Posts Tagged ‘financial aid packages’
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Bring on your desire to begin your online distance learning – but you’ll need more than motivation to finish your online degree program! Check out My College Guide’s list of online distance learning tools of the trade. Figure out what you already have and what you need to know before you officially enroll and before that first day of class!
Your online distance learning checklist!
Online Distance Learning: Personal Checklist
Textbooks – For some online distance learning programs, your textbooks will be available completely online. For others, you will have to go to an outside source or your school’s online bookstore. You can cut costs if you consider purchasing new or used college textbooks! Make sure you plan ahead in case you need to buy or rent your college textbooks!
Time – You are a busy working adult. Are you ready for the challenges of balancing work and leaving time to study for school? Every online distance learning institution is different. Find out how many hours on average you will be expected to set aside for schoolwork and see how you can fit that into your schedule.
Tools of The Trade
Computer – A busted computer is not going to make your online distance learning experience an easy one! If you have a computer that is prone to crashes and lags, that won’t make your college experience very enjoyable. You’ll need something that will let you take quizzes and tests without getting you locked out! Some financial aid options will go towards the expense of a new computer or laptop. Fill out the FAFSA, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, and see what how you qualify.
Reliable Internet – Do you have internet access? While the thought of heading to the library or stealing from your neighbor may sound appealing, not having access to the internet won’t work as an excuse for when you can’t turn in your research paper! You may want to consider getting your own internet service. Free up your time and make life a little bit easier on you (Psst! Even your browser can help with your online distance learning experience).
The Joys of Technology
Tech Support – Things happen. If there’s a glitch in the site or you can’t access a needed page on your college’s website, you’ll need the assistance of tech support! See if there’s an email address or working phone number that you can hang on to “just in case.” It’s reassuring to know good to that there’s somewhere to go for help!
Image Courtesy of Flickr, Theen … / Theen Moy.
Who We Are: Information you can trust. For more than 20 years, My College Guide has provided information to help students find the best college degree and career for them. Get information on online distance learning and find the right career for you!
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Tags: Distance Learning, FAFSA, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, Firefox addons, firefox and college, firefox extensions, online distance learning, online learning, rent textbooks college, study guide, study habits, used textbook websites, used textbooks
Posted in Career Colleges, Choosing a College, College Campus, College Classes, College Life, College Search, Distance Learning, Online Colleges, Online Degrees, Online Education, Online Tools, Preparing for College, Technology, Vocational School | No Comments »
Monday, April 25th, 2011
Applying for the Pell Grant is a great way to ease the financial burden that going back to school as an adult can cause. In fact, it’s one of the best federal student aid programs available to adult learners. My College Guide gives you five reasons why!
Apply for the Pell Grant
Applying for The Pell Grant
Pell Grants are open to almost anybody. The only requirements? You have to have either a GED or a high school diploma, and be working on your first bachelor’s degree. That’s it. There are a few instances where they can be used for post-baccalaureate teaching programs, but those are few and far between.
Applying for the Pell Grant is easy. In fact, you’ll automatically be considered when you fill out your Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form. Pell Grants eligibility is based solely on economic need, so there are no essays to complete or hoops to jump through. And as a working adult? The easier it is to get something done, the better.
Convenient and Quick
Applying for the Pell Grant gives you flexibility. No matter whether you plan to attend school part-time or full-time, online or on campus, a Pell Grant could work for you. They’re accepted at most online colleges as well as their traditional counterparts, for both part and full-time students. In fact, as a part-time student, you can qualify for up to 18 semesters—so you can get your degree at your own pace.
Free Money for College
The amount of your Pell Grant is not set in stone. Pell Grants are calculated based on four factors—the amount of tuition, your family’s financial status, the size of your family and your enrollment status. So if your situation changes, the amount of your grant can too. Having a baby? Your award could increase. Transferring to a pricier college? You could get more help. Thinking about taking the plunge and going full-time? You guessed it—you could get a bigger grant!
Pell Grants range in size from $550 to $5500, with the average student receiving somewhere around $3500. And since they’re recalculated every school year, they can keep pace with the changes in your life. For adults going back to school, that’s really good news.
Best of all, you don’t have to pay Pell Grants back. Unlike student loans, money from federal Pell Grants is yours, free and clear. Meaning you can concentrate on your schooling—not on how you’ll make good on the loan.
It’s easy to see that for adult learners, applying for the Pell Grant just makes sense. But you better get cracking—the application deadline for the 2011-2012 school year is June 30th.
Image Courtesy of Flickr, espensorvik.
Who We Are: Information you can trust. For more than 20 years, My College Guide has provided information to help students find the best college degree and career for them. Get information on any applying for the Pell Grant to find the right career for you!
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Tags: adult learners, adults going back to school, applying for the pell grant, bachelor's degree, Distance Learning, FAFSA, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policies, free application for federal financial aid, free money for college, online college, Paying for College, pell grant
Posted in Financial Aid, Paying for College, Student Loans | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 7th, 2011
Butler University is making headlines with their basketball prowess, but college athletics aside, they’ve created a great video about the financial aid process! Whether you are an adult going back to college or your college bound teen is nearing graduation, this video covers a lot of ground regarding financial aid, the FAFSA, and how it pertains to new college students.
It’s a great overview of the financial aid process – no matter what college you choose! You’ll learn how to access financial aid information online (which is very similar to the process at many colleges and universities) and how to accept awards. Watch Financial Aid and New Student Registration on YouTube or below.
Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges.
Subscribe to our blog via RSS or email and stay on top of everything college!
Tags: adult learners, adults going back to school, butler university, college freshman, FAFSA, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policy, free money for college
Posted in Financial Aid, Paying for College, Scholarships, Student Loans | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Our College Admissions Guru has been keeping busy answering your college questions! When you need free college advice, the My College Guide Admissions Guru is the way to go. Here’s the latest Q&A from our guru and, as always, don’t hesitate to send in your college questions!
Dean Terry / Dean Terry
Early Decision
Question: My friend’s daughter got accepted on the early decision plan. However, one of the colleges that she applied to prior to the early decision acceptance gave her a full scholarship. Her early decision school offered her no money. Her parents are refusing to finance her education in her early decision school. Can she break out of her early decision binding offer?
Answer: I suggest that your friend and her daughter read the contract again carefully to see if there is an “out” for financial reasons. Some early decision contracts require a commitment only if it offers an adequate financial aid package. No matter what the contract says, the daughter should speak with both of the schools and explain the situation and see what can be done. However, she should be prepared…continue reading Early Decision.
Financial Aid
Question: I have a few questions. When is the best time to find financial aid, and where can I find applications for it? Also, when is the best time to tour colleges? Is it required to have an interview?
Answer: You should start investigating financial aid opportunities, particularly merit-based scholarships and grants, in the second semester of your junior year. You’ll probably need to start applying in the first semester of your senior year. Of course, you should follow the specific requirements prescribed for any particular source of aid. With regard to touring colleges, there are basically two approaches to take. One way is to visit schools in the first semester of your senior year and before you apply to find out which schools you might like to attend. Other people prefer to wait to see…continue reading Financial Aid.
Majors in College
Question: What is the difference between priority and regular decision? Also, what are college majors and minors? If I want a bachelor’s degree does that subject have to be my major or can it be my minor? Do colleges generally offer the same minors as majors? Should my minor be a more specific subject within my major or at least related in some way?
Answer: Priority decision is just another name for early action or early decision. In other words, you apply to the school by an early deadline, and you hear back from them earlier than you would if you applied “regular” decision. When you go to college, you will have at least one major—that is, an area that you specialize in (and what your degree is ultimately in). So if you want to be a preschool teacher, you might major in early childhood education. If you want to be a fashion designer, you might major in study fashion design. Whatever your major, that is the area in which most of the classes you take will be…continue reading Majors in College.
Horia Varlan / Horia Varlan
What About Your Grades
Question: I just received my AP exam scores in the mail. I got a 3 in U.S. History but only a 1 in chemistry and physics. I realize that colleges are going to look at all of my scores, but if I did well in the actual class (high A’s to mid B’s), will the scores be a deciding factor for admission? Would I have been better to have just not taken those two exams, or are colleges going to appreciate the risk, even if the outcome was bad? Also, one specific college I am looking at for early decision only accepts 4′s and 5′s. Next year, should I only take the exams that I feel confident I can receive those scores in? I don’t want to take the exam for every AP class I take if it’s actually going to hurt me in the long run!
Answer: Colleges will give greater weight to your actual grades in the classes than to your AP scores, at least for admissions purposes. (Course placement is another matter; most colleges won’t give credit for anything below a 3.) Having said that, I would recommend taking only those AP exams you feel confident about in the future. It looks much better to have…continue reading What About Your Grades.
Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!
Tags: admission guru, college, college admission, college admission terms, college advice, college majors, early decision, early decision acceptance, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, free money for college, grades and getting into college, major, Paying for College, what about your grades
Posted in Choosing a College, College Admissions, College Applications, College Campus, Financial Aid, Paying for College | No Comments »
Friday, November 26th, 2010
The My College Guide Guru has seen it all — and responded! Our ever-wise and all-knowing Guru tells us that, based on your recent emails, it’s the season for Financial Aid questions! This older video from Fastweb is not only relevant and informative (it will answer many of your FAFSA questions) – it’s also fun!
Find out about the FAFSA, the free application for federal student aid, like what it is, why you should fill it out, and how to get started. You can’t receive aid if you don’t even bother to try! Don’t worry – it’s easier than ever before. You would like free money for college, wouldn’t you? Watch The Five-Minute FAFSA on YouTube or below.
Thanks to Twitter follower MichaelCCR for bringing this hilarious yet information-packed video to our attention!
Who We Are: Information you can trust. For 20 years My College Guide has produced an annual magazine chock full of free college info for high-achieving high school sophomores. Check out our participating colleges. If you’re a student, enter for a chance to win an Apple iPad or iPhone or cash!
Tags: college admission terms, college advice, college application process, college lingo, college tips, college truths, college tuition, FAFSA, fastweb, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policy, Paying for College, video, youtube
Posted in Financial Aid, Paying for College, Scholarships, Student Loans | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010
You are most likely familiar with college scholarship search sites – but there’s many other resources available that you may not have realized. My College Guide has a list of sources to turn to when you need to find free money for college. As with many parts of the college process, it’s a good idea to get started before the very last minute (trust us, Senior year in high school can be hectic enough as it is!).
JKönig / jennifer könig
High School Guidance Counselor – Your high school guidance counselor may be one of several important resources that you may have overlooked! The fact is, many (if not most) high school guidance counselors have listings of state and local scholarships. These tend to be less competitive and can help you on your way to finding free money to pay for college! Meet with your counselor to see if s/he has one so you can get started searching!
Scholarship Search Sites – The world wide web is home to thousands upon thousands of scholarships and there is no easier way to find them than by logging in to a scholarship search site! Know how to tell a scholarship scam from the real deal and you will soon realize that there are scholarships for any student, from the skateboarder to the ballet dancer. Plug in your ethnicity, your intended major, your hobbies, interests, and talents, and see what scholarship listings you can find and apply, apply, apply.
Google, Yahoo, Bing – Put these search engines to work! Combine your hobbies or intended major into a search engine and see what sort of scholarships you can find. For example, type in phrases like “Hispanic college scholarship” or “unusual scholarships” or “photography scholarship 2010” and you might be surprised at what pops up. It can at least direct you to the scholarship database that contains the prize (since there are a lot of them out there!).
The FAFSA – You may be tired of hearing it and you may think that you don’t even need to bother filling out one more form because your parents’ make too much money, however, you just never know what completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid will get you. Besides that, many colleges and universities use the numbers from the FAFSA to match you up with their own institution-specific scholarships and filling out the FAFSA is normally a requirement in order to get the aid.
callumscott2 / Callum Scott
Books and Magazine – A visit to the library may just be in order. There are giant books at your local library that are just chock full of scholarship goodness. You might even come across the occasional magazine with scholarship info inside. While you can probably find most of them on the internet, it’s a nice break from
College Website – Know where you would like to go? While you should apply to more than one college, take a look at your prospective schools website. There is usually a dedicated page of scholarships for students. If you can’t find it, give your adviser a call and ask if a list of scholarships can be sent your way — though some colleges and universities do include this (or even a link to it) in their information packet.
Tags: college, college scholarship, college scholarships, FAFSA, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, free application for federal financial aid, free money for college, google, Paying for College, scholarship, scholarships
Posted in Paying for College, Scholarships | 1 Comment »
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
How many colleges should you apply to? You’ve done the whole college search routine: you’ve requested free college info, narrowed down your options, made the campus visit, and know that you need to start applying to colleges.
wallyg / Wally Gobetz
There are plenty of options to consider and while you may think you have found the perfect college and you just can’t (or won’t) picture yourself anywhere else, there are a few very good reasons why you should apply to more than one college!
Acceptance – Yes, My College Guide knows how bad you want in to that college. Your SAT scores and your GPA fall within the required college admission guidelines, you have leadership roles and even community service behind you – but sometimes, sometimes, you won’t make it in due to some part of your application not meeting requirements or that your test scores don’t match, or that the admissions officer is simply having a bad day — whatever secret reason why you won’t get in to your first choice college. You need to have a back-up plan — which is why it is so important to make the college campus visit to a few colleges and universities.
Indecision – What if you made the college campus visit and you can’t decide between a few colleges? Shelling out the college application fee multiples could really be worth it in this case: you can base your college enrollment on what college lets you in. Also – it won’t hurt to find out what college will not only let you in but cover more of your college tuition!
Financial Aid – Applying to more than one college can help you figure out how much you really want to pay! After you receive your college acceptance from more than just one college (inexpensive college or not), you will find out how much of your tuition is covered by financial aid. Some schools have better financial aid than others so if you apply to more than one college, you will easily see what school expects you to pay more out of your own pocket, and who will let you in for less!
almostsummersky / k wheeler
Competing Colleges – Okay, so this sort of ties into financial aid but competing colleges (think peer colleges or Ivy League like Cornell University and Stanford University) could give you a financial aid break (or maybe at least match your parent(s) contributions) if they know that you are accepted at a competitor’s school. So, students who are accepted at competing colleges can leverage that selective admission status to gain more financial help to attend the college they really want to attend. Just make sure that if you are dreaming “Ivy League” that you apply to more than your dream school.
Tags: applying to college, college, college admissions, college application, college application process, college campus, college campus tour, college campus visit, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, ivy league
Posted in College Admissions, College Applications, Financial Aid, Paying for College, Scholarships | 1 Comment »
Friday, April 16th, 2010
College, and the costs that go with it, can make higher education seem way out of reach – especially for low income students. The good news? There’s something better than hope – there’s loan-free financial aid packages and even tuition free colleges! Who knew college could be so affordable?
photine/Laurie
For high achieving low income students, many colleges and universities offer a no-packaged loans policy – which include grants, scholarships, and work-study programs in their financial aid packages not interest accruing loans! Many offer free rides to college (and then some). A few of these colleges, like the Webb Institute and Deep Springs College, don’t even have tuition! You really can graduate debt free!
Check out our large list for a host of higher education institutions that offer free tuition or loan free tuition for students of low income families. Click on the college or university name to be taken directly to the financial aid page that relates to that school – and get in touch with the financial aid office to see where you fit in. College isn’t just for the wealthy – it’s for everyone.
Tags: college tuition, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policies, free education, free money for college, full ride, grants, low income families and financial aid, no packaged loans policy, Paying for College, scholarships, tution free, work study programs
Posted in Choosing a College, College Campus, Financial Aid, Paying for College, Scholarships, Student Loans | 3 Comments »
Friday, March 12th, 2010
Have you heard of Charta Squad? Teachers at the independent New York City public school, Williamsburg Charter High School, are all about preparing for college! Relax, Charta Squad’s first rap video about the SAT, went up on YouTube four months ago — and has drawn over 45,000 views so far!
This time – Charta Squad is spreading the word about the FAFSA, you know, that Free Application for Federal Student Aid? FAFSA Hooray is the much anticipated follow-up. Learn the facts, watch out for those FAFSA deadlines, and…don’t forget to relax!
Special thank you to Akilbello for bringing it to My College Guide’s attention.
Tags: charta squad, FAFSA, federal financial aid, financial aid packages, free application for federal financial aid, Paying for College, Preparing for College, wchs, williamsburg charter high school, youtube
Posted in Financial Aid, Paying for College | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 12th, 2010
Twitter, Facebook, really, the whole internet is buzzing with two words: early decision. Who got in, who didn’t get in, and who is still waiting to hear from their school of choice is all anyone can talk about – even our Admissions Guru has been bombarded with questions. Early decision confusion? That’s what we’re here for!
katrinalopez
You can only choose one school in which to apply for early decision because it is a binding contract (not to be confused with early action which is non-binding). Apply by the November early decision deadline (which can vary slightly between schools) to receive “the answer” somewhere between December and January.
Even if you don’t receive early decision acceptance, most colleges and universities will defer your application, giving you a chance to gain regular decision admittance. Simply put, this deferment means that, while you still have a shot at getting into that school, you are no longer bound by the early decision contract. You should definitely apply to multiple colleges, just know that you will have to withdraw the applications to those schools if you’re accepted early decision
When considering whether or not to send in an early decision college app for a particular school, try to imagine paying for that school without any financial help. If that thought makes you uncomfortable (or just downright nervous), you should check to make sure that your application is subject to your receiving the minimum amount of financial aid you’ll need. Otherwise, you might end up getting bound to attend that school regardless of the amount of financial aid offered!
Again, this is a binding contract. Colleges and universities mean business so read that contract carefully! If you do try to walk away, you will most likely be black-listed not only at that school, but at other schools as well, which can severely hamper your future plans. Also, if you then decide to attend a different school, that school might just revoke their acceptance of you if they find out that you broke your early decision contract. Colleges value personal integrity – do you really want to take a chance at severely damaging yours?
But, if you have done the campus visit, taken the college tour, have completely fallen in love with a particular school, and know that it’s your top pick, you might want to consider early decision. Why draw out the agony of waiting if you can receive your acceptance (or not) early?
ambrown
Better yet — Class of 2014 Facebook Pages are popping up daily so new students can get acquainted, network, and form friendships with one another before ever setting foot on campus (keep watch for our Class of 2014 Facebook list, coming soon!). That would go a long way in helping to calm first day jitters!
Early decision = fewer applicants. However, even with a smaller pool of college applications to wade through, the applicants tend to be pretty strong (we’re talking top of their class and super involved) so it doesn’t mean you’ll have a better chance of getting in. Early decision is a huge responsibility. It’s definitely not something to walk into blindly.
So, would you/have you/are you considering applying for early decision? Why or why not? Share you thoughts in the comments section below.
Tags: admission guru, admissions, admissions guru, class of 2014, class of 2014 facebook pages, college acceptance, college admission, college admission terms, college admissions, college guide, colleges and facebook, colleges and twitter, contracts, early action, early decision, facebook, Financial Aid, financial aid packages, financial aid policies, my college guide, social media, Twitter
Posted in College Admissions, College Applications | 5 Comments »
