Tips on College Financial Aid and Admissions

According to the New York Times, a number senior high school graduates is actually on the rise. That is good news. By next year or the year after, the annual number of high school graduates in the U.S. will peak to about 2.9 million that following a 15 year climb. Now, many high school seniors are finding it harder to get into college, this is the catch 22 here, because of a large number of applicants and also with the state of the economy.

Those who do get in are having a tougher time paying for it. So Tim Crowley, Dean of Centenary College is in tonight to talk about this issue and what folks can do once they get that acceptance letter. Where do you go from there financial aid rise? First you should go to that institution itself. Well I think when it gets with the financial aid issue every institution has their own policies, has their own opportunities for financial aid into academic scholarships, athletic scholarships, talent scholarships. Many private Colleges, like the Centenary College also have the opportunity to provide financial assistance in terms of financial need.

I assume to make a federal government financial aid form and just needs with assistance to making that affordable. So you need to start with the school. So what about kids that are sort of in the middle? They’re average students they have these grades, they’re not wealthy and they’re not poor.

Well how do you go about that? Well, at Centenary and I think most private colleges, we have the opportunity through an endowment, and through gifts from friends of the college. Those are exactly the type of people we would like to help. Even at Centenary we go that far with the Live Your Dream Program. We make it affordable where tuitions paid for in their four years of college. I think one mistake families make is look in a price tag and thinking that’s what I need to pay, that’s generally not the case. Most private schools have the opportunity to assist or help out of pocket cost of the family. That probably particularly happens with private colleges with the dollar sign is bigger in the beginning.

Exactly. Most private colleges have large endowments and some of that money set aside for the sole purpose of helping family making going to college more affordable. Ok we touched on so many more graduates, so many more people out there that compete to get into college in the first place. Can you give us some tips some ideas for students how to make themselves appealing to the college during the application process.

The first thing is to start early in the process. I thinks it’s pretty simple on our end to tell the students just starting this you know very late in the process. They really haven’t done their research, haven’t done their homework, right now I think it’s very typical for high school sophomores to be thinking about college. Pool that short list together and then do your research and your homework on each school. Probably the best that you can do and you hear it all the time in college admission is go to campuses and visit.

You did two things that way. One, you get to see the college and see if this is the place that is right for you. But more importantly, equally important really is you demonstrate your interest to that college. Admissions office is going to meet many people and at some point they need to think who is most likely to enroll? And the sooner they would express that interest would be the good thing to do with. I never knew that, you’re a good adviser. Thank you Tim, for coming in to see us. Oh, I’m glad I could help. I appreciate your insight. We’ll be back after a break.