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See how you're doing: review Are you on the right track for college?
If you’ve seriously begun to think about college, you’ve
probably realized there’s more involved than you had
originally thought. Let’s see...first you need to make
sure you are on a college preparatory track by taking the
right courses, and of course, you will need to do well in
those courses. Then, not only do you need to take the PSAT,
the SAT, and possibly the SAT II, but you will need to properly
prepare for these tests. Unless you know exactly what you
want to do, where you want to go to school, and unless you’re
one of the very few people who can pay for college without
financial assistance, you’ve got a lot of research to
do! There’s a great deal of information out there, so
you’ll need plenty of time to sift through all of it.
Once you’ve got all of that figured out and are ready
to apply and head off to college, you’re going to need
to learn the necessary study skills to succeed in college.
College is an entirely different ball game, and most likely
the methods you use to study in high school, like studying
for a test the night in advance, are not going to work in
college. Think you’re done? Not so fast. Somewhere in
the middle of all this you’ve got to find time to get
involved in clubs, sports and/or volunteer activities so your
college application(s) will reveal a well-rounded and appealing
student to college admissions offices.
Wondering how you’re going to accomplish
all of this in just three to four years? You already know
the answer. It’s one of the things we stress most: TIME
MANAGEMENT! Get yourself organized, write down deadlines,
make a plan and follow it. We’ll provide as much assistance
and support as we can throughout the process, but the bottom
line is that if you don’t do it, it won’t get
done. And if you need a little push, review your goals: where are you heading?
Financial aid can help many families meet college costs. Every
year, millions of students apply for and receive financial
aid. In fact, almost half of all students who go on for more
education after high school receive financial aid of some
kind. There are three main types of financial assistance available
to qualified students at the college level: Grants and Scholarships,
Loans, and Work-Study.
Grants and scholarships provide aid that does not have to
be repaid. However, some require that recipients maintain
certain grade levels or take certain courses.
Loans are another type of financial aid and are available
to both students and parents. Like a car loan or a mortgage
for a house, an education loan must eventually be repaid.
Often, payments do not begin until the student finishes school,
and the interest rate on education loans is commonly lower
than for other types of loans. For students with no established
credit record, it is usually easier to get student loans than
other kinds of loans.
There are many different kinds of education loans. Before
taking out any loan, be sure to ask the following kinds of
questions:
- What are the exact provisions of the loan?
- What is the interest rate?
- Exactly how much has to be paid in interest?
- What will the monthly payments be?
- When will the monthly payments begin?
- How long will the monthly payments last?
- What happens if you miss one of the monthly payments?
- Is there a grace period for paying back the loan?
In all cases, a loan taken to pay for a
college education must be repaid, whether or not a student
finishes school or gets a job after graduation. Failure to
repay a student loan can ruin a person’s credit rating
and make finances much more difficult in the future. This
is an important reason to consider a college’s graduation
and job placement rates when you choose a school.
Many students work during the summer and/or part time during
the school year to help pay for college. Although many obtain
jobs on their own, many colleges also offer work-study programs
to their students. A work-study job is often part of a student’s
financial aid package. The jobs are usually on campus and
the money earned is used to pay for tuition or other college
charges.
The types of financial aid discussed above
can be merit-based, need-based, or a combination of merit-based
and need-based.
Merit-based assistance, usually in the form of scholarships
or grants, is given to students who meet requirements not
related to financial needs. For example, a merit scholarship
may be given to a student who has done well in high school
or one who displays artistic or athletic talent. Most merit-based
aid is awarded on the basis or academic performance or potential.
Need-based means that the amount of aid a student can receive
depends on the cost of the college and on his or her family’s
ability to pay these costs. Most financial aid is need-based
and is available to qualified students.
(from U.S. Department of Education
(2002-03, v.1)
Federal Student Aid
(FSA) Federal student financial aid information (includes
texts of some publications) from the U.S. Department of Education
Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA) Apply on the Web and/or look up federal
school codes
Internal Revenue Service
Hope and Lifetime Learning tax credits
American Council
on Education
Mapping Your
Future For general information about scholarships, financial
aid, planning a career, selecting a school, paying for school,
and chat nights
National Center
for Education Statistics Search for a school by name,
location, program, degree
offerings, or a combination of criteria
FinAid ,2003
Colleges, College Scholarships & Financial Aid Page
Free scholarship search services
College Board.com
Get help planning & applying for college, find financial
aid and get information on the SAT and other tests
ACT Information on the ACT
Department
of Education Calculate loan repayments
Student Gateway to the U.S.
Government A student gateway that provides answers to
questions on education, career, government and more.Standardized
Tests
PSAT/NMSQT stands for Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship
Qualifying Test. This standardized test, most commonly referred
to simply as the PSAT, gives students firsthand practice for
the SAT I and the SAT II. It also gives students a chance
to enter scholarship programs offered by the National Merit
Scholarship Corporation (NMSC). The PSAT measures a student’s
verbal reasoning skills, critical reading skills, math problem-solving
skills, and writing skills. Some of the most common reasons
that students take the PSAT are to enter the competition for
scholarships offered by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation,
to help prepare for the SAT I and SAT II, to receive information
from colleges, and to receive feedback on their strengths
and weaknesses on skills necessary for college. While many
students initially take this test in their sophomore year
of high school, the PSAT is a junior-level test. Students
are encouraged to take the PSAT their junior year.
The SAT I tests verbal and mathematical reasoning skills that
students have developed and the skills needed to be academically
successful. Most colleges and universities use the SAT I as
one indicator of a student’s ability to do well at the
college-level. Schools compare a student’s SAT scores
with the scores of other applicants, and the accepted scores
for their institution. The awarding of some merit-based financial
aid can be based on SAT scores. The SAT covers critical reading,
sentence completion, analogies, arithmetic, algebra and functions,
geometry and measurement, and data analysis, statistics, and
probability. The math and verbal sections of the SAT are scored
on a scale of 200-800. The SAT I should be taken by high school
juniors and seniors. We recommend that students take the SAT
at least twice; in the spring of their junior year, and again
in the fall of their senior year. Colleges and universities
will accept your highest scores, so if you take the SAT a
second time and do worse than you did your first try, it won’t
hurt you. All UBMS juniors and seniors are allotted two SAT
I fee waivers—take advantage of them! Our program also
works in conjunction with MBNA, which offers an SAT Prep course
for Delaware residents that meet eligibility criteria.
The SAT II is a specific subject test that takes about an
hour, and is comprised mostly by multiple-choice questions.
This test measures how much students know about a single subject
and how well they can apply that knowledge. There are twenty-two
different subject tests, which run from Writing and Literature
to World History, Spanish Reading, and Physics. Depending
on the college or university, the SAT II test may be required
or recommended. In conjunction with other information, the
SAT II is considered to be a dependable measure of current
and future scholastic achievement. All UBMS juniors and seniors
are allotted two SAT II fee waivers.
For more information on these tests, go to: collegeboard.com
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