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A Word About the Waitlist...
A Word About the Waitlist...
If you’ve been waitlisted or deferred, take heart. All may not be lost! You may have another chance to make your case. Check out the College Essay Guy's blog post below to learn more about:
What is a letter of continued interest (LOCI)?
Should I send one to every school?
How many students do schools accept off the waitlist (AKA What are my chances)?
What should I include in an LOCI?
A great example letter
Will a letter of continued interest really help?
Where and to whom should I send my letter?
Comparing College Options
Comparing College Options
As you start to hone in on your college choice, you may have a clear front-runner. But, if you're like many students, you're choosing from a few really great options. Here's an exercise to help you get more clarity. You decide what's important to you and rate each of the colleges you're considering. While you might find that your options come up with fairly similar scores, this process itself should prove helpful.
To get started, click on the spreadsheet below and make a copy of it. Be sure to check out the "example" tab at the bottom for more guidance.
Comparing Financial Aid Awards
Comparing Financial Aid Awards
Once you receive your award letters, use these two tools to help you fully understand your financial aid packages. Compare offers and see how much you and your parents will be expected to pay - now and later in the form of loans.
The sticker prices listed for top schools are often much higher than what college will cost. Find out the true cost for you and your family today!
While the estimate provided by the MyinTuition calculator is only that, an estimate, in many cases these estimates will be within a few thousand dollars of what your actual financial plan might look like. This does depend on the accuracy of the information you provide.
NOTE: MyinTuition does NOT store ANY personally identifiable information.
Using Going Merry’s “College Cost Insights” to compare your offers
If you’ve been accepted to multiple colleges, you are likely comparing them in a variety of ways. The Going Merry Insights tool helps you compare them on a financial basis -- that is, how to figure out which college “makes the most financial sense." Check out the process below and become a financial aid master in less than 10 minutes!
Using the Insights tool, you will complete several steps:
Put in information from your financial aid award letters (including how much you’ve been offered in scholarships, grants, work-study, and loans).
Put in information about how much you and your parents can jointly contribute -- this should be the maximum realistic amount. (Don’t just put 0, or we will assume you have a big “financial gap” that needs to be filled with student loans.)
Check out your recommendations and calculations.
What is most important to you?
You likely noticed that you ended up with three different types of “recommendations.” This is because, depending on your preferences, “what makes more financial sense” might be based on:
Which college leads to the most “long-term wealth”? For this, we considered both the costs AND your future earning potential if you graduate from there.
Which college costs the least in “real” terms (taking into account loan payments, etc.)? This is the option that minimizes student debt, but ignores future earning potential.
Which college allows you to pay the least upfront/now? (even if it means paying more in loans later - so this ignores future debt repayments AND future earnings.)
Your “financial gap” and what to do about it
One of the core driving elements in the Going Merry Insights tool is your “financial gap.”
What is a financial gap?
Your financial gap is how much money you need to “find” to be able to pay for college. Mathematically, it’s the total cost of attendance, minus all your financial aid, minus the maximum you and your parents can contribute.
Why do you think the financial gap matters so much, in these sorts of calculations?
Going Merry assumes you’ll need to take private loans to fill this “financial gap,” because that is the most common way families handle such gaps. Since loans cost you more long-term than what you’re borrowing now (that’s how they work), the more you need to borrow, the more your “real” cost of that college.
Besides taking private loans, what are other, different ways to lessen your financial gap?
Another way of thinking of this question is: Where else can you find money to pay for college? Other ways are:
Winning external scholarships (but of course this isn’t guaranteed), Student/summer jobs (so you can increase your student contribution)
Convincing your parents (or other families) to increase their contribution, if they are able to
Appealing to your college for more aid.
Try adding $1000 or $2000 to your max family contribution and running the calculations again. How much changed?
Choose your college carefully. Do not plan to transfer from a Cal State to a UC. Once you are at a 4-year college, it is difficult to transfer (especially within the California Public School system).
You've Made a Decision... What's Next?
You've Made a Decision... What's Next?
Congratulations on making a decision! You've made a choice based on your interests and needs. Throughout high school, there was much discussion around getting to college. Now let's take a moment to look at next steps to help with your transition.
Going to a California college? Check your school choice on Webgrants to ensure that you receive the Cal Grant.
Notify the college that you will be attending BEFORE May 1 (National Reply Date). Accept online.
Pay a tuition deposit. This is non-refundable.
Arrange housing and make housing deposit. This is separate from the tuition/enrollment deposit.
If you have FAFSA questions, call 800.433.3243.
Gentlemen - BE SURE THAT YOU SAID "YES" TO THE FAFSA QUESTION ABOUT REGISTERING FOR THE SELECTIVE SERVICE. You will need to do this in order to get financial aid.
Report any D’s or F’s to colleges (EOP and/or admissions office). Reporting Changes to Colleges
Send transcripts, test scores, and tax documents if/when the colleges ask for them.
Admitted to EOP? Follow up with the EOP office at your Cal State campus.
Take the UC Writing Exam (a Saturday in May). Take the community college Math and English Placement Exams.
Does your college/university have a freshmen orientation? Is it over the summer? Do you need to register for it?
Does your college/university offer a summer bridge program? If so, take advantage of this to sharpen your skills!
Are you required to complete a CSU Early Start Program over the summer? Get registered!
Get PROOF of your vaccines or get your vaccines! This information will be in your TO DO list if it's needed.
Check your online college accounts daily. This is how you will manage admissions and financial aid information and how the colleges will communicate with you.
Sierra College students - Register for your classes at your exact appointment time. Don't delay! Put all your classes in your shopping cart in advance so that you're ready to hit "submit". Choose an extra class or two in case you want to try them out on the first day and drop those you don't want.
After you pay your deposit, contact the Career Center at your college to ask about work study jobs. Do they have a database that you can access? The good jobs go first, so try to do some of the searching and applying NOW.
Get a summer job to help cover your expenses.
Do your homework! This book should be required summer reading: The Thinking Student's Guide to College. It's about $11 on Amazon and well-worth it!
Watch these videos to get excited about your college adventure!
UpNext helps you plan for college with text messages about:
Finding and choosing schools
Prepping and sending your applications
Finding money for college
Student Loan repayment and more
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