Senior College Planning Meeting Stacy Morris - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Stacy Morris Margaret Feldman

COLLEGE & CAREER COUNSELOR DIRECTOR OF COLLEGE ADVISING

TC WILLIAMS SCHOOL COUNSELING SCHOLARSHIP FUND OF ALEXANDRIA

Class of 2019 Senior College Planning Meeting

College & Career Center (CCC)

Post-Secondary Planning & College & Career Assistance

 Navigating Naviance  The Common Application  Military Testing  Job & internship Opportunities  NCAA Clearinghouse & Eligibility  Resumes & College Essays  SAT/ACT Registration & Prep  College Visits from Representatives  Financial Aid & Scholarship Searches

• Ms. Morris | stacy.morris@acps.k12.va.us | A-114

College & Career Center (CCC)

Post-Secondary Options

 Career/Technical school (Certification Program)  Community College (Associates Degree)  Community College, then transferring to four-year school

(Bachelors Degree)

 Four-year college (Bachelors Degree)  Employment  Military

• Ms. Morris | stacy.morris@acps.k12.va.us | A-114

SFA supports TC students with:

 Scholarships for College

 Gave out $1 million to TC grads in 2018  50% of applicants win a scholarship

 College, Career, & Financial Aid Advising

 Assistance with choosing best fit colleges  Editing college essays and résumés  Applying for financial aid and scholarships, etc…

Stop by anytime 8am-4:30pm Monday-Friday

• Ms. Feldman | margaret.feldman@acps.k12.va.us | A-115
• Ms. Osei | abigail.osei@acps.k12.va.us | A-121

Scholarship Fund of Alexandria (SFA)

Common App

Step One- Common App-Complete Profile, Education, Family and FERPA

Common App

Naviance

Step Two- Connect your Naviance account

Naviance

Coalition

Coalition

Responsibilities

 Your counselor is your gatekeeper for the college

application process

 Counselor Responsibility

 Sending Official Transcripts, School Profile, ACPS

LOR, Common App. Evaluations

 Student Responsibility

 Application & Fee, Test Scores (SAT & ACT) and

Outside Letters

Choose the right colleges for YOU

Think about your college major

 Take Naviance career and personality assessments

(under “About Me” tab)

 Fill out questions about your interests to help decide what

careers might be a good fit for you

 BLS Occupational Outlook (www.bls.gov/ooh/)  Figure out what education/training you need for the career

• f your choice; this will help you determine a college major

 Also, find out average salary, day-to-day responsibilities, and

employment outlook

Occupational Outlook Handbook

Compare your GPA & SAT/ACT scores

 Take a look at Naviance scattergrams  Use “Search for Colleges” and select a college of interest  View “Admissions” and scroll down to view scattergram  Take a look at Ms. Feldman’s GPA chart on p. 19

Research affordability

 Will the colleges you are considering offer

enough financial aid and scholarships for you to attend? A college isn’t a good match unless it’s also a financial match

 Financial aid is money that helps your family pay for college  There are 3 types of financial aid

 Scholarships/Grants = Free

Money

 Work-Study = Must work to

earn funds

 Loans = Must pay back

What is Financial Aid?

Work Study Loans Scholarships/Grants

How do you apply for financial aid

Federal & State Aid Institutional Aid Private Scholarships FAFSA (opens October 1) Application requires:

• Income information

from student/parent Types of aid given:

• Scholarships/grants
• Work-study
• Loans

FAFSA and/or CSS Profile (opens October 1) Applications require:

• Income information

from student/parent Types of aid given:

• Scholarships/grants

Individual application for each private scholarship (year round) Applications require:

• Transcript
• Essays
• Résumé
• Recommendations
• SAT/ACT scores
• Income information from

student/parent Types of aid given:

• Scholarships/grants

How much financial aid will I receive?

Find out how much each school will cost before you apply!

Go to: collegecost.ed.gov/netpricecenter.aspx

Let’s look at some examples

Using the Net Price Calculator, we can determine that if a family of three makes $30,000 per year, they would pay the following net prices:

College Sticker Price Net Price University of Richmond $61,370 $2,195 University of Virginia $28,856 $4,050 George Mason University $25,192 $15,650 (living at home) $15,547 $7,605 (living at home) University of Maryland $42,919 $33,324

What if you can’t afford the Net Price?

 It’s OK to borrow a manageable amount of money in

Federal Loans because college is an investment in your future

 However, if you don’t have enough cash to attend the

college of your choice after receiving:

 Federal and State Grants,  Federal Student Loans,  Institutional Aid, and  Private Scholarships,

then you need a backup option

How America pays for college

From a 2016 national study by Sallie Mae

Let’s talk about

The cost of

Using the Net Price Calculator, we can determine that if a family of three makes $30,000 per year, they would pay the following net price: College Sticker Price Net Price Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) $5,610 (living at home)

• $485

(you get money back)

Transferring from

 Guaranteed Admission: You can be guaranteed transfer to the

Virginia public college of your choice if you graduate from NOVA with an Associate’s Degree and the required courses and GPA

 Each 4-year school has different course and GPA requirements to transfer,

so you should choose which 4-year school you’re aiming for before you start classes at NOVA

 Competitive Admission: You can transfer to any college in the

country (in-state, out-of-state, public, or private) after 1 or 2 years at NOVA

 You will still write essays and be evaluated on both your high school and

college transcripts. However, your college transcript will carry a lot more weight than your high school one

Research return on investment

 Be sure you’re making a wise investment of your time &

money

 Use CollegeScorecard.ed.gov to research graduation rates and

average salary of graduates

Finalize your list of colleges

 Choose 5-8 colleges that:

Offer your major of interest Match your GPA & SAT/ACT scores

 At least 2 safety, 2 match, 2 reach

Will be affordable for your family Will provide you with a return on

investment

College application checklist

Take college entrance exams

 SAT and ACT are two different college entrance exams

 All colleges accept both – they don’t have a preference  So take both and then focus on preparing to retake whichever exam

is a better fit for you

 If you receive free/reduced lunch you can take both the SAT and ACT

for free 2x each

ACT Test Dates ACT Registration Deadlines

October 27 September 28 December 8 November 2

SAT Test Dates SAT Registration Deadlines

October 10 – SAT School Day N/A November 3 October 5 December 1 November 2

Write admissions essays

 Most applications require one or more personal

essays

 Share your background story, interests, & struggles

 Free assistance with brainstorming & editing your

essays from:

 Ms. Feldman in SFA  Ms. Morris in CCC  Your Counselor  Your English Teacher

Prepare a résumé

 A one-page summary of your academic achievements,

extracurricular involvement, work experience, & skills

 What colleges & scholarships want to see on your résumé:

 Consistent involvement in a few activities (sports, clubs, religious

community)

 Volunteer experience  Employment  Honors/Awards  Languages spoken, etc.

 See SFA or CCC for a résumé template & assistance

Request recommendation letters

 Most colleges will ask for:

 1 recommendation letter from school counselor  1 recommendation letter from core subject teacher (English, math,

science, foreign language, or history)

 1 recommendation letter from either core subject, elective

teacher, coach, employer, etc. (just not a family member or friend)

 Your recommenders should be able to speak to your character,

work ethic, academic achievement, & activities/responsibilities

• utside of school

 You don’t necessarily need to have gotten an “A” in the class for

the teacher to be a good recommender, maybe you got a “B” but you went in every day for extra help

Request recommendation letters

 Ask for recommendations in person first  Provide your recommenders with a copy of your resume and

your earliest college deadline

 Then submit request through Naviance, NOT Common App  More information on using Naviance and Common App to

come…

Complete the FAFSA

 FAFSA Completion Workshops  Free, confidential help with FAFSA  FAFSA doesn’t look at your grades or require essays  FAFSA doesn’t require you to take out loans (it gives you free

money to pay for college)

 Free McDonald’s chicken sandwiches

Wednesday, October 3rd 4pm – 7:30pm Wednesday, November 7th 4pm – 7:30pm

 FAFSA only takes 45 minutes, so you don’t have to stay

the whole time! Be sure to bring 2017 tax documents!

Complete the FAFSA

Next steps after FAFSA

 Complete CSS Profile (if required by your colleges)

 See p. 26 for a list of colleges requiring CSS Profile

 Complete FAFSA Verification (prove to colleges that your FAFSA is

accurate)

 Each college you apply to will typically ask for verification documents  You won’t receive a financial aid offer from each school until all

verification is complete for that college – delays in responding to verification requests can make you lose out on money

 Apply to private scholarships

 Sign up for Ms. Feldman’s monthly scholarship email: bit.ly/SFAemail

 What if I don’t qualify to complete the FAFSA?

 Regardless of citizenship status, it is safe to apply to 100% of colleges  The issue is in making sure that you get the funding you need, even

though you can’t fill out the FAFSA

See Ms. Feldman in A-115 for a confidential conversation about your current status & colleges/scholarships that provide funding for students who can’t fill out the FAFSA

Citizenship & FAFSA Eligibility

Do qualify for FAFSA Do NOT qualify for FAFSA

• U.S. Citizens
• Permanent Residents (Green Card)
• Refugees
• Asylees
• Undocumented (or Dreamer/DACA)
• Student Visa
• Diplomat Visa
• Exchange Visitor Visa

 Where can I get money for college if I can’t fill out the FAFSA?  You’ll need to focus on the second two sources of financial aid:  Most of the colleges that award money regardless of status are very competitive,

so if you don’t get admitted on the first try, you can also take classes at NOVA and then transfer.

 The cost of 1 class at NOVA is $561 (in-state tuition) or $1,161 (out-of-state tuition)  Please see Ms. Feldman to find out whether you will have to pay in-state or out-of-state

tuition based on your current status

Citizenship & FAFSA Eligibility

Your College (Institutional Aid) Private Scholarships

Some colleges only give money to students who can fill out FAFSA. But other colleges don’t care about papers and will give you money regardless of status. You will want to choose colleges from p. 29 Some scholarships only give money to students who can fill out the FAFSA. But there are also many scholarships that are specifically for students who can’t fill out FAFSA. You will want to choose scholarships from p. 30

Citizenship & FAFSA Eligibility

 Provides support for students who are considering

starting at Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA) and transferring to a four-year school

 Free program that provides:

 College access workshops during the spring of senior year  Placement testing at TC  Priority registration for college courses  Access to grants and scholarships just for Pathway students  Advising throughout the transfer process

 Application is due in November 2nd to your counselor

Apply for NOVA’s

• Ms. Morris Ms. Feldman

A-114 A-115

stacy.morris@acps.k12.va.us margaret.feldman@acps.k12.va.us

We’re here to help you!