Hornet Senior News
October 2021-School Counseling Department
In this Issue:
- Paying for College
- Financial Aid & Managing College Costs
- What's a FAFSA
- What is the CSS Profile
- The Financial Aid Award Letter
- Scholarships
- Financial Aid Forms Help
- Getting Started on College Applications
- Essay Writing
- Flex Block Help
- Self-Care Corner
Paying for College
This month's edition of the Hornet Senior News focuses on paying for education after high school, a big part of the decision-making process. There are many misconceptions about financial aid. Do your best to stay informed. You can use the following resources to help make decisions about the best financial college situation for you.
Financial Aid Options
How to Pay for College
College Application Essay Writing
Check out the article at the end of this newsletter for essay writing tips.
Financial Aid & Managing College Costs
VSAC has created a presentation for students and families to learn about the process of paying for a post-secondary education. Watch the presentation below or you can access the Financial Aid & Managing College Costs presentation here. This presentation is a great place to start if you have never been through this process before or if it has been a long time since you last paid for college.
Financial Aid & Managing College Costs
What's a "FAFSA" anyway?
FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Students who need financial assistance to pay for college can complete this free application. VSAC offers 7 steps to help you complete your FAFSA form. Your information from the FAFSA goes to the financial aid offices of the colleges you apply to. The financial aid offices use the FAFSA to determine what type of financial aid package they can offer you. The FAFSA opens for submission on October 1st. Please note: financial aid can run out! Check the websites for your colleges to find their deadlines and get your applications completed and submitted with time to spare. The financial aid deadlines may or may not be the same as your college application deadlines. You may receive this information with your acceptance letter or shortly thereafter. You should have notification of your financial aid package before mid-April at the latest in order to make your final college decision and deposit by May 1st.
What is the CSS Profile?
Some colleges require another financial aid application called the College Scholarship Service Profile, more commonly referred to as the CSS Profile. Not all colleges require this form so please check with your college before submitting this application. Unlike the FAFSA, which is free, the CSS Profile costs $25 initially and $16 for each college you send the application to. If you qualified for the SAT or ACT fee waiver you also qualify for a fee waiver for the CSS Profile. Your eligibility for a waiver will be determined while you are completing the application. You must follow your college's deadlines for CSS Profile submission. To learn more about the CSS Profile check out this article. Here is a list of colleges that require the CSS Profile.
The Financial Aid Award Letter
You've sent in your college application and completed your financial aid forms. You received good news that you have been accepted to the college! Now you will receive a financial aid award letter from the college explaining the cost of attendance and what they can offer you for financial aid. This may include work study, scholarships, grants and federal loans. Sometimes these award letters can be confusing. Check out this article at College Covered explaining the financial aid award letter. While you may receive some aid you may also need to come up with more money on your own to pay for the cost of college. This money may come from private loans or your savings plans. If you have received multiple acceptances and award packages you may want to use this financial aid comparison tool to better understand the financial obligations of the offers from each college. In planning for the long term think about the debt you will accrue while in college versus the income you will make when you leave college. And don't forget to ask the financial aid office if the award you will receive in your first year is guaranteed for every year you attend the school as well a if any scholarships you received privately will impact your aid package.
Scholarships
Scholarships are considered "gift money" that you will not need to pay back like a loan. There are thousands of scholarships out there for students entering college. Scholarship applications will have different requirements. They may ask you to write an essay, make a video, make a poster, send your transcript, send recommendations, etc. They target different applicant pools, from national scholarships looking at large numbers of students from all over the country to local opportunities looking at a smaller number of students from Vermont, your county, your town, or even just EHS students. VSAC offers helpful scholarship information about where to find scholarships, how they could potentially impact any other aid you receive and how to look out for scholarship scams.
Scholarships: Free Money!
Financial Aid Forms Help is Available!
VSAC offers FAFSA Fridays: one-on-one assistance with completing financial aid forms via Zoom meetings. Sign up here for your one-on-one meeting. Families with students planning to start college in 2022-2023 must go to https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launchhttps://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/fafsa/filling-out/fsaid to get a FSA ID before you can start your federal forms. Gather the following items before you sit down to start the FAFSA:
- Social Security number
- Alien registration number (if you're not a US Citizen)
- Federal tax returns, including w02s (use your 2019 income information for 2021-2022 college year)
- Records of untaxed income (like child support)
- Bank records (cash, savings, checking account balances)
- Investment information (such as stocks/bonds not in qualified retirement plan, or investment property)
- Your colleges: you must list at least 1 college to receive your information. You may update your choices later to receive aid at a different school.
- Don't forget to go to https://studentaid.gov/fsa-id/create-account/launch to get your FSA ID before you begin your forms.
Getting Started on Your College Applications
The EHS School Counseling web page has step-by-step information about applying to colleges. This can be found under Senior College Application Process. This information is presented to you to assist you in the application process. We ask that students meet with their school counselors 4-5 weeks prior to their first college application deadline. Before the meeting, please watch the videos and read through the application steps. Students can email their school counselor to schedule their meeting.
Essay Writing
The college application essay may not fit into the financial lens of this month's newsletter, but it does fit into the timing of what you can do right now: draft your essay(s)! Some students struggle to get started on a topic and then once they start they spend too much time agonizing over it. Some wait until the last minute to write their essay and quickly slap something together. Check out these articles that offer 10 Tips to Inspire College Essays and How to Write a College Essay to help with your essay-writing process. Have someone look over your essay before you submit it. Your English teacher may be a great resource if you ask for help. Please recognize that the essay is only one part of your college application. Your colleges' admissions staff members will look at the entire application.
Flex Block Help
This is a reminder that you can use the Tuesday Flex block for time to work on your college applications with school counselors. Sign up for the College Application Workshop held in B117. You can use that time to work on your applications and ask school counselors questions about the process.
Self-Care Corner
It is hard to believe we are in October already! Does the year feel like it is moving fast already? Do you have a lot on your plate that you are trying to juggle? Are you feeling overwhelmed with it all? It is important to plan a time in your weekly schedule to sit down and plan out your week ahead in detail. List what needs to get accomplished, places you need to be and the specific times you will take care of everything on your list. It is important to schedule in planning time for yourself each week, maybe it is Sunday, Monday or another day of the week that makes sense to you. When you sit down to plan out your week take a couple deep breaths first to ground yourself and ready your brain for focusing on organizing your week. Your school counselors can assist you with this if you need help getting started.