Guidance For Starters
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Guidance counselors are mentors and cheerleaders, encouraging students to achieve their post-secondary educational aspirations. Yet their greatest gift is empowering seniors to become more self-directed and confident about making decisions.
Guidance Counselors
Guidance counselors can suggest specific resources, but cannot discuss the personalized details, family dynamics, overall financial positions, investment strategies, debt, or extenuating circumstances that will determine which college is the most affordable but not necessarily the best college that the student deserves to attend. At this point, parents and students must develop a partnership to make this all happen.
All too often, parents feel a sense of relief once the financial aid forms are completed, but make emotional rather than rational financial decisions after financial aid is awarded. This is where a qualified consultant of financial assistance with a wealth of financial experience can evaluate the forms, analyze the bigger picture, and offer recommendations best suited to each family’s financial needs.
They can also recommend websites for scholarship searches and provide lists of local scholarships to procure free or gift aid. Still, only the students can demonstrate the drive to market themselves, network, and creatively seek scholarships that lower college costs. Students should be better prepared to present this data to their parents and decide upon how much debt they are willing to assume over the four years of college. Moreover, they should be able to provide an acceptable answer when a parent asks: “Can we afford this college, or are there less costly alternatives?”
Does it fit?
Once students narrow their choices based on research, recommendations, and admission criteria, their most critical decision is determining whether the college is the best fit. Finding the right college is about getting in, visiting each campus, and feeling a sense of belonging.
All journeys begin with your first steps
The first is to develop a shopping list of criteria, such as size, majors, residence halls, etc., to rate each college visit consistently. In other words, it involves staying organized and avoiding impulsive decision-making.
The second is to provide students with the names of recent high school graduates attending these colleges with whom they can network. Students should be encouraged to arrange a one-day or overnight visit with these contacts to gain a feel for campus life and academics.
Finally, and probably the most challenging step, students should use the visit to consider whether each college presents a positive environment where they can reap the greatest intellectual and academic benefits. Later, students may feel more comfortable meeting with classmates who have also visited the same campus to share information.
Financial decisions
Financing college extends beyond completing a financial aid form, applying for scholarships, or taking out loans. Although students should not underestimate the importance of accurate and timely financial aid forms, this is the beginning of a much more challenging process.
Students should also understand that alternative parental and student loans, besides the Stafford and Perkins loans, are based on the borrower’s credit score. For instance, students with parents who have been denied a parent PLUS loan are entitled to an additional $4000 Stafford loan in their first year.
On the other hand, students may still have insufficient funds to cover their unmet expenses. Even with alternative loans, families should realize that well-intentioned students still require parental or other creditworthy co-signers who agree to repay the loan if the student cannot. Consequently, the importance of finding merit-based aid such as grants and scholarships is an ongoing process in which students should continually strive to market their skills and accomplishments, network with local and national organizations, and creatively find ways to achieve positive recognition.
Finally, when all is said and done, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." --Benjamin Franklin
Family Dynamics
Interpersonal relationships, family size, and values will dictate the student's ultimate direction, primarily based on economic affordability and career earnings potential. Only they can determine if the costs of a particular college will generate a lifetime earnings stream to justify the net out-of-pocket expenses after financial aid. This is where information from such sources as the Occupational Outlook Handbook (www.bls.gov/ooh/a-z-index.htm) and Pathways After a bachelor’s degree (www.census/gov/hhes/socdemo/education/data/acs/inforgraphics), along with each college’s cost of attendance, can provide the necessary analytical decision-making data.