by Tom O'Hare | Jul 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
We’re halfway through the year enjoying the wonders of the summer months. When I look around, I see how busy everyone is. In our house, we have already celebrated our youngest daughter’s wedding, our 44th anniversary, a long weekend in Savannah, and had a chance to attend college graduations for students who started with me four years ago. I’ve taken on new students and rising seniors to prepare for their application process and introduced 11th graders to what is in store as they look to begin their planning in October.
Recently, I spoke to a Forbes staff writer while researching an article on paying for college. We discussed the problems families experienced with the 2024-2025 FAFSA Application and the hope that we will return to some normalcy in October. I have my fingers crossed . Here are five other tips and observations I shared.
- Financing for college-bound students in year one, and they’ll be enrolled the entire time. Up to 25% of first-year students leave college, and financing years two through four is one of the three reasons.
- Using any amount of disposable monthly income in the form of an interest-free monthly tuition payment plan is a financially savvy move. Plans are offered through colleges.
- Don’t stop hunting for scholarships; philanthropic donors don’t just love first-year students.
- If there are financial changes to income (decreases) in the household, alert the Financial Aid Office ASAP—no time to be shy.
- Paying for college is no different than buying your first home, car or saving for retirement. It needs to be guided by realistic and family-centered planning.
Midyear Standouts
It is a great time to look back to plan forward.. Here are a few things that stand out from this past admission and financial aid cycle.
- FAFSA issue set aside: three out of five families I talked to are unaware of the cost of college, how to finance the journey, and why some colleges provide little or no tuition assistance. Plus, 80% find out in the spring of their senior year. You can’t wait!
- 75% of all students applying for admission, including in my practice, were accepted when they applied early. 90% of all students in the top 30% range of a college’s acceptance criteria were accepted.
- Highly selective schools remain in their category by pumping up their application volume without adjusting the number of enrollment slots. Remember, they represent about 300 of the 3400 schools open for business.
- 30% of colleges bought students’ names to generate prospects and leads, mainly in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. This mail-it (email) and they-will-come marketing approach might open a student’s eyes to an option but is not increasing acceptance rates. Get to know a college Admission Counselor before applying.
- SAT and ACT are creeping back in for admissions, GAP Year, Apprenticeship Programs, and ROI for the ROE, which are common questions and the focus of conversations with families.
- For the wrong reasons, students and families continue to be influenced by a hope-and-dream-admission mindset. The waitlist and declined volume went up significantly at REACH schools; not enough was applied to their authentic MATCH, while applications at SAFETY schools doubled.
My Advising Approach
To help students and family’s find the right education pathway at the right school for the right reason at an affordable investment.
As a parent of four and having spent a career working with colleges and families, I understand the complexity and emotions that comes with planning for a students life after high school. Questions need answers, inquiries need clarity, and sometimes you need some to walk with you. Everything starts with a conversation-call/text at 617-240-7350 or email at tom@getcollegegoing.com. Learn more at www.getcollegegoing.com
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 | Uncategorized
Are your brackets ready?
Squares are purchased, initials marked, and the Boards are ready. Yes, all eyes turn to the NCAA Tournament and college hoops. This year, the tournament comes to our backyard as Boston plays host to the East Regional Finals at the TD [Boston] Garden at the end of the month.
March is a busy month across the higher education landscape.
- Graduating classes are gearing up for finals, marching, and the next stages of their lives
- 10th and 11th-grade students are watching and enjoying the feeling that they will soon take their next step.
- Transfers: those who need a new look or individuals looking to restart should be finishing applications
- Parents should calculate their ability to contribute to the student’s education costs and, if need be, what Plan B will be.
The FAFSA dilemma is not over…Sorry.. Student/family financial aid data is coming to colleges, universities, and accredited post-secondary schools. Fingers crossed
In the meantime, students and families must focus on what they can control-maintaining their mental well-being. Families of 12th-grade students bound for college in September should use this valuable time to prepare for pending decision time.
- Watch and follow up on all information on your student’s colleges, universities, and other accredited post-secondary schools’ portal.
- Analyze financing strategies, including running Net Price estimates for public and private institutions.
- Begin comparing cost, merit scholarship received, and personal resources (including 529 college savings funds and disposable monthly income) to project financing gaps at each school. Spreadsheet available at www.getcollegegoing.com/resources
- Invest at least one-hour daily hunting for non-college, independent, community, and philanthropic scholarships. Make it a family affair!
- Evaluate your credit standing to ensure that, if needed, you can serve as a co-signer on a last-resort private college loan.
DID YOU HEAR
Colleges are now moving to eliminate Dean Lists – in the face of rising mental health issues on campus, two high-pressure institutions. Schools like Cornell, Penn, and others are moving away from the Lists. I’m not sure how I feel.
Discover Exits the Student Loan Industry – It’s all about making them more profitable for the sale to Chase. If you’re a Discover customer, watch your accounts – print your last private student loan statement.
New employer-employee education benefit programs to help workers manage education loan payments. As part of the January 2024 Secure Act 2.0, changes permit employers to shift financial resources to help with monthly loan payments and add college advising benefits to EAP.
Standardized test scores will return to college admission requirements for 2025-2026; plan accordingly as you develop your student’s college search list.
Are You Saying YES to the College
Here are five criteria that I ask all students and families to consider when choosing the final college, university, or accredited post-secondary school to attend. Yes, and you have your match – fit!!
The school will:
Advance my academic learning and skills to the next level
Meet my personal needs
Provide me with a socially safe community to learn and live.
Be affordable, with limited educational debt
Prepare me for a job and Career on the way out.
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- the office is always open.
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 | 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.
by Tom O'Hare | Jan 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
We closed 2023 with many positive events and changes in the higher education industry. We experienced a slight increase in enrollment, a new view of the need for a Gap Year, the introduction of a new Better FAFSA, and a state, Massachusetts, taking the lead to shine an intense light on our state’s need for tuition equity and affordability programs.
Here is a look at the new year and some of the many things students, parents, employer-employees should have on their radar.
Added to already robust affordable education pathways, this month, Massachusetts became one of a few states to offer in-state tuition and financial assistance to students and families new to our area. Added to new programs already in place, students and families can obtain their education pathway regardless of age and socioeconomic background. Whether you follow a traditional path, are 25+ and want to restart, or are new to the state and country, Massachusetts has game-changing options for the education-seeking individual and family.
Public and small private colleges will continue to experience financial instability. Institutions chasing to stay modern and competitive while experiencing roller coaster enrollment have economic challenges. The institution will eliminate low, under-enrolled majors, reducing faculty and support staff to address financial shortcomings. While this may happen and parents need to make the ASK, institutions in the medium-sized sector can offer amazing educational opportunities, sometimes better than those listed in the major rankings.
Colleges are reportedly preparing to allocate new resources to Gen P students. Students now on campus who lived through COVID-19 as it overshadowed their high school years. The experience has left many with challenges affecting their academics and life skills development. Colleges realize the need and will begin to put teeth into the services. While we wait, if you need help, go to your campus’s faculty advisor and the Academic Services Center. Seek out assistance. Don’t wait; no one will be tapping you on the shoulder!!
Elite, highly selective institutions with oversubscribed demand but limited enrollment slots will continue to find increasing tuition, fees, and housing costs easy. Consumers, students, and parents should be asking, what is Plan B? Paying for college is not just savings in the bank, it’s what school is on a student’s radar. As the saying goes, it’s not where you go to college; it’s how you go!
National testing is going digital with the introduction of the PSAT this past October and the SAT in March. This change can lead to a slight uptick in schools returning to the requirement as part of their admission standards. If your a current 11-grade student looking to take the SAT in March, register today.
The sale of student names by national testing organizations and school-based software is a big business. Colleges buy names by state, school systems, GPA, and other criteria. Then, they mail students and families glossy marketing material and introductory emails. They call it recruitment, and it will continue. It is a valued way for students and families to uncover a missing gem. However, the average college has only a 1% awareness of a student (family) and their potential as a college student. Reverse the process. For every college that ends on narrowed list of potential options students should find their college counselor, introduce themselves, and start building a relationship.
The Biden Administration and the US Department of Education introduced a new FAFSA, streamlining the number of questions, strengthening the link with the IRS, and switching to a Student Aid Index calculation. At its core, the FAFSA is an application to help determine a family’s eligibility for financial aid and a way to open the lines of communication with financial aid offices. Failure to complete and file the application (FAFSA) can prevent you from reaching your goal of higher education.
Repayment is back at the forefront for all federal student loan borrowers, former students, and parents. If you are struggling, wondering, or need help, go to www.studentaid.gov, log on, and use this powerful site. It’s your gateway to information about your accounts, repayment options, and sanity. Or call 800-433-3243.
Finally, consider a new ask if you are working on your annual performance review. It is time for employers to extend education benefits and tuition assistance to help employees with college planning needs, student loan repayment, and support to achieve educational goals. A movement that associations, organizations, and businesses should be introducing to their workforces.
Do you need help with your college planning checklist, calming stress and fears, managing education loan repayment, or hosting an onsite employee education and enrichment session? Schedule a conversation. Get College Going, a North Shore-based full-service education advising practice, shares four decades of expertise and experiences before, during, and after college. Visit www.getcollegegoing.com to schedule a conversation.
