Monthly Archives: January 2015

Scholarship Mom Alert: Buick Achievers College Scholarship

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Gain financial speed with a renewable scholarship Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Gain financial speed with a renewable scholarship Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

When most students think about winning a college scholarship, they expect a one-time award. However, some scholarships are renewable. That means the award is a gift that keeps on giving!

College Scholarship Expert Monica L. Matthews did the research and found a renewable scholarship called the Buick Achievers College Scholarship. All winners have to do is maintain a cumulative 3.0 grade point average (GPA on a 4.0 scale), full-time enrollment and continue to major in an eligible field of study, and their scholarship will be renewed up to 4 years plus one additional year if entering a qualified five-year engineering program.

For scholarship details, including a list of eligible fields of study, and Monica’s exclusive “Winning Tips” read her post ASAP:

Buick Achievers College Scholarship

Have fun using Monica’s suggestions when applying and

Good Luck!!!

Wednesday’s Parent: 3 surprising reasons to consider community colleges

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Check out your local community college. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Check out your local community college. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

If you haven’t visited your local community college, take a look. It may be a surprisingly good choice for your student. Here are three main reasons why:

Earn a B.A. More states are permitting their public community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees. This broadens the fields of study and program selections available. California is the latest state to allow students attending it’s traditional two-year schools to earn a four-year degree. It follows “20 other states – from New York to Hawaii – [that] currently offer bachelor’s degrees in certain fields, particularly in the sciences and applied or technical professions,” according to U.S.News

Get free tuition. The White House has proposed free community college making higher education an addition to public K-12. Tennessee has implemented a guarantee of two years of free community college for its residents and several states including New York are considering it, too. There are some strings like maintaining a minimum grade point average. Check to see what your state is doing. While legislators debate the issue, the cost of current community college to state residents remain an education bargain in comparison to the cost of a four-year public or private institution for two years. Read this for more about What parents must consider about free community college.

Gain an admission advantage. Competition can be tough to get into an elite four-year school. Doing well at a community college can make a student a more attractive applicant. Plus competition can be less keen for transfer students. Read more in Finding your competitive advantage as a transfer student from USA Today.

Read Suzanne’s post: Is Community College Right for Your Student?

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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Suzanne Shaffer and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Suzanne and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound. 

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from www.pocsmom.com to http://www.parentscountdowntocollegecoach.com/ and vice versa.

Scholarship Mom Alert: Nurse Journal College Scholarship

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Scholarships for those interested in medical field. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Scholarships for those interested in medical field. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Enrolled in a medical program and looking to win a scholarship to help pay for college? College Scholarship Expert Monica L. Matthews has found a great choice. The Nurse Journal College Scholarship is merit not income based. That means there is no income requirement students have to meet but a minimum Grade Point Average (GPA) is necessary.

Monica describes the application process and her excellent “Winning Tips” in her post:

Nurse Journal College Scholarship

Read Monica’s post and apply!

Good Luck!!!

Wednesday’s Parent: 4 strings attached to FREE financial aid

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Strings attached to FREE financial aid. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Strings attached to FREE financial aid. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

College-bound families looking for help in paying for college are on the hunt for financial aid but even free money grants and scholarships can have strings attached like loans that must be paid back. Grants and scholarships can come from federal or state governments, colleges, and private outside scholarship sources. Students must be prepared to check out the terms of any awards as carefully as if they are student loans.

FAFSA is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid released every January 1 for the following school year. If your student is attending college for the 2015-2016 school year, now is the time to file FAFSA. Although income and other tax information is required, estimate now and go back to update after submitting tax returns. You may be able to use the IRS Data Retrieval Tool that automatically fills in the numbers from the returns.

When the FAFSA is processed, the federal government applies certain complicated formulas to determine the student and his family’s need for financial aid and the programs they qualify for. The student and the colleges the student selects receive a numerical result called the Expected Family Contribution or EFC. Colleges use this figure and any other financial aid forms they require to calculate awards to admitted students from their own institutional funds. States and private outside scholarship sponsors have their own method of award calculations.

No matter the donor, there can be strings attached to financial aid gifts. Before accepting, students should discover if their awards have conditions and the penalties for failure to meet them. The punitive action may be minor or harsh like forfeiture of future aid or having to pay back financial aid money given.

Here are four string examples:

  1. Make the grade. Students must make Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) In order to continue receiving financial aid from many sources including federal and state programs. In other words, students have to make good enough grades. Each school has their own SAP policy so check the college’s website or call the financial aid office to find the minimum GPA (grade point average) that has to be maintained and how often the school will evaluate the student’s progress.
  2. Get enough credit. There is a big difference between college costs for part-time and full-time students and financial aid reflects this. When credits are lost from not completing a class or withdrawal, it could change the student’s attendance status and the eligibility for aid previously awarded.
  3. Keep moving forward. Repeating a class, changing a major, or transferring and losing credits can mess up the momentum toward successfully completing a degree or certificate in the time period that’s acceptable at the college. Financial aid doesn’t last forever. Time limits make college financial aid expire.
  4. Stay put. Some scholarships and grants are awarded based on a student’s interest in an activity or course of study. Dropping out could mean losing the award for no longer playing the tuba in the band, being the quarterback, majoring in physics, being an A-earning student, etc.

Financial aid goes to eligible students only so if student qualifications change, they may no longer be eligible to receive financial aid. Parents can discuss with their student the importance of understanding the strings attached, committing to following them, and dealing with the consequences if they break the strings.

Read Suzanne’s post: “We Won’t Qualify for Financial Aid” 

Read more about financial aid tools and how to make affordable college choices:
Wednesday’s Parent: Formula and tools to calculate college costs
5 financial resolutions the college-bound should make
Money influences college choices from the start

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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Suzanne Shaffer and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

This month Suzanne and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT on Wednesday, January 21. Our guest will be financial aid expert Jodi Okun. She is the founder of College Financial Aid Advisors, an About.com Money Expert, host as @JodiOkun of #CollegeCash twitter chat, and the @Discover Student Loans Brand Ambassador. Jodi has helped thousand of families navigate the financial aid process so you don’t want to miss a chance to get her tips and ask questions.

Read Wednesday’s Parent Night on #CampusChat! for some simple instructions to join a Twitter chat.

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from www.pocsmom.com to http://www.parentscountdowntocollegecoach.com/ and vice versa.

Scholarship Mom Alert: Local college scholarship finder

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Local college scholarship finder. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Local college scholarship finder. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Many students spend their scholarship searching time exclusively looking for well-known national and international scholarship sponsors and miss out on what is offered in their own backyard. Ignoring local scholarships can backfire “because they have much less competition than national scholarships and the chances of winning are greater for students who diligently apply for them,” according to College Scholarship Expert Monica L. Matthews.

To help the college-bound, Monica put together a great collection of links in her post:

How to Find More Local College Scholarships

It is a must-read packed with tips to jumpstart your own local scholarship search.

Get going now and good luck!!!

Wednesday’s Parent: Peer pressure sabotages college prep

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Steamed about peer pressure. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

Steamed about peer pressure. Photo by Wendy David-Gaines

The golden rule may be all about putting others first but college prep offers the chance for the college-bound to be selfish. It’s a 180 degree reversal of the good citizen message parents emphasize but essential to combat the influence of peer pressure during the college prep process.

Peer pressure pitfalls include following a boyfriend’s choice of college over a better fit, joining a popular club with no personal interest, acting or failing to act to follow the crowd, and down-playing a skill or talent just to fit in. If you think your child is above this, think again. A teen’s self-esteem is more fragile than ice starting to freeze at the first frost. Sacrificing a personal want can seem superior when it gains the comfort of being accepted by a group. Unfortunately, college acceptance is based on a different set of rules.

Institutions of higher learning set minimum admission requirements for applicants to share but that doesn’t mean they want cookie cutter students. The onus is on students to showcase what they offer to the campus that is special and unique. Introspection and self-evaluation can go a long way to focus student emphasis on who they are now and what they want to achieve.

College prep includes beefing up strengths and fortifying weaknesses. It leads students beyond their own circle to explore new ideas and ways. If peer pressure is holding your student back, parents and students can work together as a team to do what is in the student’s best interest. Start with brainstorming college, lifestyle and career goals. Then form a plan to make it happen. And this kind of selfishness fits right in with college prep.

Read Suzanne’s post: College Prep Peer Pressure

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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Suzanne Shaffer and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

This month Suzanne and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT on Wednesday, January 21. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound. 

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from www.pocsmom.com to http://www.parentscountdowntocollegecoach.com/ and vice versa.

Wednesday’s Parent: College prep New Year spoiler alert

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College prep spoiler alert

College prep spoiler alert

Common folklore ushers in the New Year with dreams of new beginnings but these idyllic hopes can rot the very core of college prep. Students have an academic, extracurricular and social history that can’t be ignored. A fresh start, by its nature, emphasizes the now without incorporating previous accomplishments. Meanwhile, successful preparation for college builds on the past, enhances strengths, and fortifies weaknesses. Without considering what was, students are at a huge disadvantage when considering what will be.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s okay to take stock and want to improve via a host of good-intentioned New Year’s Resolutions. However, for most people, these fail before the end of the first month of the year. What a waste of time and renewed energy!

In College-bound can nix New Year’s resolutions for this, I suggest students pick one thing within their control to focus on and change for the better. Read the article for specific suggestions that are geared to achieving both college and career goals. They are based on the categories of changing a personal characteristic, daily life activity, or learning something new. By choosing one thing, chances are this positive modification will become a permanent practice. And it’s common knowledge how hard it is to break a habit!

Parents of the college-bound can use the same resolution substitution idea zeroing in on one thing to change. Wednesday’s Parent: Emotion management 101 has five key areas to choose from that will make a big difference and Wednesday’s Parent: 3 ways to prep middle schoolers for college prep can be adapted for use with high school students. If you haven’t already begun your own parent-student team, now is the time to get going. In Wake-Up Call for Parents of the College-Bound, the mechanics are detailed.

Lots of changes are coming as the parent-child relationship morphs into a parent-adult child relationship. Parents can smooth the way for the new family dynamic that is growing the same time students are entering the college admission process. Enjoy your front row seat to the birth of a brand new adult!

Read Suzanne’s post: New Year’s Resolutions and College Prep

Read more: Wednesday’s Parent: Change New Year’s Resolutions into Selfie-Recommendations

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Wednesday’s child may be full of woe but Wednesday’s Parent can substitute action for anxiety. Each Wednesday Suzanne Shaffer and I will provide parent tips to get and keep your student on the college track. It’s never too late or too early to start!

The bonus is on the fourth Wednesday of each month when Suzanne and I will host Twitter chat #CampusChat at 9pm ET/6pm PT. We will feature an expert on a topic of interest for parents of the college-bound. 

Wednesday’s Parent will give twice the info and double the blog posts on critical parenting issues by clicking on the link at the end of the article from www.pocsmom.com to http://www.parentscountdowntocollegecoach.com/ and vice versa.