Students

Students

After the FAFSA…What Happens Next?

Application, Blog, Colleges, Financial Aid, General, Information, Parents, Students

Many colleges/universities post March 1 as the Priority Deadline for financial aid.  This designation usually means that the college has limited funds however they will usually be able to meet those established needs if all paperwork including the FAFSA are completed prior to the priority deadline.  Applications for aid are usually filled on a first-come, first-serve basis.  Federal Student Aid has put together a video to help students and parents what happens after the FAFSA has been filed.  [watch video]

800+ Colleges on FairTest List – Not Quite Accurate

Application, Blog, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

There has been a lot of press recently citing FairTest’s list of 800+ colleges/universities that do not require SAT/ACT testing for admission purposes.  Top Score, a test preparation service in North Carolina, has analysed the list and has found some very interesting issues.

“School after school turned out to be, upon closer examination, a school of the arts, a theological seminary or a for-profit institution…It seems that some schools are willing to let you opt out of submitting SAT or ACT scores if you submit your SAT II, AP or IB test scores instead…Let’s remove from the list those schools that are not “selective” …This leaves us with 20 or so schools. ”  [read more]

Colleges that Produce Top Earners in First Three Years

Blog, Career, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

Recent information provided by PayScale, a outsourced company that issues paychecks for millions of American workers, provides a window into the earnings of graduates from colleges and universities across the country.  So which colleges yield the highest post graduate salaries?  Anna Prior and Matthew Heimer of the Wall Street Journal’s Market Watch examined that questions.

“In an era of dubious economic milestones, it was yet another low-light.  This spring, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Americans’ total student-loan debt ballooned to more than $900 billion — higher than their total credit-card debt. And no wonder the debt is piling up: Over the past two decades, the price of tuition has risen 20 times as fast as the average college grad’s wages… Georgia Institute of Technology … deserves a higher profile — and some bragging rights. After all, it’s offering the best academic deal in America.”  [read more]

College Visit Checklist

Blog, Career, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students

The college visit can be extremely helpful to both the student as well as the parent in the search process.  Try to visit only 1-2 colleges in a single day so that you have to time to visit with other professionals besides those who you will meet on the college tour and by attending informational sessions.  Make an appointment with an academic adviser, eat lunch on campus and take note of the students, visit with someone in the career services office to identify the programs that they offer to help the students decide on a major/career as well the mechanisms in place for securing suitable employment following graduation, etc.  [read more]

Future of Job Interviews, via Twitter

Blog, Career, General, Students, Uncategorized

The day of the 140 character interview is here according to Bruce Horovitz of USA Today. ” Several tech-forward marketing companies are going where few have gone before: They’re ditching the résumé and the conventional job interview process for tweets. A simple tweet or two — sometimes called Twitterviews — can lead to a job.”  This method of interview is used by companies to tweet a series of questions and wait for the response.  This form of interview can be particularly effective with companies or positions that primarily deal with social networking.  [read more]

President Obama Calls for College Accountability Program

Tags: , , Blog, Colleges, General, Information, Parents, Students, Uncategorized

In the State of the Union Adderss, President Obama called for a “college scorecard” to  help parents and students learn to figure out how to get “the most bang for Your educational buck.”

The Whitehouse launches a new website designed to help the public see colleges in a more transparentmethod.   US News provides some helpful links. [read more]

Common FAFSA mistakes

Tags: , Blog, Colleges, General, News, Parents, Scholarships, Students

Financial Aid priority deadlines are fast-approaching at many colleges and universities across the country.  Frank Palmasani, writing for College Countdown, posted a useful article detailing the seven most common mistakes people make when filing the FAFSA form.  The most common mistakes include listing income in the wrong area, double listing income, listing non-required assets, waiting until the income tax forms have been filed, and not listing all dependents.  If you need help with the form, be sure to watch the video at the end of the article. [read more]