College Admissions Counseling Blog

There is another new article out on the difficulty that students and their families are having paying for college. I have no question that many families do in fact struggle with the costs of higher education. However, I also strongly believe that if students and their families understood college financial aid better, that many fewer students would be struggling.

The problem inherent in the process of paying for college is that the cheapest choice, i.e. the college with the lowest tuition, is not in fact the cheapest choice for many families. Most state schools are cheaper than the private colleges. Yet many of these same "cheap" colleges, gap the amount of financial need that they will meet for their students.

Here is what that means. All families applying for federal financial aid need to complete a FAFSA. That form, using standardized formula, gives a number that a family is expected to contribute to help pay for the students college expenses. Let's say that this number is $5,000. The student looks at two colleges, each costing $20,000. But College A covers 90% of need and College B only covers 50% of need. College A will subtract the FAFSA contribution of $5,000 from the $20,000 cost of the college and come up with a need of $15,000. College A provides financial aid to meet 90% of that need or $13,500. The cost to the family for College A is $5,000 that the FAFSA said they could pay plus an additional amount of $1,500 that the college gapped for a total payment of $6,500.

College B takes that $5,000 from the FAFSA, subtracts it from the $20,000 cost of the college and also comes up with a need of $15,000. But because College B only meets 50% of need they only give financial aid in the amount of $7,500 or 50% of the $15,000 need. The cost of College B to this family is the $5,000 from the FAFSA plus an additional amount of $7,500 that the college gapped. Total cost is $12,500.

Both colleges cost $20,000 but at College A the family pays $6,500 and at College B they pay $12,500. Which is the better deal? That is easy to answer when you understand gapping but few families do and thus often pick the college that has a greater out of pocket expense.

This issue is even more of an issue if the student is also looking at mega expensive College C. College C costs $45,000 a year but they meet 100% of need. When figuring financial aid College C subtracts off the $5,000 from the FAFSA from their cost leaving a need for the family of $40,000. And because they meet 100% of the need, they provide $40,000 in financial aid. All of a sudden, College C is the cheapest college for that student even though it has the highest cost.
For other issues regarding college financial aid, look at the article I put together on college financial aid basics. The more people know, the less college can cost.

There is an interesting article today over at Inside Higher Ed regarding some efforts to make comparison shopping of college loans more of an option. I always encourage families to put some effort into the search for the right college loan as there are many options available. Generally, families should start by looking at loans from the federal or state government as they often offer the best loan rates. However, even when only looking at federal or state sponsored loans, the terms can very from lender to lender on such topics as the interest rate and discount rates for loan origination. Like everything else related to the college process, the more knowledge you have the greater the chance that you will make an informed decision.

I just commented on another blog that I contribute to on a recent study regarding the advantage of taking college courses while in high school. For those who are interested go to the College Admission Guide. If you haven't already found that blog there are several people there besides my self also discussing college admissions related issues and I would recommend that you check it out. When trying to find the right college you can always use more information.

The New York Times recently reported on what they think is a new trend in college admissions: the thank you note. Thank you notes after an interview or after meeting with a professor have always been appropriate and continue to be so as common decency. This has not changed in 100 years. What the New York Times was reporting on are those that are written simply for strategic purposes such as those that include items meant to be meaningful such as food or using college stationary to write the thank you notes.

College admissions officers and other receiving such notes appreciate receiving sincere thank you notes but they are not stupid and those notes sent for strategic purposes are seen for exactly what they are; attempts to gain an advantage by those who do not feel that their academic and other credentials are sufficient to gain admission.

Show common decency and write thank you notes where appropriate. But using insincere tricks to try and gain an advantage doesn't work.

The Huffington Post has a recent post regarding the use of class as the new affirmative action. It summarizes some of the recent articles on why class is a better use for affirmative action than race has been. Whether one agrees with the use of race or class for affirmative action in college admissions, the reality is that such issues exist and need to be understood by all persons seeking admission to college in the current environment.

For the past few years the percentage of women applying to, and attending, college has been increasing relative to the number of men. According to the "State of College Admission" from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, in 2004 women submitted 58% of college applications. The significance of this is that many colleges are increasing the acceptance rate for men compared to women. This is seen most particularly among many of the liberal arts colleges. There are some colleges, particularly those with a more technical focus, where male applications still dominate. At MIT for instance, the 2006 acceptance rate for men was 9.7% while the acceptance rate for women was 22.4%. However, for most colleges, men are beginning to have an advantage in the admission process.

Because of the acceptance rate variations that are developing based on the sex of the applicant it is becoming more important for students to investigate the actual acceptance rate for men and women to determine what the actual rate is for men compared to women.