Teachin'Mine
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Posts posted by Teachin'Mine
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Yes, very true. I'm wiser now. Every college we have toured, I've put that question directly to a financial aid rep and required them to print and sign a statement concerning the policy. This way if they claim they WON'T reduce institutional aid due to private scholarships, I have something that says "you lied to me". It might not help. But, at least they can't be sneaky. Somehow, LOL, that makes me feel better.
Local, crappy, unbelievably awful regional, unranked no standards state U down the road also has a snarky little policy of making their top scholarship winners register LAST for classes, and when I say last, I mean about two weeks before classes begin. Registration goes first to kids getting no merit aid, followed by a little bit, followed by a medium amount, followed by generous. This way, the classes are filled that their top scholars need. Either they have to defer entry for one semester and the school then docks their scholarship for not starting on time, or they end up taking electives NOT prerequisites to their intended majors, thus many having to take a 5th year in order to graduate on time, and of course the merit aid does not extend to the 4th year. GRRRRR.....I could right a book about their underhanded practices. As a matter of fact, so could a couple of local attorneys who have been engaged by parents to go after the school for MANY unethical financial practices.
Ask very specific questions at both admissions and financial aid interviews folks. Do not be afraid to ask the tough questions. You need this information! Also, ask around the alumni if you can find some. You'd surprised what you can learn.
Oh my. That's horrendous. I've never heard of schools forcing scholarship winners to register last. In many colleges the honors students get to register before all others, not last. Considering your description of the college involved, it's likely not discussed often on CC. If there's a forum for that specific college, I'd suggest you post your info there to warn others. Shame on them!
I know that you've learned the hard way, which is apparently my go to method, but even in searching now for info on CC regarding one year scholarships reducing grants or other institutional aid for all four years, I couldn't find anything. I'm sure there is mention of it somewhere, but I doubt it's a common scenario. Thanks for posting here so others can benefit.
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Actually, I have read on CC similar stories to what FaithManor described. Students have asked how to return merit $$ awarded bc of exactly what she shared. You know those offering the merit $$ have no idea they are hurting the recipients. It is a completely reprehensible scenario, but unfortunately it is not uncommon, either. There are many posters on CC who warn students against searching out 1 time awards bc of the reduction in institution awards. It was an eye opening experience learning the ins and outs last year.
Yes I've read a lot about how one time awards reduce the institution awards, I just haven't read about a situation similar to FM's. I also haven't read widely on merit scholarships as most of the colleges dd applied to do not award any. Most of the scholarships she pursued would have been for all four years. Where she attends one time awards would help by reducing work study and student contributions and would not affect her financial aid unless the amount of the award was greater than those amounts.
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You can call financial aid depts and ask their policy toward stacking scholarships. We definitely called. Our ds received 2 different scholarships equal to the equivalent of tuition. One was a dept scholarship and one was through the admissions office. We were able to verify that only admission scholarships could not be stacked (like the NMF scholarship and the presidential could not be stacked.) All dept scholarships could be. Ds ended up with 2 different types of 4 yr scholarships from a single dept with a total of 5 stacking 4 yr scholarships covering all expenses.
At another school, he was told that any additional scholarship $$ would reduce his merit award from that institution. At another, merit $$ reduced grant $$. In both of these scenarios, there was zero net gain. I completely fail to understand this logic.
8 I doubt that many would ask the college if years 2, 3, and 4 would have the original scholarship amount applied. Most would assume that the one year outside scholarship would be applied for the first year, and when it wasn't applied the second year the original scholarship amount would be honored. I would never have thought a college would stoop so low as to "permanently" reduce their scholarship offer based on a one year outside scholarship.
Yes, when comparing schools and merit aid it would make sense to ask whether scholarships can be stacked. Your son ended up with great scholarships!
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What wonderful news!
No idea about bring LOR but she may want to put together a one page "resume" highlighting her high school involvement and accomplishments. Having a transcript available would be good too. On second thought, put it all in a folder and include the LORs too. She can always ask if the interviewer would like to have them or if she should just submit them together with her application. The interview is her opportunity for her to show why they couldn't possibly pass up having her in next year's freshman class.
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If the cycle doesn't stop it will be even worse when those teaching were taught via the "calculator method". One possible solution is to have math as a specialty class in the elementary years. So instead of the regular teacher, they would go to the math teacher, who ideally was a math or similar major, each day for their math lessons. This could be a solution. Obviously a curriculum change would be needed as well. There is no reason for calculator use to be permitted in the elementary grades unless the student is so advanced that they're in algebra II or so. The other exception would be a learning disability which can not be compensated for in any other way. I think that for such students access to a times table chart and such would be preferable to a calculator since through using the chart they might begin to memorize some and would have a better sense of it all than just plugging in numbers and getting an answer.
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FaithManor I know that schools can apply outside scholarships however they choose, but that was incredibly wrong for them not to honor the original scholarship amount for the remaining three years. Unfortunately this is the type of information which usually isn't known until the actual financial aid offer is given or perhaps not even until the next year's offer is received.
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Yes, alphabetical listhting is good, but it's still obvious which might be considered safeties and which are likely the favorites. That's why some only list say Harvard and Yale on one, and Bates and Colby on another and two state schools on another.
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FAFSA is much easier than the common app, but it's not without its own glitches. Colleges can see which other colleges your student has applied to on each FAFSA submission. Some consider this important enough to put on only two comparable colleges and make multiple submissions. If you wait until too close to the submission deadline, this isn't possible. There's also a maximum of 8 or 10 colleges per submission and you can't submit more until the first batch has gone through which can take up to a few days. If applying to many colleges, you need to allow time for this. Similar to CA and others you have to make sure you've actually submitted the form as it may seem that you're done, but you may not be. Late submissions may affect financial aid offers.
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Parental assets are "taxed" at a rate of slightly less than 6%, and only the portion exceeding a certain amount which, if I recall correctly, is about 30k. So, of the extra 50k, 20k of assets would be considered, which would cause an increase in EFC of the order of of about 1.2 k.
According to the link I posted, it's calculated on a sliding scale from 2.6% to 5.6%. Since it is on a sliding scale, OP would get the most accurate info by contacting FAFSA or simply putting the info in the calculator and seeing what the difference would be. Teahermom FAFSA counts for getting Pell Grants and that's about it at most top private colleges. They will likely instead use the CSS form which is much more detailed and should actually work to your benefit as you'll have ample opportunity to explain what the savings are for.
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From what I've read, it's mostly income as opposed to assets that counts. I may be wrong, but I don't think that the 50K will affect your EFC much. As for individual colleges and their financial aid, it should be easy enough to explain that the money will be used to buy your next home and should have little effect if any. This info may be helpful. http://www.savingforcollege.com/financial_aid_basics/financial_aid_and_your_savings.php
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Another thing we learned is that "required" items for admission may become optional with a simple phone call. I should have called schools, as the guidance counselor, but didn't as I felt strongly that contact should be made by the student. Unfortunately said student was extremely busy with a very heavy academic load, ECs, etc. and on top of that applications to colleges and scholarship programs. The number of essays she wrote was staggering. Definitely in contrast to students who wrote a dozen or so and polished them over weeks of writing, analyzing and professional critiquing. So maybe the lesson learned is that less is more? But if she hadn't applied so broadly she'd never have ended up with the great options she had. So not sure what we could have done differently except maybe have gone with a lighter academic schedule to allow more time for the whole getting into college process. But she was already in college and loving it and working towards her own goals. It's funny that they want students who are invested in learning, but penalize those who are and therefore don't give all the application hoops the attention they feel they deserve. lol
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8 you reminded me of a college visit we had done. It was one of those open house days with the opportunity to visit specific departments and speak with the faculty. After one of the students, a senior majoring in the department, spoke and was clearly not thrilled with the lack of attention he was receiving from his advisor in his department, the dean or chair of the department suggested that he speak with his advisor. The student reminded him that he was his advisor. lol I wonder how many of those in attendance followed through with their applications.
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Catherine that must have been so frustrating for both of you. I've never seen this issue addressed before and hopefully you've helped another gap year student. Thank you to all for sharing what you've learned.
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Thank you, but it's a rather short list. I was hoping others would contribute their own experiences. I don't think it's possible to do homeschooling or the role of a guidance counselor perfectly, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who became aware of things which could have been done better or differently. Any honest high school counselor would admit the same as each student is so different and they can't possibly give the total attention they'd like to each one. I suppose that if we had aimed lower and dd had been accepted everywhere she applied, then I wouldn't have second guessed what I did. But for my student and our needs, that would not have been the right approach.
Still hoping others will share what they've learned.
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Yes and yes. The lessons will take longer to complete than Algebra 2, so some students take two years to complete the text. I'm guessing that it's for those students that it's recommended that they repeat some lessons. If the student is just working through it in a year, there's obviously no need to do that, but the lessons may take about 2 hours or so a day. I think it's fairly typical to take 3 semesters to complete the text. Upon completion, the student should be well prepared for Calculus I, either Saxon's or a college course.
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I thought your mom might be anyway. lol Carry on ...
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Umm ... you do realize what these are usually used for? I think most students would be surprised if they were made with only jello mix and water.
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Portals, emails, big fat envelopes, and a phone call. Most, if not all?, skinny letters were denials or waitlists. Rejections are annoying when you have to wait for the mail, but acceptances are good no matter the delivery. Some were very creatively done and fun to receive. The first one was the best and very reassuring!
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She's got challenging work and needs to manage her time. This is good! This is helping her to prepare for college level work. She needs to become her own time manager. Encourage her to write down how she spends her time each day. She can make a sheet with the times already in place and then she just jots down what subject she's working on, when she's chatting, emailing, talking with siblings, eating, getting ready, etc. This will help her see where the minutes and hours go and with her becoming aware, she should be able to see what can be eliminated or shifted to the evening hours. Encourage her to use a calendar or a weekly planner to keep track of assignment due dates and tests. This is good practice for college as well. IMO each year of high school should be more than the year before, the same as it may have been since pre-school to K to 1st grade, etc.. This will make for a smoother transition to college.
Help her to see that if she focuses better during "school hours" she'll have more free time afterward to spend with friends and family. It might be helpful to help her think of some rewards she can give herself for finishing x amount of schoolwork before lunch, or whatever. Rewards are a great motivator, but they should be set by her so she'll be invested in meeting her goals.
I see that most of this, if not all, has already been suggested. I should have read the replies first. lol
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I did a quick search but can't find the thread I'm looking for, so if there is a current one, please just add this post to that.
Thought it might be good to share some of our insights to help those applying this year. These may or may not apply to other students in their particular application situations ...
When writing the guidance letter don't worry about "bragging" and state the accomplishments even if you think it's obvious from transcripts, letters of rec., etc.. I think I tried to point out any flaws to help the reader understand that all info given was honest and accurate, but in so doing neglected to highlight the obvious accomplishments.
I remember reading here that having test scores in the 75% plus was helpful for merit aid. What we found is that for highly selective colleges, it's a good rule of thumb just for gaining admission. For schools which admit a high percentage of applicants this would likely be less critical.
If there's anything which you think would have the reader questioning, give an explanation. You don't want to be thinking latter "Why didn't I mention ..." Ugh.
Run the net price calculators on all colleges before applying! 'Nuf said. lol
Some colleges which look like safeties may not be because they may assume you will get into more selective colleges and they are in fact a safety and admitting you will hurt their yield. Many of these colleges need the student to show honest interest. Obviously if the student isn't honestly interested, then it isn't a true safety.
Help the recommendation writers with getting the thing through the darn common application. I thought they'd have worked out the kinks by now, but I see this year's applicants are having some of the same problems.
Those are the ones I can think of now. Please post what you learned whether it was last year or several years ago.
Wishing this year's applicants all the best!
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Yes in some states each college sets their own limits. I've read, on this board or elsewhere, of homeschoolers attending two colleges for dual enrollment. I would petition for 3 and then let her consider the summer session if she wants to make up the difference.
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:grouphug:
Here's a list of colleges which will admit students who don't submit test scores. More and more colleges are offering other options because of great students like your daughter. There are some great colleges on this list. Let her shine with some killer essays!
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She hasn't taken the placement test yet. I was planning to give her the sample test from the CC website.
The tutor did geometry with her all summer, so it's possible she'd be willing to do it again if necessary.
This is why I'm suggesting that your daughter take the placement test now. At the same time, you can speak with someone regarding dual enrollment and find out if an Intermediate Algebra course would even be an option for her as courses before College Algebra are usually considered remedial, and not available to dual enrolled students. But your CC may allow this and the only way to know is to ask. After she takes the placement test, then you can discuss her results with an advisor and someone in the math department to help your daughter decide which course would be the best for her. As she is currently working on geometry, her algebra placement isn't likely to change much in the next couple of months.
Momtp2Ns I missed your post. I could have just agreed with your suggestion!
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If she's permitted, as a dual enrolled student, to take remedial math classes, I'd have her take the CC placement test now, and then take the class she places into in the spring, the next one in the summer, and the next in the fall. IMO that would likely give her the best opportunity to "catch up" and hopefully do well on the SAT/ACT in the early and late fall. If she's enrolled at the CC, she should be able to get free tutoring.
Lessons Learned
in The College Board
Posted
Oh no. Not a good surprise by any means. And I can't imagine many students would want the hassle of packing up while in the midst of finals.