How to Get a Homeschooled Student Into College
Homeschooling is catching on, and colleges are becoming increasingly sensitive to the needs of homeschooled students in the admissions process. However, there are still things that a homeschooler must do to ensure that their child is as competitive as he or she can be. Read all about these tips in my newest article, The 9 Things Homeschoolers Must Do for College Admission
Have a question or comment? Leave me one.Don’t Worry About the Money: Why Stressing About Student Loans is Unnecessary
I find that students worry about money far more than they should. These worries start during the applications process when the high tuition price tag leads many to make admissions decisions on the basis of finances. Don't do this. Every college in the nation has plans set up to help you afford its education. For most students, educational loans are a necessity. And these types of loans should never frighten you.
Student loans are very different than other types of loans. While you may be seen as a credit risk if you hold $1000 in outstanding credit card debt, carrying twenty times that or more in educational debt does not have the same financial stigma (assuming you make your minimum monthly payments, of course). These types of loans are considered "good debt" because they represent an investment. Further, students loans are incredibly common. 65.7% of graduates go into the real world with loan repayment beckoning and with an average debt of $19,237.
Colleges loans common and harmless, and may even help you financially as well if you're smart about repayment. Consider these comments from John of FreeCollegeBlog.com:
If the student loan is subsidized, chances are that your best bet is to make the monthly minimum payments and forget about it. Most investments, even safe ones like government bonds, can get a better interest rate than what you're paying to the student loan. It might just be 1 or 2% difference, but over the life of the payments you could earn thousands more from investing than you saved by avoiding the almost non-existent interest fees.
In other words, you might actually be able to make money by intelligently investing the capital you've earned as a result of your education. Read the rest of John's investment analysis in his Pay off students loans, or invest? article.
The major point to take away is that educational loans are not scary. It may be daunting now to look ahead to the future and see an eventual debt of $30,000 and a repayment plan stretching 10 years after graduation, but this should never influence your ultimate application decisions. Notice that in my 10 things to think about when picking a college article, I never once mention the cost. Pick a school that you love without worrying about the money. You never know when a handsome financial aid package will be dropped in your lap, even potentially after you've already become a student.
Have a question or comment? 1 person does.Why You Can’t Buy ‘10 Items or Less’ and Other SAT Grammar Errors
Reader Carly F. wrote me in response to the article, Top 11 Grammar Mistakes the SAT Hopes you Make to ask about another common error:
I heard that when grocery stores say "10 items or less" that that's actually wrong. Is that true? And if so, what should it be?
Great question, Carly. And believe it or not, this is a grammar question that I have seen pop up on the SAT writing section several times. The correct answer is that the sign should say, "10 items or fewer."
The general rule is that if you can count the things you're talking about, you should use the word 'fewer'. If you can't count them, use 'less'. Since we can count 'items', we should say "10 items or fewer." The same is true for the opposite words 'greater' and 'more'.
Don't be confused by the rule about counting. The distinction is this: we may be able to count cups of coffee, but we can't count 'coffee' itself. So we say, "you should drink less coffee" or "you should drink fewer cups of coffee." Likewise, while we can count grains of sand, we can't count 'sand' itself. "This beach has less send" or "this beach has fewer grains of sand" are both correct.
This rule also applies to 'amount' and 'number': "If the amount of studying you do is high, you will score better on your SATs and get into a larger number of colleges."
'Fewer' and 'number' are words that we use so infrequently in the English language that they may as well not exist. But while these distinctions are now archaic and known only by the staunchest of grammarians, the SAT will expect you to know the differences. Earn those easy points by remembering these rules.
Thanks again, Carly. This grammar rule has been added to the common SAT grammar errors article.
Have a question or comment? 2 people do.10 Ways to Fail the FAFSA
You may have already submitted your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) -- and if not, you really should -- but have you reviewed your submission to make sure that it is free from errors? One out of every seven FAFSAs contain a mistake which can delay processing and may even result in your form being returned.
Now that your eyes are fresh and you don't have to focus on the nitty gritty numbers, return to the FAFSA website to review your form. You have until September 22 to submit any corrections. To help you, fellow college guide College Tidbits published 10 common errors students make:
- Leaving fields blank - Many students skip fields when the answer is zero or if the question is inapplicable. Do not do this. Instead, write in a zero. A blank response will be interpreted as a mistaken omission.
- Using W-2 information for income - The FAFSA requires the information that is found on the 1040 federal tax return (or 1040A or 1040EZ forms), not the W-2. Make sure that you and your parents have entered this information correctly. If you or your parents have not filed taxes this year yet, you may estimate the values and then submit a correction later.
- Forgetting to report all income - Things like Social Security, child support, and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) income sources are often neglected. Some scholarships will also need to be reported. Don't forget about other assets like bank accounts, stock portfolios, or retirement accounts either.
- Neglecting to sign the application - This is one of the big mistakes that will result in having your form returned. If you're a dependent (even if you're living away from home and even if your parents don't fund your college education in any way), both you and your parents must sign the FAFSA. If you file online, you may use your PINs. Your parents should have received a PIN as well.
- Waiting on your parents - You may be great about getting your taxes done on time, but many adults will get as close to April 17th as they possibly can before filing. If your parents are one of these types of people, don't wait for their taxes before submitting your FAFSA. Always make your best guess for now and correct it later.
- Filing late - The priority deadline has already passed, and so have a few state deadlines. It's not too late to file your FAFSA if you have not done so already, but aim to get it done as close to the January 1st opening as possible.
- Forgetting to file every year - Many students forget that the FAFSA has to be completed and submitted for every year you plan to be a student. Doing it once is not enough.
- Read more tips at College Tidbits.
If you have questions, consult the FAFSA's FAQ section on their web site, or call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED AID (1-800-433-3243).
Have a question or comment? Leave me one.What Parents Don’t Know About Financial Aid Will Hurt Them
35% of parents think that the college financial aid office is their best source of information for paying for college, according to the March 2008 issue of University Business. And while these parents are correct that the financial aid office is a good source of information, they should be wary to call it the 'best'.
Remember that a college financial aid counselor is there to assist you with specific information about how the university handles particular financial issues. While they are terrific when offering advice about how to, for example, report a private scholarship a student has earned, many parents ask questions outside the scope of their training. In other word, their job is to divvy up the college's limited financial aid money to all of a school's students, not to make sure that a particular student pays as little as possible.
While colleges try to be as fair as possible in constructing financial aid packages, families should never rely solely on the information that the university supplies freely to you. You should make a specific effort to draw out as much assistance as you possibly can, especially when initially evaluating colleges. To help you in this process, I have written a new article, The 7 Questions You Must Ask to Save Thousands in College Tuition.
Why You Must Grab Attention on your Application, and How
I once asked an admissions officer at a large, public university for a candid answer about how much time they actually spend reading an application. The answer surprised me. "About one minute," the officer said. It is somewhat disheartening to know that an application you have spent countless hours on is captivating for only a single minute, but it does highlight the importance of making sure you grab a reader's attention quickly and give them a quality -- albeit short -- experience.
Ivy League-focused IvyClassified.com finished its two-part series on "The Time Factor" yesterday, and offered some useful tips. As to why it's important to grab attention, IvyClassified said this:
Admission officers love reading some applications. They want to get excited, but it is your job to get them going. Time pressure leads to a trade-off between applications, and the you cannot expect the reviewer to dig through details to find something they want. You have to make something pop out at them.
The solution for how to 'pop' is a difficult one. I have previously discussed the risks of overdoing application flair and advise students to avoid 'clever' ideas like chocolate sculptures or Scrabble boards. IvyClassified agrees in its second post, saying:
[U]nusual acts make it seem as though you do not take your application seriously, so why should the admission officer? [In addition, y]ou will notice that most applications warn against sending extra materials. Admission officers don't have the time and experience to evaluate the unusual.
A better solution IvyClassified offers, and I agree with, is to "spend your time perfecting the large amount of materials you already need to submit." An admissions committee is attempting to compare your qualities as a potential student with the qualities of other applicants. If you send them things they haven't asked for, it becomes more difficult to compare you.
Colleges already ask for a great volume of information that they believe is sufficient to make these comparisons. If they thought they needed more, they would have asked for more. So instead of trying to stand out with unusual materials, try instead to grab attention with what you are already sending. Offer an unusual anecdote in your personal statement, or highlight an atypical job in your resume. Whatever it is that makes you unique, emphasize it to show your strengths. You might also find my article on how to express diversity in the personal statement helpful if this applies to you.
In the end, remember that you could have only one minute to convince an admissions officer to accept you. Try to read your application as they would and make sure your packet pops.
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