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Showing posts from January, 2014

Don't Stop the College Search Now

It is almost February, and the college application season has been long, and draining. You most likely have put hours upon hours of your life researching, visiting, contemplating, and applying to colleges. This is a huge decision, and all the hard work will pay off. However, if you are not satisfied with your college list, you do not just have to settle with what you have now. There is still time to search for and apply to colleges across the country. Yes, January 15th was a big day for regular decision deadlines, but there are still hundreds of great colleges and universities that are still accepting applications. If you are not satisfied with your college list, or you have been accepted into a few colleges, but the the financial aid award letter doesn't offer as much as you like, keep looking. There are still a ton of schools that have deadlines in February and March, and even some that are rolling admissions and go into the summer. Below I will list a few prominent universitie

Visiting Colleges Virtually

As I am sure you know, visiting college campuses is one of the most important parts of the college research process. Unless you are commuting from home, the college or university that you choose to attend will be where you eat, sleep, and live for at least four years. College campuses vary in so many ways, and you want to make sure you are comfortable and happy with what the school offers. Elements that should be considered are the dorm rooms, the athletic facilities, classroom sizes and what they offer, technology centers, libraries, green space, and much more. When visiting schools,  you need to ask yourself if this is a college you could see yourself living at. If you are uncomfortable with the school setting and what they offer in terms of their physical plant, it may affect your overall happiness and academic well-being at the school. Although, it is not always possible to visit every school before you apply, you DEFINITELY should visit the school before committing to attend. Wh

FAFSA Finally Here!

Seniors and parents, January 1 st has finally come. Yes, the holidays were great, and celebrating the New Year is always a blast…but the biggest event to celebrate is that the FAFSA is finally live. OK, so completing the FAFSA isn’t the most fun activity in the world, but it is important. In order to receive any financial aid for college, students and their parents must complete the FAFSA online. The website is www.fafsa.ed.gov and the very first word in FAFSA is “free”. There is a FAFSA.com out there, but there is no need to do this one. That website will charge you and offers nothing more than the real FAFSA. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid will use the family’s previous tax returns to estimate how much a family can afford to pay for college and how much aid they can receive. Government aid in forms of grants, loans, and scholarships can potentially come from completing the FAFSA. In the simplest of terms, a family will complete the FAFSA, and the system will even