Your high school graduate may be dragging his feet on the college decision, and it’s not hard to figure out why. During this corona-crazy time, you’re trying to figure out how to put one foot in front of the other. Your teen may be struggling to a degree you can’t even fathom.
His life has flipped upside down — arguably even more than yours. (Did you withstand a worldwide epidemic that required you to kiss prom, graduation and the senior state track meet good-bye? Of course not.) You might feel a tiny whirl of relief to know that your child may not have to decide on a college until July 1. Whew! (Some schools’ deadlines are still May or June 1, however. If your child had a pile of schools with June 1 or July 1 deadlines, never fear. Most schools still have openings past the deadline.)
Your child might be a bit fearful of the future. As a parent, these changes have crushed you too, and you might be grieving the loss of “what should have been.” Here’s how to help pilot your college-bound child through the next hurdle (with baggage nobody could have anticipated).
I worked in college admission for 12 years and I heard so many parents say, “It’s my child’s decision, not mine.” I never loved that response because I always knew students wanted their parents’ input when it came to making such a big decision. Now more than ever, your child needs to know that you’re there to help.
Furthermore, your teen could be taking cues from you. Do you watch the news on a constant loop or fret about the future?
Remember that it might be hard for your teen to articulate everything he’s feeling — kind of like when he was two and couldn’t explain that his shoes were too tight.
Create a safe communication environment and listen when your child talks. Don’t forget to check your own fears about what’s coming down the pike.
Let your college-bound teen know that you’re there to help him through the decision. Just remember, teens want their parents to help them with this decision, particularly when they’re struggling. Talk about how life can be uncertain but things will get back to normal.
Take Advantage of Colleges’ Extended Deadlines
Carnegie Dartlet, a marketing services company that specializes in higher education institutions, surveyed 4,848 high school seniors about how current events have impacted their college search. The survey found that many students want an extension to the traditional May 1 National Candidate Reply Date — the national deadline for making a college decision.
In fact, 67 percent of students surveyed say they want an extension, at least until June 1 or July 1, and those numbers jump to 74-80 percent for underrepresented minority populations and students with higher financial need.
Breathe! As you can see, your child isn’t the only one who feels this way.
Many colleges have complied with students’ wishes and extended the deadline to accommodate these needs. Take advantage of the extra time — and be proactive. Launch a pros and cons list. Dive even deeper and do a heart/gut check. Don’t be afraid to take a trip down memory lane with your child. Remind him about the awesome college visit at College ABC last fall where you snagged a picture of him beaming during his college visit.
Ask What’s Holding Your Child Back from Making the Decision
What’s holding your child back from making the decision? Is it all the changes combined — summer orientation changes, school delays and extensions? Is it the distance from home? Maybe it’s you? (Again, you may be unwittingly showcasing some anxiety yourself.)
Get to the root of the problem. Ask straight up, “Is there any reason why we can’t put down a deposit for School X right now? It’s the school you’ve been talking about all year.” Then listen carefully to your child’s response.
Here are some common reasons that might be holding your child back.
The Coronavirus (or Worry in General)
Everyone’s plans have changed and it could also cause your child to question everything. It’s up to you to be a calming influence. Try to help your child gain some perspective on his college choice. Try as hard as you can to be a positive, uplifting influence.
In some cases, you may recognize that COVID-19 has aggravated anxiety in your teen and it may be a wise decision for your child to stay closer to home or make a different decision altogether. If necessary, seek outside help.
Distance from Home
The majority (56.2 percent) of public four-year college students attend an institution under an hour’s drive away. Nearly 70 percent attend within two hours of their home, according to the latest Higher Education Research Institute’s CIRP survey.
Your child might be feeling a tad unsettled about making a decision to attend school 10 hours away. Ask if that’s an issue and whether there’s a school that appeals to your high school graduate that’s closer to home. Note: Your child would not be the first one to change his mind at the last minute. It happens — and it’s okay. It’s better to realize this now instead of later!
Money
Is your cost-conscious child close to choosing a college with a hefty sticker price — which would require a handful of loans? If so, that could be what’s holding him back. (And you might be nervous, too.)
There are lots of ways to remedy this situation. Now that COVID-19 has happened, your financial situation may have changed considerably. If it has, let the college know. You may be able to fill out the college’s special circumstance form, where you can indicate a job loss or some other changes in your financial status, including excessive medical bills or another type of serious expense.
Are there other scholarship opportunities available? Find out whether there are additional scholarships your child can still apply for. There may be some new ones that have popped up since the last time you talked with the admission office!
Is work-study available? Work-study is a federally-funded program that can help your son or daughter pay for college. Your child will work on campus (sometimes off campus) and earn money just like in a regular 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.
Was my FAFSA information correct? Ask some deeper questions about the FAFSA — you might have filled it out incorrectly! 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.) Did you include an IRA or 401(k), which isn’t required for the FAFSA?
The bottom line: Ask the admission office good questions!
Don’t forget to communicate with colleges about changes in your financial situation. If you or your spouse has lost a job, tell the colleges on your child’s short list. Talking about financial changes could change your college-bound teen’s financial aid awards — in a good way.
Seek Answers to Objections
Help your child get the answers to what’s holding him back from making a decision. For example, if he’s worried about the strength of the engineering program between two schools, reach out to the admission counselor at each school to get some more data. Reach out to a professor. Ask more questions! Draw on those relationships you’ve built throughout the process to help your child make a final college decision.
Maybe your child’s holding back because his friends or his girlfriend are all headed to the state school down the road and he’s been planning to go to a school on the opposite coast. (I hated it when this came up when I was an admission counselor!)
If he’s starting to get cold feet, remind him why he initially chose that institution. (There were likely some good reasons!) It’s important that he chooses the best school for him.
Once you’ve gotten answers to everything, sit back and relax. In most cases, you still have time, even if the deadline has passed. When push comes to shove, every student does decide.
Do the Heart/Gut Test
The heart/gut test is something that a former college president of my alma mater used to talk about all the time. He’d explain that it’s not enough to take numbers into account. College isn’t a transactional experience — it’s about people! It’s not just about pretty buildings or the number of electives you have to take. He used to urge students to take into account the feeling you’d get — did your child feel like he belonged at a particular school?
Which campus did your son thrive on during the visit? Did he seem to come alive as soon as he met the tennis team? Withdraw when he met the abrasive engineering professor at your alma mater? Did your daughter light up when she met her admission counselor or the quirky communication studies professor with “Citizen Kane” posters plastered all over his office?
You get the idea. Don’t be afraid to go deep on this. Also, don’t be afraid to share your observations with your child. Say, “I noticed you loved the tour at College X and chatted animatedly with the tour guide. Do you think you felt just as comfortable at College Y or not?”
Look for the academic, social and financial fit — and do the gut and heart test. Ask your child where he or she felt most at home.
When you know, sometimes you just know.
If your child hasn’t gotten that “feeling” anywhere by now, go back to the drawing board — there are still openings at schools across the country. Another visit might be in order over the summer, though without students on campus, it can be tricky to feel the same energy.
Communicate with Admission Counselors
Contact admission counselors at the schools your child’s still considering. Trust me, my experience as an admission counselor tells me that colleges want to hear from you and build relationships. They don’t want you to go through turmoil alone.
Explain what’s going on and why there are some concerns. Most colleges have trained their admission counselors on how to communicate their college’s COVID-19 response. Talking with admission counselors is also a good way to evaluate how well a particular college has handled the crisis!
Colleges should make your teen feel better about the situation, provide a real human connection and help your child make a final decision.
A Different Decision May Be Necessary — and That’s Okay
Your teen may not be able to stomach leaving to go to college 1,000 miles away at this point, no matter how many times you remind him about his last wonderful on-campus experience.
This crisis has changed everyone. Tell your child that it’s okay to stay closer to home. Spend time thinking about what other options are out there. Remember, just because your child feels more comfortable with a semester at the local community college, it doesn’t mean he will never go to College ABC. He could be saying “See you later!”
Take a Deep Breath and Be There
Sometimes, it takes the good ol’ pro and con list to finally make the final decision. Sometimes seeing the solid “pro” column helps.
What happens when the “pro” side is a mile long for one school but your daughter really feels the fit more at a different school? Hey, it’s proof that the heart/gut test works!
Teens can feel their parents take an emotional and financial hit during this downturn and need more reassurance and guidance than ever. Support your teen through this all-important decision-making process. Remember, this could very well be the very first really big decision your child has ever made. Think positive: COVID-19 could make you (and your teen’s) decision making processes stronger than ever!
Good luck! I’d love to hear about your child’s final decision!
Got a pile of financial aid awards from various schools cluttering your inbox? Are the paper versions of all those financial aid awards stacked up in your home office? I’m sure you can’t wait to toss them into the recycling bin! (Except for maybe one from a very special school — the one your kiddo’s leaning toward… Yay!)
Your college-bound kiddo may not have quite decided where he’s going to school. That’s okay!
As you take a look at these financial aid awards, you know instantly that they’re not the same. I’m not talking about the types of scholarships or the work-study awards on each one, I’m talking about the layout of each award and what’s disclosed on each. Some colleges even employ a little bit of deception and as a result, may make the school look like it’s cheaper than it actually is.
This can get super confusing, and I encountered this problem a lot as an admission counselor. Parent to me over the phone: “Financial aid awards aren’t the same! Why???” To be honest, I wish there was one standard financial aid award that every college in the country would use.
They’re not standardized, so the best I can do is tell you what to watch out for!
1: Schools Often Don’t Separate Aid that Needs to Be Repaid from Aid that Doesn’t
Many, many financial aid awards don’t separate gift aid from work-study or loans. In other words, you may see various types of aid — scholarships, grants, work-study and loans — all lumped together. Can you see why that can be problematic?
Here’s an example. Note: The amounts, scholarships and grants I’ve listed below are part of a completely fictional aid award and for demonstration purposes only:
XYZ Merit-Based Scholarship: $15,000
XYZ Grants: $5,000
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan: $3,500
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan: $2,000
Federal Work-Study Program: $3,000
Private/Alternative Loan: $8,000
Total: $36,500
Grants and scholarships don’t have to be paid back, work-study money must be earned and loans must be repaid with interest. Even when schools put forth a confusing, mixed-up aid award jumble, some colleges and universities don’t do a great job distinguishing between what you need to pay back and what you don’t — like in the example above.
It’s your job to make sure you understand every line of the aid award and explain it to your high schooler.
Here’s the list again, broken down into categories, so your high schooler can understand it more clearly:
Does not need to be repaid:
XYZ Merit-Based Scholarship: $15,000
XYZ Grants: $5,000
Must be repaid with interest:
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan: $3,500
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan: $2,000
Private/Alternative Loan: $8,000
Must be earned:
Federal Work-Study Program: $3,000
Total: $36,500
I like that layout much better — it’s much easier for a 17- or 18-year-old to understand.
2. Some Financial Aid Awards Do Not Include the Total Cost
So, this sounds like no big deal, right? You can just look up the total cost of the institution online. Sometimes when you’re comparing financial aid awards, this can get lost in translation, particularly when a college only lists scholarship amounts and it looks like your child will get more money from that college compared to another. I remember one conversation I had with a mom over the phone when I worked in admission that went exactly like this:
Me: “Hi, Mrs. Jones! Have you and your son, Charlie, had a chance to review our generous financial aid award offer?”
Mrs. Jones: “Hi, Melissa! Yes, we have, but Competitor College XYZ is giving him $5,000 more in scholarships and other aid. That’s $20,000 over four years!”
Me: “Oh, really? Mrs. Jones, did you realize that Competitor College XYZ is $5,000 more expensive than our college?”
Mrs. Jones: “Oh, I guess that’s not on the aid award. Yes, yes, I’m online now and see that.”
Me: “I know our college is Charlie’s first choice. Would you be willing to pay the $200 deposit today?”
Mrs. Jones: “Yes!”
Hand to heart, that’s exactly how the conversation went. The financial aid awards that don’t include the total cost right on the award may require you to do a little digging. Make sure you know the full cost — tuition, room, board and fees.
3: Some Financial Aid Awards Include Loans Beyond Federal Student Loans
Let’s bring back my example “aid award.”
XYZ Merit-Based Scholarship: $15,000
XYZ Grants: $5,000
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan: $3,500
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan: $2,000
Federal Work-Study Program: $3,000
Private/Alternative Loan: $8,000
Total: $36,500
Direct Subsidized Loans and Direct Subsidized Loans Included
Look carefully at the loans I’ve included — particularly the last line. Many schools include loans on their financial aid awards — usually Direct Subsidized and Unsubsidized federal student loans. Quick details:
Direct Subsidized loans are available to needy undergraduate students. Each college determines the amount your child will receive. The U.S. Department of Education pays the interest on Direct Subsidized loans while your child is in school at least half-time, for the first six months after he leaves school and when your child defers (postpones) loan payments.
Direct Unsubsidized loans are available to undergraduate and graduate students but it’s not based on demonstrated financial need. Each school determines the amount you can borrow based on that school’s cost of attendance and other financial aid you receive. Interest accrues on Direct Unsubsidized loans while your child is in school.
PLUS Loans and Private Loans Might Be Part of the Mix…
Here’s the kicker: Some financial aid awards also include Parent PLUS loans (also called the Federal Direct PLUS loan (Direct PLUS Loan) through the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan (Direct Loan) Program). Parent PLUS loans are federal loans that parents of dependent undergraduate students can use to help pay for college or career school. The U.S. Department of Education is the lender and the current interest rate is 7.08 percent.
The government doesn’t lend private student loans. Instead, you can get private student loans through a lender such as a bank, credit union, state agency or more. Interest rates are sometimes higher than for federal student loans. (A survey of SunTrust, Ascent, SoFi, CommonBond, Discover and Sallie Mae showed fixed rates ranging from 4.29% to 12.49%, while variable rates were offered from 1.80% to 14.18%, according to Debt.org.)
When financial aid awards include alternative or private loans, it may even look like you owe next to nothing, and that’s why I’m not a fan. It takes a little bit of the critical thinking out of the equation when the college “fills in the blanks.” I’d rather see the out-of-pocket costs at the bottom so you get creative on how you handle these costs — through a side hustle, your kiddo’s summer job, etc.
Don’t assume everything’s covered — show your kiddo how to understand the difference between loan types.
4: Work-Study May Be Part of the Award Letter
Some schools add work-study as part of the award calculation. I’m really not a fan of this tactic because it looks like work-study’s guaranteed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Your child must earn work-study money.
Your kiddo has to go through the trouble of visiting the human resources office at the college, choosing and applying for a job and possibly interviewing. Finally, your child must show up for that job. Not foolproof, is it? (Particularly because your kiddo may realize college is a lot of work and decides he’ll need to spend more time studying rather than working. Or he might decide he’ll earn more money working for a local landscaping company or as a server at a restaurant and will forgo the work-study job altogether.)
Furthermore, most schools pay students via direct deposit. The school won’t apply these funds directly to your child’s tuition bill. Your child may need work-study money for groceries or toiletries instead. Work-study is truly meant to be spending money — which is why I never like to see it lumped together with everything else.
The bottom line: Be wary if financial aid is included in the major calculation like it was in my example from above:
XYZ Merit-Based Scholarship: $15,000
XYZ Grants: $5,000
Federal Direct Subsidized Loan: $3,500
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan: $2,000
Federal Work-Study Program: $3,000
Private/Alternative Loan: $8,000
Total: $36,500
It’s terribly misleading.
5. Fees Aren’t Disclosed
Do you see the full costs listed on the financial aid award? Are you sure? Many colleges and universities list only the direct costs on financial aid awards — tuition, fees, room and board (if the student lives on campus).
Look carefully at a school’s costs page online or call your child’s No. 1 choice right now to be absolutely sure that you’re considering all costs. Some colleges may require fees like these:
Lab fees (if you’re child is going to major in the sciences)
Orientation fees
Campus fees
Athletic fees
Health and wellness fees
Tech fees
Transportation fees
Other fees
Get absolutely clear about which fees are part of the financial aid award. t ny do not list all college costs.
6. Loan Terms and Interest Rates Aren’t Included
You’ll never, ever see how much fees and interest rates will cost you just by looking at your financial aid award. There are too many variables for that to be possible, including things like interest rate changes. I wish you’d be able to see what it could look like, similar to an amortization schedule you receive when you get a mortgage.
The only real way to estimate the full loan costs over time is to use an interest rate calculator or ask your loan servicer detailed questions about payments over time. I encourage you to do that!
7. Colleges Leave You in the Dark on Tuition Increases
You’ll never be able to see what the tuition will be in three years, when your child is a fourth-year student. Why not? Because colleges typically don’t implement tuition increases until mid-year — they don’t even know what the increases will be yet.
The other side of this is that in the majority of cases, scholarships don’t increase as tuition increases. So, for example, the $15,000 scholarship in my example wouldn’t increase two percent if tuition goes up two percent.
Now, it’s possible to find colleges that freeze tuition for you after your first year of college. It’s also possible to find colleges that do offer merit-based scholarships that keep pace with tuition changes. It’s just a matter of figuring all of this out ahead of time.
Do Some Sleuthing
I liken this part of the college search to being a detective. You really have to analyze everything, take more than a passing glance at most financial aid awards and explain them in depth to your high schooler. Even if you do get it all, he’s likely in the dark.
Don’t be afraid to call up a financial aid officer or admission counselor and ask them pointed questions about the financial aid award. Ask them to go through it line by line with you and explain everything in detail. Here are a some really good questions to ask related to everything in this post:
Do scholarships increase as tuition increases?
Which aid must my child repay?
What are the college or university’s total costs? What are the fees?
Tell me the exact out-of-pocket cost — without loans and work-study.
What are the loan interest rates?
Be your own advocate and have your student go along with you for these conversations. The last thing I want is for you and your student to think your share of the costs is lower than it really is and fall prey to the tricky techniques colleges use.
“Did I save enough? If not, where will we pull the extra cash?”
Paying for college: The thought alone is enough to make any parent sweat right through her socks.
You may want so badly to contribute to your child’s college education, even if it’s just a little bit. Maybe you’d like to try to avoid taking out a Parent Plus Loan.
Guess what. There’s no law that says you have to use already-saved money to pay for college. You’re not doomed because you didn’t save money when your kid was in diapers!
I remember meeting with a couple from Chicagoland when I worked in admission. They really wanted to help their son pay for college. The mom decided she needed to get a job, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend long days in an office. Her husband said, “Looks like it’s time to get a work-from-home gig.”
She said, “Now there’s an idea!”
So she did!
There’s never been a better time to consider how to make money from home. If the COVID-19 outbreak has done anything, it’s taught that it’s possible to work a lot of different jobs from home!
First, it’s important to understand how you’ll be asked to pay for college. Obviously, you won’t need to pay for tuition for the whole year upfront. Here are a couple of quick notes on how to pay for college.
After all scholarships, grants, etc. are taken into account, what’s leftover are your out-of-pocket costs.
You’ll have a few options as to how you want to handle out-of-pocket costs. For example, you (and/or your student) can pay for them outright. You could also decide you’d like to pay for a portion of those out-of-pocket costs and get a loan for the remainder.
Most colleges send a bill twice a year. For example, colleges usually send a bill for the fall semester in late June or early July, with a payment deadline of early to mid-August.
You can break up the cost even more by using a monthly tuition payment plan. Tuition payment plans are installment plans which are usually broken up into equal monthly payments over 12 months or less. (Be sure to ask the college whether there’s a finance charge included and read my post on how a tuition installment plan can make college affordable.)
I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that it’s a great idea to leverage your talents, passions and capabilities and use those to make money. Have you ever heard the phrase, “Do what you love, the money will follow?” I love it!
I have a friend who’s an excellent graphic designer. She used to work with me at the college and now she has her own graphic design business. In fact, she’s going to help me redesign my site! She’s a real rock star in my book because she works from home doing what she loves to do.
So what’s your special talent? Are you great at gardening? Tell people about your stellar landscaping skills! (People will pay good money for that, especially if you plant it for them. I wish someone would do that for me!)
Are you or your spouse handy around the house? You’d be surprised how many people will pay to fix a washer and dryer or air conditioner.
Do you find painting to be a soothing activity and wouldn’t mind painting houses, fences, rooms, etc.
Are you a potter? Knitter extraordinaire? Use those talents to your advantage!
Pick Up a Work-from-Home Gig
The on-demand gig economy makes it so easy to get an extra job, even if you work a standard nine-to-five job. Gig websites are .
Some in-demand skills clients are often looking for include:
Tutoring: Do you have a passion for teaching a particular subject? If so, now’s a great time to take advantage of lockdown. Many parents will pay to keep their children’s reading or math skills ready to go for next year with virtual tutoring. Some companies require you to have an education degree — check the requirements beforehand. However, some don’t require an education degree.
Freelance writing: Many marketing companies and websites hire freelancers to create content on their behalf. If you’re a good writer, learn the art of the pitch and start pitching companies. If you have a good pitch and some writing samples you can share, you’re likely to have a few nibbles in no time.
Video editing: Do you have some great experience putting together video footage? If so, seek out clients for everyone from bloggers to marketing agencies.
Graphic design: More companies than ever need designers to create websites and redesign existing pages. If you have some coding background, even better!
Translating: Sure, automatic translators are a thing now, but if you have a lifetime of French lessons under your belt, know that there’s still a market for your skill. Many translating companies need freelancers to help with translation tasks through Gengo and Unbabel.
Coordinate social media: Every brand needs a strong social media presence. If you’ve got a good sense of what companies need for their social media engagement.
Freelance consulting: As an expert, you can consult others on their personal or business goals. Clarity can help you promote your consulting services. People who need your services can find you on the platform and book a paid session with you. Once you create your own client base, it might be possible to turn this into a full-time job.
Next, I’m going to list some other options that might be a great fit. They don’t require specific talents but can make you money. Some take more time to accomplish and others can happen lickety-split.
Rent Out a Room in Your Home
Your child’s getting ready to go off to college! Why not consider opening a room in your house up as a guest room? You could convert a basement kitchen to a full apartment living space. You could open up just one room to someone who needs one. Why not rent out a room to travel nurses through Travel Nurse Housing? The possibilities are endless.
I have a friend who lived in a teeny tiny carriage house right after college and she loved it. It was like real tiny house living!
Invest in Real Estate
Does your child need a place to live? Why not invest in real estate, rent to his or her roommates, and make some extra money in the process? It can help pay for college tuition. It’s a double bonus if you can buy the rental house outright.
You could do the house-hunt the old-fashioned way: Call up a real estate professional in the city where your child is going to school. If he’s going to school in North Carolina and you live in Minnesota, you could hire a management company to maintain it so you exert a little more control over the process.
You could also look for homes with Roofstock. Roofstock lets investors manage rentals like stock portfolios. You get to focus on your investment, rather than dealing with everyday headaches, like, “The roof is leaking!” or “The shower head flew off!” Roofstock’s property managers are available to handle operational responsibilities, supervising upgrades and day-to-day management.
You can also diversify your real estate portfolio in different cities.
Drive for Uber or Lyft
Okay, so this isn’t technically working from home. Still, it’s nice to work from the comfort of your own car. You can earn money right now by signing up to work for a ridesharing app like Uber or Lyft. Hospital staff, public safety officers and other essential workers still need rides to work, even during a quarantine.
During a pandemic, it’s especially important to keep your vehicle sanitized when offering rides.
Of course, how much you make is dependent on how many rides you offer. A 2016 Nerdwallet study found that in order to achieve an annual income of $50,000, Uber drivers had to complete 60 rides a week and Lyft drivers needed to offer 84 rides.
You’ll also need to consider maintenance on your car — including gas, repairs, insurance, taxes and the commissions that Uber and Lyft take.
Try Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a good option if you want to own a store without investing a lot or having a lot of risks. You don’t even need to own your inventory. Here’s how it works: After you receive an order, you buy the product from a third party, which is usually a wholesaler or manufacturer.
The third party ships the ordered product to your customer. This way, you don’t need to handle the items, see them or even ship them. You’ll make a profit between the price you charge your customer and the cost of the product that the third party charges you.
You can use an e-commerce site like Volusion to start your own dropshipping business. Try Volusion for free for 14 days.
Evaluate What’s Important
One more thing. If you’re kind of a hustler by nature, it’s easy to get addicted to it. My friend (the graphic designer) loves the hustle and finds herself up at all hours of the night — with kids and a full-time job!
Do you have a full-time job and a side hustle already? Your time is precious! How important is your time with family, time for self-care, time for everything you need to do?
Continually trading your time for money is certainly one way to do it, but consider ways to make passive income first — if possible. Making money in your sleep is always the best way to go.
When your child is college-bound, financial stress is a very real thing. In fact, the financial part of sending a child off to college can be overwhelming.
I spent 12 years working in college admission at my alma mater. Every so often, parents would break down in tears in my office. They wanted so badly to be able to pay for college. I’ve never forgotten these conversations and I still think about those families.
Money is one of the most commonly mentioned personal stressors, according to the American Psychological Association’s 2019 Stress in America survey. In fact, 60 percent of people from the survey cite money as a major stressor.
Chances are, you probably feel some financial stress — I mean, 60 percent is a heckuva lot of people!
It’s easy to say, “Think about something else! Go for a bike ride!” You know, common ways to de-stress your life. But financial stress is so different — it doesn’t go away when you spend 30 minutes with a yoga mat. It may take time and involve some serious planning.
So instead of telling you to grow your own potatoes or start extreme couponing, here are six ideas for how to attack financial stress. Warning: They’re not all quick fixes, but they will help you feel better about financial stress later on. Promise.
1. Recognize how you deal with money-related stress.
The first thing you can do to alleviate financial stress is to recognize how you handle money. Have you ever stopped to evaluate how money in general makes you feel?
Maybe you:
Never talk about it. You just let the stress build up like a hot air balloon.
Talk about money (or lack thereof) with everyone — your spouse, your kids, your friends — everyone!
Fall somewhere in between these two approaches.
Suze Orman, award-winning author and financial personality, believes that how your parents handled money paved the way for you to formulate your own attitudes about money.
Did money cause stress in your family? Did you parents spend more than they earned? Was money a source of pain? Were your parents controlled by money instead of the other way around?
Orman grew up in a poor family. She often tells the story about how her father’s small takeout restaurant burst into flames. He still ran in to get the cash register, burning his hands in the process. It showed a young Orman that money is more important than life itself!
Money is so closely tied to emotions. For families, a big source of stress can be the cost of preparing teens for college, but resources like Educo provide affordable SAT, ACT and AP exam prep designed to ease both financial and academic pressure.
You may want to think of it this way instead: You define your money. You tell it what to do! You’re in control of it! You can make as much as you want. (You just might not be able to do that completely through a traditional nine-to-five job. Check out my piece on how parents can make money!)
2. Write down your goals.
When I worked for the college, I gave a presentation to my team during our annual summer retreat about writing goals. When I announced my topic choice, I’m pretty sure everyone groaned. “Why do you feel that way about goal setting?” I asked.
I laughed and said, “What’s boring about getting exactly what you want? Let’s say you write, ‘I’d like a new car in a year and I’ll do A, B and C in order to save for it.’ What’s boring about that? You get a new car!’”
I’m sort of a geek when it comes to goal-setting. Let me tell you, writing down your goals works. For example, my husband and I resolved to save a certain amount of money by this spring because he wants a new shop. It’s currently in the works — all because of a little Google doc (and a bit of willpower, too).
The premise is simple: Write it down, make it happen!
You can write down your goals associated with paying for college. Let’s say you write, “Get a side gig by July 2020 to earn extra money for Junior’s college fund.” And yes, you can do this even if your child is set to go to college this fall.
Try it! Write it down! I promise, it works. There’s something empowering about writing down your goals and posting them where you can see them. And man, oh, man, is it cool when you turn that goal into reality.
3. Meet with a financial advisor.
You may already have a financial advisor, but if you haven’t met with him or her recently, it may be time for a financial checkup.
Never worked with a financial advisor before? One of the best ways to find a great financial advisor is to ask around. Ask your family and friends who they use in town. It’s important to have a financial advisor who has a good reputation in your community.
Next, meet with a few financial advisors and ask good questions! Here are some you can ask:
Are you a fiduciary? A fiduciary will put your financial interests before their own. If a financial advisor is not a fiduciary, don’t choose that advisor.
How do you get paid? Focus on fee-only advisors. Fee-only advisors might charge a percentage of the assets they manage for you — a flat fee for services or an hourly fee. If costs are a concern, use a robo-advisor like Betterment, WealthfrontorSigFig.
What are your qualifications? You can check the legitimacy of a financial advisor by visiting FINRA’s BrokerCheck. BrokerCheck is a free tool that can help you research advisors and firms.
How will you help me map out a plan to pay for college? Whether you’ve saved nothing at all or have some money in the bank, an advisor should be able to give you an idea of how he will help you approach paying for college.
Make sure the advisor meshes well with your personality. Your best friend may have recommended a particular advisor, but that person may not click with you. It’s okay. Move on to someone else. In all cases, your first consultation is free.
Believe it or not, talking with financial advisors is often very soothing. The reason? They help you come up with a concrete plan to help you tackle your goals.
4. Use financial aid to your advantage.
Yes, this could be the most obvious de-stressor of all — getting financial aid!
Class of 2020 parents, you can combat financial stress during this corona-crazy time. All it takes is a simple phone call. Ask the financial aid office at your child’s chosen college if there’s any extra money laying around. Inquire about extra scholarships. Ask about work-study. Tell the financial aid office about a recent job loss. Talk to someone in financial aid about any financial situation you’re going through. Colleges want your child to go to their college and can help you alleviate financial stress.
If you’re the parent of a sophomore or junior, financial aid can go a long way to help you and your child afford college. It’s a great idea to start planning now. Check out my short piece about financial aid (What is Financial Aid? Plus, 6 Steps to Get It) so you start understanding the basics.
5. Reduce other stressors.
What’s a great way to reduce stress? You can make a long list of temporary stress relievers, I’m sure: Go for a walk. Talk to a friend on the phone. Color rocks with sidewalk chalk (that’s what I’m watching my kids do right now).
Do you know what seems to exacerbate one stress? Another stressor!
For example, let’s say you’re already stressed about paying for college. It doesn’t help if you’re stressed about, say, the 2020 presidential election. (I’m not pulling this out of thin air — the American Psychological Association’s 2019 Stress in America survey actually cited the presidential election as a major source of stress. It would be interesting to know how coronavirus would rank now.)
As much as you can, try to reduce other stressors in your life. Have a talk with your neighbor about his dog’s incessant barking. Talk to your mailman about firmly shutting your mailbox door so your mail isn’t soggy every time you grab the mail. (These seem little, but man, are they irritating!)
Eliminate the little stressors so you can tackle your financial stress before college head-on and talk to your spouse or others about what’s really stressing you out.
6. Talk to someone.
Chances are, you know someone else who’s sending a child off to college this fall. Or better yet, you know someone who already has three kids in college right now. This is your tribe! Your friends and community can be a great sounding board for your fears.
If your regular tribe doesn’t include parents of college-bound kids, it may be time to find a new tribe or add to your existing tribe.
You might need to go beyond your tribe and your spouse or partner and seek counseling if you’re really stressed out. If you find daily life to be a struggle or feel that your emotions are overwhelming, seek help. Just remember, money fears are real. It’s okay to reach out to a professional.
Reduce Stress Now
First and foremost, remember to celebrate one major thing: That your child’s going to college. Focus on what’s important. He or she is going to get the college education that he or she (and frankly, you!) have always dreamed about.
Remember that even though you may want to help your child pay for college, it’s still possible for your child to get loans to fund college completely.
Above all else, consider your attitudes toward money. Again, you may want to reframe how you think about money. If you think of money as unlimited — flowing in abundance! — it might just happen and help you and your kiddo pay for college.
Your kiddo might be tired of hunting for change every time he needs to get groceries. Worse, he might be calling you for money!
College might be the most scrape-the-bottom-of-the-barrel time of your child’s life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are some ideas for how to make money in college — whether your child needs a long-term gig or just wants to make a quick buck.
Cramming a job into an already-packed student schedule may seem like a daunting task, but college students all over the U.S. have jobs.
Part-timers more commonly have jobs than full-time students. The percentage of undergraduate students who were employed in 2017 was higher among part-time students (81 percent) than full-time students (43 percent), according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
How to Get a Job
Help your student consider the types of industries that might be a fit. A part-time job might help him work his way up to a full-time job after he graduates — so don’t underestimate that night-and-weekend gig.
He can even consider the right industry and which jobs fit his personality. You can be a great help here — you may recognize qualities in him that he may not even know about: (“Really, you think I’m good at caring for kids? Gee, thanks, Mom!”)
Here are a few industries to consider that are almost always hiring:
Service
Information
Health care
Finance and insurance
Real estate
Manufacturing
Construction
Agriculture
Look online for jobs in your area and encourage your child to check in with his college’s human resources office.
Can you guess the best method for getting a job? That’s right — use connections! Tap into your own connections at work and in groups to which you belong. Your network may be considerably wider than your student’s.
2. Suggest that your kiddo get an internship.
Your kiddo’s college and career center should be bursting with internship information. Of course, he’ll want to look for paid opportunities. A career center coordinator should be able to dig up internships that aren’t even on your radar. These ideas should all center around what could benefit your child’s future career.
Your student could also consider reaching out to the alumni office at her college — alumni are always super excited to help youngsters from their alma mater.
How to Get an Internship
Here are a few steps your kiddo can take to get an internship. When necessary, have her enlist the college’s career center for help during any steps.
Get that resume in order. Maybe your son or daughter will let you read it over to make sure it’s in good shape.
Make sure your kiddo writes a cover letter. It’s easy to get lazy and not write a cover letter. A cover letter is a must-do because it helps your child stand out among a pool of other interns (who may not have written a cover letter!) Make sure your child’s cover letter is in great shape (if he’ll let you read it).
Choose a few different internship possibilities. Your student may have found a few options online or a good connection through the alumni office or the college or career center. Make sure your child applies for several internships — holding out for just one option may not work out.
Make sure he asks two or three people to be references. Your student may not realize it, but he must ask people to be references and make sure their contact information is accurate.
Cross your fingers. You can’t hang over your child’s shoulder all the time. Hopefully, he double-checks a company’s online portal to make sure every part of the application is correct.
Get the right outfit for the interview. (You might be on the hook for the funds for that.)
Help your child understand basic interview etiquette. Shake hands with everyone, go over some common interview questions and make sure he follows up with a thank-you note, kind of like you would if you send a scholarship thank you letter to an individual or organization.
Work-Study Options
Juuuust in case you missed the definition at orientation, work-study is a part-time job offered to undergraduate and graduate students. The amount awarded depends on financial need. Your child will only receive work-study if you file the FAFSA.
It’s possible to work on or off campus. College students usually work for the school if they work on campus. Your child might work in a couple of different areas at the college or university:
Athletic office
Business office
Admission and/or financial aid
Food service
Academic departments
Grounds crew
Library
Security
Day care
The HR office will be able to give your son or daughter a list of jobs. Your kiddo might also be able to get work-study through a private nonprofit organization or a public agency. Colleges can have agreements with private for-profit employers for work-study jobs.
Undergraduates are paid hourly but graduate students can earn an hourly wage or salary. The trick to work-study is that students can’t work more than what they’ve been allotted through the financial aid award.
Steer Your Kiddo Toward a Side Gig
It’s tough to fully commit to a job or internship during college, which could require more structured hours. What about a side gig with looser hour requirements? Your student may be able to pick and choose specific hours. Here are a few ideas that can offer flexible hours:
Tutor
Babysit or nanny for parents who need help after school, during weekends or anytime between classes
Teach music lessons or perform
Be a tour guide for the town
Manage social media for businesses
Personal chef
Walk dogs
Scoop dog poop (yes, that’s a thing!)
Clean houses
Do yard work
Use TaskRabbit to find jobs and help people do tasks like raking leaves or fixing cabinet doors. Granted, this could be considered a “real job,” but it’s possible to pick and choose among jobs. You’re not committed to being at the same place for eight hours per day.
How to Make Money in College without Getting a Real Job
What with o-chem homework every night, your student may not have time to get a real job at all. Here are a few ways your student can make money in college without getting a “real” job or even a side gig.
Make Money Online
Earning money online is one of the best ways to make money in college. Here are a few ways your student can make money online:
Fill out online surveys like Swagbucks or InboxDollars. It’s possible to make a few extra dollars doing these.
Participate in focus groups for online market research — these types of surveys pay more than online surveys like Swagbucks. Check out Respondent or Fieldwork.
Answer questions on JustAnswer. Does your student have a particular area of expertise that can help people? JustAnswer can be a great option.
Do micro jobs on Mechanical Turk. Just create a worker account and work on the types of Human Intelligence Tasks (HITs) your child qualifies for.
Teach online through Cambly, SayABC or the Tutoring Lab — no degree is required for any of these.
Do freelancing online, whether it’s writing, web design, web development, graphic design, search engine optimization (SEO), mobile app development and more.
Your child may have an extra room or basement and may be able to look for another roommate. Make sure your student gets a background check on each potential roommate.
Use Decluttr to get rid of electronics, Blu-ray discs, DVDs and more.
Sell unused clothes through a brick-and-mortar consignment shop or online through Poshmark or ThredUp.
Sell scrap metal at a local recycling plant — copper, brass and aluminum will make the most money but all scrap metals have some value.
Sell just about anything else on Craigslist — furniture, old TVs, lamps, décor, yard equipment, etc.
How to Help Your Student Make Money in College
Chances are, your student feels guilty asking you for money twice a month. Ask your child to consider other ways he or she might be able to build up some savings. Encourage your child to be creative and think enormous, giant-sized dreams. Wouldn’t it be incredible if he launched a lucrative entrepreneurial endeavor from your dorm room?
Kids are exposed to so much creativity in college — there may never be a better time to bootstrap that idea that’s been rattling around in his head since freshman year.
When I was an admission counselor, one of the most challenging parts of my job was building relationships with high schoolers.
I remember contacting a particular student for months. I’d talked to his parents a handful of times and they said he was really interested in the college I worked for — he’d applied and everything. I texted, emailed and social media-ed. In a last-ditch attempt, I even called his cell. (What teenager answers his phone?)
I never heard from him. In fact, he remained elusive to everyone at the college. Finally, he visited in March, barely talked throughout our meeting but ended up enrolling.
It’s so important for kids to develop relationships during the college search process — and it’s a good idea for parents to do the same! It can work wonders for their college search and help your child hone in on the right college match.
Why? Building relationships allows you to get an idea of the character of the people at that school — and that’s just one reason why building relationships is a must-do.
Why it’s Important to Build Relationships During the College Search
Jessica Quintana Hess, director of admissions at Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, says, “Families sometimes think, ‘We have all the information we need on the internet. Why do we have to talk to anyone?'”
She says there’s real value in building relationships with the admission staff, financial aid office, coaches and more. She says that, unfortunately, students often don’t take advantage of that or think that the colleges should only exist to serve them. Think of it this way, though. How can an admission counselor help you if he or she doesn’t know what you need?
“Relationship building can help you in the admission process, but if you’re not giving me anything, I can’t advocate for you,” she says.
Building relationships can:
Help those at colleges do active work on your child’s behalf. So, what I mean by this is that people at the college can advocate for your child, go the extra step and help your kiddo with whatever he needs. Quintana Hess shared this story with me:
She says a young man enrolled at another college (not Lycoming) and got into a bit of trouble during his pre-orientation sessions. He could have stayed at the college but didn’t feel comfortable there anymore. He reached out to Quintana Hess because he had applied to Lycoming. She says he ended up enrolling because she was willing to give him a chance.
“If we hadn’t built a relationship when he was an applicant, he wouldn’t have felt comfortable coming to me,” she says. “I get Christmas cards from his family every year,” she adds.
Cement relationships for down the road. This process is all about finding the match, right? You want to find the right place for your child — and that means interacting with the actual people at the college. Not the buildings online or the list of classes. The college experience is about the people.
Help your child learn about opportunities. You hear about the heart and soul of an institution from the people who work there. You’ll find out how the robotics instructor hosts dinner at his own home or how the journalism professor stays up till all hours of the night to help students put the finishing touches on a fantastic article.
How to Start Building Relationships with Colleges
There are so many people you could start building relationships with — even before your student arrives on campus. There are three key individuals you’ll want to build a relationship with, plus, one more.
Admission Counselor
The admission counselor’s job is to build relationships with you, particularly if you’re looking at a small private liberal arts college. Even if your son or daughter is looking at a state school, it’s still a great idea to build that relationship.
How do you know who your admission counselor is at each school your child is interested in? Great question.
All it takes is a little poking around on the internet. The country is typically divided up into a giant jigsaw puzzle. Just click on your area and you’ll find your admission counselor.
Coaches (Including Assistant Coaches)
Coaches want to get to know your child, obviously. Your child definitely wants to get to know coaches, too. Just don’t overlook getting to know assistant coaches. They’ll be able to answer a lot of questions that the head coach might not know, including about different aspects of team dynamics.
Definitely build a relationship with players every time you and your child is on campus. Have lunch with team members. Have your child do an overnighter. Make sure your student feels 100 percent comfortable with the team.
Financial Aid Professionals
Financial aid professionals are VIPs. Who else holds the key to knowing everything about institutional scholarships, the FAFSA, grants, work-study, loans and more?
Always make an appointment with the financial aid office when you visit any school. It may not even be an offered option online, so call and ask for an appointment.
School College Counselor
Right, school counselors aren’t at colleges. However, this is a great person for you and your child to get to know at her high school. School counselors can clue your child in on scholarships, connect her with must-know people in the community (scholarship opportunities!) and help navigate the college search.
They wield tremendous power. A dozen cookies and weekly drop-ins from your student will go a long way.
How to Build Relationships
You may know exactly how to build relationships, but your kiddo might not have any idea. Kids spend hours each day engaging with ideas and one another through screens, but do they have good practice honing their interpersonal communication skills?
I noticed this when I greeted hundreds of high school kids over the years — they just don’t know how to talk to adults.
Some parents are whizzes at teaching their kids to interact with adults. I’m always impressed when I say “Hi” to kids and they look me right in the eye, shake my hand and engage in simple small talk.
Teaching kids how to do this gives them a lifelong advantage — I repeat — a lifelong advantage! They’ll be able to ask questions in college, do better in college, and succeed in college! They can sell themselves in job interviews after college (see the theme here?)
Now’s as good a time as any to encourage your child to start learning how to do this, especially if you know it’s kind of difficult for him.
Fortunately, you can start small. Building relationships with colleges happens in more ways than one. You can:
Email
Call
Text
Communicate via social media
Conference calls
One-on-one meetings
And more! (I think the COVID-19 crisis will give admission offices even more ideas about how to communicate with students throughout the year.)
So, knowing there are lots of ways to communicate with colleges, I think it’s worth mentioning what your son or daughter can practice.
You want firm handshakes, eye contact and more when he or she interacts with adults — yes, even if your child is naturally shy. Here are some things you can work on.
Initiate Contact
Teach your high schooler that it’s a great idea to initiate contact with an admission counselor. Trust me, guys, I was an admission counselor for years and admission counselors are hungry to hear from your child. It’s the best day ever to open up an email from an interested student or get a text that says, “Hey! I’m interested in your college. Can you tell me more?”
Trust me, most admission counselors will fall all over themselves to answer your child’s email or text.
Respond to Questions
The only way to get better talking freely with adults is to practice. Even among peers, is your child uncomfortable responding to questions or never pipes up in a group setting? It’s okay to be shy, but encourage your child to contribute if he or she is burning to say something. It’s a great idea to practice doing this among friend groups first, then translate it to adults.
On the other hand, your kiddo may find it super easy to interact with peers, but not with adults at all. Encourage your child to practice. Say “Hi” to people at church, have her call up for pizza delivery. Ask your daughter to make her own appointment to get her hair cut — over the phone, not online.
Then work up to calling someone in the admission office to get information. Even better, have her set up a college visit. That’ll require a dexterous blend of having to schedule, coordinate and make decisions. Great practice!
Sustain Conversations
Teach your child how to keep a conversation going and more importantly, be sincere in the questions he’s asking.
Gah, it can be such a thing to teach a high schooler how to have a conversation that’s not one-sided. Kids are so used to adults talking and asking the questions — do kids ever practice asking the questions? No. Teach him the art of the open-ended question.
A good suggestion is to talk about the things your child is passionate about — sports, hobbies, goals, dreams. A college professional always wants to hear about a kid’s goals and dreams. It’s what they live for!
I remember a 30-year-old nontraditional student I talked to in the admission office who had a dream to still go to medical school. At 30! I was entranced by his story — I could have listened to it all day.
Admission professionals lap that stuff up. Make sure your child knows how to talk about his goals.
Practice it Yourself
You may cringe if you notice that your child doesn’t interact well with adults.
But what are your own habits? Do you go out of your way to make small talk with strangers at the grocery store or waiters at a restaurant, or do you just exchange acceptable pleasantries and nothing more?
Your child picks up social cues from you. Remember that.
Continued Communication
When people like you, they want to continue chatting with you! The best thing you can do is have your child continue to stay in contact with prospective schools for an entire year. (Yes! A whole year!)
If your child’s no longer interested in a particular school, it’s important that he tells them. Reach out to admission counselors to let them know they no longer need to recruit your child.
(It can be frustrating for admission staff to have to keep reaching out blindly because they have no idea your child’s no longer interested.)
Have your child send an email or text to the admission counselor to let them know they’ve chosen a different college.
Start Building Relationships Now
Don’t waste any time! Start building relationships with everyone you can at all colleges, whether your child is a sophomore or senior. Make sure your student does, too. It’ll serve your child well later.
Hey, hey, are you staying healthy? I sure hope so.
I’ve been trying to do my part by slowing the spread and doubling down at home (hence all the rapid-fire posts covering COVID-19-related tips!)
I know there’s one thing you may be thinking about if you’re the parent of a sophomore or junior: the SAT. COVID-19 may have wreaked havoc on your SAT plans.
I worked for 12 years in a college admission office in the Midwest, so most students took the ACT, not the SAT. I even administered the ACT test every few months (those poor students were soo nervous!) so I was always a bit curious about the SAT.
Parents, it may be a few years since you’ve taken the SAT yourself (if you took it at all!) and want to know more about it. I’ll also cover some top tips on how to handle it during COVID-19.
What does SAT stand for, anyway? Let’s do a multiple-choice question, just like in the real SAT:
Scholastic Aptitude Test
Scholar Assessment Test
Slippery, Atrocious Trial
It’s not an acronym for anything. It’s just S-A-T.
Got a good guess? It’s D! (Did you notice that I tried tricking you? The SAT did stand for Scholastic Aptitude Test when it was created.)
You know that the SAT is a multiple-choice entrance exam administered by the College Board. You may even know that over 2.2 million students took the SAT in 2019, according to the 2019 SAT Suite of Assessments Program Results. But do you know the finer points of the SAT?
The SAT does one major thing: It assesses your child’s readiness for college. Most colleges and universities use the SAT to make admission decisions. Your child’s SAT score, in addition to high school GPA, transcripts, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, personal essays and interviews, may also be taken into consideration for admission decisions. Some schools don’t weigh SAT scores as heavily, while others do.
Of course, it’s to your student’s advantage to do well on the SAT or the ACT. Your child is more likely to be able to attend and possibly receive more financial aid from a particular school with a higher score.
The SAT is divided up into three major sections: Reading, Math, and Writing and Language. The Essay portion is optional. Here’s a quick breakdown of what you’ll find on each test.
Reading Test
The Reading Test is 65 minutes long and features reading passages. Each reading passage requires you to answer 52 multiple-choice questions using tables, graphs, and charts. The SAT always includes:
One literature passage
A U.S. history passage or pair of passages
A passage from economics, sociology or psychology
Two science-related passages
Your child may need to find evidence, interpret data and consider implications to answer the questions on this test.
What’s on the Language and Writing Test? Easy — this is your child’s chance to be an editor for 35 minutes. He or she will take a look at sentence structure, usage and punctuation in portions of an underlined part of a passage.
There are four passages and 44-passage based questions. Your child must be able to know how to manipulate words, use punctuation and sentence clauses, as well as understand verb tense, parallel construction, subject-verb agreement, comma use and more.
The SAT Math Test covers basic algebra, problem solving, data analysis and complex equations. It’s divided up into two components — a calculator section and a no-calculator section:
The calculator section is 55 minutes and contains 38 questions.
The no-calculator section is 25 minutes and contains 20 questions. Your child isn’t permitted to use a calculator. (These portions are conceptual and your child won’t need a calculator to complete them.)
Most of the questions on the Math Test are multiple choice but 22 percent are student-produced response questions, known as grid-ins.
The SAT Essay portion is optional but some colleges require it. (It’s a good idea to do some checking around to find out whether your kiddo should take the essay portion.)
The Essay Test is 50 minutes and measures your child’s ability to read, write and analyze. The two people who score your child’s essay each award between one and four points for a maximum score of eight.
Here’s how it’s done: Your student must read a passage and explain how the writer builds an argument and how that writer persuades using evidence from the passage.
How long is the SAT?
To sum up, the SAT is 180 minutes, not including breaks. The SAT Essay Test is 50 minutes.
Reading Test
65 minutes
52 questions
Writing and Language Test
35 minutes
44 questions
Math: No calculator Math: Calculator
25 minutes 55 minutes
20 questions 38 questions
Essay
50 minutes
1 essay
History of the SAT
Okay, buckle in for a history lesson. The history of the SAT goes back all the way to the first World War, believe it or not. Robert Yerkes, a guy who knew a heck of a lot about I.Q. testing, asked the U.S. Army to let him test all recruits for intelligence using the Army Alpha.
One of Yerkes’ brilliant assistants, Carl Brigham, taught at Princeton and adapted Army Alpha as a college admissions test. It was first administered to a few thousand college applicants in 1926, just for fun. (Yeah, it was one big experiment!)
James Bryant Conant, the president of Harvard in 1933, decided to start a new scholarship program and asked an assistant dean, Henry Chauncey, to find a test to evaluate candidates for these scholarships. (Poor guy!) Chauncey met Brigham and recommended… dum da dum dum dum… The SAT!
Chauncey talked the members of the College Board into using the SAT as a uniform exam in 1938 for scholarship applicants. The second World War changed everything in 1942. All College Board admissions tests were abolished, so the SAT became the test for everyone.
When’s the SAT Offered?
This is kind of a trick question because the SAT’s schedule has changed due to COVID-19. The SAT’s normally offered during the following months each year:
August
October
November
December
March
May
June
For example, the dates for 2020-2021 are the following:
August 29, 2020
October 3, 2020
November 7, 2020
December 5, 2020
March 13, 2021
May 8, 2021
June 5, 2021
What to Do About the SAT During COVID-19
The College Board canceled the May 2, 2020, SAT and SAT Subject Test administration due to COVID-19.
Right now, the next SAT is scheduled for the first weekend of June (June 6), but that depends on how the public health situation evolves. The registration deadline for the June 6 test is May 8.
Your student’s school may have originally scheduled a School Day SAT Test, which was cancelled. The College Board is seeking multiple solutions with states and districts about School Day administrations. Learn more about the College Board’s COVID-19 response.
Normally, the SAT should be taken by at least the spring of your child’s junior year. Taking it junior year gives your student the opportunity to take the SAT a second time in the fall of senior year before college application deadlines (if necessary).
This is a great time to prepare for the SAT. Your child can take practice exams and spend time preparing during quarantine.
Should My Kiddo Take the SAT and the ACT?
I stuck this question in here because I heard it every so often as an admission counselor.
You may be tempted to encourage your child to take both the SAT and the ACT — but it’s actually not a great idea. Why?
Think about it this way. Your student will only have so much preparation time for both tests and taking both will slash that time in half. Not only that, but if you pay for tutoring, you’ll have to pay for a tutor class for both tests.
Colleges have no preference for the ACT over the SAT or vice versa, so focus on one.
Talk to Colleges
Now you know the answer to “What does SAT stand for?” and more.
You might be wondering what you’ll do if COVID-19 is still a public health concern in June. Remember, there are still several dates around the corner: August 29, October 3, November 7 and December 5.
There’s still plenty of time to test (and retest!) so don’t get stressed out about having your child take the test before college application deadlines.
Sure, it might be a bit of a squeeze to get everything done, so it’s a good idea to reach out to all of your child’s prospective colleges. Explain your concerns and hear their recommendations. (They may change their college deadlines in light of this situation, anyway. Call and find out!)
I had a post all ready to go about “how to help your high school junior” — then COVID-19 hit. I almost chucked the whole post out.
It’s easy to see why — it was about tackling the ACT or SAT, making an appointment with your child’s school counselor and more.
Guess what? Your high school junior can still do most of this get-ready-for college stuff. Your fears that your junior will be way behind is natural. But there’s good news: Colleges and universities are now faced with a whole cohort of students who will have to play catch-up.
Things have changed, yes, but in many ways, they really did stay the same. Here’s how to help your high school junior right now!
1. Have your high school junior talk to his or her school counselor.
One of my friends is a high school English teacher. She’s been watching the progression of her juniors and told me that her school’s college counselor is holding Zoom meetings with families so they’re on track with financial planning, scholarship pursuits and registering for senior year classes.
Talk with your child’s college and career counselor — it doesn’t have to be through Zoom, but it’s a good idea to have a conversation over the phone if it doesn’t happen online. Here are a few things you may want to talk about:
High school schedule for senior year
AP or college credit classes
Colleges on your child’s radar and any others that the counselor would recommend
College admission questions
College application timeline questions
Scholarship and financial aid options — particularly local scholarships
Gather a list of questions ahead of time with your child and yes, join the call!
2. Start getting your high school junior ready for the ACT or SAT.
The April ACT has been rescheduled for June and the May SAT has been canceled. To put a positive spin on it, this means that your child has more time to study for the ACT or SAT. (Hurray, right?!)Here’s what he or she can start doing to get ready for either test.
Whether your child is taking the ACT or SAT (please know that one isn’t better than the other and colleges are good with either one), the most important thing to do is get familiar with each section on each test by studying for it.
Here’s a quick comparison between the two tests.
ACT
SAT
Type of test
Achievement test that aims to pinpoint what you’ve learned in school.
Aptitude test that analyzes your verbal and reasoning skills.
Sections of the test
English, mathematics, reading, science and optional essay tests
Reading, writing and language, math, optional essay tests
Test length
2 hours, 55 minutes (3 hours, 55 minutes with essay)
3 hours (3 hours, 50 minutes with essay)
First things first. Suggest that your son or daughter does a diagnostic test. Time pressure is a huge factor on the ACT and SAT, so finding out how well your son or daughter can handle that is a great place to start. For example, if your son has trouble finishing the math test but does well in all other tests, that’s a good place to focus.
Have your child time each test accurately — yes, to the second! You can be a big help here.
Be sure your child takes the required break, just like the regular test.
Eliminate distractions.
Try to help your child simulate actual test conditions as much as possible. Have your kiddo go through all the tests in order to get a feel for what it’ll be like.
Once you’ve identified which test or tests will be a challenge for your son or daughter, it’s time to practice! You can find all sorts of mock tests online that resemble the actual test and you can also buy study books, too.
3. Make a list of schools.
In lockdown from COVID-19 right now? It’s a great time to bend your heads over a laptop and start doing some research. What are the characteristics your child wants in a school?
What’s on your own wish list? (You may have to be careful how you phrase this, depending on how open to your input your high school junior is.) Consider:
Academic programs
Athletic programs
Extracurricular opportunities
Location
Scholarship opportunities
Parent/family connections
Word of mouth that a school is excellent
Other factors that make that particular school appealing
Next, take a look at your child’s credentials and learn the colleges’ admission rates, median GPAs and SAT and ACT scores to figure out whether there’s any chance of admission.
Any school that admits only a small percentage of applicants is a reach school. A college should be considered a reach for your kiddo if her test scores and GPA are below (or at the lower end of) what a college typically accepts.
On the other hand, her GPA could align with that of accepted students. Bingo! You’ve identified a target school!
A safety school is one that accepts a high percentage of applicants. Your child’s GPA and test scores go above and beyond the qualifications.
You may want to start a handy spreadsheet to identify these schools and continue to add to the list.
4. Do a virtual visit.
So many schools are hosting virtual visits right now — they’re making their own and hiring companies to complete virtual visits if they didn’t have comprehensive virtual visits before COVID-19. It’s virtual visit time! Check out my post on technology tips during COVID-19.
Depending on the school, you might experience simple click-through photos of different buildings. On the other hand, you might encounter really cool interactive options that offer photos and videos plus 360-degree photos. Some of these sites really do a great job of appealing to visual learners!
5. Reach out to colleges.
Virtual visits can go beyond just a virtual tour of the campus. You can reach out to an admission counselor, financial aid officer, coach — anyone who normally would have been on your list for a regular visit. Call the admission office and ask whether you and your son or daughter will be able to visit with these people using tech options. Doing this gives you a more comprehensive look at what a college has to offer. Make a list of questions you and your high school junior would like to ask, including:
Campus life (including meal plans and housing)
Majors and minors the college offers
Admission requirements
The application process (including whether that will change due to COVID-19)
Cost of attendance and financial aid options
And yes, join your teen on this call! It’s just like a college visit.
6. Have your high school junior laser focus on grades and updating that resume.
My high school teacher friend says, “Our school has asked that we focus more on our students’ well-being than academics, but that doesn’t mean they don’t learn anything. My juniors will finish Macbeth tomorrow!” She says she usually teaches Shakespeare by reading aloud but now uses YouTube clips, questioning and EdPuzzle to pull it all together. “My school and many others were lucky enough to already implement tools like Canvas, Blackboard or GoogleClassroom prior to this, so the challenges have been slightly less stressful,” she says.
She also told me this. “I also teach three sections of seniors, and they have divulged that they are dealing with an all-new style of senioritis. Now they struggle to get online to attend Zoom meetings because their bed is calling out to them. When attending school traditionally, the greatest senioritis temptations were to skip this chapter, do that assignment in study hall, or show up five seconds (or minutes) late. Now, classes take place in their living rooms, dining rooms and bedrooms next to televisions and gaming systems. The temptations to do something else other than school is greater than ever.”
Yikes. It’s easy to see how juniors can fall prey to this, too. But just because school is taking place in dining rooms and living rooms and feels totallynot like school, it’s more important than ever to keep academics top of mind.
Some teachers have optional office hours, so students are encouraged to make contact when they are confused or frustrated. Your junior can take advantage of this to focus on that all-important GPA and even get help formatting her resume.
Your high school junior might stay camped out on a tablet, phone or laptop all day. Don’t forget to encourage regular breaks — kids need to get up, take a walk or run and get the blood going again.
Have you had to shut off the app to your retirement account because you really aren’t interested in watching it drop anymore? Even if you aren’t paying close attention to your retirement accounts, maybe you are paying attention to your teen’s 529 plan, custodial account, savings account — or wherever you’re stashing your child’s college money.
First, the good news is that your child is a junior and many, many experts expect the stock market to recover in a jiffy once the worst of the coronavirus outbreak is over.
There’s also good news for student loan borrowers. Interest rates have dropped to record lows. Federal Direct student loans may dip to 1.5% to just above 3% for 2020 student borrowers — possibly even lower.
The Federal Parent PLUS loan could come down almost 2%. Private student loans may start as low as 3%.
Finally, don’t forget to come up with a plan to tackle scholarships! The College Board offers a scholarship search tool you can look at together and it’s a good idea to talk to your high school junior’s guidance counselor about community scholarships.
Come Up with a Plan for the Fall
Your junior will experience a time crunch in the fall. High school juniors are a hard-hit group (after this year’s seniors, of course.) Your junior will have to squish in:
Any of those college visits you and your junior didn’t experience this spring.
Any academics and extracurricular activities he or she missed this spring will be pushed into the next academic year.
ACT/SAT makeup dates will have to happen in the fall or winter.
What other stressors will show up later? Discuss these changes with your high school junior so you’ll both know how you’ll tackle them in a way that (maybe) isn’t so stressful.
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!
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.
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.
