by Tom O'Hare | Aug 15, 2024 | College Admissions, College Planning, Financial Aid
School Bells Will Be Ringing
Yes, I am happy to report that the new school year begins shortly. There will be new surroundings, classes, new and old, and opportunities to explore and grow. But before they go, there’s time to talk…
Don’t forget to read the bottom
Exploration with New Skills
The high school scene will welcome 9th and 10th graders who will quickly realize they’re not in Kansas anymore. The size of the build(s) and student body, new classroom demands, and personal (social) pressures can derail expectations. Students in these grades must learn about study skills, time management, accountability, and how to explore their academic interests and hobbies. Their abilities are there if they’re already involved in athletics, dance, gaming, robotics, and performing arts. It’s time to get them to gel in the classroom.
Pivotal Time
There is no time like the present: 11th Grade is the critical period to spark the life after high school conversation. It’s the time to organize thoughts and ideas and schedule activities, visits, and action items. Yes, final decisions come next year, but the clock ticks quickly from here on in. Academic interest, test or no test, where to go, how to get in, financing confusion, and what if I’m not ready? There are too many critical decisions, and it is time to talk, plan, and prepare for the future – A pivotal time.
Scrambling
If a plan is not in place and ready to be acted on, it’s senior scramble time!! What typically takes the whole junior year must be condensed into 3-6 months. It’s doable but faster with a focus on details and deadlines. Planning and preparation are essential whether you’re heading to college or considering a different path. The scenery might change, but the need for a solid plan doesn’t.
College Class of 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028
Don’t underestimate your responsibilities as a college student. If you are returning with a year to complete or enroll for the 1st time, your job awaits. Upper grades are about internships, networking, research projects, and preparing to enter the workforce or grad school. New surroundings, friends, and the reality that college academics are more challenging than anticipated await 1st year students. Time management, seeking help, getting involved, and leaning on trusted faculty and peers will make college successful. Don’t forget your parent(s) and loved ones are thinking of you; check in occasionally.
5 Keys to Successful Life After High School Planning
- Communication – #1 ingredient – the secret sauce for a successful experience. An open and two-way flow of information and conversation.
- Expectations – agree or disagree, revealing what they are and how everyone understands their merits keeps things open.
- Understanding the Game—Knowledge is power—Asking questions is vital to finding answers, and seeking information makes you a wiser consumer.
- Be Realistic—Dream big, but have your feet on the ground. Students should be encouraged to find their education, work, and career path. However, out of fear, societal pressures, and the lack of honest guidance, students limit their options to find their authentic selves. Let’s eliminate the focus on rankings, better is best, myths, and those dam societal pressures. Let’s shift the conversation to Dream Big, Be Realistic, and Be Proud!
- Have a Plan – Mapping a student’s path after high school can create uncertainty, confusion, and an overwhelming sense of lack of control. College, work, skilled professional, military service, a gap year can easily lead to I don’t know! Sometimes, the pressure can make one seem like the Mad Hatter: too much to do, not enough time. Managing a student’s individualized plan for life after high school can reduce stress and help everyone stay focused on the goal.
The start of the school year is an exciting experience, whether for students, families, or those watching and supporting from the sidelines. Use resources, the talents of professionals, and your plan.
READ FIRST – IF you answer one question from this article, let it be: How will you pay? How will you finance the cost of college, community college, an apprenticeship, or a call to service? What if there were no college scholarships, student loans, or even a one-way airline ticket to boot camp? Do you have a financing strategy in place? No, maybe we’re talking. It should be #1 in your comprehensive life after high school plan. Why, call me!!!
by Tom O'Hare | Apr 10, 2024 | College Admissions, College Planning, Financial Aid, Uncategorized
Springtime on a college campus is among the best places for young minds. The energy is fantastic, the spirit high, and there is a general sense of excitement. As they await graduation in early June, seniors are finalizing job offers or applications for grad school. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors are finishing projects and papers as they study for finals and prepare to return home in mid-May to work, relax, and volunteer.
However, another group remained on campus hanging out until they had to return home, only to explain that they couldn’t return. Would you believe the average number pushes upwards to 20% or higher? Due to poor academic progression, health, and difficulty keeping up with the rising cost of education, students must withdraw from school.
I have advised countless students and families and recognize that college is the means to financial security and upward movement for many. I’m the dad of four, all of whom attended college, graduated, and now contribute to society as working adults. But I am increasingly worried about the 20% who need a different path after high school. If taken, they could match their peers while at the same time not shouldering education debt.
What’s Happening this Month
- College and Career Fairs are happening in high school cafeterias and gyms, culminating with the big show at the Boston Seaport Convention Center. These events are important opportunities for families of 10th and 11th-grade students to obtain information, meet college counselors and get the journey started. Learn more about local events on my blog page.
- Colleges and universities are moving to eliminate unpopular and undersubscribed majors to reduce costs and remain strong institutions. Ask your school what’s up.
- Colleges continue to delay issuing their financial aid offers due to the FAFSA debacle. Critical information affects a family’s ability to say yes to the college of choice.
- The elite and highly selective school remain resolved to hold firm on the May 1st Acceptance Deposit date while other institutions move their date to accommodate anxious students and parents. Check with your final choice of schools to confirm their date.
- A new unsettling practice by colleges is to pressure students to submit Housing Deposits before choosing their school. Don’t fall victim. Acceptance Deposit first, then housing.
- If you are college-bound in September, access a copy of my 2024-2025 Financing Checklist to help with your family’s financial strategy. Don’t wait for the bill to arrive!
Since switching in 2012 from working directly with colleges, universities, and specialized career schools to offering family-focused college advising, I have had the chance to implement a 360-degree Six Stage approach to helping families manage their college enrollment process. What is different from the “other” hope and dream approaches is that I begin with considering what a student’s interest might be after high school and how a family has planned to pay. Every household is different so every college plan should be too. The journey to find the right education pathway at the right school for the right reason and at a cost an family can afford is our goal.
Spring is essential for all high school and college-aged students and families. Planning, preparing, and exploring for the future happens now. If you are a parent concerned, confused, or feeling paralyzed, reach out. We’re here to assist with your student and family needs before, during, and after high school.
To learn more about our services and approach that can assist you and your family plan and fund your student’s educational pathways after high school, visit www.getcollegegoing.com. Start a Conversation- the office is always open.
by Tom O'Hare | Mar 3, 2024 | College Admissions, College Planning, College Readiness
The college admission process is stressful enough … add this year’s financial aid debacle, and you have sources of students and families on edge. But, no, let’s make matters worse.
If it isn’t hard enough for families to navigate the college planning, finding, applying, and funding process, colleges and universities are exerting more pressure on anxious students. It comes from all places: housing and resident life.
As an education advisor already trying to stem the stress and strain of the admission decision-making process and uncertainty on how to pay, I now hear from students and parents that emails are arriving with a message: no housing deposit, no room.
Growing up in the industry, the process, procedure, and protocol that college-bound students and families follow have been to find a school, apply, get accepted, learn about financial aid (or lack thereof), and then, after evaluating your options, say yes, here is my May 1 deposit. Add me to the list of incoming first-year students. Only then was the next step to send a housing deposit to secure a dorm room.
Did I miss a significant shift in the process? A new business decision on campus. If not, Presidents, Deans, VPs, Directors, and Managers on campus, why are you putting the cart before the horse? Why are you adding to the already emotional, stressful period in the lives of many highly vulnerable young teens?
On behalf of my students and families, please share the why?
Posted on Linkedin and FB – 3/3/2024 – no campus comments yet.
by Tom O'Hare | Feb 3, 2024 | College Planning, College Readiness, Uncategorized
Many families are well into their college planning by now. Are you?
With over 150 different activities, tasks, and deadlines to manage, you still need to start now, if you don’t mind.
Break the 11th-grade to 12th-grade journey into segments based on the time, tasks, and schedules.
Here are seven + one crucial things every parent should do with their student between now and summer break.
Register to Take the SAT | ACT
- PSAT was in Oct – Time to learn the real baseline
- Register for a Nation Test – SAT (3/9 or 5/4) – ACT (4/13 or 6/8)
- We use them to support a student – not hinder
- Take them once and see
Build a List of College Options
- Student and family college expectations and preferences
- Realistic, authentic to one’s ability and talent
- GPA with 2 ticks up and 2 ticks down
Schedule a Campus Visit
- Hands on – feet on the campus is the best to learn about a college, university or accredited trade and professional school..
- Learn about academics, campus life, clubs, sports and check the schools vibe
- Speak to faculty, coaches and advisors
- Use vacation time (February and April), Professional Days, and Saturdays
- Register to attend and say hello to your College Admission Counselor
- Get their before May; Bring the families are welcome
- Five Ways to Make a Campus Visit Valuable – Checklist
Create an HS Resume
- Activities and accomplishment, academic and personal; talent; leadership’ volunteer and work
- 9th grade to now; in and out of school
- Valuable when meeting college representatives, and interviewing
Assess the Family’s Capability to Pay
- Education after high school is expensive; need to know your buying power
- Saving, investment, disposable income?
- What is you had to pay today? What’s your contribution now
- Time to learn about tuition assistance programs; sooner than later
- What’s the impact on college options?
Evaluate Credit Standing
- If you need to borrow after financial aid; you’ll need good credit
- What is your now?
Draw Up a Plan – Rally Your Resources
+ Get Organization
- Add a student-college planning email address to the mix – Gmail | Yahoo | Hotmail
- Correspondence and information
- College planning e-folder
- Documents, PDF’s, drafts, documents
- Everything easily stored, sorted and retrievable
To learn more about who we are, our services, and our approach to planning and funding your student’s educational pathways after high school, visit www.getcollegegoing.com.Start a Conversation – Office is always open
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Updated 3/2024
by Tom O'Hare | Feb 2, 2024 | College Planning, Financial Aid
By now, you have read or heard the U.S. Department of Education’s financial aid ship has suffered another setback.
This year’s financial aid process, already suffering from delays, confusion, and heightened anxiety for students, parents, guardians, and schools, has been hit with another blow.
This week, the U.S. Department of Education announced that they are again delaying the delivery of critical results for ALL completed and filed FAFSAs to ALL schools until mid-March. Initially planned for tomorrow, an error was discovered two weeks ago, affecting the methodology used to calculate eligibility for need-based aid. Reprogramming is needed. The error would jeopardize millions of applicants’ eligibility for institutional, government, and private scholarships if not corrected.
The delay will hamper the ability of Financial Aid Offices to deliver Award Letters to prospective incoming students and families. Award letters are critical to evaluating tuition assistance and your ability to calculate the school’s net cost in the final race to be the right fit. Returning college students are less affected as their information is sent later in the Spring.
What to do while you wait?
- Continue to monitor the status of your Admission Application Requests.
- Please log into your college portals and follow up on information from the Admissions and Financial Aid Office.
- Use the Comparison Spreadsheet provided to track and monitor the net cost of a school based on tuition assistance received to date.
- Attend Accepted Student Day Programs. A day set aside for you and everyone in the family to evaluate a school’s offerings, experience the campus, and meet faculty, coaches, and advisors before making a final decision in mid-April.
- Do not fall prey to scammers promising to help you figure out how to beat the system, increase your eligibility, or get an answer quicker. Call Me.
- Keep the hunt on for private scholarships – time invested = funds awarded
- The Elephant in the Room: The Annual Deposit Day to secure a set in the Fall Freshman class is May 1st (or earlier). Due to all the delays, a school may extend this date to help families make their final selection.
- UPDATE: Monday – February 5th – Reports are coming out that some schools are moving their deposit date to June 1 – As you narrow your list and await word on eligibility for need-based financial check with your schools to determine there specific date!!
You have all worked very hard to reach this point. Be patient with yourself, each other, and the Financial Aid community. They are just as stressed during this time.
If you have questions, need to relieve some stress, and, most importantly, share insights if needed as you make your final “right fit” choice, reach out!!
Tom
Article Updated on February 5th
by Tom O'Hare | Jan 24, 2024 | College Planning, College Readiness, Financial Aid, Uncategorized
As soon as the ball dropped and we entered 2024, the wheels of motion went into action to begin the annual performance review process. Human Resource Departments working with Department Heads, Managers, and employees across organizations hailed the end of another year with an eye on the new—a time to assess the successes and shortcomings at multiple levels: organization, department, and workforce.
A good review process can be a very effective exercise for all involved. It helps identify an employee’s strengths and weaknesses during the year and map out key performance indicators for the new year. Employees use the time to run their “how am I doing” checklist with an eye on a possible promotion, salary increase, and incentives to retain valuable talent.
What if there is nothing to offer? How will an organization retain its key performing employees? What happens when health, dental, 401 matching, free coffee, gym, and parking incentives don’t work? The fear of losing employees, not to mention struggling to recruit, becomes very real.
What to do?
The SECURE 2.0 ACT has created a new opportunity for employers to meet the emotional and financial need-pain point of each employee facing the economic challenges of the rising cost of college and education debt. Young recent graduates, parents of high school and college-age students, and those who pursue life-long learning all experience stress and worry about managing their financial well-being. Saving, planning, funding college, upskilling, managing educational debt, and budgeting for life’s needs create stress and anxiety, often resulting in questionable financial decisions.
Employer programs offering education enrichment, guidance, and financial support can cure many employee pains. Here are four benefit programs every employer and member-driven organization should consider offering.
- Allocate education assistance benefits to tuition reimbursement or pay down education debt.
- Shift the employer matching contribution of a 401(k) and 403(b) to a pay-down payment.
- College planning assistance through dedicated 1-1 advising and counseling programs or subscription-based e-learning portals.
- Access to education debt advisors to assist with program clarity, mediation, and guidance.
Offering programs through an organization’s EAP Program, managed by Human Resources and delivered by industry experts, sends a message of commitment to a workforce and, in return, is rewarded by a motivated and loyal workforce.
Consider adding a college planning resources to your EAP. Pivotal College Years is an online college planning portal for students, parents, and recent graduates. The portal is a single source of information before, during, and after college. Valuable resources are available through the online College Planning Portal, Workable College Planning Workbook, and our YouTube Channel, all of which provide support and guidance throughout a family’s college planning journey. Learn how you can bring this valuable resource to your organization.
