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So you've been accepted to college. Congrats!
I would encourage each and every one of you to retake the ACT to get your scores up, even if you're already happy with your score. Even if your score is satisfactory you might get even more money from the school with a higher ACT score. For example, the Excellence Award at Mizzou is $2,000. A student qualifies for this if they are in top 25% and have a 27 on the ACT. But if they get just one point more and score a 28, along with being in the top 5% of their class, that amount goes up to $4,500. That's more than double the original amount! Keep that in mind when you are thinking of whether or not to take the next ACT. Lots of students want to start at a 2-year college before going on to a 4-year school. This has many advantages: you can save a lot of money and you can have a little more time to explore your career options, for starters. However, if you plan to go this route, make sure you are focusing your energy.
Preparing for transfer begins on the first day that the student begins at the community college. In fact, it begins in high school. What high school students forget is that community college is college. They have important standards that they have to meet. Because they have this transition coming up — in two years or three years, whatever it might be — is to begin planning, however tentative, what they’re going to do. So they might say, “Well, I don’t know what I want to major in.” That’s fine. Then start taking some general-education courses. Communication is key, as well as planning ahead. Make sure you do the following:
When you are exploring a community college, ask these questions:
So what happens when you transfer? Your four-year college will look at the courses you took and the grades you earned at your two-year college and decide how much credit to give you. Each course is worth a certain number of credits, often three, and students need to earn enough credits, usually 120, to graduate. Here are more transfer facts:
The main challenge is making sure that the courses you take at the community college will transfer to the program and to the institution you want to go to. Students have to ask and ask again to make sure that they are in fact taking the courses that are going to prepare them well for that transition to the four-year institution. Visiting college campuses is not only fun, but super important! You wouldn't buy a car without test-driving it, would you?
College is a big investment of time, energy, and money, so make sure you love the college you are going to! Visiting campus lets you get a sense of the campus environment, the kind of people that go there, and what your classes will look like. On tours, you are typically lead around campus by a student ambassador who goes to school there. This is great because you can ask them questions about college life and get a student's perspective. You will usually get a broad sense of campus by seeing the main buildings, the student dorms, classrooms, the student center, library, and rec center. You usually also get a chance to eat in the dining hall and see what kind of food they serve. This is your chance to ask questions! Ask the tour guide about anything you've been wondering about, from what kind of clubs are on campus to what's the best pizza place in town. Keep it appropriate of course, but ask what you are really wondering. Many schools have open houses and specially designated tour days for interested students. If you can't go to one of these open houses, feel free to set up an individual visit with the admissions office. It's as simple as calling up the college and setting up a date that works for you!
Last week, I covered free money. This week, I'm going to talk about borrowing money! You borrow money for many things in life: cars, houses, home improvements, etc. Borrowing money shouldn't be taken lightly, but don't discount it right away. A house will hopefully increase in value over time due to improvements and such; in the same way, educating yourself will make you more marketable and more hirable. You are increasing your value by educating yourself. Borrowing money should be seen as an investment in yourself. Loans are good tools to get where you want to be--employable. Let's jump right in--I want to cover all the different types of loans. Here we go! The loans that are the most common and have the lowest interest rates are federal student loans. Eligibility is determined by when you fill out the FAFSA. The two types of federal student loans are Federal Direct Loans and Federal Perkins Loans. Let's look at the difference. Federal Direct Loans
Federal Perkins Loans
The types of federal student loans most students work with are direct unsubsidized and direct subsidized loans. The difference between these two loans is that with subsidized loans, the loan does not build interest while the student is in school. With the unsubsidized loan, the loan builds interest. The Perkins Loan is based on financial need. Make sure your school participates in the Perkins Loan Program, as not all schools do. Compare different federal loans below with this handy-dandy chart! You, too, can be like this cat: flush with cash! One of the biggest concerns I've heard about applying to college is the cost. I won't lie; college is costly. But you know what's even more costly? Not going to college. College grads out-earn high school grads by 1.2 million dollars over their lifetime! The question then becomes how to pay for school. Let's look at Mizzou for our example of how scholarships work. A Missouri student going to Mizzou for the 2014-2015 school year can expect to pay a total of $20, 926 for tuition, books, and room and board. That's a lot of money! Keep in mind, though, that this is the sticker price. The sticker price is the total amount it costs to go to a certain school, but you will not pay that full amount, so don't let it scare you too much. All schools offer automatic scholarships to their students. These are scholarships that the school gives to students who meet the requirements. The higher your ACT score and GPA, the more money you will receive. Let's take a look at one of Mizzou's automatic scholarships, the Chancellor's Award. In order to qualify, you must have the following:
After receiving automatic scholarships, you will have to apply for competitive scholarships through your college. The deadlines for these differ, and you need to apply for these. Deadlines are generally around January, but double-check. Let's say you receive an extra $2000 through competitive scholarships at Mizzou. Your cost is down to $10,426. That's half of the full amount! And we're not even done. You will get money from the college you apply to, but you also need to apply to private scholarships. These are available in the counselor's office, under the "Scholarships and Financial Aid" tab here on my website, as well as on my Facebook. You also have to do some looking on your own. Let's say you enter the AES Engineering Scholarship. It's a simple essay contest and the prize is $500. You win the $500. You also win the Horatio Alger Scholarship, which requires that you write an essay and have a 2.0 GPA. The prize for that scholarship is $5000. So you win $5500 from private scholarships, which brings your total cost down to $4926. That's a lot more manageable than $20,926! How you come up with the rest of that money is up to you. You can use savings, work while you're in school, and/or take ou
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AuthorHi! I'm Ms. Coyne. I'm the college advisor at St. James High School in St. James, Missouri. Archives
January 2015
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