Got a Student Loan?

You Should Probably Read this NYT's article .

Florida Matters “Brain Drain”

Go to a State University in Florida You should listen to this.

Welcome, Freshmen. Have an iPod. (NYT)

The New York Times reports on the perils and possibilities of students being -- given -- iPods.

The Price Of College

I spent the better part of an hour today listening to this Talk of the Nation show  entitled  The Price of College. Good stuff.  Listen here.

The SallieMae planner talked about is here

Here is the  SallieMae/Gallup study How America Pays for College  (PDF)

Also

The Rockin' Dr. Barbra Nightingal passed this link via facebook about how the  Costs Of College Can Be Eased With A Little Work

Two Articles on Ivy's

1)  Ivy Retardation

2)  What They Teach you at Harvard Business School

Grateful Dead Live at The Palace on 1993-06-08 (June 8, 1993)

KQED's Forum spends a half hour on student loans

Give it a listen

• Mark Kantrowitz, publisher for FinAid.org, a free website for students seeking financial aid information, advice and tools (first half hour)

• Nancy Coolidge , coordinator for federal and state programs, student financial support - office of the president, University of CA
• Robert Shireman, president of the Institute for College Access and Success (first half hour)

Student aid requests soar as economy plummets

Record numbers of college students are lining up for financial aid - and asking for more of it - as the nation's economic woes hit campuses across the country.

Nationally, 8.9 million students filed federal student aid forms during the first half of 2008, a 16.3 percent increase over the same period.  Read On . . . 

A Half Dozen Things About Transferring I Can’t Believe People Don’t Know

  You may have heard me confess in the past and perhaps will again in the future that I made all manner of mistakes as  a college student.  I choose the wrong school for a classic reason -- my friends were going there.  I’ve opted out of opportunities because of lack of information or because I copped an attitude about it. Oh and I love telling the story of how I graduated with a great GPA but no real job skills.  Yeah, that was “good times.”

So, I have made mistakes but I was always pretty good at transferring or at least getting accepted.  I’m not saying I was accepted at every school I ever applied, but I for sure batted above 750.  As a result there is no real mention of the transfer process in the book.  But over the last few years I have helped and observed quite a number of bright successful students transfer.  Some of them have employed some shockingly poor strategies. So as a first step to offering a more thorough understanding of the transfer process I offer you these five items I consider blisteringly obvious but apparently not to everyone.

1.  You Must Explore Your Options

I gotta tell you if there is one thing that frustrates me it’s people who just pick a school-- one school--and that’s their choice.  It’s a choice made not by research and exploration.  It’s made because friends or family have attended there or at some point they got it in their head they had to go there.  So explore your options.  Remember you are not picking a school you are picking a program of study at the school.  More importantly you are looking for how you would fit with that program of study and where that program of study can take you. Pick your major and then try and find five --yes five-- schools that have programs you are a good fit with, then and only then begin looking at the financial aid options and which ones work best for you.  If possible go spend a day at each school. You might be surprised at what find.  I think many of you will find that your personal ranking order may change after these visits.

2.  You Must Have a Plan B and C and D and E 

Somewhere between one and four of these five schools should be your safety school -- a school you are uber-confident you are going to get accepted and that you will be able to afford.  I have seen far too many excellent students with phenomenal grades and all the sorts of extra curricula honors and activities you could imagine turned away from their first and only choice.  The thing that shocked me about these students -- many of whom are far more gifted then me--was that they had no plan B.

Let me share a little true story about my transfer from community college to where I would eventually earn my undergraduate degree.  I was accepted at my first choice and was there for about two weeks until I came to the conclusion that I hated my first choice.  It wasn’t home sickness; it wasn’t fear of change; I hated the place.  So I bailed.  On the drive back home across the state I stopped at my second choice.  Classes were about to start, but since I had all my paper work in and didn’t need a place on campus they graciously accepted me. We just hadn’t worked out the financial aid package.  Since I was the last lid in the door they wanted me to pay--a lot.  I loved this place, I just couldn’t afford it.  So, a semester later, I ended up at the school from which I would receive my B.A.  Ironically, it was the school I liked best.  This story is the reason  is why I say I only bat 750.

Stuff happens. Things sometimes are not what they seem.  It’s best to have options.  So create options for yourself.  It’s extra work but it can be worth it.

Take Excellent Care of Your Admissions Advisors

Admissions advisors are rare and wonderful people.  Seriously, it takes a certain type of person to compassionately deal with accepting and rejecting hundreds of people.  But that’s the point. They deal with hundreds and hundreds of people.  You want to stand out from masses in a positive way.  Here are some tips to that end.  

Submit an application and pay the application fees before you start asking things of them.  Guess whose salary that fee helps pay?  To clarify, if you have a few general questions about a program, the school or the application, by all means call admissions.  But once you start wanting things like a meeting, a campus tour, a financial aid review those are all things that are tied to the application and expenses covered by the application fee.

Don’t treat the admissions people like your personal servant.  Another way of saying this is do your homework before you contact admissions.  The most common questions advisors get are on the website. Exhaust the website before you take their valuable time.  They will help you. They will always help you.  But it you are not self-reliant and give the impression that you are lazy or needy that too will be noticed.  A way you can telegraph a positive message is to tell them how you sought out an answer yourself.  “I looked in the catalog and searched the website, but couldn’t find it.”

Let them know you appreciate them.  I am not saying suck up.   I am saying show them the respect they deserve.  Just remember they are helping you obtain a goal that means a lot to you.

 4 You Have To Play By The School’s Rules Not Yours

You know the saying “denial is not just a river in Egypt.” That would be another good title for this point.  Schools are pretty upfront about what grades you need to be accepted and what sort of financial aid package you can expect.  Oh they may be able to help find a little more money for you or finesse a few extra credits but there is not a lot admissions people keep from you.  They want you to come.  They want you to be successful.  So they have no real interest in hiding things from you.  It would just make their job harder.  

That said I have personally seen and heard from admissions people that some applicants pay no attention to this information.  If your grades are drastically below the schools expected GPA you are not going to get accepted.  If you get into the school but don’t meet the criteria for their financial aid packages do not expect them to give you money.  I have received multiple panicked emails from people shocked to find out that one of these realities is affecting their plan.  Each person I had warned that they were off on their own agenda, and their plan was not a good one.  Oh and every one of these people had no plan B. 

An admissions person can usually ask you about five maybe ten questions and tell you the likelihood of being accepted and what sort of financial aid package you will most likely receive. It’s not an exact answer but it’s close.  You may do a little better; you may do a little worse but don’t expect any dramatic changes.  Have a plan B. 

5.  You Can’t Be Lazy And Or Procrastinate

You are competing for a space in a school.  Say you have a 4.0, a letter of recommendation from the President of the United States and an A list celebrity, and you have some scholarship that gives you a free ride.  You are still competing for a seat.  If you wait too long someone might take it.  If there is not a seat there is not a seat.  I know my example is over the top but I have seen time and again top tier students not get accepted at the school of their choice because they waited too long.  

Say you don’t have a 4.0 and a free ride -- does that sound a bit more like you?  Good.  All the more reason to apply early.  Schools have a pool of financial aid money for new students every year.  But every time they award a student money that pool gets smaller. So be early.  Be as early as possible.  To receive your full financial aid package  you will need your FAFSA results sent to the school.  That means you should get your FAFSA filed ASAP.  To fill out your FAFSA you will need your, and perhaps your parents, tax information.  So fill out your tax return ASAP.   I agree this is a bit of work which is all the more reason you need to start early.   This is your future we are talking about you should be -- you must be willing-- to work for it.

6.  You Are The Shepherd Of Your Paperwork

I’ll be the first to admit that there is a lot of paperwork involved in the transfer process, and you, yes you, are responsible for getting it from one place to another. That includes, but is not limited to; your transcripts, your financial aid information, your application and supporting materials.  It is your job to ensure that all of these documents get from where ever they are to where they need to be -- hopefully long before they need to be there.  If you get your FAFSA in early that should take care of itself.  If you can send your application and supporting materials certified do so, if not I would send them by some means that is traceable.  The US mail, Fed Ex and UPS all offers these services I don’t care who you go with but make sure you send it by a means that is traceable.

 

I feel the need to say a few special words about transcripts.  First if you can electronically transfer your transcript - do it.  It is the surest way possible that it will get there and get there at the speed of light (it moves through the net).  If you can not electronically transfer your transcripts do the following.  If at all possible ask to pick them up from your school.  Do Not Open Them.  Opening them is bad.  It’s “crossing the streams” in Ghost Busters bad.  Take the sealed envelope and place it in a new envelope.  Send that sealed envelope by USPS, FedEx or UPS but make sure you can track it.  When the tracker says it has arrived (you can monitor that on the web) call the school.

Oh One More Thing . . .

OK I know this takes me over five but it’s a thing you need to know--practice paranoia.  Go read it.

Loan Crisis Hits College

All Things Considered, August 8, 2008 · The credit crunch has dried up the market for private loans. Students at selective schools are finding they can still get enough money to attend schools, but low-income students at lesser-known schools are having a harder time.  Listen

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