Getting financial aid
First, you need to determine your expenses for college such as tuition, books, transportation, housing costs and food. Then you need to determine how much you and your family are able to contribute to your education. The difference between these amounts is considered your financial need.
Applying for financial aid requires effort and determination. Each college has a financial aid office. When you are visiting schools, it is a good idea to stop by this office, ask questions and pick up the paperwork necessary for application. Some colleges offer need-based financial assistance. In these situations, the less money you or your family has, the greater the chance that you can receive financial assistance from the college.
It’s also important to find out how each school defines part-time and full-time students. Your financial awards could be affected by how many courses you take each semester. For example, allowances for room and board may be eliminated entirely for students enrolled less than half time. Be sure to check with the financial aid office about all options available at the college.
You can count on having to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid form that is online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. Many libraries and financial aid offices also have a hard copy. Start looking into this your senior year and check your college’s due date. You will also need your tax return from the previous year and your pay stubs. Additional information may be required. You can send this application to six schools. Being early and accurate in your application is considered to be one of the most important steps in securing aid.
Check with your guidance office to see if there is a specific person that works with students on financial aid options. Often schools will hold meetings during the evening or at other times for students and families to learn how to complete a FAFSA form, or the guidance office will provide Web sites for you to explore various scholarship or loan programs.
Scholarships
There are several ways to locate scholarships. Each scholarship has different criteria, application processes and deadlines.
1. Check the College Board Web site to search scholarships.
2. Ask at your high school for information about local scholarships.
3. For scholarships for persons with disabilities, see pages 15-19 of Creating Options: 2007 Financial Aid for Individuals with Disabilities [PDF].
Budgeting your money
Learning to manage your money goes hand in hand with getting financial assistance. You may be surprised how many credit card companies are willing to issue a card to you. Many times, you will be walking around campus and you’ll find a credit card representative wanting you to sign up for a credit card. Usually they will try and entice you with a freebie like a T-shirt. It is important to talk with a family member or someone who knows you well to discuss obtaining a credit card. If you are not a good money manager, it is not recommended to accept and use these cards while at school. Many companies charge high interest on unpaid balances.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Getting Financial Aid Part 1
Money matters
Going to college is expensive, but you do have some financial options. Generally, community colleges are the least expensive, followed by four-year public colleges, with the most expensive being the four-year private universities. Don’t rule out an expensive college of your choice until you have researched the array of financial aid options available to you. Most people will create their own financial aid packages that include dollars that their family can contribute, personal savings, awarded scholarships and federal loans.
What is financial aid?
Financial aid is monetary assistance that allows individuals to pay the costs of attending college when their own resources are not enough. Some aid, such as scholarships, does not need to be repaid, while other assistance, like loans, does need to be repaid.
There are four types of financial aid (Heath Resource Center, 2007):
1. Grants – Aid that generally does not have to be repaid.
2. Loans – Money borrowed to cover school costs, which must be repaid, usually with interest, over a specified period of time, typically after the student has graduated or left school. The interest on these loans is often reduced from general public rates.
3. Work-study – Employment that enables a student to earn money toward a portion of school costs during or between periods of enrollment. These usually on-campus positions are supplemented by the federal government. Students are awarded work-study positions through the Federal Student Aid application. However, a student must interview and be hired for each position that is worked.
4. Scholarships – Gifts and awards based on a student’s academic achievement, background or other criteria. Sometimes scholarships are one time only; others require the student to maintain a specific GPA to be entitled for renewal.
Going to college is expensive, but you do have some financial options. Generally, community colleges are the least expensive, followed by four-year public colleges, with the most expensive being the four-year private universities. Don’t rule out an expensive college of your choice until you have researched the array of financial aid options available to you. Most people will create their own financial aid packages that include dollars that their family can contribute, personal savings, awarded scholarships and federal loans.
What is financial aid?
Financial aid is monetary assistance that allows individuals to pay the costs of attending college when their own resources are not enough. Some aid, such as scholarships, does not need to be repaid, while other assistance, like loans, does need to be repaid.
There are four types of financial aid (Heath Resource Center, 2007):
1. Grants – Aid that generally does not have to be repaid.
2. Loans – Money borrowed to cover school costs, which must be repaid, usually with interest, over a specified period of time, typically after the student has graduated or left school. The interest on these loans is often reduced from general public rates.
3. Work-study – Employment that enables a student to earn money toward a portion of school costs during or between periods of enrollment. These usually on-campus positions are supplemented by the federal government. Students are awarded work-study positions through the Federal Student Aid application. However, a student must interview and be hired for each position that is worked.
4. Scholarships – Gifts and awards based on a student’s academic achievement, background or other criteria. Sometimes scholarships are one time only; others require the student to maintain a specific GPA to be entitled for renewal.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Interviews: Applying for college
More from the students interviewed about applying to college:
Jenna:
I went ahead and started getting my application for college at the end of my junior year, and with the application you fill it out, a lot of times you can do it online but I did a paper application so that way I could make sure everything was right and also wanted to make copies of it in case something happened and it got lost in the mail, or something happened online I wouldn’t be able to have that paper right in front of me. So you fill out the applications, usually you have to get recommendations from teachers, maybe somebody in the community that knows you very well, and you want to get it from people who will say good things about you, and people who know you well, know you very well, you don’t want to get relatives - a mom or a dad - but you want to get maybe a teacher that you’ve had for a couple of years, or that you feel comfortable with giving you that recommendation. And also you have to write an application essay. The essay doesn’t have to be like 3 pages. Most of the time sometimes you get to pick your own essay and write whatever you want and it’s about maybe a page and a half long. I think mine was about 2 pages. And then another college that I applied for, they actually gave you questions that you had to answer, and it was like 2 questions and had to be a page long for each one of them. A lot of the times the … the essay is optional but you want to make yourself stand out in front of all those other applicants, so put in the essay.
Maria:
I did disclose my disability in my essay. I think a lot of the college essays were asking like, who are you, why are you going to this school, and your family background or something. So for me, it just came up because it fit in the question. I don’t think I went out of my way to say it, if the question had been like well what do you think of world peace in 20 years or something, I don’t think it would have come up. But because it fit within the college application question, I did put it out there because I felt it was a unique part of me and the whole college experience, the application process is, you’re supposed to make yourself stand out. And I don’t think a learning disability is anything anyone should be ashamed of, so I felt it was something I could use to make me stand out from another student.
Andrea:
I’d definitely disclose my disability in my master’s level of my PhD level applications, but only to the extent, like very briefly to the extent to express why I was interested in the field I was … how my interest got sparked, how my research interests were sparked. And then I move right away from that right into my interests. That can be … I feel very careful about including that information up front. There’s a way to do it if you’re going to do it, to do it in a way that shows … how that helped you be where you are without going into incredible detail because you want the people in the college to focus on your academic ability, and then the disability is part of who you are but it’s not all of who you are and don’t want your academic ability and your other abilities to get overshadowed by the talk of disability up front. So I think it can be really good to put it in there, but like weave it into your story rather than it’s the primary focus of your story.
Jenna:
I disclosed my disability in my essay but I made sure that I talked about all my strengths and didn’t focus so much on my weaknesses and what I couldn’t do, but I focused on how it helped me become a better person in life and what I plan to do and my career goals.
Jenna:
I went ahead and started getting my application for college at the end of my junior year, and with the application you fill it out, a lot of times you can do it online but I did a paper application so that way I could make sure everything was right and also wanted to make copies of it in case something happened and it got lost in the mail, or something happened online I wouldn’t be able to have that paper right in front of me. So you fill out the applications, usually you have to get recommendations from teachers, maybe somebody in the community that knows you very well, and you want to get it from people who will say good things about you, and people who know you well, know you very well, you don’t want to get relatives - a mom or a dad - but you want to get maybe a teacher that you’ve had for a couple of years, or that you feel comfortable with giving you that recommendation. And also you have to write an application essay. The essay doesn’t have to be like 3 pages. Most of the time sometimes you get to pick your own essay and write whatever you want and it’s about maybe a page and a half long. I think mine was about 2 pages. And then another college that I applied for, they actually gave you questions that you had to answer, and it was like 2 questions and had to be a page long for each one of them. A lot of the times the … the essay is optional but you want to make yourself stand out in front of all those other applicants, so put in the essay.
Maria:
I did disclose my disability in my essay. I think a lot of the college essays were asking like, who are you, why are you going to this school, and your family background or something. So for me, it just came up because it fit in the question. I don’t think I went out of my way to say it, if the question had been like well what do you think of world peace in 20 years or something, I don’t think it would have come up. But because it fit within the college application question, I did put it out there because I felt it was a unique part of me and the whole college experience, the application process is, you’re supposed to make yourself stand out. And I don’t think a learning disability is anything anyone should be ashamed of, so I felt it was something I could use to make me stand out from another student.
Andrea:
I’d definitely disclose my disability in my master’s level of my PhD level applications, but only to the extent, like very briefly to the extent to express why I was interested in the field I was … how my interest got sparked, how my research interests were sparked. And then I move right away from that right into my interests. That can be … I feel very careful about including that information up front. There’s a way to do it if you’re going to do it, to do it in a way that shows … how that helped you be where you are without going into incredible detail because you want the people in the college to focus on your academic ability, and then the disability is part of who you are but it’s not all of who you are and don’t want your academic ability and your other abilities to get overshadowed by the talk of disability up front. So I think it can be really good to put it in there, but like weave it into your story rather than it’s the primary focus of your story.
Jenna:
I disclosed my disability in my essay but I made sure that I talked about all my strengths and didn’t focus so much on my weaknesses and what I couldn’t do, but I focused on how it helped me become a better person in life and what I plan to do and my career goals.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Letters of recommendation
Getting letters of recommendation requires some thought. It is best to ask adults who know you well and with whom you have had a positive experience to write a letter of recommendation. It can be someone from your school (i.e., a teacher, a guidance counselor, a sports coach or a teacher who oversees an after school club). Or it could be adults who you know well that are in your community (i.e., a neighbor you have assisted, an employer or a scout leader). You need to make sure that individuals writing a letter of recommendation know if you want them to include in their letter that you have a disability. Again, this decision is a personal one and if you decide that information about your disability can be included, the information needs to help demonstrate what you have accomplished.
The process of requesting letters of recommendation has some unwritten rules and expectations:
* Always ask individuals if they would be willing to give you a positive letter of recommendation to a specific college.
* Ask individuals well in advance of your application deadlines (at least two weeks, or if you are asking a teacher or guidance counselor, check with them about how long they need to get a letter ready for you).
* Gather all of the information the individual will need and give it to the person at one time — such as a stamped, addressed envelope; the recommendation form or information requested by the college; the program you are interested in studying; and also a summary paragraph of your activities related to this individual to refresh their memory or a sample paragraph of qualities or traits that you feel you exhibit.
* Send your references a short thank-you note for their time and thoughtful consideration.
The process of requesting letters of recommendation has some unwritten rules and expectations:
* Always ask individuals if they would be willing to give you a positive letter of recommendation to a specific college.
* Ask individuals well in advance of your application deadlines (at least two weeks, or if you are asking a teacher or guidance counselor, check with them about how long they need to get a letter ready for you).
* Gather all of the information the individual will need and give it to the person at one time — such as a stamped, addressed envelope; the recommendation form or information requested by the college; the program you are interested in studying; and also a summary paragraph of your activities related to this individual to refresh their memory or a sample paragraph of qualities or traits that you feel you exhibit.
* Send your references a short thank-you note for their time and thoughtful consideration.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Applying - The Essay
Each college application will provide guidance and instruction regarding your personal essay. Some colleges will ask you to write on a specific topic or will ask a series of questions for you to answer. Others will have a more open approach, allowing you to write on a specific topic of your choice. The essay is a way for a college to see a more personal side of you in addition to your application. All essays involve choice and your choices will reflect your preferences, values and thought processes. It is recommended that your essay be focused and specific. Your writing can reflect your organizational skills, your power of persuasion and your general mastery of standard written English. For more information, visit the College Board’s Web site.
Expect to write several drafts of your personal essay. This essay provides an opportunity to briefly express who you are, highlight your strengths, ambitions and values, and convince the readers that you would be a good candidate for their college.
Some students elect to briefly disclose (reveal) their disability in a positive way, especially when it has taught them an important skill or value, such as to be creative or “think outside of the box.” You should carefully consider this decision, and talk with your guidance counselor or teacher about including this information. If you decide to talk about your disability, remember to keep it positive and brief, and focus on your strengths and what you can do. Keep in mind that nowhere on the college application will there be questions about having a disability, so unless you tell them, the college will not know. Also, having a disability is not factored into your application review.
Share drafts of your essay with an English teacher or guidance counselor for input. Remember: if you are sending the same essay to a number of colleges, make sure you use the correct college name in the essay. This mistake is common and made by all students applying for college, so remember to proofread your work!
Expect to write several drafts of your personal essay. This essay provides an opportunity to briefly express who you are, highlight your strengths, ambitions and values, and convince the readers that you would be a good candidate for their college.
Some students elect to briefly disclose (reveal) their disability in a positive way, especially when it has taught them an important skill or value, such as to be creative or “think outside of the box.” You should carefully consider this decision, and talk with your guidance counselor or teacher about including this information. If you decide to talk about your disability, remember to keep it positive and brief, and focus on your strengths and what you can do. Keep in mind that nowhere on the college application will there be questions about having a disability, so unless you tell them, the college will not know. Also, having a disability is not factored into your application review.
Share drafts of your essay with an English teacher or guidance counselor for input. Remember: if you are sending the same essay to a number of colleges, make sure you use the correct college name in the essay. This mistake is common and made by all students applying for college, so remember to proofread your work!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)