College Admissions Help Blog

…off your mind, that is. While I hope you’re taking time to enjoy the beginning of summer and are getting excited for college this fall, I’m sure that many of you are worrying about how to pay for school – but no fretting, because I’m here to guide you!

For those situations where federal aid simply doesn’t cover all of your expenses, you may want to consider two options – Parent PLUS loans and Private loans. Parent PLUS loans offer the great benefits of federal loans such as deferment and forbearance, but in the name of the parent rather than the student.

If your parents are not eligible for a Parent PLUS or do not want the extra burden, then you can always consider a private student loan. Private loans are offering more options than ever, with interest rates continually dropping. The StudentLoanNetwork recently posted about all of the great new changes taking place in the world of private loans, so check out their blog for more information!

Hopefully with these tips, you’ll be able to enjoy you summer more and worry about how to pay for college less!

Without a set end point, or goal in mind, students (or anyone for that matter) tend to flounder in making life decisions. It is easy to be persuaded by friends, family and academic advisors, but each individual has a passion or strength that only they can tap into in order to find success and personal satisfaction. Getting advice can help you think about what is important, but in the end, if you don’t choose your own path you may end up having it chosen for you!

If you are feeling the pressure of preparing for college and are not sure how to achieve success, or if you want to take more control of your life, it is time to slow down and start making some goals!

What is a Goal?

A goal is a desired result, an objective that one can meet. A goal can be to get through a hard day of school, to own your own business, or to ace a final exam. When you become aware of these goals, that you undoubtedly have already conceived of, you can start celebrating your achievements and making decisions that help you better attain your desired lifestyle as a result.

Keeping a variety of goals is important so that you can make sure that you get what you want out of your own life. Everyone has a dream of what they want to become later in life. Sometimes dreams are extremely vague and non-directional, like a dream to start a family or change the world, while others can be as specific as becoming the CEO of a financial corporation. Whatever your dreams, it’s important that you make both long term and short term goals to help you get there!
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Calling all ScholarshipPoints members! The $10,000 scholarship winner has just been posted on the winner’s page, so head on over to ScholarshipPoints.com to see if you’re the lucky student who’s won! Don’t forget, if the winner doesn’t claim the prize within 3 days, a new winner will be drawn!

About ScholarshipPoints

For those of you who haven’t heard, ScholarshipPoints.com is a program developed to give back to students and help with rising education costs. They give away thousands of dollars each year through monthly scholarship drawings, and they even give away a whopping $10,000 to one lucky student quarterly! It’s free to join and easy to use. Just sign up, earn points by completing activities, then enter those points into drawings for scholarships! You can even enter the HowToGetIn Sponsored drawing

Not a ScholarshipPoints member? Join now and start earning scholarship points!

Of all of the qualifying criteria a student is judged on, such as high school transcripts and extracurricular activities, standardized test scores seem to incite the most panic from college-bound students. Whether it is because it seems like such a definitive number to be judged on, or because you are not the “testing type”, it is important to know this isn’t the only factor colleges consider.  In this post we break down the relative importance of test scores in the college admissions process and offer a little more background about the tests to put you at ease! (more…)

When you are preparing for college and creating a budget, do not neglect the high cost of textbooks and supplies. Some consider these costs to be “hidden” as they are not listed in the college brochure or website and are not usually seen until you are actually enrolled in a college course. College-level textbooks can be as much as 150-200+ dollars, and another hidden cost, lab fees can range from 80-200 dollars for some courses.

How do you deal with hidden costs when paying for college? (more…)

To all you high school seniors out there, I want to say a quick congrats for making it this far! But while you hopefully know your college plans for next year, there are still some last minute items you should stay on top of.

Send in your transcripts

Your final HS transcripts should be available any day now, and it’s important to remember to have these sent to your college or university. The final transcripts can have a big impact on your college admission. Schools can not only revoke an acceptance if you show significantly poorer grades, but any merit aid you may have received could also be in jeopardy. While these are extreme cases, it’s still important to get your final transcripts in!
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