FAFSA Changes Don't Help College Admission Process

FAFSA Changes Don't Help College Admission Process
Allan Acevedo, Staff Columnist
Published: Wednesday, February 18, 2009: The Daily Aztec

With the start of the New Year one of the least exciting things is coming up: tax season. This is an exciting time to get some money back, but it’s also a frustrating time for many self-sufficient students, who file taxes as independents and then hit barriers when they go online to apply for yet another year of financial aid under FAFSA.

The FAFSA is the standard form used to determine your eligibility for grants, loans, and other forms of financial aid that help you go to school. But the fact that you pay for school yourself, live by yourself, and support yourself financially doesn’t mean that you’re an independent student, a designation that qualifies you for more grants and higher loan limits. With few exceptions, you’re only considered self-supporting if you are 25 years old, married, have a baby, or both your parents are dead. If none of these apply to you, your parents’ income is taken into consideration when you’re applying for help to pay for school…whether their income is actually an option for you or not.

This is a particular problem for students who don’t have access to their parents’ income information — you need to see your parents’ tax returns to complete your FAFSA, so if you don’t have it, you can’t complete the form - which prevents you from even qualifying for the loans in the first place, even as a dependant student.

But for self-sufficient students in this situation, 2009 brings a change in the way students can fill out FAFSA. Starting with the 2009-2010 year, students will be able to complete and save the FAFSA application without their parents’ information. You will still need to go back later and add your parent's information if you want to apply for loans and grants, but for students in estrangement situations, this opens a crack in the door. You can work it out with your school to provide a statement and an affidavit from your parents that they are not providing any financial aid.

While this seems to indicate that proactive steps are being taken to help students who are estranged from their parents, it's not good enough.

I am currently working with the scholarship office to petition my status to be changed from dependent to independent so that I can qualify for the loans that reflect my status, but it's an uphill battle. Few people have the answers I need and there is a lot of red tape. It’s difficult to prove that you’ve had extended separation from your parents and not just an episodic one, especially when you are under 25 working more than one job and trying to get to grades in college. I have been lucky enough to find a lawyer who is willing to supplement my own personal statement that I am submitting, but not everyone has access to those kinds of resources.

I have never been able to fill out FAFSA because I haven't had my parents’ tax information, so this will be my first year going through the process — but even if they accept my application, it's only half the battle. Now I need to go through the bureaucracy of the school in order to attempt to have my student status changed. Even if I do not qualify for any grants, I should still have the opportunity to take out student loans to finance my education, because now I can't even do that, and neither can any other student in situations like mine.

Many students aren't able to get their parents tax information for a variety of estrangement issues. So what makes those who created this system think that if a parent is not willing to give tax information, they would be willing to draft a letter stating their estrangement? It doesn’t make practical sense.

There is still a piece of the puzzle missing right now: many students who do not meet the traditional requirements to be considered independent, are in fact supporting themselves without any outside assistance. The over-dependence on the FAFSA that requires parental input prevents a group of students from being able to apply for financial aid, and even worse, not even be able to apply for loans. I myself have gone to several banks to inquire about students loans and they have all told me the same thing: go online and fill out FAFSA first.

By establishing this normative assumption that students will have parents who can support them during school, or if not at the very least will be willing to help those students do every they can do succeed, there a significant number of students left with few recourses. This small change to the FAFSA, while a step in the right direction, is not anywhere near as far as we need financial aid reform to go.

—Allan Acevedo is a political science and ISCOR sophomore.




FAFSA Changes Don't Help College Admission Process

This Little Piggy Went For A College Scholarship

This Little Piggy Went For A College Scholarship
By Sarah Day Owen| Staff Writer
Augusta Chronicle
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Finding money for college might seem daunting, especially when budgets are tight, but experts say that with organization and effort, you can find the financial aid and scholarships you need.
FILLING OUT THE FAFSA
The first step is filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and high school seniors who want to enter college this fall should do that now, said Willene Holmes, the director of financial aid at Augusta State University
You need to fill out the form completely and accurately.
Don't estimate incomes: That will trigger a sometimes lengthy verification process. Give exact numbers, down to the cent.
Keep a copy of your parents' tax return, Ms. Holmes said. If you need verification, you'll have it readily available, rather than applying to the IRS for a copy, which can take 10-15 days, she said.
Double check Social Security numbers for accuracy, and make sure you understand common terms.
Frequent mistakes in filling out the FAFSA include confusing adjusted gross income with income, or income tax withheld with income tax paid, Ms. Holmes said.
Make sure your parents electronically sign the FAFSA; otherwise, your application will be invalid.
Also, get your forms in by the deadlines set by the school you are applying to.


FINDING SCHOLARSHIPS
There are free scholarship sites online, says Mark Kantrowitz, the publisher of FinAid and EduPASS, the director of advanced projects for FastWeb, and the author of two financial aid books.
In addition, look in the newspaper for announcements, and ask your high school guidance counselor for help. You can try calling community and fraternal organizations that might not have Web sites or didn't send news releases about their scholarships, said Marianne Ragins, a scholarship consultant who won $400,000 in scholarship money and is the author of Winning Scholarships for College .
There are books available that list scholarships. You can buy them retail or check them out from the library.
Watch out for scams. If you have to pay more than a postage stamp to apply, it's often a scam, Dr. Kantrowitz said.
It's not too early for underclassmen to get a jump on scholarships.
"You don't just apply for scholarships when you're a high school senior," Dr. Kantrowitz said.
There's usually more competition for scholarships with larger payouts. You'll face less competition for smaller, lesser-known or local scholarships. Winning a smaller one can even lead to larger awards.
"It may suggest that you're a better-quality candidate," Dr. Kantrowitz said.
Apply for every scholarship you're eligible for, even the $50 ones, Ms. Ragins said.
"When you're applying, you have no idea what you're going to win," she said.
BE EFFICIENT
Do you feel you have too much going on to find time to apply?
Ms. Ragins says you can work on applications in your spare time, such as when you get work done early in a class.
"If you get organized, it's really easy to apply for scholarships," she said.
Many scholarship applications require an essay, but you don't necessarily have to write a unique one for each.
Ms. Ragins used two essays, which she would recycle and tweak. One was an essay describing herself. The other was about her career goals.
STAND OUT
The first impression is often the way you write, so Dr. Kantrowitz recommends taking care in your essays.
Don't rely on your computer's spell-check to catch poor grammar or awkward phrasing. Print your essay out and edit it by hand, then get a parent or teacher to look it over.
Add details that will be important to the sponsor. For example, if applying for an engineering scholarship, focus on a summer project related to engineering, not your varsity athletic career.
Avoid abstractions and give details. You can't just say you're a leader and expect the selection board to take your word on it. You need to give examples.
When finished, let an essay sit for a day and then come back to it.
It will likely be worth the effort.
Your odds of winning a scholarship are one in 15 at a two-year institution and one in 10 for a four-year institution, Dr. Kantrowitz said.
"You can't win if you don't try," he said.


This Little Piggy Went For A College Scholarship

College Application Help

College Admission Help
College Application Help

Have you seen this new product called, “College Admission Successware?” This is a salesperson’s dream come true. I can make a lot of money selling this e-package.

1) The timing is great. All these high school kids, nationwide, are about to take their SAT tests to get into colleges and universities. They need this product.
2) The author, a college professor, makes the application process seem SO SIMPLE. Every chapter of the e-book is less than 600 words – great for busy students and parents who are always on the run.
3) Besides the e-book, there’s a large “toolkit” of stuff – 6 audio files for students and parents, a calendar, a workbook, an application tracker and even a “writing guide” on how to create winning essays for college admission.

Below is a “sample chapter” from the e-book “College is Yours,” written by Professor Patrick O’Connor.

Chapter 12 “More Search Tools”

There are other great ways to scope out college possibilities without leaving home. Most of them are easy, all of them are helpful, and one popular one should be avoided—read on.

A great way to find out more about a college is to let the college come to you. Many colleges send admission representatives to your high school in the fall to tell you about their college. A list of these colleges is posted in the counseling center or the main office; every Thursday, write down the colleges that will be coming next week, look them up in your college guide (more on that soon), then get a pass from counseling to visit with the rep. In some high schools, reps are only allowed to come before or after school, or during lunch, and some will only let reps talk to students during lunch in the lunchroom (whoa—talk about leaving an impression!) If your school has these rules, give up the free time and go anyway—not many students
will do this, which is (everybody sing along now) exactly why you should.

The same goes for hotel visits. Sometimes reps have such tight schedules they can only hold visits for lots of students at a hotel ballroom, in the evening or on weekends. The same rules apply here—do your homework, and go if it sounds good, bringing along your compadres and family for fun, along with dinner before or ice cream after. Whether it’s in a hotel or the school’s lunchroom, take along your college fair questions, fill out a card (even if you’ve talked to this rep or visited the campus before), introduce yourself to the rep (nothing like face time), ask a great question, and write down what you think once you’re home.

If at any point you’re not sure you’re heading in the right direction, a college search might be helpful. Collegeboard.com lets you sort out colleges a million ways, from majors to location to activities to you name it. Princetonreview.com has the Counselor-O-Matic, which asks you questions to point you in the right direction. These sites and others can give you some general direction and lots of schools to consider.

Another great source is college guides—books or magazines that describe colleges and what they have to offer. Guides give you a solid look at all parts of a college; a good guide will tell you about classes, the campus, social life, and atmosphere, and a great guide will include interviews with students, who will give you the straight scoop. There are a lot of these around—try your counseling office or local public library…

…but while you’re there, avoid books or magazines with college rankings. College rankings are designed to tell you what the “best” colleges are, based on the opinion of someone who doesn’t even know what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, parents love this stuff, especially if the rankings include the opinions of university presidents.

Now, university presidents are nice people, but asking them to rank the 300 best colleges in the country is like asking your high school principal to rank the 300 best high schools in the country—after about 20 or so, they’re relying more on what they’ve heard than what they know, and either way, they don’t know you. You don’t need to read a magazine to find out Southwestern Michigan State is a great college; you need to find out if SMS is a great college for you. Guides will help you with that, and rankings won’t—so save your time and money, and skip them.

College Admission Help
College Application Help

College Application Help

College Admission Help
College Application Help

Have you seen this new product called, “College Admission Successware?” This is a salesperson’s dream come true. I can make a lot of money selling this e-package.

1) The timing is great. All these high school kids, nationwide, are about to take their SAT tests to get into colleges and universities. They need this product.
2) The author, a college professor, makes the application process seem SO SIMPLE. Every chapter of the e-book is less than 600 words – great for busy students and parents who are always on the run.
3) Besides the e-book, there’s a large “toolkit” of stuff – 6 audio files for students and parents, a calendar, a workbook, an application tracker and even a “writing guide” on how to create winning essays for college admission.

Below is a “sample chapter” from the e-book “College is Yours,” written by Professor Patrick O’Connor.

Chapter 12 “More Search Tools”

There are other great ways to scope out college possibilities without leaving home. Most of them are easy, all of them are helpful, and one popular one should be avoided—read on.

A great way to find out more about a college is to let the college come to you. Many colleges send admission representatives to your high school in the fall to tell you about their college. A list of these colleges is posted in the counseling center or the main office; every Thursday, write down the colleges that will be coming next week, look them up in your college guide (more on that soon), then get a pass from counseling to visit with the rep. In some high schools, reps are only allowed to come before or after school, or during lunch, and some will only let reps talk to students during lunch in the lunchroom (whoa—talk about leaving an impression!) If your school has these rules, give up the free time and go anyway—not many students
will do this, which is (everybody sing along now) exactly why you should.

The same goes for hotel visits. Sometimes reps have such tight schedules they can only hold visits for lots of students at a hotel ballroom, in the evening or on weekends. The same rules apply here—do your homework, and go if it sounds good, bringing along your compadres and family for fun, along with dinner before or ice cream after. Whether it’s in a hotel or the school’s lunchroom, take along your college fair questions, fill out a card (even if you’ve talked to this rep or visited the campus before), introduce yourself to the rep (nothing like face time), ask a great question, and write down what you think once you’re home.

If at any point you’re not sure you’re heading in the right direction, a college search might be helpful. Collegeboard.com lets you sort out colleges a million ways, from majors to location to activities to you name it. Princetonreview.com has the Counselor-O-Matic, which asks you questions to point you in the right direction. These sites and others can give you some general direction and lots of schools to consider.

Another great source is college guides—books or magazines that describe colleges and what they have to offer. Guides give you a solid look at all parts of a college; a good guide will tell you about classes, the campus, social life, and atmosphere, and a great guide will include interviews with students, who will give you the straight scoop. There are a lot of these around—try your counseling office or local public library…

…but while you’re there, avoid books or magazines with college rankings. College rankings are designed to tell you what the “best” colleges are, based on the opinion of someone who doesn’t even know what you’re looking for. Unfortunately, parents love this stuff, especially if the rankings include the opinions of university presidents.

Now, university presidents are nice people, but asking them to rank the 300 best colleges in the country is like asking your high school principal to rank the 300 best high schools in the country—after about 20 or so, they’re relying more on what they’ve heard than what they know, and either way, they don’t know you. You don’t need to read a magazine to find out Southwestern Michigan State is a great college; you need to find out if SMS is a great college for you. Guides will help you with that, and rankings won’t—so save your time and money, and skip them.

College Admission Counselors Applaud Investment in Education in Stimulus Package

College Admission Counselors Applaud Investment in Education in Stimulus Package

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 17 (AScribe Newswire) -- The National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) applauds Congress for recognizing the stimulative power of investment in education, and for including significant funds for college access initiatives in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, approved on February 13 and set for the President's signature today.

"Investment in education is critical to the improvement and maintenance of an educated workforce. Jobs that do not require higher education are disappearing rapidly, and in times of economic decline, the first step toward continued employment for many Americans is to go back to school to learn new skills," said Joyce Smith, CEO of NACAC. "The Pell Grant increase and the education tax credit will help prevent students already in school from dropping out because of their families' reduced ability to pay tuition and fees."

Improving college access and success for all students is NACAC's primary policy concern. Research indicates that federal investment in need-based student aid is the one of the most effective means to improving college access. Along with a strong investment in need-based financial aid, support for quality school counseling and college preparatory curriculum in secondary schools are NACAC's three policy priorities for improving college access and success.

About NACAC: NACAC is an Arlington, VA-based education association of more than 11,000 primary and secondary school counselors, independent counselors, college admission and financial aid officers, enrollment managers, and organizations that work with students as they make the transition from high school to postsecondary education. The association is committed to maintaining high standards that foster ethical and social responsibility among those involved in the transition process, as outlined in the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice.


College Admission Counselors Applaud Investment in Education in Stimulus Package

College Counselors say it’s time to start visiting colleges

College Counselors say it’s time to start visiting colleges


February 17, 2009
It's an ideal time for juniors to start thinking about visiting some colleges; final exams are just over, and the days—believe it or not—are growing longer.
A smart college visit is a must, particularly since 25 percent of the students who enter a four-year college do not return for their sophomore year.
Taking a campus tour, attending a class, eating a meal in the cafeteria, and reading the school newspaper is a good start.
You might also consider asking your guidance counselor to put you in touch with students who currently or recently attended the colleges you’re serious about.
If it turns out that you can’t identify anyone who’s attending or has attended a particular school, call the admissions office of that particular school and ask them to connect you with a student or an alumnus from your neck of the woods.
College admissions counselors will also tell you about open houses, weekly visits, campus tours, information sessions, as well as classes you might want to observe.
If you call ahead, admissions can suggest classes to observe, and maybe even arrange an appointment with a faculty member, a coach, or an overnight stay in one of the dorms. They’ll send you everything from parking permits for when you get on campus to information about area lodging.
Many schools offer an interview with an admissions counselor. You don’t want to miss that opportunity, and while you’re doing that your parents can meet with a financial aid officer. Schools put a big emphasis on the amount of contact you have with them.
This happens to be one of the best times for visiting schools. The semester is just underway and it’s not close to finals. As finals approach everything starts to amp up and you won’t witness a routine day. Before visiting, learn everything you can about the school through the Internet, catalogs, and reference books. And when you get on campus, make a point of doing the official tour as well as the unofficial tour.
The unofficial tour would be you nosing around on your own or with a friend to discover what interests you most. Introduce yourself to students on campus and ask them what they like and don’t like about school. You’re trying to get a sense of what the place is like and whether you could imagine living and going to school there for four years. Sometimes it takes a couple of visits.
Take notes. By the time you’re done visiting the fifth school: cafeterias, dorms, dropout rate, and initial impressions start to blend. Some students find that taking photos helps them to remember more about their visits.
These are some questions drawn from The National Survey of Student Engagement at the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and Planning that you might want answered:

• What does the faculty expect of students?
• How does the faculty challenge students to leave their comfort zone and excel?
• How much homework do students have a week on average?
• How much writing and reading is assigned per class?
• What are exams like?
• What ways are students given to express themselves creatively?
• How and when do students declare their majors, and can they be self-designed?
• How much help do students receive preparing for the workforce after college?
• Do your alumni actively help students to find work?
• What types of internships are available and are they required to graduate?
• How many courses require community service?
• How often do students meet with faculty outside of class?
• What percentage of the student body does research with faculty?
• What percentage of the freshman class doesn’t return sophomore year?
• What does the school do to promote student-faculty interaction?
• How often do students get feedback from their professors?
• What evidence is there to demonstrate that teaching is important to professors?
• What percentage of the student body studies in foreign countries?
• What are the student organizations on campus?
• What leadership opportunities are available?
• What do students like and dislike about the campus?
• What types of support services (academic and non-academic) are available?
• What do students tend to do on the weekends and what percentage commute?
• Where do students come from in the U.S., and from how many foreign countries?
• How is technology used in the classroom, and what technological resources are available to students?
• What types of athletic and intramural activities are available?
• What kinds of musical, performing, and fine art events come to campus?
• What types of summer internships or summer classes are available?
• What types of honors courses, learning communities, weekend or night programs, or other unique academic offerings are available?
• What types of financial aid and scholarships are available? What percentages of students work on and off campus?
• How extensive is the library service?
• What has the school done to ensure student safety?
• What types of health and counseling services are in place for students?
• What sororities and fraternities are on campus and what percentage of the student body belongs to one?
• Where do students live and what are the different kinds of residences and campus housing available?
• Where do students eat and how flexible are the meal plans?

After you get a handle of what’s on campus, go explore what’s off campus. If you make the right decision, you’ll be there for four years.


Sam Rosensohn is the founder of College Planning Partnerships, which offers prep classes for the SAT, the ACT, and the SSAT. He helps students to prepare for college and to write college essays. He can be reached in Clinton at 860-664-9857. Visit www.satprepct.com for previously published “College 101” columns and SAT prep class times.




College Counselors say it’s time to start visiting colleges

College Application Toolkit Draws Rave Reviews

College Application Toolkit Draws Rave Reviews

Here's what others have had to say about the new college application toolkit called, “College is Yours in 600 Words or Less:”

A college counselor writes: In a refreshing departure from the "Secrets of...", "Beat the System...", "Playing the Game" hysteria and hype surrounding the college search and admission process.

This engaging, readable book brings the reader back to the student-centered task of finding a match between student and college. Each chapter, limited to a length (600 words or less) that does not exceed the attention span of many high schoolers, offers sound, practical advice in a witty, conversational tone.

There are no promises of shortcuts, no guarantees of gaining a competitive edge - just down-to-earth advice and encouragement. Though originally written for students at one school, students (and parents) everywhere will find valuable information to guide them through their college search.

College Application Toolkit Draws Rave Reviews