Congratulations!  Your high school student has been accepted to college and is soon to be a new college student.  You’re relieved, excited, and anxious all at the same time.  Chances are you were involved in helping your student through the admissions process, and you’re happy to know that your student made all of the required admission deadlines.

Now that your student has been accepted, you and your student will need to continue to pay attention to several important dates and deadlines. Don’t let your guard down yet!  Each school will have its own requirements and deadlines, of course, but here are a few things to watch for.

• Read more

Has your student procrastinated well past the college application deadline?  Did your student decide they didn’t want to go to college but has now changed their mind?  Is your student unhappy with the college acceptances they’ve received and would like to consider additional schools?  Have your student’s grades improved so much over the past year that they’d like to expand their college search?

If any of the above situations sound even remotely familiar, you may be lamenting the fact that it is now too late to apply to college.  The truth is that it may not be too late.  Many colleges continue to accept student applications well past posted deadlines and throughout the summer. Some schools have Rolling Admissions, which means that they continue to accept students until the class is filled.  Other schools have deadlines, but are willing to make exceptions and look at applications after the deadline. Some schools may even continue to accept students right up until the beginning of classes in late August or early September.

Read more

The long admission process is over.  The SAT or ACT test is done, the college visits are over, the admission essay is written, the applications are sent.  Even the long wait is over.  Your student has his acceptance letter in hand and can finally breathe a sigh of relief and let senioritis set in.  But wait!  That might not be a very good idea.  Although colleges never like to do it, and thankfully don’t have to do it very often, it is possible for a college to revoke or rescind its offer of admission after the letter of acceptance has been sent.

If your student reads her acceptance letter carefully, it probably says that admission is ”contingent on the successful completion of the final year of high school” or language to that effect.  Your student has been accepted with the assumption that she will maintain something close to the level of accomplishment that got her into the college in the first place.  The college will want to receive her diploma and her final senior grades to confirm acceptance.  Unfortunately, some students stop reading their acceptance letter after the ”Congratulations” part, and fail to notice or remember the ”successful completion” part.

Read more

High school seniors wait anxiously for that all important college acceptance letter.  Parents of those high school seniors wait just as anxiously for that all important financial aid letter.  Everyone agrees that college is expensive these days, and most of us need financial help to be able to afford it.  The financial aid letter which your student receives from his college may include several different types of aid.  Although understanding the finer points of these different types of aid and loans may at times seem like a full time job, it is important to have a general understanding of the different types of help your student’s school may offer.

How do schools determine aid?

Most schools use the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) form to determine your financial need.  The FAFSA is filled out and filed with the federal government and the information is sent to the schools that you request.  The FAFSA is available in January of each year and can be completed on-line.  The federal government is working to make the FAFSA a bit simpler each year.

Read more