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U.S. News and World Report – Best College Rankings

U.S News and World Report recently released its Annual “Best College” Rankings. There is a lot of controversy around these rankings as they seem to favor a certain type of school. The top ranked schools typically cost around $60k per year. Nineteen of the top 20 national universities cost $55,000 or more for a year’s tuition and fees. Schools have been shown to manipulate their data to receive a higher ranking. For example, U.S. News & World Report “ranked Columbia University No. 18 among national universities for 2023, after having pulled the Ivy League institution’s numerical rank in July because of alleged data-accuracy problems. Before it was unranked, Columbia was No. 2.

The Washington Post (9/12) reported college rankings face “mounting questions about the data that underlie them, the methods used to sort colleges and universities and the intense competition from other publications that churn out best-this and best-that lists in search of clicks from college-bound teenagers and parents.” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona last month declared that any system of ranking colleges that values wealth, reputation, and exclusivity more than economic mobility is “a joke.” Nevertheless, research indicates “rankings can sway college-bound students. A 2019 survey of college freshmen by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA found 15 percent said rankings in national magazines were ‘very important’ in choosing their school. That was up from about 10 percent in 2000.” Moreover, the Post says college and university leaders “are often of two minds about rankings: Dismiss them publicly; obsess about them privately.”

Rankings can be used to get a general guideline about a school, but parents and students should use their own investigation to determine which school is best for them.

Princeton University to cover all college costs for students from families earning less than $100K

The cost of tuition continues to rise and college. Many colleges are searching for ways to help students that are qualified but don’t have the necessary funds to pay for it to attend. Fox News reports that Princeton University is embarking on a major expansion of its financial aid policy for students from families earning less than $100,000 annually, meaning they will pay nothing for tuition, room, and board. 

In addition, many students from families with income over $100,000 will also receive additional financial support, including families at higher income levels who have multiple children in college. The university noted that most of the additional scholarship funding will benefit families earning less than $150,000.

The new financial aid policies will take effect for all undergraduates starting in fall 2023. 

The university estimates that roughly 25% of undergraduates or 1,500 students are expected to receive the aid that will cover the entire cost of tuition, room, and board. The university’s website boasts that 83% of its recent seniors graduated debt free.

Tips on Helping Students with FAFSA, Scholarships, and Applications

As a high school counselor, you’re likely the first person that students will go to for advice about applying for financial aid. Though you likely have a general idea of how to help most students, it can be difficult to keep track of all of the various scholarships and financial aid options that are out there.

This being the case, it can help to have some guidance to refer to about how to help your students. Here are some tips on helping students with FAFSA, scholarships, and applications.

Explaining FAFSA to Your Students

While as a high school counselor you’re likely very familiar with FAFSA, the majority of high school students are not. Making sure they’re aware of what FAFSA is and how it will affect them can help give them a deeper understanding of the type of financial aid that they’re applying for.

The first thing to cover when explaining FAFSA to high school students is the type of aid that is offered. These include:

  • Grants: Grants are portions of money awarded to students that aren’t required to be paid back. In this way they are similar to scholarships. Where they differ from scholarships is the basis on which they’re awarded. While scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic achievement, grants are awarded on the basis of financial need.
  • Subsidized loans: Subsidized loans are loans that the government will help cover the cost of as it pertains to interest. For subsidized student loans, this typically means that no interest will accrue for the duration of their academic career and around six months after graduating.
  • Unsubsidized loans: Unsubsidized loans are loans which start accruing interest the moment that they are taken out. As such, it will start accruing interest before a student graduates and can result in a greater amount of debt.
  • Work-study: work-study is a way that FAFSA helps students earn more money by working on campus. The government provides funds to help pay working students for these jobs.

By laying out in plain terms the differences between scholarships, grants, subsidized loans, unsubsidized loans, and work-study eligibility, your students will have a deeper grasp of the types of financial aid that they are applying for through FAFSA, along with which ones are ideal for their unique situation.

Helping Different Students Find Unique Scholarships and Grants

There’s no doubt that you’re aware of the plethora of scholarships and grants available out there for different students. However, it can be difficult to keep track of each and every particular one. As such, it can be helpful to create your own list of different types of scholarships available for different students.

Being aware of the scholarships available for students of color can help you provide many students with access to financial aid resources. Some of the most notable scholarships for people of color to be aware of include:

  • The Actuarial Diversity Scholarship: This scholarship is geared towards students of color who intend on pursuing an education relating to risk management and insurance.
  • The American Chemicals Society Scholars Program: This scholarship provides some students of color with a 3.0 GPA or higher with awards to put towards the study of chemistry.
  • The Blacks at Microsoft Program: This scholarship targets black students who demonstrate higher GPAs and financial need that are pursuing an education in fields such as engineering and computer science.
  • The Ron Brown Scholar Program: This $40,000 scholarship provides both financial support and mentorship to black students who are in financial need and have displayed academic excellence and an interest in participating in community service.

While these are far from all of the scholarships available for people of color, this list can be an easy starting point when providing students of color with resources. For students of Hispanic origin, there are many amazing scholarship opportunities as well. Some notable scholarships for Hispanics include:

  • The Hispanic Scholarship Fund
  • ALCOA Fund Scholarship
  • Latino Community Credit Union Scholarship
  • ExxonMobil Engineering Scholarship

Having some lists of scholarships for different types of students will make it easier for you to refer students to different scholarships based on their individual circumstances. While these lists should not be the end all be all solution, they’re a great way to streamline processes and help more students in a timely fashion.

Walking Students Through Application Processes

Given the large number of students coming to see you every single day, there’s no way that you’ll be able to sit with each and every one and walk them through every application process. As such, it can be helpful to get creative and find ways to help educate students about how to apply for different types of financial aid.

For more common financial aid resources, such as FAFSA, it can be helpful to create a detailed instruction sheet that you can give to students. Another helpful way to do this is by creating a video in which you show the step-by-step process of applying. Having these resources available can help ensure that the students you speak to will be able to successfully apply for FAFSA and other scholarships.

While the instruction sheet and video work great for more popular scholarships, you won’t be able to do this for each and every scholarship available out there. However, you can have a general preparedness sheet to offer to students to make applying less daunting. The sheet can include steps such as:

  • Have your personal information ready to be entered into an application
  • Be prepared to write a letter and be mindful of specific rules and specifications for each scholarship you apply to
  • Contact the specific organization of the scholarship or grant you’re applying to if you feel confused

By providing a cheat-sheet to students, you’ll ensure that they’re not overwhelmed by the process of applying for financial aid. In addition, these sheets can allow parents who have never been through the process the chance to help their children as well.

Helping Students Successfully Get Financial Aid As a counselor, you want to see as many students as possible thrive and find success. For many, that means having to secure financial aid to help them be able to attend university. By being clear with your students, having prepared lists of financial aid resources, and creating guides for applications, you can greatly increase your students’ chances of successfully securing financial aid and finding success in life.

Get Going on that College Essay

Fear and procrastination are the two biggest stumbling blocks for seniors as they consider the all-important college essay. The essay is uniformly considered the most stressful part of the college application process. Students worry about what to say; sharing too much information by getting overly personal or saying too little and ending up sounding generic and/or cheesy.

Get started by picking a quiet place where you can think and jot down your thoughts.

According to Dr. Joyce V. Brown, Counseling Consultant to the Chicago Public Schools, “the essay for many students is a daunting task because they don’t want to brag about who they are.”  The essay really isn’t about bragging, it’s more about sharing.

Here are a few questions to ask to get you started:

  1. What is it that I want colleges to know about me?
  2. How am I different than most other teenagers – how do I act? what have I overcome? what have I done? … that is unique or not quite so predictable or typically like a teenager?
  3. Who or what has had an impact on me? How? When?
  4. Who or what have I impacted? How? By doing what?
  5. How have I changed or matured over the last several years?
  6. What lessons have I learned about myself, other people, relationships, my interests, the world?
  7. What are my hopes and dreams?
  • Brainstorm – Remember when you are brainstorming responses to these questions you are in a judgment-free zone. Now is not the time to say one idea is good and another is bad, you’re just trying to get your thoughts down on paper.
  • Free-write – elaborate on one or two of your ideas and recall a story or anecdote that can provide some framework to your thoughts.
  • Grab the reader’s attention – Make sure your introduction is strong, impactful and will make the reader want to read more.
  • Provide details. My newest mantra is to “err on the side of specificity,” which means more detail is better. You’ve got to tell the reader what’s going on but you need to show them how you’ve been impacted/changed etc., and you do that with language details. Here’s an example from one of my student’s essays:
    • Bad – “I spent a lot of time with Ben. I got to know him really well.” This is a rather empty, generic sentence that makes the reader wonder if the writer really did know him well.
    • Good – “After months of working together, I have memorized Ben’s jumbo grins as well as his smaller smiles, but this one seemed different.” Here we’re convinced the writer knows Ben really well. His reference to memorizing Ben’s smiles, is an artful yet subtle way of demonstrating the depth of their relationship.

Lee Bierer is an independent college adviser based in Charlotte. Send questions to: leesbierer@gmail.com; www.leebierer.com

Content Scheduled for the Fall 2022 Issue of LINK for Counselors

The Fall issue of LINK for Counselors will be published in October 2022. Here is the list of content scheduled for the issue:

The Common Data Set: A comprehensive admission and financial aid tool – By Carolyn Kost

The Digital SAT is About More than Mere Technology – By Evan Wessler

The Agreement of Creating a Safe Place – By Sonja Montiel and Hilary Bilbrey

How to Review a College Essay: Without a Red Pen – By Kim Lifton

Go For It! The Importance of Goal Setting – By Dawn Marie Barhyte

“Adulting” Includes Finding and Using Academic Resources on Campus: How Counselors Can Prime Their Students for Success – By Andrea Malkin Brenner

Careers to Consider: Intelligence Analysts and Specialists

Holistic Admissions Post Covid: What Counselors and Students Can Do to Ensure a Positive Review – By Nina Berler

Brief SEL Interventions – By Rebecca VanderMeulen (Theresa – Includes quote from Dr. Sandi Logan-McKibben, School Counseling Program Director at Sacred Heart University)

Ten Tips…That Might Help Busy Counselors More Efficiently and Effectively Handle College Admissions Tasks – By James Paterson (Theresa – includes quote from Mark B. Scholl, associate professor of

counseling at Wake Forest University)

College Credit in High School

College Anxiety: The Counselor’s Guide to Helping Students Chill

Accelerated Law Programs

COLLEGE FAIRS – List of Fairs – October – December 2022

SCHOLARSHIP WATCH – 10 Top Scholarships Available to Any Student

TRANSFER SECTION: By James Paterson

What Transfer Students Need – (Theresa – includes quote from Guiseppe Basili, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation executive director)

Transfer Central – (Theresa – includes quotes from Catherine Hartman, a research associate at the University of South Carolina and Jeffrey Mayo, assistant director of first-year experience at the University

of Texas at Austin)

Smooth Transfer Pathways – (Theresa – Mentioned George Mason University, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University, University of Arizona, San Juan College, Northern New Mexico College, and Florida International University(with quote from their President, Mark Rosenberg)

10 Famous People Who Transferred Colleges

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It’s free!

Key Points to Make to Students About Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness

There are a few key points you might consider making to your High School students as they plan for college and are hearing about the President’s student loan forgiveness program.

  • This doesn’t apply to most private student loans (Parent Plus Loans do qualify).
  • This only applies to existing loans. Any loans they would take out for college beginning next year would not fall under this program. Current college students qualify if their loans were issued before July 1.
  • There is no guarantee or expectation that this program will be extended to future loans so don’t take on any debt you cannot afford just because current students are having from $10,000 to $20,000 (with Pell Grants) of student loan debt wiped clean.

In many cases loans are a necessary evil that allow students to pursue their college dreams, but make sure your students understand they will have to pay them back and the ramifications of what that means for their futures. This program is probably a 1x thing and they can’t expect they will be beneficiaries of this happening again in the future.

A Look at Online Certificates & Bootcamps: Are They Valuable to Students?

There are more options than ever for getting an education and preparing for a career. Online programs and “bootcamps” advertise themselves as a convenient and affordable way to get the qualifications you need for an in-demand job.

With the shortage of qualified workers in certain industries, especially tech, these programs are filling a need for employers and students alike. But are online certificates and bootcamps really worth it for students? Will they make it easy to get a job once you complete your certification?

Here’s what you need to know.

How Do Online Certificates and Bootcamps Work?

Non-degree online educational programs are intended to provide real-world, technical skills for career prep. Online certificates are often geared at working professionals who want to increase their skills and earning potential. Bootcamps are usually for people who want to learn skills like coding quickly.

Unlike degree programs from a university, most online certificates and bootcamps are short-term programs. Most of them can be completed in under six months and bootcamps in particular are typically intensive programs that teach people entire new skillsets in a short period of time (typically about 3 months).

These days, the needs of the job market change quickly. Certificates and bootcamps are great for people who want marketable skills that are up-to-date and reflect the needs of employers.

How Much Do Online Programs Cost?

One of the most attractive aspects of short-term online programs is their reduced cost. A four-year degree in 2022 is extremely expensive, in addition to being time-consuming. Bootcamps aren’t necessarily “cheap,” averaging $13,728. However, if they can help you land a job in a lucrative industry, they can be worth the cost.

Online certificates range from free to several thousand dollars. The quality and content of these programs vary quite a bit, so it’s important to make sure you will get what you need from the certification course when deciding whether it’s worth the cost.

Depending on the program, there might be options for financing or deferring your tuition. It’s important to be careful when taking on debt to attend an online program — you need to make sure it will be a smart investment before you proceed.

Do You Need Any Background Skills?

Depending on the bootcamp or certification course, you might need to have certain prerequisite skills before you can enroll. Coding programs often require a strong background in math, for example. Digital marketing certifications might require you to know the basic concepts of digital marketing before you get started, while others are aimed at complete beginners.

Each course is different, though most bootcamps and certifications are intended for people who are new to the subject they’re teaching. Some advanced programs will have their own requirements, however, so it’s important to find out the details of each course you’re considering before you decide on a program.

Can Anyone Get Into Bootcamps and Certificate Programs?

Because each program operates independently and caters to different types of students, there’s a lot of variation in the application process. Some programs have no requirements, while others require prospective students to apply and meet certain requirements.

Keep in mind that some programs with no application process or requirements might not be invested in student success, so be careful.

Will You Get a Job After You Finish Your Program? 

There’s no guarantee that you’ll get a job after you finish attending a bootcamp or online certification program. No one can make that promise. However, some programs offer employment assistance, in addition to providing you with marketable skills.

If you choose a high-quality program and work hard, you should gain the skills you need to be competitive in today’s job market. Knowing what you want to accomplish in your career is important so you can choose the right program.

It’s also important to take your online course as seriously as you’d take an in-person class. Online education is booming, but student success always depends on the dedication of the learner. The same is true for finding a job after you complete your certification.

Remember: Quality Varies

At the end of the day, bootcamps and certification courses can be valuable to students if they take the time to research and find a quality program that aligns with their goals. There is no oversight on many of these programs, and there are a lot of people out there looking to make money on people who want to learn new skills.

Make sure you look into a program’s reputation and read reviews from past students. Choose the program that’s right for you instead of just deciding on the cheapest option. You’re investing your money and time, so choose wisely!

How to help your students research colleges

Deciding to attend college is one of the biggest decisions one will make in one’s lifetime. Some may wish to obtain certifications in other fields as a career path versus attending junior college, four-year colleges or universities, but the final decision will affect one’s life forever. Hence, it is a decision that is not to be taken lightly; it should be researched earnestly and thoroughly.

As a starting point, your students should think of what interests them, what makes their heart sing, so to speak, and what would be fun to do as a lifetime job. Yes, work should be fun, at least to a point, and something that makes one happy.

Then, spend time with the student talking about needs versus wants. There are many to consider.

·        Location: Does your student want to be close by or away from home?

·        Size: Would they be more comfortable in a small or large school?

·        Academics: To work in their chosen field, does your student need a master’s degree or Ph.D., or will a bachelor’s degree be their ticket to enter?

·        Cost: What is their budget and tolerance for student loans? What scholarships might be available?

·        Social scene: What kind of social environment are the student (and parents) comfortable with? Are they interested in joining a fraternity or sorority?

·        Housing: Do freshmen have to live on campus? Or maybe the teen wants to still live at home (no shame in that!) Consider the cost of each.

·        Dining: Would it be easier to eat meals on campus as part of the housing package or do they want to cook their own meals?

·        Extracurriculars: Are there clubs and organizations that will be interesting  or that will connect him or her to their future career?

·        Athletics: Could a high school athlete potentially play intercollegiate or club sports?

What are the steps to finding the best college? Here are some of the best recommendations you can offer to your school population:

1)      Start early: Freshman year is not too early for a student to start thinking about their college list

2)      Advise families to spend time with their child thinking about needs versus wants. Do any of the school choices offer the student’s preferred major, for example? What are they looking for in terms of proximity, size and setting (i.e. rural, suburban, urban)?

3)      Use that wonderful invention called the internet to kick off research. The Common Data Set Initiative (CDS) is a great place to begin searching. Almost every college publishes its Common Data Set on its website. You’ll find information about admission rates, graduation rate and persistence, student life and financial aid. To locate the CDS for a specific college, type the following into a search engine: “common data set college name school year.”

4)      Seek advice from others – from other parents of other college bound children and students from their peers who are already in college.

5)      Visit, visit, visit. Plan a summer road trip around the colleges your child is interested in. When you’ve narrowed down the list, plan visits while classes are in session. It’s the ideal way for your child to figure out if they mesh well with the culture, people and environment.

6)      Demonstrate interest: Show colleges you’re interested in them by going to college fairs, talking to admissions representatives, signing up to receive information online and by mail and interacting with them on social media.

Now that school counselors have some tips, I know you will help your students make amazing choices for the perfect college and college experience.

Joanne Leone is an advisor for www.MyCollegePlanningTeam.com  She speaks at their free workshops and writes for MCPT’s website. She earned a degree in communications and creative writing from Chapman University in Orange, California.

The College Tour: New Show that Shows Tour of a Specific College Each Episode

The College Tour is a new TV series brought to you by Emmy-nominated and multi-award-winning producers.  The series tells the story of colleges and universities around the world.​

Each episode of The College Tour will focus on a single college or university.  Here is a list and links to Colleges that have been featured so far: https://www.thecollegetour.com/tour-colleges/
​
From campus life, academics, housing, sports, activities, and much more… each student driven segment will give young people an inside look at what it’s truly like being a student at the featured college or university.

Click here to watch the show and episodes on Amazon Prime.

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