Did you know you could pay for a re-score of your ACT essay? The cost for the extra read is $50, but many students score better on the re-score and the fee is refunded if the new score is higher than the original. [read more]
FAFSA4caster will help you understand your options for paying for college. Provide some basic information to estimate your eligibility for federal student aid. Your estimate will be shown in the “College Cost Worksheet” where you can also provide estimated amounts of other student aid and savings that can go towards your college education. [read more]
Researchers at Drexel University, Kean University, and the College of New Jersey published an article in the British Journal of Sports Medicine reporting that 25% of college athletes suffer from depression. These results concur with other tests conducted by the NCAA. Responding to the findings of the NCAA study, the NCAA released a document outlining the best practices for dealing with athletes in need of mental-health care. [read more]
An unprecedented coalition of diverse public and private colleges and universities is coming together to improve the college admission application process for all students. The Coalition is developing a free platform of online tools to streamline the experience of applying to college. The initial iteration of the platform will be available to freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in high school beginning in April 2016. [read more]
40 years ago the US Congress passed the Gender Equity in Education Act also known as Title IX. Although most people think of Title IX in terms of equal athletic opportunities, the law covers all aspects of a school’s educational experience including the way sexual assault and harassment charges are handled on the college campus. Federal investigators are now examining more than 250 cases that remain unresolved. Since 2011 only 19% of the cases reported on college campuses have been resolved. [Read more]
On January 1, 2016 Texas joined thirty five other states known as “open carry” states. Many parents have questions about how this affects life on the college campus, especially life inside the dorms. The Attorney General of Texas has issued a statement citing the legality of prohibiting guns on public institutions of higher learning. [read more]
Happy New Year!! January 1st marks the beginning of FAFSA season. You can now file your Free Application for Federal Student Aid at www.fafsa.ed.gov to see what you qualify for in terms of aid for the 2016-17 school year. Be sure to use the fafsa.ed.gov website because it is free. There are other websites that are similar but they charge you. You should file as soon as possible even though you do not have your 2015 tax information; just use your 2014 tax return. In many colleges aid is filled on a first-come-first-serve basis so do not delay.
The CollegeBoard has released the findings of a study that investigated the cost of a college education in the United States. The study considered several factors: tuition, books, fees, housing – including food. The report noted that college prices have been rising more rapidly than the prices of other goods and services over the last three decades and that “the increasing economic inequality in the United States over recent decades has exacerbated the difficulty in paying for college for many students, in addition to straining federal, state, and institutional budgets.”
Jeffrey Selingo, editor at large for The Chronicle of Higher Education and author of College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students, posts an article with some strong advice for college students — choose a major with rigor. To many college students opt for a major that requires very little high-level reading and writing. Many students use professor rating sites to choose the class with the least amount of out-of-class work and in the end, pay for this decision in the job market. Mr. Selingo’s advice, challenge yourself in college with difficult courses. “Look for classes that require you to read more than forty pages a week or write more than twenty pages over the course of an entire semester. Such deep experiences writing and reading improve your reading comprehension and communications skills, both important markers for employers.”
The Common Application will open on August 1 for the new cycle of 2014 college applications. Many students are trying to get a head start on the application essays prior that date. It is a great idea to at least start the brainstorming portion of the essay writing process; however, students should not feel as though they need to have everything completed before the start of the senior year. But where to start? What is the college looking for? Ted Spencer, Associate Vice Provost and Executive Director at The University of Michigan, Undergraduate Admissions, says that “the most important thing is to hear the student’s voice. We’re looking for a story.” In interview after interview with college admissions directors, the idea is the same. They want to know who you are, what will you bring to their community. They are not interested in a typical English class essay; they want a story — your story.