College Readiness in the Facebook Era

We know that our students (and their families) are actively using social-media in their everyday lives.  They use it to connect with friends and family, but they also use websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, etc. to gain information that helps them make decisions about both the here-and-now as well as their futures.  As school counselors, how do we use that technology to enhance and better communicate with our students and families about college planning, financial aid, and career development?

Please join me, courtesy of College Week Live, on Thursday, October 17th from 3-4 p.m. Eastern Time as I share some thoughts and ideas about harnessing technology to support our work as school counselors with regards to College and Career Readiness.  I will discuss:

• Developing a framework for using social-media to enhance and support your work
• The basics of setting up a school counseling department Facebook page and/or Twitter account
• Survey results about how high-school counselors currently use Facebook, Twitter, and blogs
• Blogging for your department or exploring blogs for your own professional development

You can sign up here for this free webinar.  CEU's will be awarded at the end of the presentation.  We will be using the hashtag #CWLCEU for those of you on Twitter and Facebook if you want to follow along with the conversation threads.  I will also be tweeting out information using that hashtag during the presentation.  How, you might ask?  Magic, and maybe some information I'll share with you during the presentation.

"Thank you" to those of you that took the time to complete the survey.  The survey is now closed.  Your responses directly support the content of this professional development opportunity.

Hope to see you all on the 17th!

Editors note:  This post was edited on October 14th to reflect that the social-media survey was now closed.  The survey that was originally posted here was also removed.

How Do High-School Counseling Departments Use Social-Media?

www.collegeweeklive.com

Greetings, School Counselors!  Some of you have already started your vital and important work with students and your school communities, and others are gearing up in the next week or two.

On October 17th at 3 p.m. ET, I will be leading a session on "College Readiness in the Facebook Era" for College Week Live's Professional Development Series.  I'd love to see you there, and next month I'll be sharing more information about that presentation.

In preparation for that session, I am collecting information on how high-school counseling departments utilize social-media to enhance their post-secondary advising practice.  If you are a high-school counselor, I would love your input!  Please click here to take a short survey--it should take no more than a few minutes to complete. I will share information about the results in my October session.

Best wishes for a smooth start to your school years!

The College Cost Conundrum

If you are like me, you have read multiple sources of information in the last couple of weeks about the cost of college that often seem to contradict themselves.  For example, this article compares shopping for college to shopping for a house:

"Picture yourself house-hunting. You are shown 20 different homes, all of which fit your basic criteria -- four sturdy walls, a roof, and modern amenities. Undoubtedly there will be one you fall in love with for any number of reasons, tangible or intangible. You've found your dream home. But here's the catch: at no point were you shown the prices of these homes, and the prices vary wildly. With the cost revealed, your dream home is one you cannot afford.  Would you buy it anyway? Not if your mortgage lender had any sense. But if you replay this scenario and replace "home" with "college," Americans have proven -- to the tune of $1 trillion in outstanding debt according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- that they'll buy the college they can't afford anyway." (source: Frank Palmasani for www.huffingtonpost.com)

In other words, when we go out to buy a house, we have a price-range that we look in.  We may look a wee-bit outside the price range on occasion, but typically we are not going to look at homes that we know we could never afford no matter what.  Well, unless we just like looking at other people's houses, but that's another story altogether.  Should college be any different?  Should we advise students and families to only look at colleges or universities within their pre-determined price range?

This is confusing because, as I've written about before, there is often a wide difference between the "sticker-price" for a college, meaning the published full-cost of a school if the student receives no aid whatsoever, and the "net-price" of a college, meaning what a student pays after scholarships, grants, work-study, and, debatably, student loans.  Most students, especially at private colleges and universities, do not pay the full sticker-price.  It reminds me of airline tickets, in that very rarely do most people on a plane pay the same price for their ticket.  College can often be very similar, with no two students often paying exactly the same price to attend.

Further, one of the latest briefs from College Board discusses the relationship between college cost, selectivity, and one of the hot-new focal points in post-secondary education, graduation rates.  In the report, it states:

• College "sticker-prices" for tuition and fees may play a prohibitive role in the college choice for families whose net-price may, in fact, be manageable.
• Even if there are only modest differences in the probability of degree completion between different categories of institutions, time-to-degree can still vary dramatically, which is an important consideration in a student’s college choice.
• Recommendation: Refine institutional reporting requirements so that students have better access to institution-specific completion rate data for students like themselves.
• Recommendation: Additional quantitative and qualitative research on the impact of net price calculators on student decision making.
• Recommendation: Convey clear message that, particularly for lower-income students, the additional cost of attending more selective colleges may be much smaller than the benefits of attending such colleges. (source: www.collegeboard.org)

Thus, here it says that students need to be wary of sticker-prices as they are shopping for colleges, as the net-price is so often different in the end.  Further, at schools that are more selective (defined in the full report as schools with higher average SAT's scores in their admitted classes) there also tend to be higher rates of graduation within 4-6 years.  Therefore, the report argues that students may be better off in the long-run if they pay a bit more for their education at a school where they are statistically more likely to finish their degree within a standard amount of time.  Throw into the mix the continued rising costs of public-universities and the lack of standardization and faith in net-price calculators and it can be difficult for school counselors to determine how best to advise students and families to approach the financial aspects of the college search, application, and decision process.

I believe we have to take all of this information into account.  Gone, I believe, are the days in which cost is an after-thought as students are applying to colleges.  Costs are rising, especially at public universities where state-funding continues to decrease.  Student-loan debt continues to rise.  Students who are likely to pursue graduate (Masters and Doctoral) and professional school educations (M.D., J.D., etc.) after their undergraduate experiences need to think long-term about the costs of their education.  As school counselors, I believe that so much of our post-secondary advising has been about getting students admitted to colleges and universities.  This is no longer enough.  We must begin to gain knowledge on financial aid, college costs, and long-range educational planning in order to best advise our students and our families.  Indeed, this has been codified as one of the Eight Components of College and Career Readiness from the National Office of School Counselor Advocacy.  Here are some considerations:

• Students need two lists.  For admissions, we often discuss the need for reach schools, mid-range schools, and "safety" schools, based on a student's academic criteria (classes, grades, standardized test scores.)  Additionally, families should take that same list of schools and chart it with cost as the main factor versus admissions criteria.  If none of the schools on their "financial" list fall into the "safety" category, then it may be time to go back and search for an additional school or two that might fit the bill.  Again, this is just a starting off point to insure that a student will have a variety of options by the time they are making decisions in the spring.  
• Use net-price calculators...with caution.  If students have done the step above and have diverse lists of schools, then head to the net-price calculators, but realize that the word on the street is that there are still kinks to work out.  However, this will give students an idea of what general ball-park "net-price" they might be looking at with some of the schools on their list.  They should also look at additional financial-aid statistics, such as can be found at Big Future from College Board. 
• Consider private schools.  The sticker-price can be scary, yes.  I realize this.  However, if you get into the statistics of private schools, most of the students pay less than this, and many pay a lot less.  When I was applying to colleges, there were two private schools at the top of my list.  There was no way my family could afford the sticker-price of those schools.  As such, my parents made me a deal.  I could apply to those schools, but I also had to apply to at least one state-school that still met most of my admissions needs with regards to size, program reputation, etc.  We would see what financial-aid offers came, and then decide.  Thus, I had options come the spring.  Again, by making a "financial" list with reach, mid-range, and safety categories, you should be giving yourself choices before making that final decision.
• Look at graduation rates.  This is key.  I believe what the College Board brief is telling us is that it may be worth going to a slightly more expensive school if that school has a higher rate of graduating students in four to six years.  Why is this important?  First, with a degree, your earnings potential is higher.  You need to actually finish said degree, though.  Secondly, the less time you are in school, the less money you are paying or going into debt over.  If a four-year private school costs $4,000 more a year but has a four-year graduation rate of 80%, it may be worth it in the long run versus going to the less expensive school with a four-year graduation rate of 50%.  If nothing else, it is worth considering.  Click here for graduation rates by state and then by school.
• Don't just go K-16, but K-17 and beyond.  As I alluded to before, if you have a student who is convinced they are going to be going to law school someday, or that they are going to go into a field where a graduate degree is a must, it is important to include this possible post-college education as a part of the conversation.  Medical school is expensive.  So is law school.  Students and families should consider this when deciding on an undergraduate institution.  It may not be worth going into $75,000 worth of debt for college when you are going to then go into $150,000 of debt for law school.

Cost should not be the only consideration as students are determining where to apply.  However, I think that it has become a strong factor as students make decisions about where they will ultimately enroll.  As school counselors, we can help our students and families make informed decisions about the possible costs of various choices, both public and private.  We can supply them with some of the tools and information sources as I've discussed above.  Further, we can help them to look-long term and holistically at their lives so that they can put the financial burdens of post-secondary education into context as it may pertain specifically to them and their situation.  It's not just about getting into college anymore, it's also about paying for it.

Making Sense of Early Trends

Remember the time when you wrote the bulk of your recommendation letters and secondary-school reports in December?  The world would stop moving as you tried to encompass the academic and community careers of all of your seniors in writing, attempting to add some depth, humanity, and warmth to the cold black-and-white statistics on transcripts and standardized testing reports.  You longed for February, when the bulk of them would be done, and you would move on to the equally monumental task of advising students about course choices for the following year.

If you are like me, you have noticed that those days are long gone.  December, in fact, has, every year, become much less of a whirlwind, allowing me to even sit back and enjoy the cocoa on occasion.  Instead, trying to talk to me in October is just about impossible.  For the last two years, almost half of the seniors on my caseload have applied either early decision or early action to colleges and universities.  This means meetings with parents and students right as school begins, and then a non-stop flurry of interviews, conversations, and writing. Lots and lots of writing.

What can be a special challenge is trying to determine how best to advise these students on the early admissions process.  What students should and should not consider applying early?  What are the trends telling us?  What are the ethical standards that guide both us and our students in this process?  To answer these questions, let's play a game of "True or False":

True or False?  Early action and early decision are the same thing.

False.  Both early action and early decision applications will typically be due by November 1st, and student will usually receive a decision by mid-December.  However, early decision applicants can only apply to one school early.  They must apply to other colleges and universities using the regular admissions deadline.  Early decision is known as a binding agreement, meaning that if that student is accepted to the one school to which they applied early, they will withdraw all of their other outstanding applications and agree to attend that school.  Note that this would be in advance of seeing a financial aid offer.  Early action, however, is typically not a binding agreement (read the fine print, though, on college admissions websites, just to be clear).  Students receive notice in mid-December, just as in early decision, but they are not bound to attend the school, giving them time to receive decisions from other schools and compare financial aid packages.  Many schools have moved towards early action versus early decision for this reason.

True or False?   Any student should feel comfortable applying early decision or early action.

False, but with a lot of caveats.  The reason I wanted to do this particular post is that it seems as if the answer to this question changes each and every year, or at least I feel it does.  Even five years ago, early decision/action was really reserved for those elite students whose statistics (GPA's and test scores) were above the school's admissions pool average.  This was because the typical early application pool was full of more high-achieving (statistically speaking--numbers only) students, and in order to be competitive in that pool, students needed to be towards the top of the pack.  Then, in the last several years, the number of early applications has grown leaps and bounds.  This has increased the pool quite significantly, and we see more and more students who fit the average admissions statistics of a school applying early.  Further, in phone calls and conversations with admissions counselors in the last two years, they have stated to me that if a student has a real passion for attending their campus, they would like for them to consider applying early.  Applying early can be a sign to a school that the student is extremely interested in attending their campus next year.  However, I would still recommend that students only apply early if their statistics fall into the average or above for a given school--more on why that is important in the next section.  Additionally, any student applying early decision must be 100% sure that this is the college or university they want to attend, above all others, which means they have visited the school, have a feel for the campus, know that the campus has their major or many majors within their general area of interest, and that they feel they can reasonably afford to go to the school financially.  One very positive trend in early applications is the increase in diversity of the applicant pool.  A Forbes article discusses how colleges and universities are actively encouraging and recruiting students from minority groups and from low-income households to consider applying early, allowing a wider group of students to access this particular service.    

College Board has some excellent guidelines for students considering applying early decision or early action that I feel are a good standard by which to advise your students.  Early applicants:

• Have researched colleges extensively.
• Are 100% sure that the college is their first choice (a MUST if applying Early Decision).
• Knows the school is a strong match academically and socially.
• Meet or exceeds the average basic statistics (GPA, test scores, class rank if available) of the general applicant pool.
• Have a consistent academic record over time. (source: professionals.collegeboard.org)

Additionally, the National Association of College Admissions Counselors (NACAC) also has recommendations for students considering applying early:

• You should not feel pressured to apply early just because other students are.
• You should not apply early decision if financial aid is a large consideration and you will need to compare aid offers.
• You should not apply early if you feel your senior grades (7th semester) may be necessary to help an admissions committee decide in your favor.  (source:  www.nacacnet.org)

True or False?  Students can expect a response of accept, deny, wait list, or deferral to the regular applicant pool.

True, but this is where it can get tricky.  Students can certainly be accepted or denied through the early process, and there have been several articles discussing how some colleges and universities are admitting a larger percentage of their early applicant pool than their general pool, overall.  For example, Bucknell admitted 65% of its early applicants as opposed to 30% of its overall applicants.  This US News and World Report article points out a list of schools where applying early action helps students.  However, I would again caution people to consider that the early applicant pool may look very different than the general applicant pool, as many of those applying early tend to meet or exceed the average admissions statistics for that college, making colleges or universities more likely to accept a greater percentage of them.  I would think very carefully about recommending that a student apply early to a school on their list that is a "reach" school because their statistics are under the average for a school.

Another trend that it is important to consider is that of deferring applicants to the regular pool.  It used to be that if the college was not completely sure about an early applicant and wanted to see them as compared to the regular application pool, they would defer their decision until after the regular application deadline.  Indeed, many of my students felt pretty safe applying early, because the general feeling was that if they were not accepted, they would probably be deferred to the regular pool where they could get another review.  However, through a conversation with a parent and then an admissions counselor at one of our area colleges, I have discovered this trend may be on the wane.  Indeed, more schools are trying to make a final decision on an early applicant versus deferring them to the regular admissions pool, as discussed again in this recent Forbes article.  Thus, some schools are simply giving a decision of accept, deny, or wait list, just as they would for applicants to the regular pool.  This should serve again as a caution to advise students to take a strong look at their black-and-white statistics in order to insure that they meet that school's averages, as it may be less likely that they will get a second review in the regular applicant pool.

True or False?  There are ethical guidelines and standards to guide both us as counselors and our students through this process.  

True! For counselors, there are guidelines from College Board about advising students properly about early decision, such as letting them know they have to withdraw all of their other applications if they are accepted and that they are only allowed to apply early decision to one school.  They also discuss the process for students who apply early but do not receive the financial aid necessary to attend, but that should be part of the conversation you initially have with a student before they apply early, because if that is a major concern the early application may not be the best choice.  There are also guidelines for secondary school professionals from NACAC on page five of their Statement of Principles of Good Practice. 

For students, I would highly recommend sharing NACAC's Students' Rights and Responsibilities in the College Admission Process--it is available in both English and in Spanish.  It details what students and families have a right to expect in the college admissions process, but also gives guidelines about their ethical responsibilities in the early admissions process.

Overall, though, each college and university is going to have a unique process and a unique set of standards by which they evaluate early applicants as well as in the types of decisions they give.  If you are looking for statistics on the percentage of early applications admitted at a given school, I recommend going to College Data, entering the school, and clicking on the admissions tab, or you can try to navigate the websites of individual colleges.  If you have specific questions about the process at a school, please pick up the phone and give the admissions office a call.  I have always been met with admissions counselors, assistant deans, etc. who have taken time to answer my specific questions--it benefits my students, as they get the best guidance possible for that particular school, it benefits me, as I am able to relate up to the minute advice and information, and it benefits the colleges and universities, who are then able to receive applications from students who are well-informed about the process, their own chances, and the possible outcomes.

Taking the Stigma Out of Community College

Every year all of the counselors in my building do a "meet and greet" lesson with our new 9th grade students.  They get to see where our offices are, we talk about graduation requirements, transcripts and grades, and let them know about the vast array of services we, as school counselors, are able to provide them during all four years that they are with us.  As we are also trying to create a college-going culture,  we ask them about their goals after high-school.  We do these lessons in small groups, so the students are able to hear several of their peers' responses.  Most of them state they are planning on attending one of the popular state universities here in Virginia--UVA, Virginia Tech, VCU, etc.  A few years ago during this activity, one of my new students stated they were thinking of going to Northern Virginia Community College, or NOVA as its known in this region.  Another student laughed at this answer, stating that "NOVA is a school for losers."

It was at this point that I knew that we, as a school counseling team, had our work cut out for us.

I was listening this week to my favorite radio show, Tell Me More, on NPR, and they had a story about college students who drop out of school with no degree and mountains of debt that they are responsible for paying off.  Anthony Carnevale, from the Center on Education and the Work Force at Georgetown University, was the guest, and he had this to say:

"We've come to a point where people have to get some kind of post-secondary education or training to join the American middle class and we've yet to find a way to help people make choices to make them savvy about how they invest in their education." (source: www.npr.org)

I think it is pretty well common knowledge at this point that in order to have any realistic fighting chance at economic security in your life, you need some sort of post-secondary education.  However, as I've written about before, I think we need to continue to refine our definition of "college."  College is not necessarily a four-year degree.  There are many certificate programs and associates degrees that will train people for well-paying jobs and careers in a variety of fields.  In fact, for many of these jobs a four-year degree may not be preferable over a two-year degree that really hones in on the skills necessary for that particular occupation.  Further, if we look at six-year graduation rates from four-year colleges and universities around the country, it is clear that a large percentage of students will not be finished with a degree within that time frame, depending upon the specific school.  In fact, in the United States, the average graduation rate at four-year public universities within four years is 31.3%, and within six years is 56%.  That means that only a third of these students will have a degree in four years, and a little more than half within six years.  Some students may be working full or part time while going through school and are thus taking classes at a slower rate than other students.  Additionally, there are always going to be exceptional circumstances that might allow for some of these students who do not make it within six years.  However, you have to begin to wonder if a four-year university was the best fit in the first place for many of these students, and did they have all the information necessary to make a "savvy" choice, as Mr. Carnevale asks?

Enter the school counselor.  We can help students and families make "savvy" and informed choices about their post-secondary options, and part of those conversations needs to be about the benefits of local community colleges.  With only an estimated 60% of first-year college students returning to the same school for their sophomore year, it is vital that we work to change our community's views about local two-year schools as an option.  Community colleges are not just a place where the students who cannot get into a better school end up.  Our school counseling team stresses the following reasons to consider a community college to all of our students and families:

• It can cost a lot less.  Even if a student is four-year bound, the financial cost of attending a community college for two years and then transferring to a four-year college is going to be significantly less than doing all four years at a traditional university, public or private.  For those families and students who are worried about future student loan debt (a very real concern right now) or about the strain of having to work full-time (as a student) or two or three jobs (as a parent) to be able to afford a four-year school, community college may be a strong choice at which to begin their college career.  Every year I have students with academic profiles that would gain acceptance to good four-year universities who choose to do community college for two years in order to save money on their education.
• Some students are not yet ready to leave home.  Parents, for the most part, know their kids pretty well.  If you as a school counselor and they as a parent have worked just as hard to get a student through high school as the student themselves, then they may not yet be ready to leave home with all of that extra support and go away to a four-year school.  If this is a student who continuously gets into minor trouble (cheating, fights, excessive partying, smaller community issues) then they may not yet be ready for the freedom of life at college.  Some kids simply need another year or two of maturity and growing up in order to gain the skills necessary to manage both their academic and personal lives in a way that will give them a much stronger chance of success.  Better to go to community college for a few years than go away to school, spend $10,000, and then be kicked out at the end of the year for academic or social reasons.
• Students need to build up their academic profile.  We all have those students who figure some things out closer to the end of their high-school career than at the beginning.  They have come to realize late that their grades and the classes they take really do matter.  Community college allows them to start with a clean slate and to build up their academic credentials so that after a year or two they can transfer into a four year school, having proven that they are ready to take on college-level coursework.
• Four-year college is not for everyone, nor may it be necessary.  As mentioned before, there are many occupations for which a certificate or a two-year degree may be all that is required before a student can move into a good paying job or begin a career.  Not every student is going to be ready, at least at this time in their life, to do a Bachelor's degree.  However, they do need to get some kind of post-secondary training, whether it is in auto technology, cosmetology, computers and information technology, or dental assisting so that they are then ready to go out into the world with some marketable skills.  I always tell students and families that this doesn't mean that they will never get a four-year degree--it just may be that this is not the right time for them in their lives and they can always go back later.
• Students have absolutely no idea what they want to do.  Part of what has always worried me about the six-year graduation statistics is that I fear that some of those students who may be on the seven or eight year plan began college with no earthly idea of what they wanted to study.  This is very normal--I would wager that most 18 year-olds are unsure of what they want to be when they grow up.  However, exploring a variety of fields is a lot less expensive at a community college than at a four-year school.  It is possible that these students need a year or two of career exploration (perhaps even via a gap year) to get some idea of what area(s) they may want to study so that when they do finally attend that four-year school they are able to be focused and complete a degree within four to six years.
• Students had their heart set on attending a certain school but did not get in.  We have students and families that really only want to attend a certain favorite school, and perhaps do not get into that college during the admissions process.  Going to community college allows them a year or two to strengthen their academic credentials so that they can reapply and transfer in.

It is important to check to see what partnerships or programs are available from your local community college that could assist you in helping students and families to explore whether it it is a viable option for them.  For example, at NOVA there is a guaranteed admissions program which allows students, depending on their GPA, to graduate with an Associate of Arts or an Associate of Science degree and then be automatically admitted to the Virginia public school of their choice.  Further, we have the Pathways to the Baccalaureate program that supports students in their senior year of high school who are looking to go to NOVA for two years and then transfer to a four-year school.  The Pathways' counselor meets on a weekly basis with students in the program at their high-school, and then there is continued support for these students once they begin at NOVA.  If you do not have these partnerships at your school, it may be worth teaming up with your local school counselors, administrators, community members, and school district to try to develop some programming.

At my school, we have really come a long way in a few short years with taking away the stigma of community college as an option only for students who were unable to get into any other college.  This has taken a lot of effort on the part of the school counselors and our amazing career-center specialist, but I really feel we have turned the corner.  Now, many of our families see this as a strong option for their children for all of the reasons I've listed above, and it is viewed as it should be--a powerful stepping stone to a bright future of college and career.    

A Contrast in College Finances

A colleague of mine forwarded this article from a recent edition of the New York Times about the increasing burden of student loan debt.  The article discusses how the average amount of loan debt per student continues to rise, with it reaching $23,330 in 2011.  Additionally, many colleges and universities attempt to gloss over the costs of attendance during the admissions process, and students are encouraged to look at their college experience as a "return on investment" and a "lifetime investment, appreciating over the course of time." (source: www.nytimes.com).  Since 2005, the number of students who default on their loans within two years has doubled to one in ten.

One of the reasons the article cites for skyrocketing student loan debt is the rising cost of state public colleges and universities due to decreased state funding.  As the economy has struggled in the last several years, states have cut funding to higher education.  This is combined with many legislators pledging not to increase taxes at the same time that they are giving tax breaks to corporations and eliminating estate taxes, both sources of revenue that could be used to help fund higher education.  Additionally, for-profit colleges account for a quarter of all federal grants and loans.  Yet, only 22% of students receive a bachelor's degree within six years at for-profit schools, compared to 65% at non-profit private schools and 55% state public schools.  Students at for-profit schools are also twice as likely to default on their loans as students at private and public non-profit colleges.  (source: www.nytimes.com).

Overall, the message of the article is that families and students are responsible for examining very closely the often confusing financial aid proposals and information that colleges send, mapping out the projected costs of the education over four-to-six years, and for being open to less-costly options if they may help to graduate a student with less debt.  (www.nytimes.com).

In contrast, NPR's Planet Money blog posted this graphic today that shows how the sticker price (it covers tuition only, not room-and-board) at public and private colleges has increased over time, but how the net price (the price that most students end up paying after grants and scholarships) has not:

source: www.npr.org/blogs/money and www.collegeboard.org

I wrote about the difference in sticker and net price in a recent blog post.  So, how do these two articles work together?  How is it that for many students college cost has remained relatively the same, yet student loan debt is increasing?  I have no definitive answers, but can only surmise that the average student loan debt numbers are higher partially because a large portion of the debt may be due the debt accrued at for-profit colleges, which is not a part of the graphic above.  Further, the graphic above does not include room-and-board and other living expenses, which have also risen over time but which may not be covered by the grants and scholarships that help to relieve some of the burden of tuition for students.  Finally, the graphic shows average costs, and those students who are expected to pay more "net price" at public and private non-profit schools have a lot more to cover now than they did in 1996. 

What do we take away as school counselors?  We have a continued commitment to talking about the costs of college with students and families and reminding them that it should be a factor in their decision.  Further, as discussed before, we should encourage students to shop around and apply to public and private colleges, especially those students who are strong academically and have special talents or aptitudes, as they may receive offers with a great deal of scholarship and aid.  The hope should be to have students looking at multiple schools at multiple price points so that when they are making a final decision, they have several options to peruse.  Finally, pointing out to students and families other paths to getting a college education that would lower their debt load--starting at a two year college and transferring to a four year school or perhaps going to a four year school but living at home or with a relative while doing so.  The implications of their choice not only in school but in how much they pay for that education could linger for a lifetime.

"Sticker Price" versus "Net Price"

One of the focuses in our students' junior year is on examining factors that will influence the list of colleges that they will apply to.  In-state or out-of-state?  Large or small?  Urban or rural?  Choice of majors?  Public or private?

This last one is one that every year I talk about with anyone who will listen.  Most of my students will apply to in-state, Virginia schools.  Why wouldn't they?  We are home to some of the top public colleges in the nation--University of Virginia, College of William and Mary, and Virginia Polytechnic University.  Families in Virginia have every right to be proud of these schools and they are great fits for so many students.

However, public, in-state schools are not the only game in town.  What about private colleges and universities?  Whenever I bring this option up to families, the first words I hear are "they're too expensive.  We can't possibly afford it."  It then takes an awful lot of convincing on my part to get them to even think of taking a look at a few.  It saddens me a bit, because many private colleges, with a focus on the liberal arts, smaller classes, and an emphasis on teaching versus research, would be an excellent fit for more of my students than I think apply.  What about this question of cost?

Take a listen to this report, The Real Price of College, from NPR's Planet Money, their group of reporters that focus on economic topics.  This segment discusses how there is a "sticker price" at private colleges and then the price that students actually pay, the "net price."  For a lot of strong students (good to excellent grades, decent test scores, talents in the arts and/or athletic fields) there can be a great deal of need and merit based financial aid at these schools--only a small percentage of students at private colleges and universities actually pay the full sticker-price.  This report goes inside several private colleges' admissions departments and discusses how and why they make decisions that grant so much money to students.  A college may charge $55,000 a year for tuition, room-and-board, and additional expenses, but many students will be granted aid-packages that ultimately make the cost comparable to their public state school of choice.  As high-school counselors, it is our responsibility to make sure that our students and families have all the possible options out there on the table, and that should include non-profit private institutions of higher learning.

Still need to find a four-year college?

It is now May 3rd.  Students were supposed to commit to their final choice of college by May 1st.  So, it's all finished, this latest college admission season.  Right?

Wrong.  Every year, around this time, the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC) posts a list of colleges and universities around the country that still have space available for admissions.  As of this writing:

• 362 colleges/universities have space available for freshman students
• 374 have space available for transfer students
• 373 still have institutional aid (grants, scholarships, work-study) available
• 354 still have campus housing available
• 70% are private schools; 30% are public (source: www.nacacnet.org)

This data will continue to change and remain posted until June 29th.  This survey of colleges and universities is participatory, so there may be further colleges and universities with space that are not on this list.  According to the published fact sheet, an additional trend is that is that from 2005 to 2011, there were less than 300 schools with space available at this time.  Last year, in 2011, there were 279.  This year there are 375, a sharp increase.

So, which of your students might benefit from this information?

• Students who have yet to apply to a four-year school.  These may be some of your procrastinators, but these might also be students who were unsure if they would get admitted to a four year school based on past grades but have shown improvement and gained in maturity.  Further, they may be students who are first-generation college students who have struggled through the admissions process. 
• Students who applied to four-year schools and did not get admitted either to any of the schools on their list, or did not get admitted to any of their top-choice schools.  These students are looking for plan B's (or C's, D's, or E's).  They may have gotten accepted to a "safety" school, but have since decided that school is not really for them and are looking for other options.
• Students who have gotten accepted to schools, but who did not receive the financial aid package necessary for them to attend.  It is especially important to pay attention to the schools on this list that still have financial aid available.  As I've written about before, the stronger they are as students as compared to the general applicant pool of that college or university, the more scholarship and merit aid they are likely to receive.

If you have any students who you think may fit into these categories, it might be worth touching base with them as soon as possible to see if they would be interested in putting in additional applications.  Bon chance!

Follow-Up: Show Me the Money!

Financial aid is on every family's mind right now as they consider various proposals from different colleges in anticipation of making that final decision.  I wrote about scholarship and merit-aid considerations in a previous blog post.  A few more articles have come to light this week that I would recommend sharing with your students and families as food for thought:

• In the New York Times' The Choice blog, they have been taking questions this week from students and families and posing them to a financial-aid expert.  Part one takes on questions about changes to Pell grants and student loans, information required as part of the FAFSA, and the value of the National Merit Scholar program.  In part two, negotiating financial aid awards after early-admissions, verifying information on the FAFSA, and capital gains tax counting as income are discussed.  
• The debate about student loans continues.  The questions center around whether to keep federal student loans interest rates down, lower the percentage of the expected monthly repayment from 15% to 10% of a person's income, and allowing loan forgiveness after 20 years instead of 25.

• For some of the basics as to what the terms mean in financial aid-speak to tips on getting more money, check out US News and World Report's Financial Aid 101 page.
• Once families and students have those award packages, it can often be difficult to determine what is grant money (scholarships and money that does not have to be paid back) versus loans, work study, etc.  With the loans, are they federal loans or private?  Subsidized or unsubsidized?  This article sheds some light on the mystique but also lays out the facts and figures of how much debt students often end up with as well as how unprepared many are when they see the total at the end.
• Finally, why do the costs of college continue to rise?  This article believes that as state and federal funding have decreased at public colleges and universities nationwide, the cost has been shifted to students and families.

Show Me the Money!

In today's Washington Post Magazine there was an article talking about how adolescents are becoming more financially savvy in the current recession.  Their families have undergone a great deal of economic strain due to lost jobs, reduced salaries, and falling returns on investments.  This, combined with state educational requirements regarding economic and financial literacy, is producing teenagers who are more mindful about money issues.

Certainly, as a school counselor, I have seen the impact that the current economy has been having on students and their families--increased stress over meeting day-to-day expenditures, more discussions about applications for free-and-reduced lunch, and, most often, concern over how they are ever going to be able to afford a college education.  I have written several times about the growing levels of anxiety over rising college-costs as well as the increasing level of selectivity of schools.  In the last several years, at every parent night, every parent coffee, in every parent/student meeting that I have about college, the number one question is often no longer "how do I get my kid into college?" but instead "how do I pay for college?"  As school counselors, we receive a great deal of very valuable training in our graduate programs, but very rarely does it involve coursework specific to college admissions and financial aid.  I am not going to debate the pros and cons of that here--we are, contrary to what some people think, more than just college counselors, and the training we receive in counseling theories, mental health, groups, human and adolescent development, assessment, and careers is absolutely vital and necessary in modern public education.  Someone with a certificate in "college counseling" is not going to be aware of how to best develop school-wide bullying and harassment initiatives, how to do depression screenings, intervene with families using systems theories and techniques to effect change, or run study-skills, grief, and social skills groups that help to remove barriers so that students can focus on their academic success.  However, for those of us in high-school counseling,  college admissions is an important piece of our job as well as one of the most visible, and we do need to work towards gaining training and competence in that area, especially if it is one with which we are not overly familiar.  

That being said, let's talk about college financial aid.  I have two Master's degrees that were funded with a mixture of assistantships and student loans.  I attended a private undergraduate institution where I received almost full-tuition every year, entirely from merit scholarships (academic and music).  I can fill out a FAFSA in probably ten minutes flat (having done it 8 times over my life thus far) and have, through some tough personal experiences through all of this education, spent many an afternoon in college financial aid offices.  Further, I've always been fascinated by the college admissions process, and have made a point over the years to talk to admissions counselors, families, students, as well as read blogs, articles, etc. to gain more knowledge.  So, while I would never tout myself as an "expert" in college financial aid, I have learned a few things along the way that I hope will be helpful to you.  This post will touch on the many various forms of financial aid, but will be primarily focused on scholarships.

• Everyone should fill out the FAFSA.  Everyone.  I get asked this question all of the time by families.  There seems to be a thought out there that if you make too much money, it's not worth filling out the FAFSA because you won't qualify for any federal grants or loans.  Indeed, you may not necessarily qualify for federal aid (certainly not grants, but I would venture to say that most people who fill out the FAFSA don't qualify for Pell grants--that threshold is pretty low), but colleges use this document as a base-line for all of their students to put together financial aid packages.  It is vital that every family fill out the FAFSA to get the process started at the schools that they have applied to.  For those families that want to get ahead of the game, point them in the direction of the FAFSA Forecaster.  Again, regardless of the results of the forecaster, all families should fill out the FAFSA.  They can't officially file until January of their senior year as the information is based on the previous year's tax returns.  That being said, I always advise families to do their taxes early that year so they can file the FAFSA in February or March at the latest.  If you look at the "priority" deadlines for financial aid awards at many colleges, it tends to be March 1.  Have I mentioned that all families should fill out the FAFSA?
• College-based (need and merit) scholarships should be the focus.  Outside scholarships should be secondary.  Parents are often ask me about when they should start applying for scholarships and how they find those scholarships.  This is definitely a time for some education, and I strongly recommend that you put this information out in your e-newsletter or make it a talking point at your post-secondary planning nights.  The little $1,000 and $500 one-time-only awards are helpful, but when you are looking at $20,000 a year over the course of four years, they aren't going to go a long way--they are a drop in the bucket.  The large financial awards that are typically renewable each year come from the colleges and universities themselves--this should be the main focus.
• Where do we find information about merit based aid and scholarships from the colleges?  One place to look is at the colleges and universities themselves--what do their financial aid pages say about merit and need based monies?  Are there separate applications for some of the scholarships, or are students automatically in the running for them simply by applying?  Is there an earlier application deadline if students want to be considered?  Then, there are a few websites that I highly recommend.  The first is MeritAid.com.  This website can match students to colleges that they may stand a strong chance of getting merit scholarships from based on their academic criteria (GPA, test-scores, etc.).  Further, it has the same general information on colleges and universities that you can find at many websites (number of applicants, size of the school, etc.) but it also has statistics as to how many students applied for aid and how much, on average, each student receives.  Thus, if a student is considering a private college (and I wish more would--the sticker price is high, but for strong students, athletes, and musicians/actors/artists there are amazing scholarship opportunties), they may be apprehensive if only 29% of students receive any type of institutional aid, but they may feel more confident if the college provides institutional aid to 89% of its population.  You and the students do have to register for an account.  Another extremely useful tool comes from College Board and is their Big Future website.  This website is a full-service college admissions website, but like MeritAid it can help match students to colleges, and it also gives very easy to find and understand information about the percentage of students receiving aid, both need-based and overall, as well as additional information as to what type of merit-aid might be available as well as deadlines.  Just type in a college and click on the "paying" tab.
• I need merit based scholarships to go to college.  What can I do to increase my chances?  This is one I get a lot from families, but the answer often challenges what they have long held as a belief, that being that they should attend the best college they can get into.  The simple answer is that merit based money is exactly that--merit based.  The student has something that the college or university wants, so the university is going to entice that student to go there by giving them scholarships.  In my experience there are three areas that this typically falls into--academics, talent, and athletics.  Thus, if merit aid is something that a family feels they need to have in order to get into college, then they need to be applying to schools where academically that student is above the average threshold for those students who are typically admitted, one where that student has a talent that is desirable to the school (they need more viola players, they are looking for more tenors, they are trying to recruit actors to build a theater program), or they have proven athletic skills or interests that the school finds valuable.  Thus, for example, a student might apply and get into their top choice large Division I school called HighBrowU, but they were towards the bottom of the applicant pool and did not receive any merit aid at all.  The same student with the same academic criteria might also have applied to a smaller school called LiberalArtsU and be towards to top of their applicant pool and be offered academic scholarships as well as an athletic scholarship to play on their Division III soccer team.  If merit scholarships are what you are looking for, than students should really look at the statistics of past applicant pools as well as their own talents and abilities to find schools where they would be a sought-after candidate.  Again, MeritAid.com.
• What about non-school based scholarships?  These are the scholarships that are typically your one-time, single dollar amount awards.  In my opinion, these are a wonderful addition to a college financial plan, but they probably should not be the major player in the plan.  You can find information about these scholarships through Naviance if your school district has that platform.  Outside of Naviance, there is College Data's scholarship finder, which, similar to MeritAid can help match students to a plethora of scholarships across the country.  The schools and immediate community are another great resource--I know that our parent booster groups offer scholarships, area churches/mosques/synagogues/temples offer scholarships, and area businesses and community groups offer scholarships.  A new website has been getting a lot of attention recently, ScholarPro.  This is a fee-for-service website, meaning that there is a cost involved, but the strength of it seems to be in that you fill out the applications online, which can centralize what can be a maddeningly time-consuming process for students and families.  That is something to warn your students and families about ahead of time--these one-time scholarships often involve separate applications, often with essays.  Plan ahead for time to fill them out.

So, your families have done their searches, filled out the FAFSA, contacted the financial aid offices of the colleges, and round about March and April they get financial aid package proposals which could be a mix of federal grants, federal loans, and college/university scholarships/grants/aid.  What next?

• Compare the proposals.  Let's say the student and family have it narrowed down to four schools, and amidst all the mumbo-jumbo on the pages they want to compare the proposals to see what the ultimate bottom line is going to be, at least financially.  Two websites come to mind.  First, again, College Board has a cost-comparison tool as part of their Big Future platform.  Students just fill in the appropriate information in the boxes.  Similar to this is a cost-comparison website recently out from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  
• Ask the right questions.  From personal experience, I am telling you that families should always ask at least two questions of the financial aid office.  First, is the aid automatically renewable each year of attendance, up to four years?  Secondly, how will the aid award be modified each year to encompass tuition increases?  This second one is a big one that most families don't think to ask, and then come March of next year they see their expected family contribution jump by several thousand dollars.  Whatever you work out on the tuition increase topic, make sure to get it in writing, and expect that there may need to be a discussion each and every year with the financial aid office.  Other important questions should be about minimum requirements needed to maintain scholarships (oftentimes academic scholarships come with GPA requirements) as well as what would happen to the aid if for some reason the student would need to extend their education by a semester or a year.
• Feel free to negotiate...within reason.  If a student and their family have multiple offers, but they are really leaning to one school and just need a bit more aid to make that decision, it is always worth a call to the financial aid office to see if something can be worked out.  The worst they can say to a family is, "no."
• Talk to the financial aid office about any changes to the family situation.  A lot can happen in a family between the time you fill out the FAFSA and the time that a student begins school.  Sadly, parents lose jobs, cutting the family's income by sometimes more than half.  Parents may divorce.  Parents may even die, be injured, or be hospitalized, which can at times result in the loss of two incomes if one parent ends up becoming a caretaker.  As soon as an event like this happens, students should contact the financial aid office to let them know that their previous FAFSA is no longer reflective of the in-the-moment family situation.

This is just part of the picture when it comes to college financial aid--I did not spend much time discussing student loans, although my rule of thumb is that the pecking order is federal subsidized loans, then federal unsubsidized, and then, if all else fails and you have no other choice, parent PLUS loans and lastly, private loans, although, quite honestly, the latter should be avoided if at all possible, as college debt can have far-reaching implications for students and families.  Additionally, here are some great tips for cutting those college costs before going and once students are on campus.

My hope is that this entry is helpful.  If you feel any of the information is incorrect or should be further clarified, please feel free to share in the comments section at the end.  I would only ask that this be used as a forum to help share information to increase the knowledge base of school-counselors more than anything else.

College Debt

Most of us have it--student loan debt.  Further, many of our students are looking a future filled with every increasing amounts of student loan debt.

In today's Washington Post, there was an op-ed by a woman who was a second-generation Latina college student.  She states that she and her family were not fully aware of the documents that they were signing:

"Looking back, it’s easy to say that my parents failed. They should have asked more questions and sought counsel. More important, they should never have co-signed the loans or allowed their financial information in our aid applications because they had no intention, nor means, of paying for our pricey educations." (source: www.washingtonpost.com)

Further, her whole life she had been told by her parents that she could go to college wherever she wanted to and that somehow, perhaps with scholarships and grants, it would all be taken care of.  

If only it really worked that way.

If you are like me, you have dealt with similar scenarios with your students and families as they have gone through the post-secondary planning process.  Parents only want the best for their children, and they want them to have everything they have ever wanted and worked for.  Further, if they have seen their child endeavor their entire academic lives to get good grades with the goal of being able to attend the school of their dreams, they feel their child should be able to do just that, whatever the financial cost.  But is this realistic in today's world?

The answer to this question lies in a few reports that have recently come out.  Student loan debt now surpasses auto debt and credit card date in the United States.  Yes, that's correct--we owe more, as a nation, on our educations than we do on our credit cards.  And we invented owing money on credit cards.  Additionally, College, Inc. reports:

• One-third of the national student-loan balance is held by people ages 30 to 39, and another third by people older than that, signifying that only a small share of college graduates manage to retire their loan debt while still in their 20s.
• Student loan debt is rising at a time when other debt is flat or even declining. From the second to the third quarter of 2011, the nation’s loan balance grew 2.1 percent, from $852 billion to $870 billion. 
• Fifteen percent of all Americans with enough of an economic pulse to have credit reports have outstanding student-loan debt. Two-fifths of people under 30 have loan debt, and 25 percent of those between 30 and 39. 
• $85 billion in student loan debt is “past due,” and of that total, three-quarters is owed by people over 30. More than five million borrowers have past-due student loans. (source: www.washingtonpost.com)

All of this student loan debt has a profound effect not only on the economy, but also on society.  According to a US News and World Report article, this debt is preventing the Y and Millennial generations from moving out of their parents' homes and from buying homes of their own.  Many are putting off marriage and children because they believe they simply cannot afford the expense at this time.

Thus, I do not believe that you can have an honest conversation about college with students and families if you do not discuss the current financial situation of the family, the costs of various schools, and the realistic salary and job prospects of certain college majors after graduation.  This is hard for many school counselors to do--we are a kind and optimistic group of people who also like to believe that our students that have worked diligently for four years can go to any school they would like.  The reality is that they may get into their top school of choice, but that paying for it may come at a high-cost with financial and life ramifications for decades beyond college.  How can we as school counselors best assist our students and families?:

• Talk about the money.  When we start talking to our students about making their list of college parameters that include size, location, programs, etc., we also include financial situation.  I specifically ask my students and families to make sure that they are having very honest and open conversations about what they can realistically afford to chip in, as well as what would be considered a manageable amount of student loan debt beyond graduation.  Experts typically recommend that the total amount of student loan debt you carry not exceed your expected annual salary your first year out of school.  Thus, this would be less money for someone going into education versus someone going into engineering.
• Encourage a broad list of schools with open minds.  So often our students and families come in with the mindset of looking at one school as their top choice and then a few other schools "just in case."  However, sometimes there has been very little research done on these "safety" schools, to the point that sometimes the applications are not even sent.  We need to encourage lists that encompass many different schools and price points, as well as promoting the idea of being open to and taking a hard look at all of the schools, and, more importantly, the financial aid offers from these schools.  We tend to talk about "reach," "probable," and "safety" schools with regards to academic criteria and standardized test scores, but we should also have a second list with the same categories with regards to cost.  I consistently tell my students and families that the best school for them may not be the best school that they can get into.  Some of these attitudes and beliefs may be changing, as in 2011 only 54% of surveyed college freshmen reported that they attended their first choice school, citing money and financial aid as reasons for choosing one of their alternates. 
• Point them in the direction of resources early.  There are many resources out there to help students and families navigate this process so that they are better equipped to make informed choices about where to go to college and how to pay for it.  There are webinars on Planning Before You Go sponsored by Equal Justice Works.  There is any number of checklists for parents and students with regards to financial aid, such as this one at the New York Times The Choice Blog.  There is the FAFSA Forecaster which can help families to get an idea of what they might be able to expect with regards to federal aid.  It is only an estimate--an exact idea can not be given until families fill out the FAFSA in the spring of their senior year.   The Occupational Outlook Handbook can help to give students and families an idea of mean salaries for careers, which can be helpful in determining what might be a reasonable amount of loan debt.  For an idea of starting salaries, you can find a very basic list here.  Also, stay tuned for the College Scorecard that the government is beginning to pull together--it will show information on employment rates, graduation rates, and student loan debt for every college and university.

Ultimately, the decision lies with our students and our families.  There are extremes, such as families willing to sell their homes to finance their child's education.  Most families are unable to do this, however.  As school counselors, it will be up to us to help students and families get an idea of the "whole" picture with regards to college admissions, including the finances, as well as to point out and remind them that a good college education comes not from the name of the school that they attend, but from what they themselves, as the students, make of that education, wherever that college may be and whatever it may cost.