Part 2–Choosing the Right College: Applications, Admission Requirements, Financial Aid, and University Websites

Preparing your college bound student to choose the best school for their needs can be a daunting intensive search. The number of sources for this information is often separate requiring multiple internet searches, guidance counselor consultations, and college sponsored workshops.

A comprehensive one stop shop for all your initial research needs can be found www.college-scholarships.com. Within this site resides the Colleges and University directory page. This page has a solid beginning data base of the traditional colleges and universities by state. Parents and students can search a particular state’s schools.

Admissions email and contact information, Scholarship & Financial Aid email and contact information, Online Applications for each institution, as well as a link to each institution’s home website are provided in one easy to find place.

The depth of information at www.college-scholarships.com is very helpful for the number of searches a family may wish to make in their initial investigation. The following are a selection information available:

*Technical Schools, Trade Schools, and Vocational Schools information

*Career Training

*Christian Colleges, Universities, and Bible Colleges information

*Colleges for Women

*Colleges with Programs for Learning Disabled

*Free Scholarship Searches

*Online Degree information

*Important Tips for Students

If you would like to investigate alternative methods of college financing, please contact us for more detail.

Choosing the Right College: Planning Ahead Pays Off in the End!

America offers the richest landscape of colleges and universities in the world today. The huge scope of choices include Junior colleges, Vocational institutions, Trade schools, Art colleges, State University systems, Private universities, and a plethora of schools specializing in different sciences. Before a family can tackle the ominous task of choosing the “right” school for their loved one, they need to plan for their future choice. The following is an initial “to do” list and tips which may help in college preparedness for the future. According to College Planning Specials:

1. Start Visiting Colleges and Universities that your child is interested in applying for admission: Many high school students base their decisions on where they want to go to school on “word of mouth.” This word of mouth comes from friends, college guides, magazines or guidance councilors.

Because of this haphazard method of choice, it is imperative that each student visit the campuses of schools of interest to get a feel for the school and student life.

2. SAT Test Preparation Courses. This is a vital step to admission. If your child is competing with other students for limited spots then the decision often hinges on each student’s SAT score. SAT preparation courses are designed to instruct students on how to take this test, how to manage time, and what type of questions may be asked. This is invaluable!

3. Private Scholarships represent roughly 1% of the total monies available for college financing. Although this is small it is worth the effort to investigate.

4. Set up Income, Assets, and Personal finances in order to receive the maximum allowable funding from each school.

5. Do NOT Procrastinate as your competition (other students and their families) will be performing their due diligence.

Student Loan Scandal Rages: Where Do San Francisco Bay Area Parents Turn for Help?

The rocket-jet stratospheric rise in College tuitions is hitting an all time high with no end in sight. This is a monster burden most parents are not prepared to take on when the time comes to send their children to college. Complicating and aggravating matters is the ongoing student loan scandal that continues to rock the nation’s universities.

In one of the worst examples of kickbacks, the University of Texas (Austin) fired their Director of Financial Aid Lawrence Burt. According to the University, the firing was handed down due to “improper conduct.” This conduct included “the determination that Burt had more ties to a student loan company than had been previously known and that Burt had begun recommending the lender to students a few months after he bought stock in it’s parent company.”

With multiple stories of this ilk littering our scholastic landscape, it is no wonder parents are feeling distrusting, outcast, and unsure where to turn for financial help. High schools are understaffed with guidance counselors often assigned hundreds of students. In many cases these counselors are not informed in alternative forms of student tuition financing. The information flow can be slow or even misinformed in some cases. Where do parents turn for answers?

Consequently “College Planning Specialists” main platform will be to provide pertinent, alternative, and important financial aid information for the parents of college bound students in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information about the student loan alternatives, we invite readers to follow our upcoming series “Student Loan Alternatives: Answers for Parents.” If you need immediate assistance, please contact Dan Evertsz of College Planning Specialists 415 756.6007.