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  • collegepete 1:34 pm on June 15, 2011 Permalink | Reply
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    Major Legislative Changes To Bright Futures’ Requirements 

    First the changes (then my commentary). 

    1. All students who wish to qualify for a Bright Futures Scholarship MUST complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid, also known as FAFSA, even if they aren’t seeking federal financial aid.
    2. Starting with the 2011-12 high school year, graduates will be required to do more community service hours.  To qualify for a Florida Academic Scholars, you will need 100 hours instead of 75 hours, Florida Medallion Scholars will need 75 hours, and Florida Gold Seal Vocational Scholars will need 30 hours.
    3. Test scores will also change for Florida Medallion Scholars who graduate in the 2013-14 school year. Requirements have gone from 1050 on the SAT to 1170, and from 23 to 26 on the ACT

    You can read more about the new legislative requirements at the official Bright Futures Website.

    Regarding the changes to Bright Futures, my position has been and remains as follows:

    Bright Futures and Florida Pre-paid do not in and of themselves constitute a sound college strategy.  First, admissions to a quality FL State College is not guaranteed.  In fact, college acceptance rates this past year for in-state students were the lowest ever… and you can expect that trend to continue as State University Officials look to out-of-state students to boost their total net tuition revenue.  Second, both programs represent only a very small portion of the financial ‘inducements’ available to students – and with proper and integrated planning – you may find that so-called pricier private options are actually far less expensive and offer better academic preparation than our in-state system.  And finally, no matter which school your child ends up attending, the government will expect you to pay your fair share towards the cost of college.  They call this your Expected Family Contribution (EFC) and it is derived from your responses on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).  It is the minimum amount of money any school will expect you to pay.  AND most importantly, it is a number that you can ‘manage’ with proper and ADVANCE planning. 

    If you haven’t done a FAFSA – and still expect your child to qualify for a Bright Futures award this school year (or in the future), you should attend my workshop on June 23rd where I will teach you the rules, loopholes, and landmines behind the Title IV Financial Aid Regulations (that are used to determine your EFC).  Know these rules, you win.  Stay in the dark and you could sacrifice thousands of dollars in Bright Futures, not to mention the $150b available in Institutional scholarships and Federal grants that you would have otherwise qualified for.

    I will also show you how to help your child pick other schools that meet his or her academic and social aspirations, AND have the ability to offer you a significant discount.  The difference in the pricing and discounting among similar schools is often substantial and should be the chief driver of your admissions strategy. 

    Anyone who has college-bound or college students at home should attend this class.

    Best Wishes,

    Peter

     

  • collegepete 1:44 pm on May 10, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , Public Institutions, , , ,   

    Oh, The Thick Envelope! 

    Do you want to receive the ‘Thick Envelope’ in the spring of your student’s 12th grade year?  It’s the Thick Envelope that comes with a letter of admission, along with other forms for housing, orientation, deposits, payment, and perhaps even financial aid.  Often you can determine whether your student is in or out just by looking at the envelope’s thickness.

    For an inside track to receiving the Thick Envelope, do yourself a favor and watch this brief, 10 minute video on Top 7 Insider Admissions Tips.  These are valuable nuggets that you and your student should follow to improve your admissons chances.  I cover these tips and MUCH MORE during my 4th Annual College Pete’s ‘Thick Envelope Magic’ Admissions and Application Boot Camp.

    • This event is for rising 12th graders during the summer before senior year.  Along with these insider tips I also cover
    • The all-important application essay
    • Key strategies on visiting colleges
    • interviewing strategies that make a strong, positive impression
    • The right way to ask for teacher recommendations so that they’ll THANK YOU!
    • Researching and selecting colleges so that you maximize your chances for admission
    • Doing the little things to improve your chances at admission

    Last year’s attendees had the following to say about my event:

    “You actually explained things to me that I’ve never heard from my guidance counselor or anyone else.”  C.H.
    Accepted to: Hope College, Alma College, Muhlenberg College, Denison College, USF, University of Tampa

    “I now know how to prepare for the essay and what to do about the interview process.”  S.R.
    Accepted to/Headed to:     UCF  Full Ride

    “I was so relieved with the schedule prepared for us and learned a lot about the process, how to fill out the forms and my responsibilities.”  D.L.
    Accepted to:     UF (Full Ride), Colorado College, Emerson College

    “I’d recommend this event to every senior.”  V.V.
    Accepted to:     George Washington University, Boston College, Boston University, UF, FSU, University of Miami
    Attending: George Washington University with $32,000 in aid

    For more information or to register for the event, go to http://www.thick-envelope.com.  The price is $247, but if you act before June 1 you can save $50 of the fee.  Give your student a head start this summer!

    Best,
    Peter

     

  • collegepete 4:43 pm on May 2, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , Public Institutions, ,   

    Decision Day! 

    Last Friday was ‘Decision Day’ for our college-bound high school seniors.  It was a stressful week for many, me included, as offers were weighed, appealed and weighed again.  The good news is that when the dust settled at about 5:30 pm on Friday, the vast majority of our students had been accepted to and received considerable inducements to attend one of their top choices.

    The tally:  The overall acceptance rate across the country was 67% according to the NY Times – slightly lower than the 70% I projected, and there was some definite head-scratching, and even outright bizarre turns.  Like students accepted at Brown, but rejected from Vanderbilt; or in at Duke but not Tufts, or in at Indiana but not UCF. 

    Nearly every school saw an uptick in the sheer number of applicants.  And even those that didn’t , with very few exceptions, admitted fewer students as a percentage of applicants than they did last year.  The results shouldn’t surprise – especially as more and more schools have begun accepting the Common Application.  In fact, more than 2 million online applications were filed this year – about 20% more than were filed last year.   Other drivers of ‘application inflation’ and the overall decline in the ‘admit rate’ include supply & demand – the largest number of high school students applying to college ever, vying for the same slots at so-called ‘hot’ schools (thank you US News & World Reports); cold winters that made Southern schools like Vanderbilt more geographically desirable than ever;  fatigue (of the admissions officers reading more applications than ever), and state schools that intentionally accepted more out-of-state students to raise their average net revenue.  There are more reasons, obviously, but I want to spend some time telling you what to do about it.

    Why Less is More!

    More than anything else, what I have seen is, that despite technology or perhaps because of it (see my notes on application inflation above), college admissions — which includes not just who gets in, but what price they’ll pay (list v net) –is a very ‘personal’ process, managed by real people who are moved by emotion and subtleties that are not reflected in scores, GPA or class rank.  What separates two seemingly identical students on paper are intangibles like the student’s demonstrated interest in a school, expressed career aspirations, potential contributions on campus, their ability to move the needle on the school’s competitiveness, etc. 

    In nearly every case that I was involved in, the students who received the best awards were those whose families were able to effectively and sufficiently demonstrate three things: Need, Value AND Desire.  For students who had made a personal connection with the school in some way, I saw money found quite literally in the 11th hour.   

    So, in a crowded field, the importance of niche positioning cannot be underestimated.    What I mean is that instead of defensively submitting more applications to ‘cover your bases’, even if  technology makes it enticing to do so,  it’s far more efficient to build a targeted list of 8-10 schools that you know in advance will consider your demonstrated financial need, find value in your student (be it academically, socially or even geographically), and meet your student’s academic, social and aspirational desires… and then focus your family’s energies on demonstrating those things to those schools. 

    The irony is that while there is now more information available than ever – including various school rankings, net cost calculators, ROI estimates, etc.,  the process is becoming more daunting and confusing than ever.  The best advice I can offer is to go for depth over breadth, look beyond the obvious to identify great schools where you’ll be able to leverage your student’s strengths, and to have an integrated admissions strategy that is driven by both the scholarly and the financial by the time your student is in 11th grade.  (For those of you who have rising seniors, I’ve added a special ‘early bird’ admissions prep program to kick start the application process THIS SUMMER, before your student even steps foot into school for their 12th grade year.  Click here for more info.)

    Last week I promised to issue a ‘disslist’ of schools that ‘market’ themselves as meeting 100% of a family’s demonstrated need.  I’m going to hold off on that until I am certain that all of my families have submitted and/or withdrawn their acceptances.  My goal is to hand out a list of 60 schools that claim to meet 100% of demonstrated need at tomorrow night’s workshop and then discuss all the ways some of those schools tried to wiggle their way out of that claim.  I’ll also give a few honorable mentions to school’s whose generosity surpassed my expectations. 

    If you have a child in high school who plans to apply to college in the next few years – or know of someone who does – please consider joining me tomorrow night at 6:30 at the Upper Campus of The Sagemont School in Weston.  This will be the last class I’m teaching in Broward until next Fall.

    Best,
    Peter

    P.S. There is no charge to attend the workshop tomorrow night.  However, if you don’t go, it could cost you and your family thousands in lost financial assistance.  The time to take action is NOW, and not when your child is in 12th grade and it could be too late.

     

  • collegepete 9:59 am on March 29, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Public Institutions,   

    Will Free Tuition at MDC Encourage Mediocrity? 

    Miami Dade College recently announced that it was offering free tuition to all high school graduates from Miami Dade high schools, public or private, who earn at least a 3.0 weighted GPA. This is great news for students and parents who feel pinched by the rising cost of a college degree, and it should open the door to greater opportunity for many students of lower income households.

    The concern here is that this new policy will encourage mediocrity.

    While free tuition is great, it may lead students to enroll at MDC when they may be better served going to a 4-year university or even a private college that has a generous financial aid program. Remember – you get what you pay for. Miami Dade College is already the largest higher education institution in the nation at over 170,000 students. It’s over-crowded, with students having difficulty enrolling in some classes. The stated strategy among many who enroll at MDC is that they will get their A.A. in 2 years, then transfer. But the reality is that it will likely take much longer than 2 years to earn their A.A. By the time they’re done and ready to transfer, they’re well into their 20s and ready for a full time job, not another 2 years (or more) working towards their bachelors degree.

    My advice is to apply to a number of 4-year colleges, both private and public. About 6-8 schools, or up to 10 max should be fine. Apply for financial aid by completing a FAFSA, and make sure you meet the priority deadlines. If things don’t work out, then you can always fall back on the option of enrolling at a local community college.

    If you live in South Florida and want to understand how to afford a 4 year college, then check out one of my free community workshops. My next event is on Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 pm at the Alonzo & Tracy Mourning Senior High School, in the Media Center. For more info or to register, visit http://www.LearnCollegeFunding.com.

     

  • collegepete 1:36 pm on March 18, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , , , , , Public Institutions,   

    Will They Really Cancel FL Prepaid? 

    Today’s Herald and Sun-Sentinel ran stories about a proposal in the FL Senate to suspend the ever-popular FL Prepaid Program. While this proposal is far from becoming law, it does indicate the dire financial straits that the State finds itself. The concern from Sen. Evelyn Lynn (R-Ormond Beach) is that, with rising state tuition of 15% per year, the FL Prepaid Program will not have the earnings to keep up with such tuition hikes given the volatility in the stock market. Even though the Plan does not invest in the stock market, tuition hikes of 15% per year put a severe financial strain on a plan that is based on 6-7% increases per year.

    The Good News: if you already have a plan, you are unaffected by this proposal.

    The Bad News: The FL Prepaid Plan only covers a small fraction of the total cost of attendance (COA). The current COA at a FL school is, on average, $18,000 per year. That includes tuition, room, board, books, fees, travel money, pizza money, etc. The typical FL Prepaid Plan provides about $3,000 – $4,000 per year. That leaves you with about 15-Large left over to pay for one year at a State U.

    The Ugly News: Bright Futures, the scholarship program that is funded by our collective lottery addiction, is expected to shrink by $1,000 per student. And that’s if your student can meet the new standards of qualification. Also, it’s getting tougher to even get accepted to a FL state school, as reported by the Sun Sentinel this morning.

    If you are tossing and turning at night, wondering if you will be able to afford a college education for your child, then don’t miss my upcoming workshop next Wednesday, March 23. To register, visit http://www.LearnCollegeFunding.com. The event is free, but it could cost you thousands if you don’t hear this information.

    Also, if you missed my segment last night on “The Jonathan Zaslow Show”, then click here to listen in for 10 minutes of pure infotainment.

     

  • collegepete 1:48 pm on January 11, 2011 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , California, Public Institutions   

    California To Slash Education Budget 

    Newly elected California Governor Jerry Brown has proposed a $1.4 billion cut in funding for public higher education in that state. This draconian measure is part of an effort to address a $28 billion budget shortfall. The University of California system would face a $500 million reduction, severely affecting resources at what is considered one of the nation’s top public institutions.

    How about this: for the first time, state contributions per student ($7,210) will exceed what students pay themselves, on average ($7,930).

    A quality public education in California, Florida, or any other state can still be had, but it’s becoming harder to find. Over-crowded classrooms, little or no intereaction with professors, online classes – all of this combined with higher tuition and fees make the public option less valuable. While the University of Florida ranks #2 in Kiplinger’s list of Best Value Public Universities, parents and students should expect that, even there, some classes will be offered online to save the school money, a practice that can diminish the learning experience. Other classes will be just overcrowded, and don’t even think about trying to meet with a professor during office hours. Office hours? Go meet with the TA.

    When compiling a list of colleges, all students should consider in-state, public schools. But don’t overlook private colleges and universities because of the sticker price. Private schools have larger endowments, which they use to award generous financial aid packages. For some, a private school can end up costing less than the public option. For others, the private school financial aid offer can certainly narrow the gap in cost, making the private option a relative bargain.

    To learn more, check out http://www.EmergencyFinancialAid.com and register for one of my workshops.

     

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