Scholarship of the Day
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By now you should have received all of your admissions decisions from the schools for which you applied last fall. It is time to make your final decision about which school you will attend. This month you will also notify the schools to which you have been accepted of your final decision. You will be sending any information requested by your school of choice to verify your attendance with them. Financial aid awards begin arriving this month, so review the deadlines for acceptance of those awards and consider these when you make your final school decision. You will also register for AP tests (if you are an Advanced Placement student) so you will need to start studying for those. You will start exploring other ways to get early college credits. This is a very exciting month –- so, let’s get started!
Along with your acceptance letters, you should receive some financial aid award information. Last month, you called the various school financial aid departments or looked on their websites to better understand how the school would notify you of your financial aid award. With this in mind, keep an eye out for that financial aid award information in the mail or on your online account. Look over all your award information. You will want to start an Admission Tracking Document to track your awards and offers from each school. Having this will help you compare status and costs of your school choices so you can make some decisions. Think back to all the different types of aid you could receive. Remember that just because school ‘A’ is awarding you 10,000 dollars and school ‘B’ only 8,000 dollars does not necessarily mean school ‘A’ is awarding you more. If the 10,000 dollars is mostly loans, then school ‘B’ may actually be giving you a better overall package. An easy way to compare your financial aid awards is to go to the College Board website (www.collegeboard.com) and enter them into their calculator. The calculator is an easy tool to use and it helps you determine which school is offering more by comparison. You can find this under the ‘Pay for College’ tab on the link that says ‘Compare Your Aid Awards’. To utilize the calculator, you will need to know the cost of attendance for each school, which includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, travel costs, and personal expenses. You will also need to know each type of financial aid offered by each school. This includes grants, scholarships, student loans, gift aid, and work study. After entering all the information, the website will show you the percentage of each type of aid received and what your family will pay out of pocket for your attendance at each school. Update your Admission Tracking Document with this financial information. After you compare the different financial aid offers, sit down with your family and make a final decision about where you will be attending in the fall. Base your decision both on the financial information from the web tool and your own preferences. You must make a decision this month as most decision deadlines fall on the first of May. Once you have chosen the school you want to attend, review the information that came with your acceptance letter from the school. Do they have a form you can fill in and send back to notify them of your decision or a website you can log in to? Typically, you will need to send in your enrollment form and a deposit. As mentioned earlier you will need to mail off the enrollment form along with the deposit before May 1st. Be sure to allow extra time for mail delivery. Then, find out how to notify each school you are NOT attending to let them know your decision. Remember, this is the month you will begin registering for the AP tests you have been learning about. Hopefully, last month, you asked around at your school to find out where to register. Make sure you register this month because testing begins in May. AP tests can help you earn credits for college coursework before entering your freshman year in college. This can save you money during your college career because you will not have to take the class if you score high enough and the school counts the credit. It can also make your college time easier since you won’t have as many actual classes you have to take to graduation. Start studying for the specific test subjects you have decided to take. You can do this by spending extra time in tutorials with your teachers or by finding study materials and taking free online practice tests at www.testprep.financialaidtips.com. It is important to score well on these tests, so study hard and try your best! May is just around the corner, and you will be graduating soon! Stay organized and on track with your college preparation. In summary, here is a quick breakdown of what you need to accomplish this month: o Compare your financial aid packages against each other by using the calculator at the College Board website, or another similar calculator o Create an Admission Tracking Document to track preferences, costs and other comparison factors o Decide which school you will attend, and notify all schools you received acceptances to of your decision o Mail the enrollment form and deposit of your chosen school May 1st o Register for the Advanced Placement tests and begin studying for them since you will take them next month In May, you will be taking your AP tests, exploring summer courses, and finalizing your housing situation. You will also need to review your financial aid award from your selected school and decide how to fill any gaps in your financial aid.
If you missed any of our previous Monthly Financial Aid Action Plan newsletters, you can find them here: Early Summer September October November December January February March |
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