are saying. He knows that he has choices to make when it comes to this.

Thanks!

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Wow - thanks! Very interesting! DH has also been a club league coach for several years and both boys have played since they were tiny. As you know, it is a huge commitment and we are at the field 5 months of the year LOL and offsite training the rest. (DD also cheers for the same club league)

Ours is a feeder league for our sister high school (our own high school/town doesn't have their own feeder league), but our HS head coach is very involved with our league and the players - he has been watching our son for a couple years now and knows him already (DS plays defensive/offensive end). Not that means anything as far as college or anything, but there is at least a relationship there. We have had a LOT of kids from our club go on to play at the college level, and three of them have recently (in the past 5 years) have signed with NFL teams. I know this because our league keeps a running log of these kids on our club website.

When you talk about college rival camps, what do you exactly mean? DS has gone every summer to the Wolverine Technique Youth Camp at University of Michigan, and this is the first year he will be at the high school camp instead of the youth....it is a week-long overnight camp for high school football players (not affiliated in any way with DS's actual high school or team..this is extra). Would this be what you are talking about, or are there other camps as well? From my research, this is the only camp UM offers, but there may be more that are not advertised to the public? Invite only?

Again, to be VERY clear to everyone, I am not having "pipe dreams" that this would ever happen with DS, but we will certainly never stop encouraging him to do his best if this is what he would like to pursue. I think he would be perfectly happy playing football at ANY college, not just Div 1 schools, if they so happened to allow him. He just loves the game. If he wanted to stop playing tomorrow, we would be sad, but understand that it is HIS decision - we have never pushed them to do any one specific thing...only pushed them to do whatever they CHOSE to do, the very best they could.

Rivals Camps are different from camp your son went to at Michigan. The camps run by the university coaching staff are important too. At Rivals Camps the players are watched, rated and ranked. Scouts often watch the camp videos and the ranking thing kind of tells them who to keep an eye on. Kids around here who are serious about playing on the college level go to both the university run camps (like the one your son attended) and the Rivals camps. In my last post I kind of smushed all the camps together - sorry. I know a couple of dads whose sons are playing college football now and they swear the Rivals Camps put their sons on the map. I think players need to qualify for and be invited to attend advanced camps.

There are Rivals Camps in the Chicago area. Here is the web site.

footballrecruiting.rivals.com

 

[TLuvsD]

Get a copy of "Paying for College without Going Broke" now--try your public library. We buy the new edition each year (about $15 at Barnes and Noble). Worth every dime for the excellent, clear explanations of the FASFA and CSS Profile. Nothing shady or sleezy, but knowing what answer the form is looking for can save you a lot of money.

 

[Sandy61]

My son did get a very generous scholarship so that may be possible.

Keep your eye on several colleges your child is interested in and look up their requirements for entrance. Is it 2 years of a foreign language? 3?

My son took no AP classes but he did take classes at the high school that were college classes. The class would count for both college and high school. He ended up with a full semester of college credit before he even entered college. It really helped the college see that he would be successful. He was able to double major because he had so much done before he went. We did have to pay a small amount for the college credit...I think around $85 a class.

It was cheaper to go to the expensive private college rather than the state university because the private colleges all wanted him badly and were willing to give him big scholarships.

 

[StephMK]

I did not read through all the pages so I apologize for any duplicates.

DD20 was an excellent student - 3.875 GPA, lots of long term activities & honor societies. She got $2k at her state college in scholarships. Looking back, we should have made her take an ACT class. She scored 29 and I think if we could have gotten her up a few points, she would have been in the running for better scholarships.

Don't discount private colleges. Like pp said, DD was offered significant scholarships that made it comparable to the state school. She elected not to for various reasons but it was less than 1/2 the cost listed on the school website for out of state residents.

Write down his accomplishments, clubs, activities starting now. It made it much easier to fill them out on apps since she had them broken down by year and kept it on a word doc all through HS.

Start looking jr year. By senior year, we did one last visit and she was ready to make her decision early. It took a lot of the stress off when it's already a busy year.

File taxes early and file FAFSA early. It's not too bad and not a huge hassle if you have your tax info handy.

 

[4shinystars]

DD 1 got better finaid from the private university than the state schools, graduated last May..
DD2's finaid from state school and private university ended up with the same out of pocket cost per year for us, although there is an additional $2k alumni loan added in with the Stafford and Perkins loans (have to do with either choice, DD understands it's HER loans and decisions) She will probably go with the private university.
DD2 just under 90 avg, 60/300 class, no athletics, very active in clubs and community service, got $15k/yr scholarship from college, $2500/yr housing grant, $7/yr trustee grant. Still applying for scholarships through HS.

 

[poohj80]

If your son has athletic ability and wants to pursue college athletics, I would recommend putting together his sports resume to include accomplishments, stats, video of him playing, endorsements from coaches, etc. There are a LOT of small schools who cannot afford to send scouts traveling the country looking for prospects and this is a way for your son to come to them. I ended up with a partial scholarship to play softball at a small, but still Division I, college after never being recruited.

 

[SEA333]

We are on #3 and all of the took a different path.

#1 started at community college, hated school and joined the army. He went back to community college after the army and found most of the classes didn't transfer when he went to a 4 year school. They assured him they would, but it is what it is. He is now in a small local private college and loves it. The 4 year school has so much more to offer than the community college did and he is thriving now at school. The GI-Bill is paying for his school, so that was the great thing about the army for him.

#2 goes to a state school. Lets just say he was what you think of when you hear frat boy. He loved the frat lifestyle and lived it to the fullest. He is now a 5th year senior and has finally settled down and will graduate in May. He will be paying student loans for the rest of his life, but I will say, he has learned alot about life and has learned lessons many people don't learn until much later. Believe it or not, I do think his job prospects are good at this point, but he will be making his own way and is working on a ground floor project that has lifelong potential. He could write the book on how Not to do college and come out debt free.

DD is #3. She is valedictorian of her class and has lots of awards and honors. Her experience is 100% different than her brothers. She has decided on a medium size private school. They have early admission weekend this weekend so we are going up to pick her classes and dorm.

Somethings we have learned over the years. There are somethings more important than money when picking schools. She has had schools offer more money, but the fit wasn't as good as the school she picked. She has loved this school for several years and has been attending lots of activities there before she even thought about being a student.

Keep taking the SATS and ACTS. Every time she takes them she gets more money from the school. Last time, she only raised her score a few points, but it was worth $2000!

Really talk to people before you decide to play a sport or attend the honors college. It tends to consume your life. Her coach was talking up playing golf, but her student advisor talked her out of it. She is taking a 5 year course of study in 4 years so things like The Honors College and sports really take a huge bite out of you time. Her advisor told her he had only had one student be successful playing a sport and keeping up with school in all of his year of teaching.

Apply for all the small scholarships. Sure $500 doesn't seem like much, but it adds up. She got a call last night that she had gotten $500 for an essay she wrote and mailed to a club her brother is a member of. Those $500 add up fast! She had tried for many bigger ones and didn't get those, but has found the smaller ones easier.

Thanks. DS has played tackle football since he was 6, and even at that age, it is 2 hours/day, 4-5 days a week, 5 months/year, so he has learned good time-management skills and knows what the commitment is like at least through 8th grade. He has a semi-personal trainer 3 days a week in the off season, and is conditioning with his future high school team/coach right now, and starting in June will attend camp with the HS players and a week-long out of state college technique camp, then back to start summer practices, which run every day for Freshman from 1-4pm. The HS coach, who knows DS's play from his youth league, has already told DH (they have a spring meeting for interested players) to tell DS to expect that they may ask him to attend Sophomore practices as well.

DS has an *idea* of how much time a college sport will take - hopefully he would be up to it if the opportunity ever arises! I know that he understands that playing for a big name Division I school is something that is very hard to earn, but I think he could possibly have a chance to play for a Div II or III school - he really just loves to play for the love of the game, not to be the star...offensive and defensive linemen are not generally the "star" of game (unless they keep sacking the QB or disrupting the backfield...LOL)

 

[Egdisney]

Check out in state colleges and see if they have any scholarships they offer to all students who qualify. For example, in the University of Nebraska system they offer a Regents scholarship. It is awarded to students who graduate from a NE high school and have an ACT score of at least 30 and graduate in the top 25% of their class of with a 3.5 gpa. I knew the scholarship existed but I had no idea it was awarded so freely. If I did, you can bet that I would have taken the ACT more than once and prepped for it a bit more to bump it up an extra 3 points. A friend received this scholarship even when she went back to school several years later. I had little guidance from parents or school, I wish I had more. I agree about applying for small scholarships, my sister received quite a few(she was valedictorian and a high scorer). BUT there are scholarships out there for every group, including C students, there are legacy scholarships, etc. Fastweb.com was a free source for scholarship postings when I was looking years ago.

 

[jaoconnor]

Check out in state colleges and see if they have any scholarships they offer to all students who qualify. For example, in the University of Nebraska system they offer a Regents scholarship. It is awarded to students who graduate from a NE high school and have an ACT score of at least 30 and graduate in the top 25% of their class of with a 3.5 gpa. I knew the scholarship existed but I had no idea it was awarded so freely. If I did, you can bet that I would have taken the ACT more than once and prepped for it a bit more to bump it up an extra 3 points. A friend received this scholarship even when she went back to school several years later. I had little guidance from parents or school, I wish I had more. I agree about applying for small scholarships, my sister received quite a few(she was valedictorian and a high scorer). BUT there are scholarships out there for every group, including C students, there are legacy scholarships, etc. Fastweb.com was a free source for scholarship postings when I was looking years ago.

I am from Nebraska & was just searching for this exact information. Where did you find info on the needed GPA & ACT score?

 

[Egdisney]

I am from Nebraska & was just searching for this exact information. Where did you find info on the needed GPA & ACT score?

I searched Nebraska Regents scholarship and kept reading and clicking until I found it. It took some hunting, but I knew I had seen it before. I think I finally found it on a page on the UNO site.

 

[mom2alix]

I am from Nebraska & was just searching for this exact information. Where did you find info on the needed GPA & ACT score?

http://www.unomaha.edu/admissions/financial-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships/uno/

Here it is

 

[jaoconnor]

http://www.unomaha.edu/admissions/financial-aid/types-of-aid/scholarships/uno/

Here it is

Thanks so much!!

I was searching on the UNL site. I wonder if it differs between the two schools?

 

[AlohaNow]

For all the info you could ever possibly want about applying to our nation's service academies: www.serviceacademyforums.com

Warning: You could lose days of your life with all the great info on this website.

And yes, West Point graduates currently owe five years active duty and three years Individual Ready Reserve.

 

[stellastar23]

Try dual enrollment in high school with a local community college. You can maybe get away with an AA or AS degree which will count as all of your general electives in college (usually your first 2 years of college). If you are still in high school, I think the state pays for it, so you have gotten your first 2 years of college for free. Pretty good deal if you ask me.

 

[crisi]

One thing about scholarships and schools - I've seen several people fall into this trap. They apply to several schools.

School #1 is their dream school (in my cousin's case, it was Vassar). They get in, but there is no or very little scholarship or grant type aid available - it will be loans or out of pocket (or, as someone mentioned, such a small token amount when you are talking about a $50k a year school).

School #2 is a private school with aid money, they get in, they get enough grants to make it cheaper than school #1, but there will still be loans and such. But it isn't their dream.

School #3 is a state school. They get in, and the total out of pocket bill will be less then either of the other two because its a state school. Its doable financially.

Sometimes, they even get a really nice scholarship to a school they "wouldn't be caught dead at."

For an eighteen year old - their dream school is their dream. Their parents have encouraged them to dream - so despite having less expensive options, they take out a lot of loans to go. And, if your dream school is a top 50 school - it might be worth it on the resume. However, if its a mid-tier private school (a friend of mine has this going on with Lawrence in Wisconsin - its an OK school, but it lacks the resume recognition of Vassar), it isn't a good INVESTMENT. It may be a great experience (like jpowell's daughter), if you can afford it as a family. But spending your summers in Europe is a great experience - not everyone can afford to do it.

 

[tvguy]

Not directed at OP, but at others with younger children, this thread points out why you need to start setting aside money for college from the time your child is born.
And we told our kids grandparents, a $100 savings bond is a far better gift than another $50 toy for Christmas or birthdays. They listened, both kids hit college with $36,000 in savings bonds, plus our savings. We still had to get parent loans. But it was manageable, even though our combined gross income has never been more than the high 5 figures.
I will say, in our experience, where both kids went off to University, changed schools, went to community college for a time, then on to another 4 year University, that community college was a waste of time. It did allow our kids to stay as full time students for very little money to keep them qualified to be on our health insurance, so we were money ahead, but so few of the classes transferred (most notably, the classes listed by the community college as being accepted by the state university, which the state university did NOT accept), it was an academic waste of time.

 

[JillyBean1899]

I will say, in our experience, where both kids went off to University, changed schools, went to community college for a time, then on to another 4 year University, that community college was a waste of time. It did allow our kids to stay as full time students for very little money to keep them qualified to be on our health insurance, so we were money ahead, but so few of the classes transferred (most notably, the classes listed by the community college as being accepted by the state university, which the state university did NOT accept), it was an academic waste of time.

I know in Florida if you get an AA from a community college, you are guaranteed entry into one of the state schools as a junior. All of the "core" classes will be considered transfer credit, and my school even has a transfer program called GCSC2UWF, where you work with a UWF advisor from the beginning to make sure you have the right classes (if your program requires specific versions of core classes) and there's no application or anything to get in. If you're going into a competitive program, you still have to apply to that specific program, but you're guaranteed admission to the school in general.