Strategic College Funding Solutions, Inc Anyone?

[mominwestlake]

Our ds is a junior in high school and we are just beginning to look at various colleges. We got a flier in the mail telling us about a free college financial planning night. The workshop will cover things like how to pick colleges that will give us the best financial aid pacages, what assets are taken into consideration when the U.S. Dept of Ed calculates our family contribution, etc.

Has anyone ever gone to a meeting like this? I feel like I need to start somewhere. Is there any kind of board for this kind of info like the DIS?

On a side note, ds plays trombone in the high school symphonic bands and jazz bands. He is also in the Cleveland Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. Is there a way to find out what colleges might give scholarship money for someone to play trombone. He also has good grades but so does most of his class. He doesn't play any sports.

 

[semo233]

Our ds is a junior in high school and we are just beginning to look at various colleges. We got a flier in the mail telling us about a free college financial planning night. The workshop will cover things like how to pick colleges that will give us the best financial aid pacages, what assets are taken into consideration when the U.S. Dept of Ed calculates our family contribution, etc.

Has anyone ever gone to a meeting like this? I feel like I need to start somewhere.

As a guidance counselor, I have planned and run evenings like this. Most likely, the financial aspect will be covered by someone who more involved in financial aid at a college or university. Counselors are not financial advisors, BUT can tell you where to go to look for aid and scholarships.

Is there any kind of board for this kind of info like the DIS?.
Not that I know of.

On a side note, ds plays trombone in the high school symphonic bands and jazz bands. He is also in the Cleveland Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. Is there a way to find out what colleges might give scholarship money for someone to play trombone.
Your best bet is for both of you to start talking to the band conductors...both at the high school and the colleges he is interested in. Visit and ask lots of questions. Depending upon the high school counselors' experience, they may have contacts at the colleges also.

He also has good grades but so does most of his class. He doesn't play any sports.

Make sure you highlight is other activities and volunteer efforts! The colleges are looking for well rounded students, not just the one with the highest GPA's or sports heros!

Good Luck!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

The best college discussion board is http://talk.collegeconfidential.com I like the parents forum the best (some of the other forums are overrun with either neurotic or boastful hs students LOL).

 

[mebbradley]

Our ds is a junior in high school and we are just beginning to look at various colleges. We got a flier in the mail telling us about a free college financial planning night. The workshop will cover things like how to pick colleges that will give us the best financial aid pacages, what assets are taken into consideration when the U.S. Dept of Ed calculates our family contribution, etc.

Has anyone ever gone to a meeting like this? I feel like I need to start somewhere. Is there any kind of board for this kind of info like the DIS?

On a side note, ds plays trombone in the high school symphonic bands and jazz bands. He is also in the Cleveland Youth Orchestra Wind Symphony. Is there a way to find out what colleges might give scholarship money for someone to play trombone. He also has good grades but so does most of his class. He doesn't play any sports.

This is one meeting you will WANT to go to! Trust me, even if you only gain one or two bits of knowledge from it, it's worth it.

I started compiling a folder of scholarships I might be able to apply for during my junior year, then started applying my senior year. I applied for 22 scholarships my senior year and recieved 12, there were days where i had 3 or 4 applications due.

One thing you need to do is make sure to do the fasa as soon as you can, it's very important.

For band scholarships, I second what the PP said about talking to the directors/band teachers at college he's interested in, high school and the orchestra. Also, do online searches for scholarships in your area.

Ask the counselor at his school about scholarships, and what's available in the area.

PM me if you want

 

[4shinystars]

Most high schools have a college planning night, at least all of them in my area do. I would stay away from company sponsored ones. One in my area charged hundreds for financial aid planning that is easily done on your own for free. A friend paid over $250 to be basically told to fill out the FAFSA, and then hear they had too much $$ in assets for finaid (untrue).
I second college confidential as a web source. www.finaid.org was/is a great help for us. Fastweb.com can be a pain to wade through, but has lots of scholarships listed.
DD is a freshman at Alfred University, and did well with grants and scholarships. Speak to your child's guidance counselor ASAP. They can be of great help, although dd's was useless. College fairs can be informational also.
any questions, pm me.

 

[Green Tea]

Unless it is being put on by the high school, I would steer clear. They are trying to sell you their services.

 

[mominwestlake]

Unless it is being put on by the high school, I would steer clear. They are trying to sell you their services.

This is what dh thinks too. I went to the company website and they offer all kinds of services (for a fee) for college-bound students. We don't have the money to pay.

 

[tommya60]

I'd second CollegeConfidential.com Lots of information, check out the home page for all kinds of links to specific areas of the site. The message board can be intense, but the financial aid area and parents forum have really helpful people.
If you have the time, attend the meeting--just don't sign up for anything. Start checking the local paper for similar meetings held by community organizations--the local American Assoc of University Women do them around here.

 

[lastminutemom]

College Confidential is a great resource, but I always tell people that it is like going to a fire hydrant for a sip of water.

There are lots of very high achieving parents on there, so you have to wade through the information to find what you are looking for. The parents on the board are generally the most helpful I have ever found on any discussion board.

Has he taken the SAT or ACT yet? My best advice, and I have a senior right now, is to have students take these test in their Junior year. This way, your can have an idea on what your son needs to work on in order to approve these scores and still have time to get it done.

 

[mominwestlake]

DS will take the ACT and SAT in late Jan and early Feb. I am worried about how he will do. He scored higher on the PSAT his sophomore year than his junior year which surprised me. He's in honors pre-calc now- took Honors Algebra 2 last year. We are looking at state schools mainly that offer pharmacy/and or engineering. He isn't sure which of those 2 yet. He keeps saying he wants to go to OSU but we haven't visited any schools yet- we will over spring break.

We have 3 more kids soon to follow DS to college. One in 10th grade this year and another in 8th grade. I want to really look into things now so that we'll know what to do with the next 3.

 

[Purseval]

I would think about having the 8th grader take the SAT and definitely make the 10th grader take it. Your SAT score can never go down, only up. If you wait until senior year to take it and you don't do well party's over. You also get familiar with the test format and more at ease when you go. They also send your scores to schools you pick and, if you do well early, you start getting invites for tours, summer stayovers, etc. My son started taking his SATs his sophmore year, he got a 1570 his junior year (it was actually a higher number but at the time most schools weren't interested in the new writing section so they only asked for the math/language numbers. 1600 would be considered a perfect score no matter how you did on the 3rd section) He's a junior at Georgia Tech now.

If you think high SATs are good, that's true up to a point. When we were really interested in this sort of stuff I read that Harvard rejects 75% of its applicants that have perfect SAT scores so heed the advice of the folks who say a well-rounded resume is the best, especially for the more competitive schools.

 

[mominwestlake]

I would think about having the 8th grader take the SAT and definitely make the 10th grader take it. Your SAT score can never go down, only up. If you wait until senior year to take it and you don't do well party's over. You also get familiar with the test format and more at ease when you go. They also send your scores to schools you pick and, if you do well early, you start getting invites for tours, summer stayovers, etc. My son started taking his SATs his sophmore year, he got a 1570 his junior year (it was actually a higher number but at the time most schools weren't interested in the new writing section so they only asked for the math/language numbers. 1600 would be considered a perfect score no matter how you did on the 3rd section) He's a junior at Georgia Tech now.

If you think high SATs are good, that's true up to a point. When we were really interested in this sort of stuff I read that Harvard rejects 75% of its applicants that have perfect SAT scores so heed the advice of the folks who say a well-rounded resume is the best, especially for the more competitive schools.

I will have my sophomore take the SAT or ACT in the spring. She is only in honors geometry though. Does anyone know what level math the ACT or SAT goes up to? How can an 8th grader do well if they haven't gone that far in math?

Wow- a 1570! That is awesome! What is your son majoring in? More and more people have been telling ds that engineering isn't a good field to go into so that is why he is now thinking about pharmacy. I don't know if it is true or not.

 

[2TxAgs]

Finaid.org has good info - will explain what is considered an asset for the FAFSA, as well as some ideas for maximizing your financial aid package. A key point is to minimize income/capital gains/bonus money received in the kids JR year, as that is the 'base' tax year for the first FAFSA application.

Our local library has been a good resource. Call the HS and ask if/when they will be presenting info for parents on college admissions/aid. If your childs HS is not offering such a night/presentation, check other high schools in your area and attend one of theirs. (No one is checking names at the door, at least in our area)

You may find savingforcollege dot com helpful.

Good luck,
TxAg

 

[msmayor]

I think what's important to point out is that "need" is determined by a formula, not by what you have in the bank and what your bills are. Trust me when I tell you that your jaw will drop to the floor when you see what your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) is.

Suppose you pick a school that has a total cost of attendance that is $30,000 per year. If your FAFSA computed EFC comes in at $26,000, then your "need" is $4,000. And not every school meets full need, and not always with "free" money. Remember that loans ARE considered financial aid, and many schools offer loans in their aid package.

There are calculators out there that will give you a preliminary figure. I suggest putting your current information in one of those calculators so you can see what type of number you're looking at.

 

[punkin]

Trust me when I tell you that your jaw will drop to the floor when you see what your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) is.

Yup! Just filled out the FAFSA for DD17 for next year and while I knew we would get little, if any financial aid, I was shocked at how much the EFC actually was. I was over half our take-home pay!

 

[mominwestlake]

Finaid.org has good info - will explain what is considered an asset for the FAFSA, as well as some ideas for maximizing your financial aid package. A key point is to minimize income/capital gains/bonus money received in the kids JR year, as that is the 'base' tax year for the first FAFSA application.

Our local library has been a good resource. Call the HS and ask if/when they will be presenting info for parents on college admissions/aid. If your childs HS is not offering such a night/presentation, check other high schools in your area and attend one of theirs. (No one is checking names at the door, at least in our area)

You may find savingforcollege dot com helpful.

Good luck,
TxAg

Do I have this correct? DS is currently a junior. We will fill out the FAFSA next January (2011). The info will be from the tax year 2010 to 2011?

I definitely need to see what is considered an asset. We are also trying to pay off all credit card debt that we incurred during the bad economy (2009) that hit dh's business very hard. I doubt they look at your bills when they are figuring your EFC. Do they look at mortgage payment amount?

 

[msmayor]

Do I have this correct? DS is currently a junior. We will fill out the FAFSA next January (2011). The info will be from the tax year 2010 to 2011?

I definitely need to see what is considered an asset. We are also trying to pay off all credit card debt that we incurred during the bad economy (2009) that hit dh's business very hard. I doubt they look at your bills when they are figuring your EFC. Do they look at mortgage payment amount?

For FAFSA purposes, the mortgage amount is not considered...and neither is your home equity. The only type of debt that some schools will consider as an exception is unusual and extreme medical bills, and there is no place on FAFSA to list that. That would be an appeal you'd need to make with an individual school.

Your household bills aren't considered at all. They don't care if you live in an area with a high cost of living. A certain $$ value of parent assets is "protected" and backed out of the total for computation; none of the student assets are protected. I believe if you have a 529 that is considered a student asset and will figure heavily in the EFC computation.

Its important to realize that an assets are figured in different ways depending on the methodology of the school. CSS Profile schools measure assets differently than FAFSA-only schools. Profile schools will look at your equity and I believe retirement savings, and they may value business assets differently. For FAFSA, you don't report retirement savings at all (and that's only retirement savings in specific, tax-sheltered plans...you can't just say "well that basic savings account is for retirement"). My daughter only dealt with FAFSA-only schools so I don't have any first-hand experience with Profile schools.

 

[allison443]

If you google for an online EFC calculator, that can be helpful in giving a general idea of what your EFC will be according to the FAFSA, without actually filling out the FAFSA.
Also be aware that financial aid awarded may be in the form of grants (which don't have to be paid back), loans, and work-study jobs. Sometimes people think financial aid means all grants, which is not the case.
Generally there is an expectation that the family contribution will come from past earnings (i.e. savings), current income, and future income (i.e. parents taking out loans, accessing home equity, etc.). My understanding is that having more than one child in college at a time is beneficial for financial aid purposes. OP it sounds like your kids are two years apart so that will help you in the future.

Good luck to your son!! It's an exciting time!!

 

[jjohnson]

Do I have this correct? DS is currently a junior. We will fill out the FAFSA next January (2011). The info will be from the tax year 2010 to 2011?

I'm wondering the same thing. I have a DS17 junior too & thought that we do not complete the FAFSA until 1/2011

 

[punkin]

I'm wondering the same thing. I have a DS17 junior too & thought that we do not complete the FAFSA until 1/2011

yes you are correct. I just did one for DD17 and she is a current senior.