8/9/2019 College Planning: How to Get Your Child Into the Right College

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College Planning: How to Get YourChild Into the Right College

By Robert Pagliarini – Columnist for CBS MoneyWatch

As high school graduation nears, the focusshifts to college. There are several new anduseful resources you should take advantageof that can help your child get into the rightschool and give them the tools they need tohave a successful college experience.

How long would you evaluate making a$200,000 investment into something that

won't start to pay dividends for years or evendecades? How many hours and how muchresearch would you commit before writingthat check? Months most likely. But mostpeople invest more time watching an episode

of Dancing with the Stars than they do planning for college, so saysa recent study conducted by the National Association for CollegeAdmissions Counseling. Their research revealed that the averagehigh school counselor spends just 38 minutes a year on each student'ssearch for the right college.

The consequences are devastating. One in three students who entercollege unaware and unprepared drop out within the first year. Toavoid becoming a part of this statistic, spend some of the other 8hours helping your child address these three big issues:

• Paying for college. The rising cost of education can sometimesexceed college fund savings. Fortunately, the FAFSA is agovernment resource that can help provide financial aid. By filingyour FAFSA, you are eligible to receive federal grants, loans,and other forms of funding to make the rising cost of education

affordable. If you find there are still remaining costs after filingyour FAFSA, private student loans are another resource toexplore. To cut costs, consider a local two-year communitycollege and then transferring to more prestigious university.

• Choosing a major. Before choosing a school, help your childexamine her strengths and interests to aid in discoveringpotential majors. The Princeton Review offers a push in theright direction with a 5 Minute Career Quiz. The quiz offers

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potential career choices based on interests, preferences, andideal work environments. After taking the quiz, students shouldinvest time researching careers that spark their interest. Thiscan help narrow down the overwhelming task of choosing amajor. If they've done the research but are still stumped, don't

worry! They can always enter college as an "undeclared" majorand use their first two years for general education. This will givethem more time to discover their personal strengths anddetermine a future career path.

• Choosing the right school. Once they've chosen a major,finding the right school will help maximize their collegeexperience. Start by helping them prioritize their personalpreferences. Are they willing to relocate? Would they prefer alarger university? Collegeboard is an excellent resource wherestudents can conduct a specialized search to discover potentialcolleges based on their major and personal interests. Onceyou've helped them narrow it down to a few schools, don't beafraid to apply to several. If they get accepted into multipleschools, encourage them to visit the schools to see how they fitin. Campus tours are a great way to discover firsthand both thescholastic and social environment.

The internet makes researching a whole lot easier, but there are alsooffline resources. If you want more personal guidance, considerSuperfutures -- a company that offers classes and coaches who helpstudents achieve acceptance into college, survive through graduation,

and attain success in the professional workforce.

According to Superfutures founder, Jennifer Openshaw, "Even goodstudents don't know what they don't know, and should know, aboutgetting into good colleges, having the tools to succeed and ultimatelyreaching their dreams."

Can you imagine if kids had 38 minutes of guidance each day, week,or even month?! Don't make the mistake of diving blindly into highereducation. Spend a few of the other 8 hours doing your homework onthis huge investment.

(College image by Renjith's Pictures , CC 2.0 )

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For a limited time, you can download 

several free resources (assessment,

 poster, audio interview, video, and 

more) at www.other8hours.com and learn more about my new book, TheOther 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free

Time to Create New Wealth & 

Purpose.

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