College Prep Answer Guide

Monday, October 14, 2024

The Tough Talk About How to Pay for College

by Katherine O'Brien (and Jeff Levy)

Talking with our kids about the realities of paying for college is tough, yet vitally important. He or she needs to understand the real sacrifices involved, and the realities the family faces together. As the college list is finalized and applications are prepared, the financial component is an essential consideration.

My colleague, Jeff Levy, has written on this topic. I share his article here with you...

It's Time to Have the Tough Talk about How to Pay for College

The beginning of your child’s senior year of high school can be difficult. You have given [him or] her much room to explore [his or] her college options, but it’s time to get realistic about cost. What you want to avoid is the heartbreaking scene of your child learning on April 1 that s/he has just been admitted to the college of [his or] her dreams and you learning moments later that its price is entirely out of reach.

So, if you haven’t begun the dreaded family conversation about how much you can afford to pay for college, the time is now. But before you can sit down to talk and know which colleges will be affordable and which will not, you will need to create a budget to learn what you can pay. And just as important, what you are willing to pay. This is no time for wishful thinking or magical realism.

How much can parents pay for their teen’s college education?

You have many non-discretionary monthly expenses: mortgage or rent, car payments, insurance, groceries, healthcare costs, retirement contributions, etc. Add these up. Then, add up your discretionary expenses: restaurants, entertainment, travel, gifts, etc. Add the two figures together, and subtract it from your after-tax monthly income. Hopefully, there’s a surplus. Add to this surplus the amount you can contribute monthly from savings, and you have arrived at a figure available on a monthly basis for college costs.

Paying for college usually requires tightening the family belt, so if you can reduce your discretionary costs, that will help. College will be costly, but what you can contribute must be a number you can reach monthly for nine [or ten] consecutive months each year.

Suppose after creating your budget, you learn that you can contribute $30,000 a year towards your child’s college expenses. How big a financial aid package will s/he require? If her dream school has a total cost of attendance (COA) of $80,000, s/he will need a financial aid award of $50,000. But it’s important that you, and your child, understand long before it arrives in the mail what that package will look like.

Three parts of a financial aid award

At most colleges, the award will consist of three parts:

• Federal student loans

• Campus employment

• Institutional grants and scholarships

1. Federal student loans – typically the first dollars to be packaged because it is government money, not the institution’s.

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A few highly selective schools with large endowments have replaced loans with institutional grants, but most can’t afford to do this.

For a first-year student, this portion of the award will likely be $5,500, the federal first-year cap. For second-year students, $6,500. For third- and fourth-year students, $7,500. This equals $27,000, the likely amount of loans packaged in your child’s financial aid awards over four years. Monthly repayments begin six months after graduation for a repayment schedule that lasts ten years.

2. The offer of campus employment – the second source of dollars in the financial aid award.

It is a commitment by the institution that the student will find an on-campus position reserved for financial aid recipients. These jobs in the library, at the coffee shop, or in the admission office typically pay between $11 and $13 an hour, and the student would receive a weekly or biweekly paycheck to be spent however the family sees fit. A reasonable estimate of total earnings for an on-campus job of 8-10 hours per week is about $2,500. [I have seen minimum wage offered, as low as $7.25 an hour.]

3. Institutional grants and scholarships – The third part of the financial aid award which is free money that does not have to be repaid.

So our hypothetical $50,000 financial aid offer, including the “parents’ resources”, would look like this:

$5,500 Federal student loans
$2,500 Campus employment
$42,000 Institutional grants and scholarships

$30,000 Parent Resources

$80,000 Total cost of attendance

If borrowing is essential to make college affordable, as it is for many families, federal student loans are the best choice. The interest rate is low, the fees are low, repayment plans are flexible, the income-based repayment plan can keep monthly payments at reasonable levels, and there are built-in protections against loss of job, illness, injury, and even death.

Six things to discuss with your teen about paying for college

Now that you have done your budget and know how much you can afford to contribute towards your [son's or] daughter’s college education, it’s time for the family pow-wow. Here are some items I suggest you discuss as a family long before your child submits her college applications and hopefully as s/he is first assembling her college list:

1. How much can you afford to pay each month, and how much are you, the parents, prepared to take on in additional debt? Many parents are reluctant to discuss money matters in front of their children. But college is an investment in [his or] her future; s/he should be in the conversation.

2. If your child is eligible for need-based aid, it is likely that [his or] her financial aid awards will include $27,000 in student loans over four years. Is this a reasonable debt for your child to face after graduation? A helpful rule of thumb on educational debt: Do not borrow more than you expect to earn annually at your first job after college. And there is reason to believe that having skin in the game can motivate academic engagement.

With low-interest rates and fees and flexible repayment plans that protect the borrower against loss of job, illness, or injury, these are the first loans to take if needed. But is he aware that s/he will be taking on this debt? Is s/he aware that the loans are in his [or her] name, not yours? When repayment begins six months after graduation, who will make those payments, you or him [or her]?

3. Campus employment will likely be part of her financial aid award. Is s/he okay with a work commitment of 8-10 hours a week for 25 weeks of the school year? Are you?

4. Have you run the net price calculators for each school on your child’s list? These are located on each college’s website. Though not perfect predictors of what the college will cost you, they are a guide. And the difference between what you think you can afford and what you will be expected to pay can be startling. Are there enough affordable schools on his [or her] list? Is s/he willing to add more “financial safeties” if there aren’t?

5. Are there any additional ways your family can tighten the belt to increase your family contribution? Any other sources of funds? Will your child begin to look for outside scholarships? [Be aware that outside scholarships lower eligibility for need based aid dollar for dollar. Take that into consideration as you recalculate what you can afford.]

6. Finally, is your child prepared to walk away from an acceptance to a school that will cost more than you can afford? Are you?

As you see, this will be a tough conversation. But don’t focus exclusively on the financial hardships. Explore the enormous advantages that a college education bestows. It is the gateway to your child’s dreams and aspirations and probably the most important investment your family will ever make. But it is also one of the most expensive. The cost of this investment needs to be understood, managed, and embraced by all of you.

Link to original article:

https://grownandflown.com/dreaded-conversation-college-cost/

Katherine O'Brien, a Certified College Planning Specialist, founded Celtic College Consultants in 2004 to provide expert knowledge for the journey to college. Her holistic, student focused program has assisted countless students. To learn more, please visit CelticCollegeConsultants.com

Monday, September 30, 2024

Who's on Your College Success Team?

Parents are key members of teens' support team. School counselors and teachers are also important. College Consultants like myself wear many hats. These are some of the hats I've been wearing for the past 20 years as I have worked with teens and their families.

Teen Life Coach

Goal Setting. Encouragement. Accountability Partner. Mentor. Coach through Failures and Difficulties. Teach Interpersonal Skills. Encourage Development of Strong Character Traits & Virtues

Academic Coach

Study Skills. Time Management. Task Prioritization. Organization. Foster Healthy Habit Formation.

Leadership Mentor

Identify Opportunities. Teach and Foster Leadership Skills. Troubleshoot Problems. Celebrate Growth.

College Admissions Specialist

Guide Life & College Goal Determination Process. Clarify & Guide College Selection Process. College Essay Writing Coaching & Editing. Application Preparation Management

College Funding Specialist

Identify Opportunities to Lower Costs. Advise on Saving Strategies. Scholarship Strategist. Financial Aid Maximization Coaching

Parent Coach

Stress Management. Effective Communication Facilitator. Subject Matter Expert. Sanity Stabilizer. Prayer Partner.

Want to explore bringing me onto your teen's college success team? Email me, Katherine O'Brien, at KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com and request a college prep consultation for your family.

Katherine O'Brien is a Certified College Planning Specialist and the Founder of Celtic College Consultants, an independent education consultancy serving families across the US since 2004. Her Class of 2015 - Class of 2024 College Success Program Clients have averaged nearly $250,000 each in scholarship offers and have headed to campus with goals, skills, and confidence.

Three Steps to a Solid College List

by Katherine O'Brien, Certified College Planning Specialist

KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com

As a college consultant, I have guided students through these steps for over twenty years. It is very difficult to do this on your own. The fact that over 13% of all college students transfer to another college and over 80% change their major at least once. For those attending four year public colleges fully two-thirds take more than four years to graduate. At private colleges, nearly half (47%) take more than four years to graduate. Want to save on college costs? Invest in college consulting to help your teen determine his or her goals, select the right colleges to thrive at and finish in four years. To explore working together, email me at KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com and schedule an initial consultation for your family.

Step ONE: Pre-Work

There are a number of questions that need to be answered before a student can build a list of prospective colleges. Start to explore these areas in middle school. Have a rough list by the end of sophomore year so you can determine which tests to take (or skip) during junior year and which courses to take during high school. Here are some of the questions:

Who you are – personality, interests, strengths, weaknesses, hopes, dreams

What you want to study – which majors and programs

How you want to study – what opportunities do you need/want?

What academic fit is right for you?

What is your budget for each year of college?

How long do you want to spend in college?

What are your non-negotiables? Location, religious concerns, political concerns, costs, majors, etc.

What are your wants and what are your needs?

What sort of environment do you need in which to thrive?

Students need to visit campuses – so they know what small, medium, and large campuses are

like and so have a sense of the campus culture.

Step TWO: Determine Your College Selection Criteria

Set your criteria. Prioritize them. Your criteria will differ from your friends' and your siblings' criteria. That's ok - you are unique. Your college criteria will reflect that.

Step THREE: Evaluate and Identify your Prospective Colleges

Select two safety schools that have what you want to study, you are likely to be admitted,

and they are likely to be affordable. Select three to six good fit colleges. If you like, select,

one or two reach colleges

Here are the major criteria to consider -

Criteria	Guiding questions
Financial aid	What’s your likely out of pocket (Net cost) going to be? Colleges have “net price calculators” on their website.
Cost of attendance	How expensive is the college? How much have costs been increasing each year over the past few years?
Location	Do you want to be located near home? In a city, or a smaller suburb/town? How’s the weather in the area? Is it safe? Is it near interesting places you’d want to regularly visit or intern with?
Transportation	How do you get to class? Can you walk or bike from your accommodation? How do you get around town or to the nearest city? If you’re planning to bring a car, is there plentiful parking? Parking fees?
Major	Does it have a major aligned with your interests? Or can you create your own major? What about dual major? Minors?
Academic programs	In general, how strong are its academics? How strong is the department related to your intended major? Is there a “core curriculum” or course requirements you’ll have to take (and if so, do you like them)?
Campus	What’s the campus like? Is it on its own, or integrated in a city? Do you like how it looks?
Housing options	Does the university provide housing? Do students tend to stay in their own shared apartments, or in dorms? Could you live at home? Is it a commuter campus?
Student culture	What’s the general vibe of the place? Is there anything the student body is known for? Is it a party school?
Student body size	Is it a big, medium, or small school?
Student body diversity	How diverse is the school, in terms of race, socio-economic status, country or US state of origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity? Are there particular types of diversity you might care more or less about?
Professor interactions	What’s the average class size? Are there opportunities for smaller seminars? Do most professors have office hours? Are most classes taught by actual professors or by graduate students?
Extracurriculars	What student clubs are there? What are popular student extracurriculars?
Research opportunities	Can you work in a science or other lab? Can you become a Research Assistant for a professor, as an undergrad? Can you get funding for your own research? What about internships or co-op programs?
Sports	Is the school highly ranked in certain sports, and are sporting events (e.g. football or basketball) highly attended? Can you play club sports?
Greek Life	Are fraternities and sororities a big part of campus life? Which ones are on campus?
Study abroad options	Do many students study abroad? What programs does the school offer, and to what destinations? Do these fit your goals?
Health and Wellness	What’s the student health/medical center like? Does the school offer free medical help or check-ups? What about mental health? What’s the gym like? How’s the food? (Is it delicious and/or healthy?)
Religious affiliation	Does the school have a religious affiliation? Are there religious services available on campus (e.g., a church with a regular Sunday service)?
Political leaning	Does the school (either the professors or the student body) have a political leaning? If you are political, are there outlets like student clubs for you to continue your activism?
School history	How old is the school? What is its history and legacy?
Reputation / Rank	How highly ranked is the school? What is its reputation generally? Specifically for your intended major?
Career center / Job help	Is there a strong career center to help you find summer internships or a job after graduation? Is there a strong alumni network or community that you can tap into?

Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Three Critical Skills Teens Need to Thrive as Adults

by Katherine O'Brien, Certified College Planning Specialist, Founder of Celtic College Consultants

What are the critical lessons we need to teach our kids so they will be successful adults?

While they need to be able to read, write, and calculate, teens need to learn a few other fundamental skills as well.

The bedrock of adulthood isn’t glamourous. It’s tedious. Banal. Hidden. Unappreciated. Unseen. Yet, it is absolutely essential to living a mature life and being a productive adult, a responsible man or woman, a great employee, business owner, or volunteer, a good parent.

Teens need to learn discipline and resiliency. SO many these days are not learning these two skills.

A professor friend recently shared that she told her college students recently that they “weren’t coloring rainbows behind Noah’s ark” anymore. This was college theology. These non-theology majors thought her intro class would be an easy A. They have been stunned to find that they have to do the work and submit it on time. Really? This is college success 101. Do the work. Do it well. Turn it in on time.

Another professor friend related how he’s had to shift his approach because so many have been using AI to do their work. Rather than read the text and summarize it themselves, they were using AI to do that for them. Now he is leading small group discussions, which demand that the students articulate what they have read and learned. Again, college success 101. Do the work. Don’t cheat.

How can we help our kids be successful in college and in life?

TEACH THEM TO DO THE WORK

1. Hold them accountable to do the work that is assigned. Whether that means you must oversee their work (which, I do realize, is quite time consuming) or that they have to put actual pen/pencil to actual paper, find ways to ensure your teen is doing the assigned work without assistance.

2. A study group can be useful, of course, unless it’s really a way for them to cheat. A group to discuss the material, review their problem sets, troubleshoot difficulties can be very helpful. A group that divides up the work so each does only a portion of the problem set or reading, etc., truncates what each learns. Each only does a portion of the work. Groups should do more than 100% of the work. Each member does 100% of the assignment, THEN they meet to discuss it.

3. Teach them how to get help when they are stuck, need help, don’t understand. This is a key skill. Fewer and fewer teens are able to ask for help. Advocating for yourself is a key skill, whether it means asking for fresh fruit to be available, or that a portion of a school lesson be explained again (and again).

4. Teach discipline. Whether it’s physical exercise, self-restraint, doing chores well or some other means, teach your children to discipline themselves, to say no to themselves. Teach them to harness their strength, to curb their selfishness, to work diligently to develop their talents and habits of virtue.

Some practical suggestions:

Give your teen opportunities to ask for help, to advocate for themselves. Have them make appointments, check in at the doctor’s office, make calls or take the steps needed to get more information. Have them plan a trip or vacation. Have them map out the errands, research where to purchase something you’ve not purchased before, compare prices and features for a major purchase, speaking to various salespeople to gather the information.

Set SMART goals for them. Teach them to achieve them.

Specific – define the task/project clearly.

Measurable – have clearly measurable attributes which indicate that the goal has been accomplished

Attainable – ensure that the goal is actually possible. (It’s ok if the goal pushes them to ask for assistance, more information, etc.)

Relevant – the goal should be relevant to your life in some way.

Time-bound – a goal needs a deadline.

TEACH THEM TO MEET DEADLINES

Increasingly, students are being allowed to get extensions on their work in high school. This kindness is sometimes actually necessary. Unforeseen situations do arise. does happen.

Let’s teach our kids to plan ahead.

Here’s an example. One of my clients has a grandparent who has had significant health challenges lately. Last week, it looked like she might die. My student and her mom spent the entire night with her. Grandma is home now, doing better. I coached my student to plan ahead from here on out, finishing her tasks for school and her college applications and our meetings ahead of time, allowing her to have a shot at submitting assignments and applications by their deadline, even if Grandma’s health fails again and she needs to tend to her.

Train kids to notice what possible challenges there are in their lives and to plan accordingly. Allow extra time. Arrange for people to be available to help in some way, in case they are needed. Often we are aware that there is a need or possible situation that could arise. We know that the laundry will need to be done, the car needs a tune up, etc. We know that friends or relatives are coming into town next month or a holiday is coming up and we need to prepare. By being aware of the potential demands on our time, we can plan our tasks to allow us the time for those things. If they don’t arise, then there will be extra time to improve the assignment, take a carefree walk before an exam, etc.

TEACH THEM RESILIENCY - HOW TO GO ON AFTER FAILURE OR LOSS

The only way to learn how to bounce back from difficulty is to experience difficulty and failure and loss. I regularly meet parents who bend over backwards to ensure that their child’s life is comfortable, that as many difficulties and obstacles as possible are removed from their life. While I completely understand the desire to help our kids avoid pain, there is an irreplaceable opportunity for growth in character, patience, and resiliency when trials and suffering comes.

When suffering comes, teach your child to thank God. Teach him or her how to bear the pain, how to cry, how to journal or exercise to express the pain in their heart. Teach him or her how to constructively channel their agony. Teach your child how to breathe despite the pain, that life goes on, the sun keeps rising on a new day. Depend on God, cast your cares on Him. Ground yourself when you are overcome – notice the chair you are sitting on, the ground beneath your feet, the sounds of the birds and the air moving around you, etc. Teach them how to move forward despite the fog of the pain, taking one little step after another, despite the pain. Show your child how to accompany others during times of grief or illness or suffering. Teach patience. Cultivate the habit of keeping the long term in mind. What is now will pass away.

Let them feel pain and loss. Let them learn to bear suffering.

Teach them how to break open failure. Failure is a powerful teacher, if we but take the time to break it open. Examine what happened. Identify the various factors, actions, decisions led to the outcome. Notice what successes there were in the midst of the failure. Determine what could be done differently and explore how to approach similar problems differently in the future. Teach them the mindset of not identifying with their failures. They are not their failures, nor are they defined by them. Show them the many examples. Abraham Lincoln is one example. Jonathan Roumie is another. There are many others. Break open the reality that the successful people have experienced and learned from many failures in their lives and that success doesn’t happen overnight, even if it sometimes looks like it does. Share your own story. For most of us, our spouse was not our first love or first girl/boyfriend. Let your children see that you failed and erred and learned and grew… and are continuing to learn and grow.

Tuesday, September 17, 2024

The Key to Helping Your Teen Stop Procrastinating and Wasting Time

by Katherine O'Brien, Certified College Planning Specialist, Founder of Celtic College Consultants

Time management…

Do you struggle to work on your tasks before the last minute?

Do you get lost in your day and find your online class taking forever?

Do you play games rather than do your work?

Lots of us struggle with these sorts of things. Most of us, actually, do not have type A, internally motivated to run on hyper-drive personalities (and that is a GOOD thing!)

What to do?

There are many strategies to organize your work and your time. Simple ones. Color-coded ones. Paper based. App based. Free ones. Expensive programs. However, the best tool in the world is NO help if it is not used. No tool will be used without someone being motivated to use it. So, let’s talk about motivation for a minute.

In order to change what we do, we need to have identified what we want to change. We need to want to change it. Being honest with ourselves and identifying weaknesses is hard. Desiring to change something is hard. Change is hard. Change requires taking uncomfortable, unfamiliar actions. To do something new, something different, we need courage. Support helps, too. Courage is being afraid and acting anyway. It takes energy. It takes the strength of will to choose the new in favor of the familiar.

Why?

Underneath all of that is motivation. Motivation is essential. It gives us a reason to change, provides purpose, drive, focus, and helps us sustain ourselves through the discomfort of doing something new, stepping out of our comfort zone and into a new way of living.

Motivation focuses on the goal, what will be gained in the long term by this short term action, by making this change, by doing something hard, taking an action or refraining from taking one, speaking, or not speaking. Motivation drives us toward certain outcomes and away from others. Sometimes our goal is to move toward something; other times our goal is to move away from something. For example, I want to learn to dance or I don’t want to be uncoordinated on the dance floor when I go to my friend’s wedding.

Positive motivations

Positive motivations are things we desire in life. These are things we want to acquire in life. Here are a few examples:

o Accomplishing a desired goal or a step toward a desired goal, like being able to drive a car.

o Creating or sustaining an opportunity, like starting and growing a friendship with someone you meet whom you like.

o Being praised by others – getting a good grade, performance review, high five, etc., like winning a medal at the Olympics/Paralympics

o Sense of self-worth/ pride/ ability/ confidence

o Making someone proud or honouring someone, like parents, friends, mentors, etc.

o Being ready for whatever comes next in life, like being fit, well educated, etc.

Negative motivations

Negative motivations are things we don’t want in life. These are things we want to rid ourselves of or want to avoid. Here are a few examples:

· Losing something – a privilege, an opportunity, a job

· Failing and feeling bad about yourself, less capable, etc.

· Being embarrassed – losing the esteem of others

· Being punished

· Being unable to take advantage of the opportunities in life, by, for example, being unhealthy, physically unfit, uneducated, etc.

Want to get organized or manage your time better? Find your why! Really focus on what motivates you. Then do the work to take the step(s) forward that you need. Learn how to do, be, or think whatever you need to in order to accomplish your goal. Get an accountability partner to coax you through the learning process and celebrate your growth with you, and take another step toward becoming the best you can be!

So, time management –

Discover your reason for wanting to organize your time more effectively. Take the time to identify your goal(s) as well as the reason(s) that goal is important to you.

Over and over and over in my college consulting work, I have the privilege of helping teens sort themselves out, come to know their gifts, talents, interests, desires, and start to create a vision of what they could do in the future. Because it is based in themselves and their values (helping other people, for example), it is theirs, deeply theirs. It’s completely different from the imposed from the outside goals often foisted upon them. Once they know they want to do this sort of thing in their life, then taking challenging classes, learning the material taught to them, earning good grades, scoring well on the ACT, CLT, or SAT, all these chores, these tasks that take time and effort and require diligent effort, all of these tasks are worth doing. No longer are they impositions from the adult world; they are now stepping stones towards a life I want to live, work I want to do. Motivation makes all the difference!

For more information about my College Success Program, please visit my website, CelticCollegeConsultants.com. To schedule a consultation for you and your teen to meet with me, please email me: KOB@CelticCollegeConsultants.com