This week a number of seniors will receive decisions from colleges that they applied to under the ED (Early Decision) and EA (Early Action) deadlines. Some seniors have already received decisions from colleges they applied to under rolling admission deadlines. Getting accepted to a college is exciting and should be celebrated! Nevertheless, there is still much work to be done after receiving an acceptance decision to make sure that the college you were accepted to is going to be the “best fit” school for you to attend. Below are important steps to take in order to choose the “best fit” school.
Take (another) visit. If it’s a college you are seriously considering attending, take another on campus visit if you have already visited in the past before you were accepted. A senior will approach the college visit differently after they have been accepted than they would if they were not yet accepted. They begin mentally putting themselves in specific situations, dorms, buildings, etc. as well as really paying attending to their major accommodations and classes. I understand that many of this year’s seniors, due to COVID, may not have visited many of the colleges they applied and were accepted to. I wouldn’t attend a college that you haven’t visited in person. This is advice I give each year but understand that this year may be the first that it just may not be possible to visit before you decide to attend. However, if it is possible, even if you have to wear a mask and cannot go into buildings, I would definitely make a campus visit.
Understand Merit Scholarship(s) You Have Received- Typically, when you receive your acceptance letter, you should also receive any merit-based scholarship money you have been awarded. For many colleges, you won’t know this amount until you receive your acceptance letter because they do not make public the exact amount you should receive (based on your grades and scores) on their website. Some colleges do make you aware of the amount you should receive (based on your grades and scores) so the amount of merit scholarship money in your acceptance letter shouldn’t be a surprise. I would not consider this a final offer. The amount of merit-based scholarship money you receive can’t go down but it can go up. Colleges are businesses, sometimes these initial merit-based scholarships amounts given are lower in the beginning BECAUSE:
- Most don’t ask how they may receive additional merit-aid and follow through with attempting to earn more.
- You may have been given a certain amount based on where you are positioned currently within the students that have been accepted. This position may change based on the students accepted in the regular decision pool.
- You may get additional merit-based aid if you are patient and see if the college meets their yield (students that enroll compared with how many that were accepted).
- Their overall applicant numbers are down for the year and they need to go back to certain accepted students and offer more merit aid to entice them to come.
Understand Need-Based Aid You Have Received- In order to receive any need-based aid you must complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Parents can begin filling out the FAFSA on October 1st of their child’s senior year. Click here to read an article on busting five FAFSA myths and instructions on how to complete it. There are around 400 colleges that also require the CSS Profile. Click here to see a list of these schools and here to access the application. Also, once you submit the FAFSA you will receive an email from PHEAA asking you to complete some information in order to see if you are eligible for a PA State Grant. Remember, grants are free money that you don’t have to pay back. Loans are money that you have to pay back eventually. Based on your EFC (Expected Family Contribution) that the colleges receives, you may get additional need-based grant money from the college as well.
Financial Aid Award Letter- From every college you are accepted to, you should receive a Financial Aid Award Letter. What do these letter’s look like? Click here for a few samples. Each award letter should show the full COA (Cost of Attendance), Financial Aid Summary (Merit-based scholarships, Need-Based Aid awarded and loan options) and then the amount you are responsible to pay. Two great resources you should use once you get your first financial aid award letter are:
- TuitionFit– Allows you to compare your financial aid offers to other students who also were accepted to the same schools you were to determine if you may be eligible for additional financial aid.
- CFPB Calculator– The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has an outstanding tool that will allow you to plug in the information you receive on your financial aid award letter, along with additional financial information to give you an accurate number of what you will be expected to pay for college. This tool can also be used before you receive specific numbers in order to determine how much you may need to receive in merit-based aid in order to attend a certain college.
Will it pay to be patient? YES! YES! YES! Now, I’m not saying that for certain schools that are highly competitive to get accepted at, if you wait to make a decision, you will receive more money. These schools are typically 100% meet need schools anyway so you will know pretty quickly after they receive all of your financial information, what need-based aid they are offering you. Also, you will have a harder time getting additional aid from in-state public universities because they tend to keep their cost low already for in-state students. Here is post from a couple years ago about negotiating your financial aid award offer. One addition I would like to make is not to use the word “negotiate” with colleges. You don’t want to put them on the defensive. Simply let them know that you are waiting until you hear from every college you applied to, weighing each financial aid offer and you hope to make a decision when you know which school will be the best fit. Also, let a college know if they are your top choice or even in your top three schools you are considering at that time. Always ask a college you have been accepted to if there is any additional opportunities to receive more need-based or merit-based aid.
Make the “wise”, not the “popular” decision- One important piece of advice I give all juniors and seniors I counsel is to make sure you have a number of options when you are deciding on where you will eventually attend college. Nobody I know starts looking for a new house, sees the first one they like and puts an offer on it right away. They look at the market, get recommendations on a number of houses, visit a number of them and then make an offer on the one that they think is the best return on their investment (ROI). Then they even may negotiate the price more with the owners of the home to see if they can bring the price down even more. You should also do this when you buy a car. It’s not just about the best fit academically, socially, spiritually, etc., but also the best fit FINANCIALLY. If a senior wanted to go to a college that was $10,000 or more a year than another college they were accepted to, they better be able to convince me that there is something at that college that is worth the $10,000 or more investment. Typically, what the senior is trying to do is convince themselves that the name of the school and the reputation they think it has is worth the $10,000 or more a year investment. This is rarely the case!
As I tell my students often…paying for college is similar to when you are on an airplane headed to the same location, but most people on that plane paid a different price. You want to be one of those that paid the lowest price. You can also use the analogy of being in the same lecture hall at the college you decided to attend. You are all learning the same material but you all paid a different price to be there. Hopefully, you will be one that paid the least amount of money to be there.
