58 THE QUEENS COURIER • EDUCATION • OCTOBER 17, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
education
Paving the way to college: Four things parents need to know
Senior year: It’s a time to fi nish college
applications, solidify friendships and look
forward to the freedom and the responsibility
that come once that fi nal bell rings.
A lot of feelings surface during that fi nal
year, especially for parents. While your
son or daughter might be overjoyed to
fi nally fl y the coop and live independently,
you’ll probably be dealing with your
own mix of emotions, and you’ll want to
be sure they’re ready to begin college in
the fall.
For families with a child headed to college,
senior year is best thought of as a
transition year. Plan ahead to make sure
your family stays on track.
To help you and your child with a successful
transition, here’s the essential list
of landmarks on the road that will take
your child from a senior in high school to
a freshman in college.
1. Apply yourself in the fall
Th e journey to college begins early, and by
the fall of senior year in high school, your
child should be in full transition mode.
Th ey should be fi nishing campus visits
and fi nalizing the list of colleges where
they want to apply. Make sure they’ve spoken
with admission counselors, thoroughly
researched schools they’re interested in
and have everything they need to complete
their college applications.
Keep tabs on important deadlines and
stay organized to avoid missing any critical
due dates. For example, will they want
to apply early decision or early action? If
so, make sure you have weighed how this
could impact your fi nancial plan for college.
2. Focus on fi nancial
aid from the start
For many parents, one of the biggest
anxieties around college is the cost.
Don’t forget that the Free Application
for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) opens
on Oct. 1, and some aid is awarded on a
fi rst-come, fi rst-served basis. Make sure
you submit the form as soon as it’s available.
Because everyone has diff erent needs,
fi guring out how to fi nance your child’s
education requires some research.
At College Ave Student Loans, you can
fi nd private loan options for parents and
students. Even if you’re not ready to take
a loan out yet, parents and students can
try out the fast and easy pre-qualifi cation
tools to fi nd out if their credit pre-qualifi
es for a loan, and what interest rates
they could expect, all without impacting
their credit scores. Calculators are
also available to help you explore your
options and see how you can customize
the loan payments to fi t your budget.
3. Spring time is decision time
Early in the spring, your child will
start to receive their fi rst acceptance letters.
Once they’ve heard from all of the
schools where they applied, they’ll have a
big decision to make.
Th ey need to do more than just decide
which school to attend; they’ll also need
to send in a deposit, complete their housing
form and accept fi nancial aid packages.
A crucial step in this process is comparing
award letters from the colleges
where your child has been accepted. In
reading these letters, pay close attention
to how schools list the total costs. For
instance, some schools will subtract the
awarded loan amount from the total cost
of attendance, while others will not. Th is
could make the net cost of some schools
appear less than others when in reality
they are not, so take your time reading
the documents.
4. Tie up everything
in the summer
Before they head to campus, you and
your children should create a budget to
keep tabs on college bills. Th is will help
you to stay on track fi nancially and set
the right expectations about how they
need to manage their money.
You can help your soon-to-be freshman
by working with them to outline
a monthly budget that will take
into account expected and unexpected
expenses. Take a look at their fi nancial
aid packages and any income they might
be earning and block out the monthly
mandatory expenses. Th en decide how
much money they can spend on things
like entertainment.
If you fi nd that scholarships, grants and
federal aid don’t cover everything, private
loans could be one solution for some college
bound students.
For parents and students, senior year
is an exciting period. Knowing what
steps to take and staying ahead of fi nancial
matters with useful tools like the
ones at College Ave Student Loans can
help make the transition easier for
everyone.
Courtesy BPT
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