Mr. K's College Knowledge

For the past decade, there has been two main avenues to apply to college: the Common Application and applying through the college website. Well, it's about to time to add a third option in there, as the Coalition Application has opened for business for the 2016-2017 college application year. In this post, I want to help students and parents understand what the Coalition is all about and how/when/if it should be used during the college process. We will all know much more as the fall approaches, but as of June, 2016, this is what I know... What is this Coalition: The official name of the Coalition is " The Coalition for Access and Affordability ". This idea was put into motion two years ago when the Common Application infamously crashed during the peak application season, causing students, school counselors, and admissions professionals to basically panic. It was not a pretty scene, and a few top colleges began thinking of new ways to improve the entire application proces...

As I am set to embark on a 3-day, 6-college tour of some of the more selective private colleges in New England, I came across this article from USA Today . Recently, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont officially introduced a new bill, titled the "College for All Act", which would eliminate undergraduate tuition at all 4-year public colleges and universities. Also, for all of those people who have graduated from college and are currently swimming in debt, the bill would also decrease interest rates on student loans, from 4.32 to 2.32%. This article describes how the bill would work, and the benefits for everyone. Please check it out, and let's all hope that this bill is a reality one day, or at least that the price of college gets under control. Enjoy the article, and as always, happy searching! Joseph D. Korfmacher, MA

I am very happy to bring all of you some great information on Susquehanna University . I’ve personally visited their campus, and it is a terrific place for any type of student to spend their college years. Please take some time to read these highlights on the school, sent to me from their admissions team. Feel free to reach out to me with any questions, and as always, happy searching! Susquehanna University, located in Selinsgrove, PA., educates students in the liberal arts and sciences and provides them with real-world, professional experiences through the School of Arts and Sciences and the  Sigmund Weis School of Business . The business school ranks among the top 5% of business programs worldwide to have earned AACSB accreditation, a marker of excellence. Recognized by the New York Times as one of the  10 most economically diverse colleges  in the nation, Susquehanna was also named a Best Northeastern College by the Princeton Review’s 2015 Best 379 Colleges. O...

Bentley University - This is a fantastic school right outside of Boston, which specializes in Business, but is not just limited to this concentration. Bentley has an extremely high-tech campus with seven officially high-tech buildings and they even have a 3-D printer accessible for student use. The student population of 4,200 allows for small class sizes and personal relationships with professors. Bentley is a very active campus with 80% of the students participating in varsity or club sports, and 80% of students choose to live on the beautiful green campus all four years. Their top three majors are management, marketing, and finance, and business students have access to one of the nation’s best trading rooms on a college campus. Business students are given real money from the college to trade with and learn from. With career preparation and readiness at the forefront of Bentley’s mission, they are happy to report that 98% of seniors in the past few years have been placed in jobs or a...

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...

As you are all aware, this is both a stressful and exciting time in your lives as seniors and parents of seniors. Many of you have applied to colleges, and others are working on submitting their applications in the next couple of months. Now there is quite a bit of time between waiting for an admission decision, discovering the financial aid package, and selecting the college you will attend. In many cases, a big part of selecting a college will depend on the ability to actually pay for that school. Although most private colleges and universities will average anywhere from $40,000-$60,000 per year in total cost of attendance, the financial aid they offer will vary greatly from next to nothing, to a whole lot of dough. In order for families to be considered for any type of financial aid, families must complete the FAFSA (more information on this below) after January 1 st . Many schools also require families to complete the CSS Profile, which can be completed now. Both of these syst...

So seniors…you are beginning to hear back from the colleges you applied to and most are happy to hear that you have been accepted to many of the schools. However, in the majority of cases, that initial joy inside you and your parents goes away when you see the amount of merit scholarship you are receiving. Sure, $10,000 is a big amount of money to earn in merit scholarship awards and is a great start…but for numerous schools, this is just 1/5 th   of the total amount it costs to attend. As countless private schools are reaching $40,000- $50,000 each year to attend, a $5,000-$10,000 merit scholarship just is not enough. So what do you do? Are you just expected to give up on a college that you think it a perfect fit? Well before you do that, check out these options that can help subsidize the total COA (cost of attendance) of college! FAFSA     - January 1st is the official start date to complete and submit the FAFSA to colleges. Many colleges have deadlines (that are...

It’s only September, but it’s never too early to start thinking about paying for college and financial aid options! Many private colleges cost around $35,000 in tuition and another $10,000 in room and board (and don’t forget about additional fees, including books). All of this equals a cost of attendance (COA) of $45,000+, which is certainly not rare. When financial aid reports come in, students and parents may be happy to see that they received $5,000 per year in merit scholarships and another $5,000 in financial aid. $10,000 a year is great…but that leaves $35,000 per year to possibly pay out of pocket, which comes to $140,000 for a four year education. For most families, this is a very scary sight and if a student is in love with a school, many parents will do whatever it takes to make sure their son or daughter is able to attend. Loans often come into play, either through the school, federally, or privately, and although this is certainly not ideal, in many cases this is the ...