If you have been reading about college admissions for a while, you may already know some of the financial aid basics like what an EFC is. And if you’ve been following me for a while, you likely know what an NPC is too. However, the list below also includes financial aid questions you may not…
Update: As of 1/19/21, the College Board has announced that they will be discontinuing SAT Subject tests “Should I take SAT subject tests?” is a common question – among students that have actually heard of the SAT subject tests. As with so many college admission topics, the answer to this question is, “It depends.” At…
As a college consultant, I am frequently asked for my best advice for families undertaking the college search and admissions process. I find it nearly impossible to narrow it down to just one piece of advice. And generally, my advice is tailored to my specific audience. But, if I had to only give one piece…
So, you’ve accepted that as unbelievable as it seems, it is time for your high schooler to begin visiting some colleges. You’ve navigated the college websites and gotten a couple of visits scheduled. But what do you do while you’re there? And you’ve got lots of questions – how do you know what kind of…
An academic scholarship. If you have a good student, you may have always assumed that this will be their free ticket to college. Unfortunately, it’s not that easy. The good news is that there IS merit aid available to academically-talented students. The bad news is that the most highly selective schools in the country…
College honors programs have existed at some universities for seventy years. But, more have popped up in the past twenty years and now it would be hard to find a state flagship school or any large public university without its own honors college or honors program. They are not created equally and they are not…
While college admissions interviews are not the norm, they are not uncommon either. Even if a college interview is offered, it’s sometimes not mandatory. But, if any of the colleges on your student’s list offer the option, your student should seize the opportunity. Interviews are a great chance to impress admissions officers and they can…
I have a confession: Until last winter, I was anti-college fair. There were a number of reasons for that. The major one was that we were able to visit all the schools on Kids #1 and #2’s college lists at some point prior to college application time. We were not as fortunate for Kid #3…
The FAFSA and CSS Profile open up on October 1st. If you have a student planning to attend college next year, now is the time to get familiar with these financial aid forms. Before completing the forms, you will need to compile some of your financial information (okay, just about all of it!), as well…
Those of you that know me, know that I’m a fan of CTCL colleges. But not everyone knows what that even means! “CTCL” stands for “Colleges That Change Lives.” The designation came from a book by that name, published by Loren Pope over twenty years ago. His goal in writing the book was to…