How the increase will effect regular decision applications remains to be seen although it is generally expected that this year will be one of the largest application years in history because the number of high school students is expected to peak this year or next.

Early decision increases were noted at the following colleges:

Dartmouth College                        Up 10%

George Washington University      Up 30%

Hamilton College                          Up 8%

Haverford College                         Up 13%

New York University                      Up 1%

Northwestern University               Up 15%

St. Olaf College                             Up 50%

Union College                               Up 8%

University of Richmond                 Up 14%

Warren Wilson College                  Up 30%

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Early Decision Applications Up at Many Colleges

College is expensive. Four years of college is going to cost you between $80,000 and $200,000 depending on whether you are looking at attending a public or private college. When spending that kind of money you want your dollars to work their best for you. College counselors focus on finding the right college for you so that you will not need to transfer at a later date. Although there are several potential problems with transferring colleges, one of the biggest is the loss of credits that often occurs in moving from one college to another. And loss of credits leads to…

Taking more than four years to graduate from a four year college. Unfortunately, loss of credits is but one small reason that many students fail to graduate in four years. In fact, the majority of students do not graduate in four years. Instead, they take five, six or more years to graduate or they don’t graduate at all. In the process, they are not only paying for additional years of college but they are also losing out on years when they could be working.  Good college counselors will be able to help you find colleges appropriate for your needs that will get you out in four years.

Many college counselors will also be able to guide you in the search for a college that makes the most economic sense to your family. Does the college offer just need based aid or do they provide merit based aid that might decrease the cost of college for those students most desired by the college. What percent of your need does the college meet? A college that meets all of your need is often cheaper to your family than a less expensive college that does not meet all of your need.

There are thousands of colleges in this country. Paying a college admissions counselor to help you find the best college for your needs might just end up costing you less money in the long run than doing it your self. And don’t be misled by news reports of counselors that charge $40,000 to counsel students. The vast majority of college admissions counselors charge substantially less for similar services.

The bottom line? It doesn’t hurt to talk to a college counselor and many offer a free limited consultation to discuss your needs. Give one a call and see what they can do for you.

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Why Hiring a College Admissions Counselor in Difficult Economic Times Makes Sense

The latest financial aid news from Cornell has three components. First, they will be elminating a parental contribution for families with income below $60,000 and assets below $100,000. Second, need based loans for students that have financial need and whose family income exceeds $120,000 will have their yearly loans capped at $7,500. Third, the parent contribution will be reduced for those families with income above $60,000 a year.  Under the previous announcement, Cornell has already eliminated need based loans for students with family income below $75,000 (starting in fall 2009) and caps need based loans at $3,000 a year for those students with family income between $60,000 and $120,000.

I congratulate Cornell on enhancing their financial aid particularly in these difficult economic times.

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Cornell University Increases Financial Aid

The colleges listed have a wide range of admission difficult from very selective to not very selective. The ratings list the cost of the colleges for both in-state and out-state students. Also listed is such helpful information as the four year graduation rate of the colleges and their average debt at graduation.

As always I am not a huge fan of ranking colleges but this resource does have some very good information to start the evaluation of what a college might cost a family. I say start, because the stated cost of the college is only the beginning point for determining what a college will cost your family. For further information on determing the cost of a college for you family look at my article on financial aid basics.

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Best Values in Public Colleges

While the advantages of finishing college in four years seems obvious, most people never consider a college’s four year graduate rate when choosing a college. Most people just assume that a four year college means … well, that you finish in four years. But the reality is that the time it takes to graduate from many colleges often far exceeds four years. As an example, in Minnesota, where I am located, the four year graduate rate ranges from 91% to 18%.

There are all sorts of reasons why some students don’t graduate in four years and many are legitimate reasons. But if only 16% of students graduate in four years, something is wrong. When investigating colleges, students need to be aware of the four year graduate rates at the colleges in which they have an interest. If the graduation rate seems too low, ask questions of the college. If the graduation rate is poor because they are admitting students that are not prepared to handle college level work, will you be challenged in the classroom? If the college claims the problem is that students can’t afford to pay for the cost of college, then your financial aid package is unlikely to be generous. Maybe you should consider other colleges that are more generous with their financial aid.

There are several ways to determine the four year graduation rate at a college but one of the easiest is to use the College Navigator website from the US Department of Education. Spend a few minutes investigating colleges and you may end up saving thousands of dollars by actually graduating in four years.

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How Long Does it Take to Graduate from College?

Many sources have reported the increased cost of college under the doom and gloom category. What is being lost in all of this noise is the fact that while the cost of colleges rose last year, so did the financial aid available to pay for college. In a companion report, “Trends in Student Aid,” the College Board reports that total grant aid (the free money), and total federal loans, both increased by 5.5% after adjusting for inflation. Also significant is the finding the the amount of private loans, those not backed by the federal government, decreased by 1% last year. Private loans traditionally have had higher interest rates and less protection than federally backed loans and are thus less desirable.

No one likes to see the cost of anything increase. Colleges, besides contributing to the public good, are also businesses that have to pay salaries, pay for increased health care costs and increased fuel costs. Despite the recent downturn in the economy the actual cost to the students is not much different than it has been in the past. The long term ramifications of this downturn may affect future financial aid awards but for right now, there is no need to panic.

Now, more than ever, it is critical that students and their parents understand how financial aid works. If you are a new reader to this blog and haven’t heard me rant on this subject before, head on over to our page on Financial Aid Basics.

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Financial Aid Up at Colleges

I generally recommend that students take a practice SAT and a practice ACT in the fall of their junior year. You should take the practice SAT test from the collegeboard and the practice test from the ACT. You can take the practice test at home but it should be under similar conditions to the actual test. In other words, work straight through the test, time each test and do not allow any distractions. After taking the two tests, determine on which you have the higher score and focus your test prep efforts on that test. To compare the test scores you can use this SAT/ACT concordance table.

Once you have determined which test to take then you need to decide if you want to prepare for the exam yourself or with the help of a test prep company. If you decide to prepare by yourself, then you will need to take as many practice tests as you are able. If you are focusing on the SAT I generally recommend The Official SAT Study Guide. If your focus is on the ACT I would recommend The ACT Prep Guide.  The reason I recommend these study guides is that they have actual past tests from the companies giving the test.

As you take these practice tests pay particular attention to those questions you get wrong. If you can understand why you got a question wrong, it is less likely that you will get a similar type of question wrong later. If you follow these suggestions you have a great chance of doing your best on the standardized tests.

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How to Prepare for the SAT or ACT

I generally recommend to the students with whom I work that they start official testing at the January SAT or the February ACT. The March SAT or April ACT are also acceptable first test dates.  The student can then use the May or June test date for their second test. Rarely do I recommend that they test for a third time if they have adequately prepared before starting to take the tests.

By using a test schedule where all of the testing is done before senior year, the student has more time to  identify which schools are most appropriate for their needs and at which they meet the basic admissions  criteria. Having identified which colleges they wish to apply to, the student has time to start working on their essays during the summer before senior year. This schedule also allows a student that wishes to apply early decision sufficient time to have all parts of their application ready by the early deadline.

And best of all, by getting the SAT or ACT out of the way in the junior year, students no longer have to worry about what to do if they get a bad score their senior year, with little time to re-take a test.

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The Best Time to Take the SAT or ACT

This list could even be expanded if you included all of the colleges that have eliminated loans in their financial aid packages in the past year and those that have strong need based aid. For students from lower income families these colleges will also pay for your tuition leaving, at most, a small amount for room and board.

Along with understanding financial aid as I wrote in my last post, this new site adds another dimension to the search for the best college for your needs when considering cost.

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100 Free College Rides

One of the critical factors that is not being considered or discussed by most of these articles is the need to understand how college financial aid works and how it varies from college to college. For new readers to the blog who are not familiar with some of these issues take a look at my basics of financial aid.

It is critical to understand financial aid issues at all times but even more so now with difficult economic issues facing many households. A simple example will illustrate my point. If you are considering three colleges how do you know which might be the cheapest for your family. If College A meets 100% of your need, College B meets 80% of your need and College C meets 60% of your need, which is the better deal? Even if College A is the most expensive, it may be cheaper than the other colleges because of the financial aid you would receive. Most people’s reaction to a loss of value in the stock market or in the value of their home is to look at the college with the cheapest stated cost. Yet, very often, this “cheap” college will end up costing you more money in the long run.

Even if you are considering a state college you are probably facing at least $80,000 in cost for your education. Where else would somebody consider spending $80,000 without understanding what the real cost of the item will be? Become educated consumers and find the best college for you while saving money.

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Paying for college in difficult financial times