September is College Savings Month! Saving for college can seem like one of those long, arduous tasks that never ends… like figuring out what to make for dinner for the rest of your life, perpetual laundry, etc.
I know there are a couple of fears out there when it comes to saving for college. They’re super real, and it would be silly not to address them.
Some common fears stop us from saving for college. Let’s address these so you can jump right in and start saving.
1. The Fear of Believing You Won’t Save Enough
Are you worried that you’ll never be able to save enough? Do your eyes get wider and wider every year as college costs rise? Worries about not being able to save enough may be enough to stop you before you even get going.
Here’s the deal. You may not be able to save enough money to pay for every penny of your child’s college education — I get how it can get you down before you even start.
However, here are some quick reminders:
Your child may qualify for merit-based scholarships.
You can take advantage of a tuition installment plan. (Don’t forget how much purchasing power your monthly income has!)
The sticker price is just a starting point. I don’t know a single student who paid the full sticker price to attend our institution when I worked in admission.
Price transparency may continue over time. A handful of schools have started to reduce their costs using something called a tuition reset. It attempts to offer more transparency in the college cost landscape. Check out an article I wrote about tuition resets for the “Journal of College Admission” and what they mean.
Colleges may be getting more creative in the pandemic’s wake. For example, check out Unity College’s new Distance Education and Hybrid Learning plan, where students can choose to take only one or two courses per term to be full-time and can choose online, in-person or a combination of both.
Federal financial aid is usually easy to get.
Bottom line, try to save as much as you can, even if it’s just a little bit.
2. The Fear of Getting it Wrong
It’s hard to start something new. It’s even tougher when you think you might get it all wrong. So what do we sometimes do? That’s right — never even start.
How do you get over the fear of doing something big in your life?
That’s right — you just take a deep breath and do it.
For the longest time, I was afraid of planting a garden. I wasn’t sure how to do it, despite the fact that I grew up helping my parents pick green beans. My parents always planted a vegetable garden (they still do!) — full of delicious zucchini, tomatoes, green beans, sweet corn and more. You know, though, when you’re a kid, you don’t really pay attention to allll the details — how to plant the seeds, when to plant them, how to make the rows and more. Plus, I was worried about whether or not I’d have time to keep up with the weeds.
But one spring, I said, “Enough is enough. We’re going to have a garden!” My husband and I took the plunge, tried it, and we’ve had a garden for two years now. No more excuses!
Did we fail? Yeah — our tomatoes didn’t grow the first year. I think we ended up with only six pea pods. But we got better the next year! Our tomatoes are flourishing right now and we have more than we could ever eat. We’ve had to give oodles away to the neighbors!
Even if you don’t get quite started the way you want on your college savings plan, you can pivot. The point is, get started and go from there.
Fortunately, many college savings plans (like 529s) you can enter your risk tolerance, child’s age and your investment gets more conservative naturally. In most cases, it’s impossible to mess it up!
3. The Fear of Thinking You’re Behind
Has your best friend been saving for college for 18 years — before her child was even born? And you haven’t been able to save that much all?
Your child is more likely to go to college if you’ve saved just a little bit. Even with savings of less than $500, a child is 25% more likely to enroll in college and 64% more likely to graduate compared to a student with no savings, according to a study from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL).
4. Thinking You Don’t Have Enough on Hand to Save
Worried about not having extra cash to plump up a college savings account? What if, instead of agonizing over this, think of it as the fun part. How creative can you get?
Can you manipulate your budget?
Sit down and divide your expenses into “needs” and “wants.” “Needs” should only include those necessary items, like rent, utilities, groceries and school supplies.
Anything else that isn’t an essential expense should be put into your “want” category. “Wants” include coffee runs, entertainment and nice clothes that aren’t required for a job.
Can you make more money?
What if you made some spare cash every month and vowed to dedicate this to college savings? Do you have a specific talent or skillset?
What is the best thing that you can charge $10 for? Do that, then do it 10 more times! Can you make crochet hats? Can you sell your PR skills? Make birthday cakes? Babysit? Serve as a sales consultant? Figure out what it is that you can do so well that someone else will pay you money to do it.
My friend Angela makes these gorgeous signs for her company, Touch of Twine Design. They are so beautiful. They’re white with a beautiful script font — and can say anything. Her customers order inspirational quotes, poem snippets, Bible verses — whatever they want. The money she makes goes into a college account for her two boys.
Another couple I know scavenged pallets on the side of the road, at work at a manufacturing facility and more to make furniture, sold it online and made a lot of money.
The sky’s the limit. What talent can you offer the world?
5. Not Knowing How to Save
It’s a case of too many options, isn’t it? You can invest in regular savings accounts, CDs, 529 plans, UTMA/UGMAs, Roth IRAs, custodial accounts, and on and on.
Can you invest in stocks for college? Sure! Just like you can invest in regular mutual funds, bonds and more investing options we’ve listed.
Is this your only option? Of course not!
Stocks
A stock is an investment in a specific company. You buy one share of a company’s earnings and assets when you buy a stock. Companies sell shares of stock in their businesses to raise cash. You can sell stocks when they increase in value and this method can also result in high returns.
Bonds
You lend money to a company or government when you buy a bond. Your bond purchase allows the bond issuer to borrow your money and pay you back with interest.
Bonds offer lower returns but do come with the risk that the bond issuer could default on its payments. (However, bonds are typically very safe investments.) Government bonds are the safest investment because they’re backed by the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government.
Mutual Funds
Mutual funds are bundles of stocks, bonds and other investments. You can purchase a large number of these types of investments in one transaction. You pay a professional manager to invest your money. It’s typically more expensive to buy mutual funds than stocks or bonds because you pay a middleman to manage that money.
Index Funds
An index fund is a type of mutual fund — but there’s a difference. An index fund passively tracks an index. This means you don’t pay a money manager to pick and choose investments for you. For example, all S&P 500 index funds follow the performance of the S&P 500 by holding company stock within that index.
Exchange-Traded Funds
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are also a type of index fund because they also track an index. Like index funds, they are not actively managed and less expensive than mutual funds.
The difference between index funds and ETFs is that ETFs trade on an exchange like a stock — you can buy or sell throughout the trading day as the price fluctuates. Mutual funds and index funds, on the other hand, are priced once at the end of each trading day.
Certificates of Deposit (CDs)
When you buy a certificate of deposit (CD), you give your financial institution money for a specific time period. When that time period is over, you get the amount you originally invested, plus a prespecified amount of interest. The longer the loan period, the higher your interest rate. Note that you’ll have to pay penalties if you take your money out sooner.
How do you invest in any one of these types of investments?
Go to an insured financial institution like a bank or credit union for a CD or government bond.
You can go to a financial advisor for a mutual fund.
You can find mutual funds, index funds or ETFs through a discount broker like Robinhood or a large broker like Vanguard.
Just remember, investing in a 529 plan offers more tax benefits for approved educational expenses — but a 529 plan isn’t your only option.
6. Fear of Future College Costs
Ahhhh… This is a tough one. Use a college calculator like the College Board’s College Cost Calculator to determine how much it may cost to send your child to college for four years. I plugged in some numbers and it informed me that in 11 years, it’ll cost me over $311,000 to send my child to college.
I understand the the numbers look scary. However, I still come back to this:
Merit-based scholarships take care of a chunk of the costs.
Not everyone needs to (or should) shop for a top-name school. You can still find lots of high-quality colleges and universities among the elites.
Gems glisten everywhere. Don’t discount the liberal arts college down the street because it may be able to offer a connection that you can’t find anywhere else.
A Stanford study says “fit” is more important than rankings. I really do believe too many students and families rely on college rankings published by well-known organizations to define quality. The higher the ranking doesn’t mean it’s the best fit for your child. The study found that the “metrics used in these rankings are weighted arbitrarily and are not accurate indicators of a college’s quality or positive outcomes for students.”
Do I even need to write any more?
Quick Story
I chatted with Laurie Kopp Weingarten, president and chief educational consultant at One-Stop College Counseling, and she told me a great story.
“Several years ago I had a straight-A student with strong test scores and interesting extracurricular activities who was a bit lacking in self-confidence. She felt strongly that she should attend a college where she would be the ‘big fish in a little pond’ instead of the ‘little fish in a big pond.’ It was very important to her that she choose an institution where she would be at the top and be recognized as a superstar.
She set her sights on a public university with a 70% acceptance rate. She did apply to other colleges, including those that are much more selective, and was actually accepted into every school she applied to. However, she stuck with her plan to attend the public university.
She SOARED there. She was at the top of her class, where she won all sorts of awards. She is well-known at the school, and they’ve asked her to assume all sorts of leadership roles. She has made mini-promotional films for the school, and now, as a recent alumna, they’ve asked her back to speak multiple times.
In this case, she didn’t feel up to attending a highly selective university where the competition would be fierce. Instead, she decided to choose a school that isn’t overly competitive and where she would stand out. It paid off with lots of internships and job offers, and it built her confidence.”
Yessss! This is exactly what I’m talking about.
Best Reasons to Look for a Non-Selective or Moderately Selective College
Most people think the only reason your child would want to look for a non-selective college is because you couldn’t hack it due to poor academic achievement. Not so. There are lots of great reasons to opt for a less-selective institution.
1. Your Child May Be More Likely to Get In
Obviously, the fact that your child can get in is one of the reasons to apply to non-selective colleges.
How do you find out whether a college is selective or not? Take a look at its admission requirements. Most colleges list their admission requirements, which may look something like this:
Graduate from an accredited high school or equivalent by the time of enrollment.
Rank in the upper half of your high school graduating class.
Have ACT or SAT-I scores high enough to predict probable success. Note: ACT and SAT test scores may not be required if you’re applying for admission right now. Many colleges do not want to place undue hardships on students who cannot take the ACT or SAT due to closed testing locations.
English: Four years, including literature
Math: Two or more years, including algebra, advanced algebra and geometry
Social studies: Three or more years, including American and European history
Sciences: Two or more years of lab science
Foreign language: Two or more years
That may be the extent of a college’s requirements! You can also call an admission counselor for more information about specific college selectivity.
2. Your Child Will Still Take Rigorous Classes
Make no mistake — it’s a challenge to get through organic chemistry at just about any college or university. Lower selectivity institutions definitely offer rigorous coursework.
Just because your child’s valedictorian of her high school class or achieved a 34 ACT doesn’t mean that she won’t feel challenged at a lower selectivity institution.
Some less selective colleges let academically talented students work with faculty on research projects as well.
Students at lower selectivity institutions may also receive more personalized attention from staff.
Some lower selectivity institutions smaller classroom size with hands-on teaching may be more conducive to learning than a large lecture hall format.
You may get to know classmates and faculty closely and form lasting personal or professional relationships.
You child may get more opportunities to work on projects, connect to internships through faculty and gain valuable job experience.
3. Your Family May Experience More Personalization During the Admission Process
Less selective schools must work a little harder for their students. That means you and your child reap the benefits. In other words, highly selective colleges and universities don’t have to work nearly as hard to recruit students — they naturally come to them. That means that less selective institutions must do the hard work of calling, emailing, texting and even engaging students on social media.
You’re more likely to get one-on-one attention from an admission counselor who must carefully work through an application list. As an admission counselor, it was my job to personalize the admission process as much as possible. I would try to learn:
Students’ goals
Other schools on their list
Their favorite things (we once sent a box of Wheaties to a student because we knew it was his favorite cereal!)
Connections they’d already made with others at the college
About their families and friends
Anything else I could think of!
We made the college search process a personalized experience — and that might just happen if you’re looking into a less selective institution.
4. The College Application Process is Less Strenuous
Chances are, your child won’t have to worry about a complicated application process if he or she is looking at a less selective institution. Here’s a quick overview.
Regular Admission
Regular admission means your child can apply to as many colleges as possible. An application submission deadline varies between institutions. Regular admission deadlines typically fall in early January and admission offers get sent out in late March or early April. Your student has until May 1 to either accept or decline admission offers. (Your child may not encounter this type of admission, either.)
Rolling Admission
When I was an admission counselor, our college used rolling admission. Rolling admission means a college releases admission decisions regularly instead of sending them all out on one target date.
An admission committee will only review your child’s application as soon as all required information is in. Colleges that use a rolling admission policy usually notify applicants of admission decisions quickly. (Students learned of an admission decision within two weeks at our college!)
Rolling admission decisions are non-binding. This means that your child will not be required to attend that school and will not need to make a decision until May 1, which is National Candidate Reply Day.
Open Admission
Open admission means a college accepts any high school graduate (no matter what those grades look like) until all spaces in the incoming class are filled. Two-year community colleges immediately come to mind — most community colleges have a two-year open admission policy. Note that a college with a general open admission policy may have certain admission requirements for specific programs.
Your child probably won’t encounter these types of admission at lower selectivity institutions:
Early Action (EA), which means your student has the option to submit an application before the regular deadline. Early action plans are not binding, which means that your child is not required to attend.
Early Decision (ED) means your child can submit an application to his or her first-choice college before the regular deadline and get an admission decision earlier than usual. Early decision plans are binding, which means your child must attend that institution.
Single-Choice Early Action or Restrictive Early Action means your child is not required to attend if accepted. However, if using this method, your child may not apply to any other school during the early action period only.
5. Lower Costs
You’ll typically find lower selectivity institutions in areas that also include lower costs of living (not big urban areas). The savings on rent and tuition might be worth it.
Your child may be able to get an academic scholarship. Many colleges give half or full-tuition academic scholarships to students who have a very good high school GPA, ACT or SAT scores and class rank. The most selective colleges will not award your child a merit scholarship.
“We had a student who wanted to study business. Although she was accepted at multiple selective programs, she chose to study at Bentley University (45-50% acceptance rate), where they placed her into the honors program, provided her with a large scholarship, and of course, she received all the perks that came along with the honors program. She loved feeling like she was the top of the class!” says Kopp Weingarten.
Kopp Weingarten also said, “We also had a student who chose a large public university in the Midwest where she could use her AP credits to get advanced standing, basically entering as a sophomore. She graduated in three years, saved tons of money and was accepted into a top-tier Ph.D. program.”
6. College Selectivity is Not a Reliable Indicator of Learning, Job Satisfaction or Well-Being
The Stanford study found no significant relationship between a school’s selectivity and student learning, future job satisfaction or well-being. Furthermore, the study found only modest financial benefits of attending more selective colleges — and that applied to first-generation and other underserved students.
Individual student characteristics (background, major, ambition) may make more of a difference in terms of post-college outcomes than the institutions themselves.
7. Learning Engagement is Most Important
Students’ learning among a campus community may offer the key to positive outcomes after college, according to the Stanford study. For instance:
Students participate in service learning and thrive when they apply what they learn in the classroom to real life settings.
Students are successful when mentors at the college encourage them to pursue personal goals.
Those who are successful after college engage in multi-semester projects.
8. Grades May Be Higher
Your child may be more likely to graduate with honors at a less selective institution.
“When students apply to medical school, the two most important aspects of their applications are their GPA and their MCATs,” says Kopp Weingarten. “We had a student who felt it might be difficult to maintain a high GPA at a highly competitive college where everyone was aiming for ‘A’ grades. He chose to attend a college where he felt he could keep his GPA high due to the lower competition at the school. Due to the fact that he was at the top of their admit pile, he received a huge scholarship and only paid about $10,000 a year for a private college. It worked out for him because he graduated with a near-perfect GPA and was accepted into medical school. He then had the money he saved to put toward paying for medical school.”
Great example.
Think Carefully About College Selectivity
The main drawback of graduating from a less selective college is brand recognition. However, there are other things to think about, such as whether your child actually ends up graduating. Plus, if your child plans to go to graduate school, nobody cares where he or she goes for an undergraduate education.
Colleges with higher selectivity are also much more likely to graduate students than those with lower selectivity. However, once your child does graduate, there’s little difference in life outcomes, as the Stanford study suggests.
“Sometimes, the most highly selective schools can open the door for a candidate (job or graduate school). But what really matters is how well the student performs at the school they are at. The school doesn’t make the student successful — it’s up to the student to do that on their own,” says Kopp Weingarten.
Tip: Check the financial solvency of institutions your child is interested in (particularly those small private colleges that were already in trouble before the pandemic). Some have already closed. Attending a lower selectivity public school is less of a risk because if those institutions close, students will still be a part of the state system.
My daughter started second grade (in-person instruction!) Thursday morning. Off she went, clad in a little purple mask and a tiny plaid dress.
We don’t know how the year will go. Maybe kids will all be home by November. Maybe they’ll manage to dodge all sickness and everyone will make it to May.
Who. Knows.
The only thing we can all do is make the best decisions we make for our families and our kids and keep moving forward, right? Even if your child’s in high school, you’ve got the same worries. It’s hard to see your child’s retreating back disappear into a long hallway.
The blight of the academic changes last semester left many high school experiences high and dry, and you might wonder if your child’s high school career is crumbling.
Here are a few ways you can keep your high schooler on track! Don’t forget to get my high school checklist for quick tips for launching the college search at the start of this year.
Check in on Academics
High school disruption happened to an unprecedented level this spring. However, that doesn’t mean that your child can’t catch up or choose to go a different route.
Here’s what I mean by this. Here’s a quick scenario.
Jessica didn’t do well in Algebra II last semester. The combination of no in-person instruction and trying to get extra Zoom help from her teacher still didn’t work well. Her teacher had a hard time explaining some of the concepts to her without seeing her worksheets in person.
Jessica’s not sure what she should do this semester. She’s back in school for the time being, but she’s also back to online learning.
Here’s another scenario:
Ben missed a whole semester of individual trumpet instruction from his band teacher. He wants to be a college professor and brass instructor when he graduates from college. He still practiced, but he needs individual instruction. Zoom classes from core classes like math, science and social studies took up all his time.
Even if your child is in classes right now, you may need to be prepared for another at-home semester. You may have other options. Don’t settle if the experience last semester wasn’t the right route for your child:
Take the class somewhere else. Look into a community college option.
Get into class with another teacher.
Find out what tutoring options are available or whether in-person instruction is a possibility.
Tap into Extracurriculars
Lots of things got pushed to the wayside this spring — including extracurricular activities and athletics. Some states plan to move forward with the fall athletics season as scheduled and others have already modified plans, including shifting the entire fall season to 2021.
Meet Coaches Online
Naturally, college coaches have shifted to digital recruiting. This means coaches will rely more heavily on online recruiting networks like Next College Student Athlete (NCSA) to discover, communicate with, evaluate and recruit talent.
Help your child beef up his most recent information, including grades, highlight video and more. This will make student-athletes more searchable to college coaches. Recruiting will depend on what happened last year.
Can your child do camps, showcases, tournaments and more? If so, sign up.
Check out this summary from NCSA:
80% of college coaches do not expect impacts to their athletic program’s scholarships.
A majority of coaches say that COVID-19 will impact their recruiting timeline for their 2021 class.
39% of coaches believe that their recruiting timeline won’t encounter delays.
46% of coaches expect a recruiting delay.
15% of coaches believe recruiting will speed up.
Try to Continue Clubs and Organizations
Even if your child starts the year with at-home learning, find out if there’s a way to continue student council, Key Club, National Honor Society, Future Farmers of America — whatever it is that your child’s into! Get on Zoom, help coordinate if you can. Find out who the teacher sponsor is of the club and organization so your child has the best chance of continuing those activities.
It might be impossible to continue certain activities with remote learning (like running club) so look for alternatives. Can your child start a solo running club and members keep track of their running individually?
Be creative and help your child brainstorm other ways to continue extracurricular activities.
Know that Colleges Understand
Know that above all else, colleges understand what students are going through. If your child says, “I couldn’t complete my last semester of Future Business Leaders of America because of the pandemic,” they’re going to understand. In fact, admission offices are looking for more ways to evaluate students and come up with ways they can evaluate your student’s character, motivation, creativity and more.
So, in light of the pandemic, what did your student do? Did he come up with a way to help people during the pandemic? Did she gather supplies for people in the hospital during the pandemic?
The more your child can do to stand out, the better that college application will look.
Just don’t worry about missing out on things — more than ever, colleges will have to roll with the punches.
Don’t forget to download my free high school checklist you can be taking now for the college search!
Freshmen may not believe their journey starts right now, but it does. Now’s the start of school and there’s no reason to wait!
We’d occasionally get emails or letters from students that would explain their bad grades — loss of an important family member, students’ own illnesses, traumatic event, lack of motivation, switch to a different teacher, lack of maturity, etc.
Colleges do take that information seriously — things happen. However, it’s best not to plant those seeds of doubt.
Anecdotally, in the admission office, we found that a high predictor of college success were students’ grades in high school — more than SAT or ACT scores. The variable that generally reflects the strongest correlation with college academic achievement is the high school GPA, according to the National Association for College Admission Counseling.
So, how to prepare for college as a freshman in high school?
Naturally, it’s up to you to have that conversation with your child before school starts.
Grades Matter, Starting Now
You knew that would be the first thing, right? It’s really hard to change the tide of bad grades as a senior and high school academic success paves the way for college success. High school grade point average is still the highest predictor of a student’s likelihood of graduating from a two- or four-year college. Although any single grade is imperfect, when averaged over a high school career, the grade point average is an excellent predictor of how a student will do in college.
Here’s a scenario: Meredith knows she’ll be able to slide through high school because of the community college’s open admission option — that anyone can get in, no matter their grade point average. Meredith believes that she can “take it easy” freshman year because, if all else fails, she can go to the local community college.
However, research shows that putting effort toward grades in high school is essential, according to the American Federation of Teachers. In fact:
Students who don’t do homework end up with 1.2 years less education and 19 percent lower earnings than average.
Students doing 15 hours or more a week of homework attain almost 1.5 more years of education and attain 16 percent higher earnings than average. Isn’t that amazing?!
Steps to Prepare for Freshman Year
Freshman year may look a whole lot different than your child may have envisioned. Here’s what you can do to help your child prepare for college. (Yes! It’s time to have these conversations now!)
Roll with Remote Learning
A few moms I know have their kids all set up with remote learning. Danielle has set up a six-foot long table for her five kids and they all study at the same time, like a one-room schoolhouse. Tracey’s high schooler studies in a common living space — not in his room. Here are a more tips for remote success:
Limit distractions. As much as you can, keep kids away from their phones, Netflix, the refrigerator (“I need snacks ten times a day to study, Mom!”) and more.
Stick to a routine. If your child has a Zoom class at 10, suggest studying for that class at the same time every day. Write out a schedule in advance and align it as closely with your child’s class schedule as possible.
Look at actual textbooks. It’s taxing to look at a screen all day — you may understand if you sit at a computer all day long! Check out blue light-blocking computer glasses if your child has no choice but to stare at a screen all day!
Fix any difficulties with classes. Is your child having trouble with classes due to distance learning? It may be hard to adjust to learning trigonometry online. Find out whether the teacher offers study sessions outside of class and can demonstrate how to do complex math problems or teach Shakespeare individually. AI tools for studying can also be a great supplement, offering personalized explanations and practice problems for tough subjects.
Examine Eighth Grade Experiences
College success is linked to high school preparation — and that starts now. Use eighth grade as a springboard for the conversation. Ask your child:
What worked well in eighth grade?
What do you wish you would have done differently in your classes in eighth grade?
How would you do things differently?
Is there a better way to stay organized this year?
Classes will be more involved this year. How do you think you’ll plan to study?
What do you think is the secret to success?
What classes do you think will be a challenge/not as much as of a challenge? How will you handle each?
Take College Prep Classes
Make sure the plan includes college prep classes:
English: Keep in mind that colleges like to see four years of English.
Math: Colleges also like to see four years of math. Math classes should include at least four of these classes: Pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, algebra II or trigonometry, precalculus and calculus. If your high schooler is having a hard time with math, let him try an AI-powered math solver that explains complex concepts in digestible bits.
Science: Take at least three years of laboratory science classes (check specific school requirements) but a fourth year is still a bonus. Make sure your child plans to take biology, chemistry and physics.
Social studies: Most colleges require at least two years of social studies or social science, including world history and U.S. history, government, sociology, geography or psychology.
Foreign language: Many colleges require a minimum of two years of foreign language while in
Arts: A small number of colleges require at least one year of visual or performing arts.
Cultivate Good Study Habits
It’s best to start freshman year with good study habits so your child is used to implementing them each year of high school.
Here are some tips:
Determine your child’s most productive study hours. Does your child do better in the early morning? Late evening? During study hall? Extracurricular activities might make it tough to be picky, but try to cater to your child’s best hours.
Encourage your child to get plenty of sleep. Teenagers need between nine and nine and a half hours of sleep (in fact, studies show that most teenagers need exactly nine and a quarter hours of sleep!) according to Nationwide Children’s Hospital. The need to study might hinder your child’s sleep cycle but try to hit those nine-and-a-quarter hours as much as possible! It’ll make your child more productive in school and during study time.
Make sure your child has all necessary resources. Does your daughter do better when she’s got a laptop in front of her? A quiet room? Does your son need a special calculator? Does he do well studying in the midst of chaos (at the kitchen table)? Make sure your child’s set up for success wherever that may be.
Help eliminate distractions. Netflix off, phone in quarantine. What other distractions normally bug your child during study hours? The cat running circles in the dining room? The neighbors coming over at the exact same time every night?
Check in. Keep a mental check of what
Know what’s due. Now, this doesn’t mean you have to know every single math problem assigned to your child. Just know in the back of your head
Come up with ways to keep grades up. What went well last year? Did your child’s grades measure up to what you expected? Did your child think he could have done a little better? Make a list of ways (together!)
Talk About College, Starting Now!
Let’s step away from the academic conversation for a second. There’s other stuff to talk about!
Talk About College Money
It’s never too early to have conversations with your child about how much you’ve saved for college. In fact, it’s really important — it will help your child understand his college options. Talk to your child about how much you’ve saved, how much you can help out per month during college and more.
It helps frame the college conversation a little bit more and gets your child ready for what’s ahead. Student loans might be a part of the college cost equation, and the earlier your student knows that, the better.
Here are some topics you might want to consider talking about:
Actual college costs vs. sticker price
Loans and their implications
The importance of scholarships
Your own experience paying for college
The difference between grants, scholarships, loans and more (hint: scholarships and grants are free money!)
In-state versus out-of-state tuition
Talk About College Preference
It’s also not too early to talk about where your child thinks he might “fit” best — community college, private liberal arts college, state university, etc. Describe the differences between each and learn more:
How is a state university different from all other options?
Is a technical school or online institution a better fit?
You may not know the answers to these questions right now, but it’s time to start thinking about them.
Things Could Change in a Heartbeat!
We aren’t sure what’s going to happen during the upcoming school year. If your child’s started out online, maybe it’ll continue for the foreseeable future. Maybe your child’s taking classes in person right now but you know all this could change!
Carefully examine the ways you can help this year get underway successfully — it’s going to take some creativity and maybe even a few pivots, too.
Now that it’s back-to-school time, your child (or you!) may be in paralysis mode. Are you ready to launch the college search?
It’s okay to say no.
I know that it’s easy to feel completely unprepared, especially when the college search is changing so much right now.
I thought of five myths right before breakfast. I’m channeling the show “MythBusters” because my 12 years in college admission means I’ve seen it all.
Here are eight quick myths about college admissions, the college search and saving for college that I’m attempting to bust forever.
Myth #1: I shouldn’t save for college right now because of market volatility.
Market volatility can actually benefit you right now. The downturn in the markets means that you’ll be getting your investments “on sale.” Let’s say you just had a newborn. A portfolio diversified with a mix of stocks and bonds means you can buy shares of his 529 plan with less money.
Here’s what happens when the market goes up: You’ll still have that exact number of shares when the market goes back up — and they’ll be worth a lot more money.
It’s a really, really good idea to save for college right now.
Myth #2: It’s too late to save for college if my child’s in high school.
Let’s say your child is a high school junior and you’re thinking it’s too late to save for college.
You should save. There’s a really good reason for that, too. A study showed that it’s more likely that your child will go to college, even if you don’t have a lot saved. The study said that if parents save a small amount (less than $500), a child is 25 percent more likely to enroll in college and 64 percent more likely to graduate than a child with no savings. The study is from the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.
In a nutshell, the study says that a low-to-moderate income child with school savings of $1 to $499 before college age is more than three times more likely to enroll in college than a low-to-moderate income child with no savings account and more than four and half times more likely to graduate. In addition, a low-to-moderate income child with school savings of $500 or more is about five times more likely to graduate from college than a child with no savings account.
Myth #3: “Shoulda, woulda, coulda” is helpful in the grand scheme of things.
I looked back on something I wrote in 2017: My daughter turns *gasp* four years old this week. Gone are the days of that sweet little voice chirping, “ma-ma.” Now, she’s deftly picking out “cat,” “in,” and “hat” while we read. (Yes, we did read “The Cat in the Hat” for a bedtime story tonight.)
I work in undergraduate admission at my alma mater, Central College, and just for a bit of fun (with a heart attack on the side), I decided to check out College Board’s college cost prediction for her in 14 years. (A really short amount of time, mamas!)
If she makes the same college choice I did, it’ll cost $137,125 (sticker price) for her freshman year alone.
Cue jaw drop.
BUT! The admission professional in me says—nobody pays full sticker price. TRUE! Plus, there are scholarships, grants, loans, etc. YES! Plus… parental savings. Right.
Believe it or not, it’s possible to save for college. There are more savings options than ever, from prepaid tuition plans to tax-deferred accounts to 529 plans.
Also… this. One of the coolest things I use (and won’t shut up about) is www.upromise.com. Upromise Rewards is a free loyalty program, in which you can earn cash back for college on “what you already do and buy,” which is exactly what the website touts. You can shop online, go out to eat, buy groceries, book a vacation, and earn cash back for doing it.
Example: We have plans for a family wedding in Mexico this November. My credit card’s registered on the Upromise.com website. I can go through Upromise.com to book a flight on Expedia. Right now, they have a deal going on that travel is 15 percent cash back through March 31. Voila — 15 percent of our flight cost funnels directly into her 529 plan.
This works for grocery stores using grocery coupons, at popular websites such as Gap, Ann Taylor, Kohl’s, Neiman Marcus, J.Crew, The Children’s Place, diapers.com — the list goes on!
Ultimately, every little bit helps. Every little bit! Anything I can do to chip away at that $137,125 (ugh… that just hurts to type…) is win-win for me and my four-year-old’s future.
So… Did I use UPromise religiously?
No.
Do I invest in my daughter’s 529 plan every month, without fail?
No.
Life happens. Expenses come up. Mice happily invade your vehicle and you need a new van (guess what happened to me this summer, folks!).
There’s no sense beating yourself up if you couldn’t do all the things. Move forward, save every penny you can and get back on track when you can.
Myth #4: It’s a good idea to write a laser-focused COVID-19 college admission essay.
It’s a good idea to encourage your child to rethink the “COVID-19 Staycation” title and, if possible, avoid it altogether. The truth is, unless your child used COVID-19 to launch an amazing social justice program or helped people affected by COVID-19. Admission application readers may not want to read about the virus in thousands of essays.
Encourage your child to pick another topic!
Myth #5: It’s not worth it to get to know the school counselor at my child’s school.
You’re missing out on a treasure trove of information if you and your child neglect to stop in the school counselor’s office at the beginning of this year. I was an admission counselor at a college for 12 years, and do you know what I did when I visited high schools?
Sure, I talked to students. But I always took it one step further. I talked to school counselors in depth and even more, I made sure to ply them with treats from our local bakery and do a deep dive on:
Academic programs
The culture of the campus
Athletics and our awesome coaches
Former high school students from that school with great success stories
The beautiful campus (“Have you been there, Mr. School Counselor? Here’s a coupon for free treats in the bakery! You’ve gotta make a road trip!”)
And so much more!
I always tried to give school counselors a list of these highlights and answered all their questions. It was so fun! Now, here’s what you can be doing right now:
Have your child meet with the school counselor. Make sure you join in on the conversation. It’s time to check on classes, make sure that class success is still possible with a new schedule and whether your child has enough college prep classes worked into the school schedule, too. Don’t forget to check out 8 Important Questions to Ask Your School Counselor Right Now.
Have your child put together a resume. The school counselor will be able to use it to refer you to scholarships later.
Participate in school counselor activities. Does your child’s school counselor plan to have a back-to-school Zoom night? A parent information night? Participate! Remember, that school counselor is a trove of information.
Have your child send a follow-up note. Teach your child to send a thank you note whenever someone does something kind for him. A great meeting with a school counselor warrants a thank you note, and remember, that kind of thanks often goes rewarded. (Who will the school counselor think of first when a new scholarship comes across her desk, perfect for your student?)
Myth #6: We’ll pay the sticker price at colleges.
Please take this to heart: Almost nobody pays the sticker price.
They really don’t. When you look at the costs list at a college and see that it costs $50,000 per year, it might only cost you $20,000. It might even cost less than that! Lots of schools are sticking their necks out for students in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. There may be brand-new aid available to your child!
Please go through the application process, file the FAFSA and get the financial aid awards from colleges — even if you’re scared away by the sticker price. A school with what looks like a prohibitively high sticker price might cost less than you think.
Myth #7: Test-optional admission doesn’t really mean test optional.
No, it does. They really do mean it. In fact, there’s a list of colleges with test-optional policies that say they will not penalize students for the absence of a standardized test score. These schools endorse a student-centered, holistic approach to admission that will not disadvantage any student without a test score.
You may have also heard something called a “character movement” showing up in the college admission landscape.
What’s that?
Colleges are starting to put more weight on students’ character for admission purposes — like social justice, citizenship and more. The tricky thing is that it’s hard to measure. However, if your student can prove outstanding characteristics like grit, tenacity, intellectual curiosity and problem-solving skills, that’s a good thing.
Major changes may be afoot — but the bottom line is that test optional really does mean schools don’t require the ACT or SAT.
Myth #8: I’m in charge of my kid’s college search.
Would you believe that in a handful of cases, I could see that moms filled out the college application for their kids? It’s hard to watch kids flounder — to sit for hours in front of a blank screen as he tries to write a scholarship essay. But remember, this is your child’s journey. Forget the college application checklist (just for a second!) and read this!
Here are a few ways you can divide up tasks. Your child should be able to:
Set up Zoom meetings with admission counselors
Set up in-person college visits (when you feel comfortable, of course)
Scholarship research and applications
Here are a few things you can do as a parent:
File the FAFSA
Figure out the logistics of college visits (transportation, hotel stays, etc.)
Talking to the financial aid office at various colleges (but have your student listen to those conversations!)
Busted!
Myths: Busted! To help you out, I’ve also put together a back-to-school checklist just for you that also busts some myths about the college search.
Everyone needs this checklist because let’s face it, launching the college search is hard — and it’s easy not to know where to start. Get my free Start-of-School College Search Checklist from College Money Tips — you’ll have it in your hands in no time!
3. The Fear of Thinking You’re Behind
