Deciphering Your FinAid Offers-CAVEAT EMPTOR!

Students will be receiving their financial aid packages soon from schools to which they submitted a FAFSA (and possibly the CSS Profile, depending on the school's requirements). Comparing the dollar value of your package requires a close examination and comparison of several factors.

Cost of Attendance (COA): this number is what it will cost including tuition, room, board, transportation, books and miscellaneous student fees for one year.
EFC: this is the amount your family will be expected to contribute based on the FAFSA figure calculated from your family income and assets.
Pell Grant: a federal grant to extremely low income families. It is a grant and need not be payed back.
Institutional grant: Money from the college's coffers that need not be repaid. It is not a scholarship, which is based on other factors, like merit or athletic talent.
Work/Study: a federal program that requires students to work on-campus for the college and payments are typically sent directly to a student's account to fulfill a component of the package.
Federal Student Loans: Provided by the Federal government to the student, these loans are available to everyone who files a FAFSA, even if they do not qualify for aid.  Currently both subsidized for students with demonstrated need and unsubsidized loans for students with no demonstrated need carry an interest rate of 3.86% when disbursed between 7/1/13 and 7/1/14. There are maximum and yearly limits. A good source of info is available here: Federal Student Aid

PLUS Loans: These loans are also provided by the Federal Government but are made to parents, not the student. They are also available to students in graduate school. The current interest rate is 6.41% and there are also maximums and limits. Parents must also have a good credit rating as these loans consider credit history when evaluating applications, unlike loans made to students which do not consider credit history.
Perkins Loans: These are for students with significant financial need only. These loans are made by the institution, not the federal government. The interest rate is currently 5%.
Scholarships: This money, which need not be repaid, is made from the school's coffers and standards are different at every school. Some schools require students maintain a certain GPA, or expect participation in an activity. The NCAA oversees the requirements and rules for athletic scholarships. Many schools will offer merit scholarships to attract the best students and those with test scores and GPAs above the typical admitted student's. Merit money can make attending a certain school a more attractive choice.
State Aid: Some states offer loans or scholarships for students and require attendance within their home state. For New York State residents, more info is here: NYS Higher Ed Services Corp


While many expect that public colleges and universities will be cheaper than privates, if there is significant demonstrated need as evidenced by FAFSA and CSS, a student may find a private a better deal. Why? Private schools with more competitive admissions often have large endowments from which they draw money for grants for students with need. This money which does not have to be repaid can replace loans in an aid packages and often allow students to graduate with no debt. Unfortunately the list of schools that can meet all need without loans is shrinking every year. That list is here: Princeton, Davidson, Amherst, Harvard, Pomona, Swarthmore, Haverford, University of Pennsylvania, Bowdoin, Stanford, Wellesley, Columbia, Claremont McKenna and Vanderbilt.
Williams, Dartmouth, Yale, Cornell, MIT and Carleton have recently modified their no loans policy to include modest loans in packages for students with household incomes over $75k or so.

In order to compare the real cost of attendance including debt incurred, be sure to consider the money you may have to borrow to meet the cost of attendance. While your aid package may show a number that matches the COA, be sure to read closely how much of the package is student loans, PLUS loans and private loans which can be very costly and should be a last resort. Incurring debt over what a student might expect to make his or her first year out of college can be a costly mistake so borrow judiciously. Student loans are not dismissed in bankruptcy either. Be wary of private education loans too as many begin accruing interest when they are disbursed, not upon graduation. And lastly, if your package is not generous enough to attend but a small increase would make it so, call the financial aid office and ask if you can discuss the package. Many schools will find the additional dollars to make up for a shortfall, especially if you call as soon as you are admitted. Do this earlier rather than later as most schools have finite resources for financial aid and you want to appeal before they exhaust their budgeted amount. Any questions? Drop me a note at athenaadvisors@optimum.net. 

Post-season Wrap Up, Sort of...

Now that the last RD deadline has passed, I have time to sum up what this application round was like. I worked with 63 students, from as far away as Canada, Mexico and China, on essay development and editing, and walked many students through the complexities of the new and purportedly improved Common App, a challenge all its own, as if the admissions process isn't stressful enough! I also experienced the sheer pleasure of hearing students I worked with were admitted to their first choices. One especially grateful student sent me an orchid! I also helped a lot of students find that one last likely school just to make sure every sleeps well between now and April. All in all, it was a VERY busy six months, but I loved almost every moment of it. I loved meeting so many super kids, many of whom focused their energies on writing thoughtful essays and meeting deadlines, staying on top of all the details that needed to be attended to, and never hesitating to ask a question if they just weren't sure. I was also happy to field more than a few phone calls, emails and texts from nervous parents, and help them find some measure of peace!

So, as in the past few years, the schools with the lowest admit rates were even more selective this year. ED/EA/REA/SCEA acceptance stats dropped again for the Ivies, Stanford, UChicago and their peers. Those with slightly less competitive admissions also saw increases in their numbers of ED/EA applicants, and lower admit rates. Overall, the top 50 or so schools all saw increases in the number of applications, even those that had seen slight declines last year.  As predicted, admissions are not getting any easier at the higher ranked schools and are getting even more competitive at the less competitive schools.

The Common App was a major headache for hundreds of thousands of students. I received many panicked phone calls, texts and emails asking me why PDFs were blank, why the Common App was crashing or not recognizing previously used login info, and that Naviance was not showing any recommendations or transcripts had been requested or sent! I spent hours sitting with students as they filled out the Common App, if only to assure them they were doing it right. I suggested filling everything out and setting the alarm for 4 AM to submit, hoping that less traffic on the site would enable proper submission. Almost every school that had an ED/EA/SCEA/REA deadline extended it for a week or more in recognition of the problems students were having. Many also extended their RD deadlines, aware that there is even more traffic the days before 1/1/14. Let's hope that Eric Furda, UPenn's Dean of Admissions and the incoming President of the Common App will sort out these issues before the next admissions round!

Here are the lessons learned from this round of applications:

• Do NOT wait until the night before the deadline to submit your Common App!
• Start thinking about and drafting your essay in August before you are overwhelmed by the start of school
• Finish your junior year with the best grades you can muster!
• Ask your favorite teachers, or those for whom you have produced great work, if they will write you a letter of recommendation BEFORE the end of the year, instead of in September, so they have time over the summer to think about how they can highlight what makes you an outstanding applicant. 
• If your standardized testing outcomes are disappointing, check out www.fairtest.org and see how many great schools do not require SATs or ACTs. 
• Take advantage of your counselor's relative free time now and make an appointment to review your plans for next year. Remember they will be writing a recommendation for you too!
• Start visiting if you haven't already! Make a list of your possible schools and do some day trips and plan an overnight or two.
• Create a list of your ECs so you have something to work from when completing the Common App next fall. It goes live on 8/1!

How to be Authentic in Three Easy Steps!

As I race around this month, meeting with students to help them craft their Common App essays and supplements, I have noticed that students seem to struggle with the same issue. Many feel they have to have a dramatic story or momentous experience to write about in order to write a good essay. Some of the new Common App prompts seem to provide the perfect framework in which to share a significant experience, but what is a student to do if he or she hasn't had that defining moment yet? What if the moment of realization that that student is no longer a child hasn't happened yet? What if there is no story central to his or her identity that is worthy of note?

The default prompt for kids without a compelling story to tell seems to be writing about a place where the writer is content. If a student chooses this prompt, he or she should remember that the place need not be geographical, e.g. a ski mountain or Tel Aviv, and an even better more personal and moving essay can be developed if a physical place isn't the place of contentedness. It can be an emotional "place", chilling with the family dog after a rough day, or spending time with an elderly relative, hearing stories about the old days, doing chores for them or sharing a meal.

Students should think outside the box when crafting the essay. It's the only opportunity an admissions officer will have to really get to know the applicant beyond the data elsewhere on the application. Seize the opportunity to do so. Be authentic and the essay will make sense.

Of course the most important consideration when preparing an essay for submission is to have someone else read it! Whether it is a paid essay expert, a trusted teacher or counselor, or even a parent or friend with an eye for grammar and usage, have someone read it through and mark it up with a red pen. It is hard to spot mistakes in your own work and there is no more awful feeling than realizing there is a huge typo in the middle of your essay AFTER you have pressed the submit button!

DIII and the Student Athlete

Many parents dream of athletic scholarships for little Susie, starting perhaps when she is four years old and dominating the soccer pitch. About 2% of high school athletes receive athletic scholarships and this includes partial scholarships as well as those that may only cover one year. Only DI and DII schools may award scholarships to athletes. DIII is another kettle of fish. Read on for some simple tips to keep in mind as your student considers playing at DIII.

• While DIII schools do not award athletic scholarships, students who qualify can receive generous financial aid packages including grant or gift money that need not be paid back. Anecdotally, it is suspected that a desirable prospective DIII athlete who qualifies for aid may actually receive a package that includes more grant money and fewer loans than a non-athlete. 
• There is no such thing as a commitment from a DIII coach- there are no guarantees in this division.  A DIII coach and an athlete have a handshake agreement at best. An email from a coach is not a commitment no matter how enthusiastic.  There is no Letter of Intent, no signing ceremony and nothing but good faith between a coach and athlete.  Every high school and independent counselor has a story to tell about the kid who had a "commitment" from a DIII coach, and was not admitted. 
• Coaches at DIII have a certain number of slots for their team. They will reserve those slots for the most talented athletes. Other students who may be attractive applicants can be lobbied for or supported in admissions by a coach BUT another slightly more attractive applicant can appear out of the blue and a coach may throw his weight behind that student instead. 
• It ain't over 'til it's over...Until a student has an acceptance in hand and an aid package, if applicable, that works for his family, that student should not consider him or herself admitted. Students should strive to have a back up plan- applications for other schools should be completed before the ED notification date. EDII is a good option for student athletes who find themselves in this situation.  
• While almost all coaches are genuinely interested in helping students, and are well-intentioned, a handful are known to manipulate the system or worse, lead students to believe the deal is done when the opposite is true. Caveat Emptor.
• NCAA has a set of rules and guidelines with which students are required to apply. Check those out here: DIII NCAA Guidelines
• NESCAC, an athletic conference that includes many top ranked liberal arts colleges in the Northeast, has its own set of recruiting guidelines and rules. They should be reviewed for compliance and can be found here: NESCAC Prospective Student Guidelines

Countdown to Common App!

For those of you in the throes of the college admissions process, or those lucky enough to be spectating from a safe distance, mark your calendars! The Common App goes live on Thursday, August 1.  This is the time to spend an hour looking over the way it is structured, get familiar with moving around within it, and finalize your list. Herewith, a few tips to help wrestle the Common App into submission and a link to a very helpful Powerpoint on this brand-new version:

• CA4: First Look Webinar PowerPoint Presentation
• If you haven't yet looked at the new essay prompts, those can be found online prior to 8/1, as in at this very moment. As I discussed in my last blog entry, the topic of your choice prompt is conspicuously absent, so your story has to fit into one of the new prompts. It's not as hard as it may seem.
• In some districts, the Common App "talks" to Naviance, so make sure your list of schools is the same on both sites.
• Check and double check all your deadlines. And then check them again.
• The Common App will ask if you want to self-report test scores and dates, so be mindful as to whether your schools participate in Score Choice, allowing you to choose your best test date, or if they expect to see all your test scores. They will still require you send official score reports.
• New this year is the chance to submit an app to one school, then return to the Common App and change some elements, including deleting your test scores for test-optional schools. 
• The Common App has an app, so you can check on some elements on the run. You should not enter any real data on a device though; stick to the desktop, with no diversions around you, when entering data or uploading essays. 
• In my college advisory practice, I encourage students to create a word doc for all their essay prompts- Common App essay, all supplements and non-Common App schools. This way, using some text from one essay in another is easier, deciding to work on your essays means having everything in one place, and it helps you stay on top of it all. Be sure to back up the file; email it to a parent or save to a flash drive as you work on it. Also, essays are no longer uploaded; they are cut and pasted or typed directly into the text box instead. 
• EC data is also easier to enter and move around. Be sure to be honest about your hours of participation; inflating them is never worth the risk of being called out on it.
• Check everything over at least twice. Be sure you don't explain your great affection for School A in an essay for School B. It's been done... 
• Have everything for RD deadlines ready to go when you submit your ED app. A denial or deferral can take the wind from your sails, and make it tough to get motivated to finish up other applications.

Essay Writing Season is Upon Us!

Fear not, young college applicant! You too can write a great essay that just may tip the scales...and may the odds ever be in your favor!

There is a lot of chatter on college admissions blogs and message boards about how a great essay can get you in even if all your stats are below the middle 50%. Let me disabuse you of that notion; a great essay cannot compensate for below average stats for a given school. If you are within the range of accepted students in the last admissions season, or your application has gone to committee, a great essay can help, especially if you engage the reader with a great topic, first sentence and a theme that makes sense and is well constructed. Even if you are the next Melville, if your stats are not in line, your essay will not be your golden ticket.

Here are a few suggestions to keep in mind as you dive into the juicy new Common App prompts. Don't you love being the guinea pig class that gets to be the first to use these? Yeah, didn't think so...

• Don't be a Negative Nancy or Nick! Don't blame your teachers, parents, or your own laziness or immaturity for lousy grades. Keep it positive, no matter what. 
• Don't write about your community service trip, no matter how transformative it was. You can throw in a reference to it, but don't make it the theme! These essays, particularly when penned by a student whose parents paid upward of $5k for that life-changing experience, are not meaningful, and have even been the butt of more than a few jokes in those hallowed admissions offices.
• Unless you are a recruited athlete, don't write about the big game. Writing about being cut from the team and discovering another passion you suddenly have time for would make a great essay. 
• The prompt about the place where you are most content doesn't have to be addressed geographically. Maybe it's with your 96 year old grandmother, making mozzarella by hand in her miniscule kitchen, or building Legos with your little sister early on a weekend morning. Please don't write about vacations at your home in Aspen or the condo in Cabo.
• Don't give away the farm in your first sentence. Draw the reader in with a tantalizing peek at your topic, don't be snarky, it's OK to be funny if you are a naturally funny writer and PLEASE don't throw something out that is so obtuse that it makes no sense...unless you applying to the University of Chicago, where obtuse is practically a requirement!
• Edit, edit and edit again. Write all your thoughts on your topic in a bulleted list, put together a draft, let it sit for a few days, edit a bit, let it sit again and then edit a bit more. Be sure to ask a favorite teacher, adult who does some writing, or another trusted person to red pen it carefully before you submit. Another set of eyes can be your biggest asset.
• Don't get into any hot button political issues unless you can present a fair and balanced case. An incendiary or heavily one-sided essay could be read by someone with an opposing view on your topic and might be offended.
• Word counts really matter this year: 650 tops and 250 minimum are the strict parameters. Its easier to cut an essay that is too long than lengthen one that is too short. 

Student Loan Drama Continues...

Congress, by failing to act, allowed the interest rate on Stafford loans for students with demonstrated need to double. While this affects only new loans for the Class of 2017 and those who need to take out new loans for the balance of their educations, student debt has already reached astronomical levels, almost a trillion dollars at last count. $1000 a year increase in interest payments may not mean much to some, but for a recent grad earning $35k a year in an entry-level job, it’s a lot, especially if some have other student debt borrowed privately to service too.  If no extension is passed, the interest rate will remain at 6.8%, the same that students pay who do not demonstrate need. Currently, students who do not qualify for federal student aid can borrow under the Stafford plan and pay the higher interest rate of 6.8% but if there is no extension, students who receive a subsidized below market interest rate on their loans will see their interest rate remain at the same 6.8% rate.  

Why does this stink? Because while the belief that students who cannot afford college without some loans should receive a below market interest loan is that of the majority of our lawmakers, they can’t seem to come to terms with finding enough common ground to pass an extension. Students are still having a tough time finding work even with a degree in hand and servicing debt from Stafford loans and possibly other loans used for education can be near impossible. Mark Kantrowitz, financial aid guru, thinks it isn’t a big deal, but many students think otherwise.

The pundits say the student debt bubble will be the next to burst. If Congress doesn’t enact new legislation, retroactive for new loans, they will have no one to blame but themselves if the bubble does burst. While some Congressional leaders think colleges need to consider why tuition increases have jumped more than any other tracked prices, punishing the students is not a solution.

Personally, I think if colleges and universities stopped spending enormous sums on glossy brochures and mailings, with the goal of driving up app numbers and driving down acceptance rates, and used the money to provide need based grant aid, everyone would benefit and students could borrow less and need to service less after graduation. My own kid received 54 lbs. (yes, I kept and weighed it) of promotional mail from schools during junior and senior year. Oddly the school he chose to attend sent one mailing and the one that sent the most, 22 pieces in all, was one he never even considered or showed any interest toward. College rankings force many schools to market themselves aggressively. Does this marketing have an influence on the increase in debt? I am absolutely sure it does.