Have you been checking your calendar?

1. Have you been checking your calendar? • Taken SATs, SAT 2s, ACTs • Reviewed your transcripts • Research/visit colleges • Completed and submitted your applications • Application, Supplementals, Scores, Recommendations • Submit CSS Profile • Found all the help you need to fill out the FAFSA • Researched scholarships Congratulations!

2. “Cracking the Financial Aid Code” • “It’s called enrollment management – a way of slicing and dicing admissions policies and financial aid to attract a strong and diverse student body while bringing in enough revenue to keep the doors wide open…” • The next student, also rated a 1, qualifies for almost $21,000 in need-based aid owing to her family’s modest net worth -- about $60,000 -- and annual income, just over $120,000. Despite her rating, she has not been awarded a scholarship. “Maybe she had good SATs but she didn’t have enough AP classes, or maybe she didn’t visit the campus and didn’t seem interested,” says Sparrow. “It’s not cut and dried.”

3. Gateway to College Paying for College, Pt. 2 • Need Based vs. Merit Based Aid • Scholarships & Deadzone Reading Foundation

4. Need Based vs. Merit Based Aid • Simply put: Money you receive either because your excellence in a particular area was deemed rewardable or because you qualified as “financially needy” • “We have a need blind admissions process” • In actuality, the need/merit lines are getting blurred • Colleges can allocate as they please and define what “need” really is

5. Merit Based Money… • Once upon a time… • A means to build a school’s rank (keepin’ up with the Joneses) • Need blind…but to who’s needs? • Taken from Need-based money and eventually, ironically, really only benefits well-to-do families • Can be called “discounts” because they are small cash awards to attract high performing students who will be able to fork most of the bill • Listen carefully…schools that trumpet merit scholarships are saying two things • If you are well qualified applicant without much need, you’ll probably get a good scholarship • If you are middle to high need, you might want to look at schools with firmer commitments to need-based aid. Research where you apply!

6. Wannabe Ivy U. • Tight budget, struggling applicant pool • $30,000 budget • Monica – 3.0, mid 500s SATs, single parent, no $ • It’s not you, it’s me… • Susan, Joe, Michael, and Jim* • All have $ and above average GPA and SAT • This or that…?

7. From the Colleges POV • If I could I would… • If I really wanted you, I would… • Umm…waitlist is a special case. • 90/10 percent • Bryn Mawr, Bucknell, Carleton, Colby, Colgate, Franklin and Marshall, Hamilton Johns Hopkins, Oberlin, Smith, Vassar, and Washington. • Rationale: By considering need and thus eliminating some because of need, we can better support those that have accepted. (ie Wannabe Ivy U.’s story) • Divorce and the FM & IM

8. Negotiating for More Aid • Be prepared for wide variations in your award sizes • If it seems too low, consider an appeal • Rule #1: BE TACTFUL • Special Circumstances (ex. family business, grandma, preschool etc.) • What’ve you got? • Superior offer from a comparable school • Recent accomplishments/achievements

9. And when nothing works… • Attend the cheaper school • Take out loans • Home-equity loans – interest payments are tax deductible • PLUS loans – full costs of attendance without regard to need • Work for a year…Some colleges will allow you to defer enrollment

10. For your Consideration…“Need-Based Aid”- only Schools • Haverford College • MIT • Middlebury College • Univ of Notre Dame* • Parsons School of Design • Univ of Penn • Princeton Univ • Reed College • St. John’s College (MD and NM) • Sarah Lawrence College • Stanford Univ* • Trinity College (CT) • Tufts Univ • Vassar College • Wellesley College • Wesleyan Univ • Williams College • Yale Univ. • Amherst College • Barnard College • Bates College • Bowdoin College • Brown Univ • Bryn Mawr College • BucknellUniv • Colby College • Colgate Univ • Columbia Univ • Connecticut • Cornell Univ • Dartmouth College • Eugene Lang College • Georgetown Univ* • Harvard Univ

11. Top Five FA Office Questions • What percentage of the last freshman class paid full tuition? • What percentage of accepted aid applicants were offered full need? • Is there a standard expectation for self-help? • How will my aid package change after freshman year? • What happens if my need increases later?

12. Types of Scholarships • College-Specific Awards • Athletic Scholarships • National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Over 126,000 student-athletes receive either a partial or full athletic scholarship. • Academic Awards • They are either applied for or are often wrapped into the financial aid package offered by the college • Departmental Awards • Specific departments may have scholarships available to attract or retain student in the department’s field of study. If you know what your major will be, contact that department to inquire about scholarships. • Organizations, Private and Public • Corporations • These are often the scholarships that go unawarded for lack of applicants. You may have a much greater chance of receiving a private corporation award because geographic, employment and other restrictions narrow the number of candidates. • Religious Organizations, Unions, High Schools, the Military

13. Scholarship Tips • Be organized. • Stay on top of deadlines, gather all pertinent documents, and make copies of everything you submit. It is a good idea to send your applications by certified mail to ensure receipt. • Use your time wisely. • Don’t spend time trying to make up an essay or profile to look like someone you aren’t. There are plenty of scholarships out there for just being you. • Follow instructions carefully. Proofread your application • Review everything. Typos are a sure way not to be considered for a scholarship. Consider asking a parent, teacher, or friend to read your application. • Keep copies of everything you send • If your application is misplaced, having copies will make it easier to resend your information quickly.

14. ScholarshipPoints.comto the rescue!! • The concept is simple, you do things to interact with various sites in the Edvisors family such as checking out resources, taking part in forums, taking surveys, etc. and we reward you with various amounts of points. The points in turn can be exchanged for entries into scholarships drawings. We get traffic and exposure for our services and websites and you get a chance to win serious money every month as well as other random prizes and promotions we offer. • There is no limit to how long you can build up your point balance so theoretically a middle school student could join and start building up mad points to start planning to pay for college. Nobody else lets you do that. Cool huh? • Drawings are completely random. We've had winners who only just joined the program that month and we've had winners who worked hard and had lots of entries into a monthly free college scholarship drawing.

15. How do these sound? $2.5K– 8K APIASF Scholarship – 1/14/10 $3,000 Sam Walton Community Scholarship – 1/31/10 Full Tuition Thomas G. Labrecque Smart Start Scholarship Program (90GPA, 1000 SAT) 1/21/10

16. The Golden Rule of Financial Aid: “Seek and ye shall find…”

17. Public Enemy #1… LAZINESS

18. Deadzone Reading Foundation • Collegeboard’s “101 Great Books” • 3 books (1 by you and 2 by me) • No books that you’ve already read! • Answer 10 questions • No Sparknotes or any variation! • Interview • Short but specific • March 1st and March 31st

19. So where do we go from here? • PLS FAFSA ASAP TTYL • Go for the scholarships! • Use that Winter Break productively, road-trip some schools! Talk to me, I’ve done roadtrips!