by Melissa Brock | Apr 4, 2020 | Ask the admission office |
You had six college visits scheduled with your high schooler for April.
Well, needless to say, not anymore. You and your child may be feeling a bit deer-in-the-headlights about the college search process right now. (Learn more about how to support your child during COVID-19.)
But wait! Maybe you can still make a college visit happen. While a virtual visit will never — I repeat — never be the same as an actual, in-person visit, you can still visit virtually. Admission offices want to connect with you and your child now more than ever.
If you have a sophomore or junior and he or she is raring to start the college search process, here’s what you can do to get started.
1. Make friends with Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts.
First things first. It’s time to get comfortable with technology! If you’re working from home with your high schooler, chances are, you’ve already gotten pretty good at using Skype, Zoom, Google Hangouts and more. Colleges are using this kind of technology to schedule meetings with students.
If you’re still wondering how to set up a Zoom meeting, here are a few quick tips as you prepare to help your high schooler use any type of virtual communication:
- Use a tablet or computer to communicate with colleges. It’s easier to steady than a phone and may offer a more professional “feel” for your student.
- Your student may not feel comfortable talking live on a device — so practice. Have your son practice with his grandparents or make sure your daughter is contributing during high school social studies lectures.
- Plan to join your student. Your child may not give off vibes like he wants you to join in on a virtual meeting with an admission counselor, but he probably does! Inform him that on regular college visits, parents and students regularly meet with admission counselors together.
- Come up with a list of questions. In fact, list them out if you’re planning to talk to an admission or financial aid professional. It can help both you and your child feel more prepared. Talking on a device isn’t quite the same as speaking to someone face-to-face!
- Learn how to share your screen. You may need to share something to make it easier to communicate. Be sure you have certain documents saved on your computer in advance or access a Google document you might need ahead of time.
- Encourage your student to turn his or her video on when talking with college professionals. It’s really hard for others at colleges to interact with people they can’t see. Professionals at colleges want to be able to see how students react and take in information based on visual cues.
- Anticipate some questions. The admission office will likely have questions for you and your student. Things like, “Will you play soccer in college?” are easy to answer. However, “When do you plan to take the ACT?” might be trickier given these COVID-19 times. (That’s a great discussion question, by the way!)
You may need a lot of technology to help your child get through his or her high school classes anyway, so follow Zoom’s prompts for how to set up a Zoom meeting or any other technology you need to use. Most of the time, the admission counselor will invite you to the meeting and all you need to do is download and use the technology — so really, you don’t have to worry about how to set up a Zoom meeting yourself.
School counselors are using tech to plan, too. I know of a high school college counselor who’s currently holding Zoom meetings with families to talk through senior year schedules, financial planning and scholarship pursuits.
2. Contact the admission office at various colleges and universities.
Contact the admission office at the colleges on your child’s list of schools. Technology can make it possible for you to talk to just about anyone you’re interested in talking with at a particular college. Ask if you can talk with a:
- Current student
- Professor
- Admission counselor
- Financial aid professional
- Coach
- Study abroad advisor
The school may use an online calendar called Calendly to schedule virtual meetings. These virtual meetings could be hosted on Skype, Zoom, Hangouts or another platform. They’ll inform you which platform you need to use.
Make sure the preferred platform is downloaded ahead of time on your computer and you’re sure you know how to use it. Colleges are eager to use their screen to go over things with you and your high schooler!
3. Find out whether accepted student days or online information sessions can happen virtually.
How do you know whether the schools your child is interested in visiting are doing virtual visit days? You check out a Google doc to find out.
Sounds so 21st century, doesn’t it?
Green Apple College Guidance & Education created a handy list of virtual admission programs and webinars happening at schools across the country. You can also check the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s (NACAC’s) College Admission Status Update if you can’t find your child’s No. 1 on the list.
For example, DePaul University has set up two freshmen virtual visit options: an online information session and a virtual campus tour.
“We are hosting our accepted students day through Blackboard and using Microsoft Teams for those students that would like a virtual appointment,” says Jaclyn Cowell, transfer advisor at Bridgewater State University in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
Your child may be able to do a virtual tour as part of the visit day or do a virtual tour completely independent of a visit day. This is a great way to see the very best a college or university has to offer.
Remember, a virtual experience is a manufactured experience. Unfortunately, you can’t get a real sense of what the students are like, the “real” feel of a classroom or a residence hall and more.
4. Check the school’s social media accounts.
Encourage your child to check out social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and more so your child can interact with current students. Your student may also be able to interact with graduates from his or her high school who attend colleges on the list.
Your son or daughter can ask about academic life, social life, athletics, the arts, the food and other areas of campus that may be important to him or her.
Remember, what you’re hearing is very subjective — it’s coming from students! However, do have your child ask current students whether the college’s communication has been appropriate in light of the pandemic. It’s as good a time as any to find out whether a college has its emergency response (and its aftermath!) figured out, at least for the time being.
Finally, as always, use good judgment when interacting with people online.
Some colleges are also doing social media account takeovers. This means that current students are running the school’s social media accounts — within reason, of course. It’s a more interesting twist on administrative control over Instagram and Facebook.
5. Good old-fashioned email and phone calls never go out of style.
Let’s say you’ve already started developing a relationship with people from a particular college. Maybe you visited the school last fall or maybe you squeaked your visit in at the nick of time in early January — before COVID-19 was discovered in the United States.
Do you have a couple of simple questions that an admission counselor can answer? Is it easier to have a short conversation on the phone? Admission counselors and others at colleges are still working those phone lines!
Also, your student may notice that his or her email inbox is blowing up right now. Colleges have probably bought your child’s name from the College Board (PSAT/SAT) and ACT. Guess what? Your kid’s name is on the communication flow and is being recruited.
Email is still a great way to interact, plus, it might save you from having to learn how to set up a Zoom meeting!
6. Wait for the real thing.
You absolutely can wait until the fall (or winter) to start up your high schooler’s college search. Your approach may be to go on a fact-finding mission right now, with the intent to fire up a more robust search later on. It’s a great approach.
Again, there’s nothing better than the real deal. Once you see a junky residence hall room, you can’t unsee it. Once your high school junior sits in the most inspiring lecture in a packed lecture hall, the experience can’t be replicated. You can’t sample the cafeteria food from home or feel the same stadium vibe if you’re not actually at the football game.
To recap: In-person college visits are so, SO important.
Add a Dose of Patience
We’re living in extraordinary times. Whatever you decide to do right now is okay.
Also, don’t feel like your child is behind the ball. Colleges understand how you must be feeling. Remember, they want you and your child to visit and to apply. They’re hard-wired to be as understanding as possible during these extraordinary circumstances.
Sophomores and juniors are lucky — they still have time on their side. Yes, it may be tricky to squish in every college visit during junior year. But having a “can-do” attitude makes all the difference — and that even includes when you’re trying to learn how to set up a Zoom meeting!
by Melissa Brock | Apr 1, 2020 | Build relationships |
Your high school senior, junior or sophomore may not be thrilled about his or her new circumstances. “What do you mean, nobody knows when coronavirus will end?”
Sound familiar?
I talked with a colleague last week whose son, a junior in high school, was signed up for the April ACT. He had a lengthy meeting planned with his guidance counselor about his senior year schedule. Plus, he had two college visits scheduled for March and one in April.
Another friend’s daughter was set to make her college decision by May 1. She was looking forward to spending time with her friends during these last weeks and going to her best friends’ graduation parties.
As a parent, you may feel grief — the loss of things that will never be. No high school for the rest of the year, no springtime college visits, no graduation ceremony.
Your son or daughter may feel it, too. Now’s a good time to check in on everyone’s mental health. Here’s how to make sure your high schooler handles all of it well, follows the rules and manages to learn on top of everything else.
1. Make sure social distancing happens.
Yep, first things first. Teenagers may have a hard time wrapping their heads around COVID, never mind social distancing. High schoolers may developmentally have a difficult time “seeing” the temporary aspects of COVID-19 and envisioning a better future.
Again, social distancing. How many times have you had to explain to your child he can’t hang out in the basement with his usual group of friends?
It’s important not to minimize kids’ frustrations about not seeing friends. Jen DiSessa, parent of T.J., a sophomore, and Will, a freshman, says it’s also important to recognize that all kids are wired to have interactions in the real world, not just in technical spaces. “My boys are pretty anti-social,” she says. “That being said, my oldest told me the other day he needed to see someone he wasn’t related to in person, not on a screen. I think we forget that no matter how anti-social some can be.”
2. Support remote learning efforts if your child’s high school requires them.
It’s easy to back off trying to help with U.S. history after the first snarky, “I can do it myself!” (How do homeschool parents do it?)
Helping with online and virtual learning may never have been in your playbook, but it’s not in your child’s, either. Your child’s probably not super comfortable with a complete switch to remote learning after more than 10 years in a classroom.
Continue to offer your support, even if you think it isn’t appreciated.
“As much as our kids don’t ask for in-person communication, they certainly do need it,” says DiSessa. “They want others to experience these things with them!”
3. Continue extracurricular activities — if it’s feasible.
It may be heartbreaking to realize that the state track meet isn’t going to happen this year. Or that a soccer season is over before it even began. (Especially if you expected college coaches to witness the end of your child’s lofty high school athletic career.)
Is it possible to continue certain extracurricular activities? For example, maybe your daughter’s a thriving musician and she can continue her saxophone lessons on Zoom with her private tutor.
“Our daughter plays both tennis, softball and is also a musician. We have kept her active by continuing her private lessons in tennis and softball, and online piano lessons will begin this week,” says Lisa Knipe, mom to Molly, a freshman in high school. “It’s important to keep life moving in a forward motion so that when students are allowed to return to school and sports, they are prepared,” she adds.
Do what you can to keep things going. Help your child make conditioning, rehearsing and more happen while social distancing. (Hopefully, that doesn’t mean converting the basement to a full-blown workout facility!)
4. Encourage being flexible and adaptable.
Your child’s used to being in a regular classroom every day. He loves kidding around with other students, challenging his teachers and stuffing his face with six PB&Js at lunch.
Now, he’s been locked out of his teachers’ Google Drive documents eight times and has to learn how to use Zoom. To add insult to injury, he must be a teensy bit more motivated to complete some assignments without teacher lecture.
Now’s a great time for a big life lesson: Change happens.
Mindful.org has a great line for your kiddo if he’s willing to hear your advice: Open yourself up to learn different ways of doing things and learning. The more you gain confidence in uncertainty, the more adaptable you will be.
Believe it or not, lessons learned during COVID-19 can help during college and in the workplace. (How’s that for a silver lining?)
5. Help your junior (or sophomore) plan.
The only thing that sophomores and juniors need to hear right now is that it’s okay that the college search has ground to a halt. It’s a good idea to talk through a few things you know for sure. Juniors and sophomores will experience:
- Delayed standardized test-taking. (ACT switched its April 4 test date to June 13 and the May 2 SAT is canceled.)
- A drastic change in college visit timing.
- Curriculum and extracurricular activities will get stuffed into the next academic year.
- Possible changes in early decision and early action deadlines for colleges. (This only applies to your rising high school senior.) Not sure what these mean? Here it is, quick:
- Early decision is a binding agreement. This means your son or daughter must attend his or her top-choice college particular. Your high school senior would traditionally apply to that school around November — but that could change with COVID-19.
- Early action plans are not binding. Your son or daughter would traditionally get an early response to his or her application around January or February but traditionally would not have to commit to a college until the following May 1.
Let’s shift to the positives.
- It’s a great time to start making a plan. Ask your child what he or she wants in a college. Which colleges and needs are on your child’s wishlist?
- Your son or daughter can start applying for scholarships. The College Board offers a scholarship search tool you can look at together.
- Check out virtual visits. So many sites have them right now! Keep mind that these images are the best a college has to offer. They’ll only show you their most beautiful buildings. You should always visit in person later.
What other foreseeable changes can you pinpoint for your child? Discuss these changes together and how you’ll approach them later on.
6. Help your high school senior navigate. There’s no rulebook here!
If you’re the parent of a high school senior, you might think you have a bit of a mess on your hands. Your child should have been finalizing a college decision by May 1. Patience is a good approach right now.
Carnegie Dartlet’s survey of 4,848 high school students showed that admission offices haven’t all extended the traditional May 1 deposit deadline. However, 67% of students surveyed say they want an extension, at least until June 1.
Most colleges should be in direct communication with you with decisions that impact the fall semester. If you haven’t heard anything from a particular school, reach out to your child’s admission counselor at that school to learn more. Here is a short list of things that you and your senior may want to talk about:
- Do you both still feel comfortable with your child’s No. 1 choice or do you need to wait?
- Summer orientation plans: What’s the college’s stance?
- What’s happening with your college savings (or sudden lack thereof)?
7. Talk about the financial implications.
The media’s done nothing but talk about how the stock market has plunged. You don’t have to look far to see it in your 401(k) and your kiddo’s 529 plan. Your child may not understand that this means COVID-19 could affect your ability to pay for college. Talk about this together.
Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York, says there’s a bright spot on the horizon. “Balanced portfolios may take a hit in the short term, but if you look out 12-24 months, we are looking for a strong recovery,” says Hayes. “The government learned from the last financial crisis and rather than waiting for things to break before stepping in, they have already provided up to $7 trillion of aid and liquidity to fill what is projected to be a $1 to $2 trillion contraction in growth. This too shall pass and we may wind up better than expected on the other side.”
Even so, all colleges have heaps of families all in the same boat. How will colleges be able to meet families’ ever-pressing needs?
Colleges are still trying to iron out their responses.
Ask the financial aid office or admission counselor at your child’s top choice whether the college will revisit your financial aid award to meet increased levels of need. After all, a job loss or drastic income shift isn’t reflected in your current FAFSA information.
Offer Support and Love
This time is stressful for you. Whether you realize it or not, it may be even more stressful for your high schooler. Make sure you’re checking in with each other. Everyone’s in this together — you, your child, the high school and the college he or she will (soon!) attend.
by Melissa Brock | Mar 24, 2020 | Ask the admission office |
Adaptability is key right now. You may be trying to help your high schooler decode math and history, juggle your job’s changeups and figure out your kiddo’s college plan, too.
The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) currently offers a handy online tool (lifesaver!) to help you. The tool catalogs COVID-19 changes to over 800 campuses.
NACAC details adjustments to college admission events, deposit dates and more. It’s a great resource if you were ready to pilot college visits or hit the deposit button for a particular school.
What Senior Parents Can Learn from NACAC’s Site
Parents — you’re not alone if you’re feeling majorly uneasy about your child going off to college. In fact, Quatromoney and TuitionFit created a national flash survey to understand how the COVID-19 outbreak currently affects high school seniors and their families. Three hundred families participated. The results found that 25.7% of respondents are rethinking their college choice due to COVID-19.
You may be lying awake at night because you’re just not sure what’s going to happen — and that’s normal. There’s a lot outside of your control. What you can do is know exactly what each college is doing in light of the outbreak, thanks to NACAC.
Changed Candidate Reply Deadline and Deposit Deadline
May 1 is National Candidate Reply Date. This is the day that high school seniors must inform colleges of their intention to enroll or not enroll in a college. Some schools have pushed decision day to June 1.
NACAC’s coronavirus update tool shows those deadlines for various colleges.
Campus Closures
Is the school your child’s planning to attend closed? You can find out on NACAC’s site. The website can also help you learn more about schools’ individual responses to the crisis.
What Junior and Sophomore Parents Can Learn from NACAC’s Site
You may have been gung-ho about hitting a circuit of college visits this spring if you have a sophomore or junior. Here’s what you can learn about the “new normal” for each school through NACAC.
Admission Office Visits
Some colleges are open to admission visitors, and you can find detailed information on NACAC’s comprehensive website. For example, let’s say your child plans to visit Central Michigan University. You can see that it’s still open to admission visitors and admission events as of March 24.
The site offers a link to each school’s coronavirus updates and how to contact the admission office or financial aid offices.
Admission Events
Admission events could include spring visit days, junior/sophomore visit days, overnight visits and more.
Group visits can help your sophomore or junior (or even freshman!) get a taste of what to expect at a particular college. It can involve the following:
- Tour of campus
- Admission overview
- Academic component
- Current student component
NACAC’s tool shows schools’ canceled group visits and whether they’ve been replaced by virtual events.
National College Fairs
College fairs offer snippets about each college you want to attend. Unfortunately, all spring 2020 college fairs are canceled, including National College Fairs and STEM College and Career Fairs.
College Testing
Your child may have been getting ready for college entrance exams or other tests. Here’s a quick overview of the current situation for college testing:
- SAT tests: The SAT for May 2 is canceled. Makeup exams scheduled for March 28 are also canceled.
- AP tests: Students can take a 45-minute AP exam from home.
- ACT tests: ACT rescheduled its April 4 national test date to June 13.
Check Back on NACAC’s Site
NACAC’s done a terrific job of offering a valuable resource for college admission during this time. Remember, colleges are doing everything they can to answer questions, provide information and offer solutions in the short term and long term. The site will keep updating as time goes on.
Can’t find a college on NACAC’s list? Contact the admission office at the college your son or daughter plans to attend for its COVID-19 announcements.
by Melissa Brock | Mar 20, 2020 | Ask the admission office |
Pre-COVID-19, did you have time for college visits?
I know, I know. You’re laughing uproariously and I’m smiling because I’m fully aware your life is normally nuts. (Right now, it might be a different kind of crazy.)
One of the biggest problems I encountered as an admission counselor was getting prospective college kids to visit. Parents and students didn’t have time to get it wrangled into their schedules.
I get it. I (try to) balance a full-time editorial job and freelance during slim pockets of lunch at the kitchen table (I just wipe off any ketchup that splatters onto my keyboard).
Plus, two little kiddos need my attention. (My husband gets left in the dust because, well, he can take care of himself.)
I love what I’m doing. All of it. But I’m exhausted. I’m spread thin. (And a little cranky.)
If you’re barely keeping it together and you still have college visits on your list, I feel for you. I really do. Here are some top tips if your soon-to-be college kid is wondering how to prepare for college right now, along with some COVID-19 relevant tips, too.
1. Don’t bother visiting schools right now.
Forget about setting up college visits for the time being — the COVID-19 crisis means you get to take a breather. Nobody will give you a tour right now and admission offices may not even be meeting with families.
The only way you can get a real sense of what a college is like is to do a visit when college is in full swing. It’s impossible to understand what a college is really like unless it’s teeming with students.
Plus, many college kids who have stayed on campus did so because they don’t have any place else to go. It’s not fair to put them at risk by possibly bringing the virus to them. Stay home and weather the crisis online.
2. You can still learn a lot online.
These days were made for scrolling the internet, right? Since you and your teen have plenty of time to loaf while you’re self-isolating, you can also learn a lot about schools and how to prepare for college. (You’ll definitely learn more about their emergency preparedness and vision for the immediate future! Most school’s COVID-19 policies exist on their home pages.)
Nothing takes the place of a campus visit. However, you can still learn a lot about a college on a virtual tour. At the very least, you can find out whether College A has the kind of microbiology program your student is looking for.
Just remember, a college’s website will look shiny and beautiful. Try to remember that people are what makes an incredible college experience — not gorgeous science labs or state-of-the-art student rec centers. Try not to let your child fall in love with a college for aesthetic reasons. Hold out for meeting the people. You’ll be able to eventually!
3. Have your child start looking for scholarships.
Explain to your child that he or she can be looking for scholarships now that sports, band and other clubs and organizations are canceled and now that there’s oodles of free time. Seniors can still look for scholarships, too. There’s still so much untapped money out there.
Check out the U.S. Department of Labor’s free scholarship search tool, look into foundations, community or religious organizations, local businesses, civic groups and ask about scholarships at your workplace. This is a constructive use of time for any student who’s wondering how to prepare for college.
4. Write down your goals. It can change your life.
Edwin Locke, an American psychologist and goal-setting theory pioneer, was one of the first individuals to establish a positive relationship between clearly identified goals and performance. It really works.
Really, this can apply to any area of your life (when will you write the book you’ve been writing in your head since second grade?!). But consider using it as you’re trying to figure out how to prepare for college. Writing out your goals is a powerful motivator. In fact, if you really want to get something done, write it down and tell everyone about it. For example, you could write, “Schedule three college visits by October.” Then, tell two friends you’re planning to do it.
Even better, have your soon-to-be college kid write down his or her goals for college. They could look like this:
- Apply for [insert number] of scholarships by [date].
- Study for and take the ACT by October.
- Apply to College A, College B and College C.
- Write a scholarship essay for College A and B by [insert date].
Find out what your high schooler’s goals are — really hone in on what he or she would like to accomplish in college. Building relationships during the college search also extends to building relationships with your son or daughter — and the COVID-19 crisis will require everyone to be at home more. Why not talk about college?
Give Yourself a Break
If there’s anything to be learned from this time in our lives, it’s to slow down. I mean, does life really have to be so busy? All the time? Maybe a lull will enable you and your child think more critically about what features you both really want in a college.
Finally, have patience with colleges as they work to sort out what they’re going to do. Many, many colleges are still hashing it all out. During this uncertain time, it’s more important to strengthen our communities through empathy, patience and support. College (and everything else, for that matter) will still happen, even if the world looks a lot different right now.
by Melissa Brock | Mar 14, 2020 | Financial aid and scholarships |
You’ve gone on a dozen college visits with your son or daughter and watched as he or she applied to just as many schools. You’ve waited months for the financial aid award from his or her first-choice school to land in your inbox. You open it nervously and your eyes dart immediately to the bottom numbers. The out-of-pocket cost. The amount you and/or your child will need to pay for college.
You may think it’s a lot of money.
Before you set that award aside and start poring over the financial aid awards for other (less expensive) schools, stop for a second. This could be an opportunity — a challenge! It’s time to get creative, ask a lot of questions about cost savings and stay positive. You can do this.
I caught up with Dr. Terri Snyders Crumley, vice president for enrollment and marketing at Mount Mercy University, to get her perspective.
Crumley said, “Everyone wants college to be free, but colleges have to pay their faculty and staff, electricity and more, just like any business. If a family thinks of paying for college as a partnership — where the college helps a bit, the student helps, the family helps — it’s usually doable. And that’s the same whether it’s a state school or private college.”
In other words, there are things you can do if you feel the financial aid award is a lot pricier than you anticipated.
1. First, breathe.
It can be hard to focus on anything but those final numbers. You want your child to go to his first choice school — especially when he’s worked so hard to get into the school of his dreams. Stay calm and know that there are things you can do — and a lot of what you can do involves a little bit of creative thinking.
2. Talk to the financial aid office.
Crumley suggests picking up the phone and directly talking to financial aid personnel at your son or daughter’s top choice institution. This is when the relationships you developed during college visits may come in handy. Ask a few questions:
- Are there other scholarship opportunities available? Find out whether there are additional scholarships your son or daughter can still apply for. He or she may still be able to apply for a last-minute music scholarship or a writing scholarship — just ask!
- Is work-study available? Work-study is a federally-funded program that can help your son or daughter pay for college. They do this by earning money through an on-campus job. Your son or daughter may not have been awarded work-study at all, and this is the time to ask whether it’s available. If work-study is already plugged into the financial aid award, ask if more work-study money can be added. It’s a little-known secret — and to get it, all you might have to do is ask.
- Was my FAFSA information correct? Ask some deeper questions about the FAFSA, says Crumley, because it’s very possible that you could have filled it out incorrectly. Work with the financial aid office to double-check. Did you accidently include your 401(k) retirement? Was your expected family contribution (EFC) inflated due to one-time income? (EFC is an indicative number that colleges use to determine how much financial aid you’re eligible for.) Find out through the financial aid office whether you need to fix what’s on your FAFSA.
3. Evaluate whether you qualify for special circumstances.
Colleges know that financial setbacks happen. You might have caught a bad break or two since you filed your FAFSA. Your son or daughter’s first-choice school may be able to take special circumstances into account and adjust your financial aid award. The following situations could qualify as special circumstances. You may:
- Support multiple households (married family members may live apart or you may support elderly family members or family members abroad)
- Experience one-time income, such as withdrawing retirement funds for emergency purposes
- Be paying funeral, medical or dental expenses
- Have education debt yourself
- Experience a job loss or a significant reduction in income
Check with the college financial aid office to find out whether you’re eligible to fill out its special circumstance form.
4. Consider cost savings.
This is where you get to think outside the box. Put all your creative juices into overdrive and figure out how much cost savings are in store. How much money will you save when your child is no longer living at home (if he or she is going away to school)? How can those savings can be applied to college costs?
Groceries
How much do you currently spend on groceries? Imagine how much you’ll save if your son isn’t home to drink four gallons of milk per week and eat two meals in one sitting!
Utilities
How much do you spend on utilities? How much cost savings will you incur when your teenager isn’t taking two showers a day, leaving all the lights on or cranking up the heat without your knowledge?
Car insurance and other vehicle-related expenses
Your student may not need a car at college. Unless he or she has an off-campus job, the reality is that your student can catch rides with friends to Walmart or take public transportation. That means you could even sell the car! You’ll also save a lot of gas money — no more, “Hey, Mom, can I have $40 for gas?”
Toiletries
You won’t have to stock your house full of toilet paper and Kleenexes for your high school student — major cost savings. Plus, if you really wanted to, you could encourage your student to come up with his own funds for deodorant, soap, shampoo and whatever else he might need. He can get a job, use birthday cash — it’s a great time for him to get creative with money.
Lessons and athletic fees
You won’t have to pay for piano or voice lessons anymore. That’s a lot of savings right there, especially if you’re spending hundreds of dollars per year on athletic club participation or whatever else your son or daughter participates in at his or her high school.
How can you save save money in college in other ways? Why not make a long list?
5. How can your student pitch in?
How much can your child work and save over each summer break? Don’t discount what your student can earn at the public pool, waiting tables or even freelancing. Add that to the pile! A summer job earning $4,000 can make a huge difference.
6. Break it down.
Once you’ve done steps one through five, take a look at the out-of-pocket costs again. Pretend it’s a puzzle you need to solve (and can solve!) and break it into chunks to make it more palatable. Encourage your student to figure out how much he or she can contribute. Determine how much you can each feasibly add and consider the cost savings mentioned above. Maybe grandparents want to chip in, too!
Another way to break the cost into manageable chunks is to opt for a 10-month payment plan at your child’s school. The 10-month payment plan divides the out-of-pocket costs into 10 separate payments over the course of a school year. Once you do that, does it seem so scary anymore? I hope not.
Finally, decide whether you need a private loan for the rest. Note: Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized Loans, which are both federal loans for eligible students who will attend four-year colleges or universities, could also be built into the financial aid award. Talk to the financial aid office about loan options for you and your family.
Get excited and have a family conversation
I love Dr. Crumley’s approach — that paying for college can be a partnership between the parent, the student and the college. Tackle that out-of-pocket cost with some energy! Once you and your family sit down and actually tackle the financial aid award head-on, it can even be exciting!
It doesn’t have to be daunting. Work with the financial aid office to break down the out-of-pocket costs. Make it your mantra! Break it down, break it down, break it down.
