college applications

How to Apply to Lots of Colleges Without Going Broke

Mikey Rox — Fri, 26 Jan 2018 09:30:10 +0000

The cost of college is a major expense for any family pursuing higher education, but it's important to note that the money suck begins way before the first tuition bill. It starts with the college-bound teenager's application process, and it can put a sizable dent in your overall budget if the student is casting a wide net. You can defray this expense, however, with these money-saving tips that make the college-application process more affordable. (See also: The Encouraging Truth About How Americans Are Covering the Cost of College)

Consult a guidance counselor for advice before beginning the process

Your best resource for navigating the college-selection and application process is your student's guidance counselor. College admissions is a huge part of their job, and they have plenty of tips and tricks on how to get through it in a cost-efficient manner.

Narrow down your choices

Apply to fewer schools to save more money. Jason Patel, founder of college-prep company Transizion suggests applying to two reach schools, at least three target schools, and three safety schools to keep the total application fees low. If you've researched these choices well enough to determine that your student is a good fit, you shouldn't have to apply to any more than that. (See also: How College Applicants Can Tour Scores of Campuses for $15 or Less)

Plan ahead to avoid errors and last-minute panic

College applications are more affordable when you plan early.

"Good planning leads to good decisions, says Patel. "Most counselors and professionals recommend that students apply to five to eight colleges, so this means these five to eight colleges should be chosen early. Late discoveries lead to errors in the application and an eventual spreadsheet approach that forces students to apply to 15 colleges they're not sure of."

Search for no-fee colleges and universities

This'll make your wallet happy: There are no-fee colleges and universities out there (good ones, too), and you can find the best of the best on this ranking of the 2018 Best Colleges with No Application Fee in America. That doesn't mean you should whittle down your choices to only these schools, however. Talk with your student about his or her goals and what they want from the college experience, and also be realistic about the schools by which your child has a chance of being accepted. If some of the no-fee colleges fit onto that list, great. If not, put them out of your mind and move on. Having your child choose a college they don't necessarily want to go to will cost you much more than that waived application fee if they want to transfer a year later.

Apply for fee waivers

Fee waivers are available for low-income families. For instance, students who qualify for free or reduced lunch can have their application fees waived at most colleges. Some students also can take the SAT or SAT Subject Tests using a test-fee waiver that will let them apply to more than 2,000 colleges for free.

Apply during fee-free weeks

Some schools offer fee-free application weeks, which is generally available statewide in participating states. Some North Carolina colleges and universities waive their application fees during the second week of November, while their Minnesota counterparts waive for one week in late October. If you know in which state you're student is applying, search online to see if it has a no-fee week to offer before submitting. (See also: 12 Surprising Ways to Get More College Financial Aid)

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This article is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Save Money on College Applications

Julie Rains — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:48:25 +0000

We all know that college can be expensive, but I didn't realize that just applying to colleges can cost hundreds of dollars. This fall, when my oldest son began to submit his applications, I got schooled on these expenses and picked up some ideas on how to control them. Learn from my mistakes as well as the right decisions I made.

Here are ways to save when applying for college.

College Applications

Developing a list of colleges and universities, comprised of your top choice and a safety school, is a first step. Planning is a key to saving money as last-minute decisions can be costly. Trimming the list to just a few schools will naturally reduce your expenses. (See also: Getting the Most Out of Free College-Planning Resources)

Look for Universal Fee Waivers

Many colleges and universities offer fee waivers during certain time frames. For example, North Carolina students who register with CNFC.org can apply for free to certain private and public universities during “College Application Week.” Likewise, Indiana schools waive fees during the state's “College GO! Week.”

Note that these free application dates may be after early action or early decision deadlines, so you may want to forgo no-cost processes to gain early admission to the college of your choice.

Ask for a Fee Waiver

High school students may be able to obtain fee waivers by working with their guidance counselors. You’ll have to meet eligibility requirements and fill out forms, but this approach is a great option for many lower-income families.

Apply to No-Fee Schools

Consider applying to schools with no fees or that waive fees in certain cases. To find colleges and universities associated with the Common App that do not charge a fee (and to see the charges associated with member schools), visit the College Deadlines, Fees, and Requirements section of its website. Pay attention to correspondence from colleges and universities with special offers relating to no application fees.

Some high school counselors are concerned, though, that students will be attracted to schools that aren't a good fit merely because of the zero cost of applying, according to a New York Times article. Use your judgment in evaluating schools.

Testing Services

One of the biggest expense categories in the application process is testing services (specifically, costs for SATs and AP Courses from College Board, and for the ACT from ACT, Inc.). There are fees for registering for tests, preparing for tests, and sending scores to colleges and universities. Still, there are ways to save money.

Register Sooner Rather Than Later

Between the busyness of my son's senior year and the uncertainty of his schedule, I didn't push for early or, well, on-time registration. Kids can sign up at the last minute, but there are hefty late-registration fees.

Because so many high-school students take the SATs and ACTs, many schools and teen organizations (like scout troops and church youth groups) avoid planning activities for these dates or recognize that they may have lower-than-usual participation, so your teens may not miss big events with their friends anyway. It makes sense to commit early to testing dates and register on time.

Use Free or Low-Cost Test Prep Sources

Skip SAT or ACT preparation classes, which may run $400 to $700. Consider these alternatives to save money:

Sign up for "question of the day" emails and start getting practice during your sophomore and junior years.
Take the test more than once; though you’ll pay twice, the first session can serve as a real-world warm-up for the subsequent sitting.
Pay for test analysis reports so that you’ll know which areas you need to work on; again, there is a cost but it should be less than course fees.
Consider online courses that are more convenient than in-classroom sessions and generally cost much, much less.

Honestly, I wanted my son to take these classes, but he didn’t have time in his schedule. Unintentionally, then, I saved money and his test scores were high enough to gain entrance to his top choice.

Take the SAT Subject Tests Immediately After Taking the Classes

Scores should be higher when course material is fresh in a student's mind. If you have waited too long, consider saving money by skipping these tests.

It never occurred to me that my son could take these tests in his freshman, sophomore, or junior years. The time lag between taking the courses and taking the tests may have caused my son to turn in scores so average that he opted not to report them.

Specify the Schools That Will Receive Your Test Scores Before You See the Results

If you wait until after the test, then you will have to pay to send scores to designated schools. Plus you may be tempted to pay rush fees. Note that admissions reps say that they’ll typically look at the top scores in each category, no matter how many times you take the standardized tests. So you can save money by specifying schools when you sign up for the test without fear that average performance in just one session will jeopardize your chances of getting accepted.

My son changed his mind about his major and what schools he was considering but didn’t update the recipient schools in the College Board. So, though the first round of SAT scores were sent for free, he had to request submission of scores the second time, costing us extra money.

Consider Alternate Methods of Reporting Your Scores or Aptitude

Some colleges and universities will accept test scores that are reported on your high-school transcript. Avoid paying for score submission from testing agencies if alternate means of reporting scores are acceptable.

Still other schools don’t require standardized test scores. Instead, they measure your potential based on factors such as your academic record, essays, and letters of recommendation. For example, Wake Forest University recently stopped requiring SAT or ACT scores. To find colleges and universities that don't require standardized scores, see this list from Fair Test.

Request a Fee Waiver

Eligible students may be able to obtain a waiver of testing fees. And, if you get a waiver from College Board or ACT, you may be in a better position to get waivers of college-application fees.

Supplementary Materials

Getting supplementary materials ready for college applications and making sure they arrive on time can cost you. Do application tasks on your own and get things done early to avoid having to fax or send materials via express mail.

Write Your Own Resumé

Use this guide to prepare a high-school resumé instead of paying some to develop the document for you.

Take Advantage of Free Resources

A great educational counselor can be worth the money, but you can also get many of these services at no cost if you plan ahead and tap the right resources. Do your own research if possible. Even if you hire someone to help, you may be able to save money by performing certain tasks on your own.

Ask Early for Letters of Recommendation

Most schools require at least one letter of recommendation; many require two or three letters. Choose recommenders carefully, and make sure they have plenty of time to craft the letters so that you don’t have to send anything via rush mail to meet deadlines. Or avoid mail service altogether and arrange for electronic submission of letters to colleges and universities.

Senior year can be a very busy time. You (or your teenager) may be overloaded with classes, part-time work and volunteer activities, sports, friends, and more, all while having to fill out applications, write essays, take tests, etc. But planning ahead and anticipating some of these expenses can help you save money.

How did you save money when applying for college? Share in the comments.

This article is from Julie Rains of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Getting the Most Out of Free College-Planning Resources

Julie Rains — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:48:09 +0000

Having heard so much about the difficulty and stress of choosing, applying to, and getting accepted into college, I was concerned that I needed to spend lots of time coaching my son during his senior year of high school, looking over his shoulder, asking the right questions, pursuing varied choices, and more. Now that this process is over, I realize that neither my son nor I did everything exactly right. But effective use of these free resources gave us enough direction to help him land a slot in the freshman class of the college of his choice. (See also: Wise Bread's College Guide)

Here are the resources that were useful to my family.

Online Resources

There are many online resources that help students with college planning. College Board, College Navigator, and CollegeView help you find colleges and universities that meet your requirements. Others, like Unigo, provide insights into college life.

Because my son was already using College Board to register for the SAT, practice solving sample problems, and send test scores to colleges, this site was a natural go-to source of information. Admittedly, I have a love-hate relationship with College Board. This organization is the sole provider of the SAT and other standardized tests (such as AP course tests and SAT Subject tests), which play an expensive role in providing information on prospective students to colleges and universities with seemingly uncertain returns on investment.

I love the site, though, for its free resources. There you can find colleges that fit your criteria and determine if you fall within their requirements. It lets you specify your wants in a college or university and drill down to a short list of possibilities. This process can be useful in developing a preferred list of colleges and universities or locating a safety school if you aren’t selected for your top choice. Anyone can use this feature, but you’ll need to sign up for a free account if you want to save your searches and their results.

To get started, go to College MatchMaker:

Make your initial selections, then “submit and continue."
Keep going or refining your results until you have a manageable number of colleges to consider or there are no more selections to be made.
Click "see results" when you have finished specifying relevant information.

Specifying the college major is not intuitive. Here's what to do so that you can find colleges and universities with the academic programs you want:

Select a college major by entering keywords or selecting categories, press “go,” and then select majors among the results, adding individual or all selections to your list.
Find schools that have at least one of these majors or all of these majors by selecting the "any" or "all" radio button.

After you make your list, learn more about each college or university. Key items to note are admission requirements and academic stats on class rank and GPA under "At a Glance." You can also check out other characteristics like what type of student housing is available, campus and city amenities, and special non-academic programs.

What Worked for Me

My son's top choice was UNC-Chapel Hill (my alma mater), but I felt he needed a Plan B, aka "safety school." Using the College MatchMaker, I found a school that met his criteria for location, setting, academics, and size. He and I both wanted a larger school with all the majors of his choice so that if he changed his mind, he could easily switch his course of study without having to transfer to another college or university. Finally, we looked at admissions criteria to make sure that he really was applying to a safety school based on its admissions requirements and his qualifications.

Guidance Counseling Office

Guidance counselors can help you navigate the college selection and application process. Many school-based counselors carry a heavy student load, so it is helpful to prepare a list of questions or specific agenda for a meeting.

Over time, I learned about guidance counseling services, which include:

Providing you with information on class rank, beginning as early as the end of freshman year
Writing letters of recommendation for college applications and scholarships
Sending transcripts to schools on your behalf or providing you with official transcripts in a sealed envelope
Providing a list of scholarships offered by universities and area organizations
Offering guidance in exploring careers and colleges that match your talents and strengths.

Access to an educational consultant was free to my family, who offered his services at no charge to members of his church (which included our family). Some of these services might also be available through a guidance counselor:

Assistance in selecting target colleges or universities based on academic achievements plus desired courses of study
Clarification of college goals, preferences, and needs
Guidance on summer activities that will be meaningful to the student and colleges
Advice on classes to take and extra-curricular activities to highlight
Responses to specific questions about the planning, selection, and application process

What Worked for Me

The guidance counselor assigned to my son changed at least once during his high-school career. His reticence and the changes were a couple of reasons we didn't use this resource as much as we may have. However, his designated counselor did write a letter of recommendation based mainly on his high-school resumé, review of his academic record, and a meeting with him. Also, the team of counselors pulled together to help him get testing accommodations when he broke his right arm a few days before the SAT.

The counselors at my son's school developed a process for student requests of transcripts, which was useful to know given the strict deadlines for admission and scholarship applications (plus the tendency of some students to wait until the last minute to make a request). This process covered mail and electronic submissions, timelines from receipt of request to fulfillment, and methods of documenting completion of requests.

The educational consultant offered intelligent, sound, and objective advice to my son. He outlined the college planning process, created a short list of colleges and universities for consideration, and answered specific questions my son had throughout his high-school career, like whether to re-take the SAT.

School and College-Sponsored Forums

Forums with panel presentations and Q&A sessions are often held by high schools as well as colleges and universities. Guidance counselors may speak at school events. At systemwide and college- or university-sponsored events, representatives from many schools are available and they take turns sharing insights. The topics covered in these sessions might include:

How to choose, pursue, and showcase high school courses and extra-curricular activities
Overview of admissions philosophies and insights into the selection processes
What not to do
Profile of ideal students (or discussion of the fallacy of an ideal student)
Methods of navigating the college-applications process so that you will meet all deadlines

What Worked for Me

An admission forum helped my husband and I to feel comfortable with our son's choices of activities. We learned that honest, dogged pursuit of what was interesting to him was way more meaningful than dabbling in activities esteemed by grown-ups.

A presentation by the guidance counselors on the last day of my son's junior year was helpful to get started during the summer before his senior year, when he was not overloaded with class assignments. This session also helped me understand how the counselors perceived their roles and the family responsibilities in planning and applying for college.

In regard to the essay, I learned that admissions staff are most interested in getting a glimpse of the student's personality, not reading perfectly written documents. Just as I was debating whether to ask my son to continue improving his essay, a friend told me that the university reps warned against parental meddling, often evidenced by abrupt changes in tone and style. As a result, I encouraged him to make edits that he thought were needed and stayed calm when one of his former English teachers told him that the essays weren't all that good.

Colleges and Universities

The college and university representatives who I encountered in face-to-face, online, and phone conversations were surprisingly honest and accurate about what makes a good match between the school and student plus what steps to take in getting your application to them. You can easily access their advice via websites, blogs, phone calls, and campus tours to get this type information:

Academic programs
Admission standards and selection processes
Application procedures and deadlines
Opportunities for study abroad
Eligibility for merit and need-based scholarships and financial aid

What Worked for Me

Because my son's interest in exploring universities beyond Chapel Hill was almost non-existent, we used these resources on a limited basis. However, I did enjoy learning about how UNC had changed since my graduation during a campus tour. And admissions officials there and at one of my son's safety schools were patient and kind when answering my questions about application processes.

What free resources did you use to plan for college? Tell us how you make the most of them in the comments.

This article is from Julie Rains of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

The Senior Resume for High School Students

Julie Rains — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:48:18 +0000

As a career-services provider, I have developed resumés for high school seniors to accompany their college applications. Much of this work involved organizing innumerable details of a laundry list of activities, highlighting academic and extra-curricular achievements, and demonstrating leadership skills.

Now, as the mom of a high school senior, I have a different take on the high-school resumé. While learning about the college-application process, I discovered that this document was not supposed to remake my nearly adult child into the most stellar applicant ever (though, certainly, there are students who reasonably have such a goal) but to show who he is. More precisely, its purpose is to shed light on how he spent his time, what novel and difficult situations he encountered, and what he valued (evidenced by how he allocated his hours in high school), whether in sync with his parent's desires or not.

So, I'll share with you the specifics of what I learned, hoping to relieve some stress and improve your productivity during your senior year. (See also: Great Ways to Improve Your Resume Today)

Why a High-School Senior Needs a Resumé

The best reason to put together this type of resumé is to capture what’s relevant about your high school career in order to help you develop your applications to colleges, universities, or technical schools. Specifically, you will use this information for the following reasons:

Provide insight to teachers, counselors, supervisors, etc. for letters of recommendation
Discuss your background with guidance counselors and college advisors
Identify topics on which to elaborate in personal statements and essays
Recall information to complete various sections of college applications and scholarship applications

And, unlike most types of resumés, the main purpose of this document isn’t to win a job interview or land a job. However, those who may be pursuing work-study arrangements, a part-time job, or an internship can make adjustments to emphasize work experience, entrepreneurial ventures, and freelance activities.

What to Put on the Resumé

The guidance counselors at your school probably have a form for you to complete or an example to follow. Use that as a guide to make sure you include pertinent information. Depending on your school’s requirements, complete the forms as requested, but feel free to create your own version of your high-school history (or take a look at this example resume I made). Typically, the major categories are:

Name and Contact Information
College and Career Choices (optional)
Academic Record with info on Class Rank, GPA, SAT scores, AP classes, etc.
School Activities
Community Activities
Work Experiences
Honors and Awards
Other Items of Interest (such as personal interests that are not covered in the above categories or a short personal statement indicating obstacles you have overcome, like a learning disability, personal or family setback, or unexpected change in circumstances)

When you are putting everything together, most of the information will emerge naturally. You’ll remember which years you played soccer or volunteered at the humane society, the fall seasons that you ran cross country or played in the marching band, and the dates that you were in the school play or were inducted into the honor society.

But other information may be tougher to bring forth, so take your time to recall as much as possible, whether you immediately consider an activity relevant or not. Ask your parents, friends, and grown-up advisors (like teachers, coaches, youth group leaders, etc.) about things you may be missing.

How to Categorize, Explain, and List the Activities

Some items, like your name and AP courses taken, will be easy to categorize and need no further elaboration. A few are straightforward, like your participation on the soccer or swim team. But many are more complicated, as certain activities could fall under more than one category plus need elaboration for readers to understand.

Place activities in the category that makes the most sense to you. For example, my son tutored elementary school kids during the off-season and worked on a Habitat for Humanity project as a part of an outreach program organized by the head football coach. Likewise, he completed service hours as part of membership requirements for the academic honor society. Rather than placing these items under “football” or “honors,” he classified these activities as community service.

Explain and elaborate on certain activities. Most people have heard of Habitat for Humanity, so listing the item is sufficient. But the two weeks that my son spent repairing homes and getting to know impoverished homeowners in rural areas with a lesser-known group can use some explanation. And special designations or leadership roles, even minor ones, need elaboration; that is, tell us if you were a photographer for the yearbook or the sports editor for the school newspaper.

Figure out and give time frames for each activity. Specify frequency and over what period of time. Be consistent with each activity, using the same types of references for all items (for example, list junior year or Grade 11, summer after junior year or Summer 20XX rather than a mixture of these formats). Many applications will request hours devoted to each activity, which can be useful but is not necessary for this type of resumé.

Add or adjust categories that best reflect your activities and accomplishments, even if this means deviating from a standard format. For example, consider a heading for awards to list accolades associated with music, science, and scouting apart from academic honors; a separate section for these makes sense even if most people you know don’t have such a heading. Create an experience category if you have held a traditional job, run a side business, or earned money by providing manual labor for neighbors. If you'd like, add a personal statement so that you can have that information handy when you fill out applications.

Senior year should be fun. This mom's advice is to go ahead and put together the resumé as early as you can so that you can move quickly but thoroughly through college applications.

What have you learned about writing a high-school resume? What worked best for you?

This article is from Julie Rains of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread: