You’ve been accepted and received your merit awards. You have some great options to choose from, but your top choice’s out-of-pocket cost is a little out of reach. You may be wondering if it’s possible to appeal your merit award, and the short answer is, “Yes, you can!” Each college has its own policy on whether it reviews merit appeals and the basis for which it reviews them. It can’t hurt to appeal for more. You never know if the college is still seeking students like you, or if it is hopeful that a small increase to your award package will help put you on the campus. Let’s review some quick tips for deciphering if a merit appeal is right for you.
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Changes to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) are on the way! With the passing of the Federal pandemic relief legislation in December, Congress also approved several updates to the FAFSA effective with the 2023-2024 academic year. Tucked into the nearly 6,000 pages of the Covid relief bill were many associated with the financial aid system. There is some good news in there such as the removal of many confusing questions on the FAFSA. There are also many changes that will directly affect the methodology used to determine a family’s financial aid eligibility. Let’s explore some of the changes expected to have the greatest potential impact on families:
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The decision about whether to play sports in college is a big one. Perhaps you’ve played tennis throughout high school, but are you good enough to play in college? Maybe you play basketball, but you feel you definitely couldn’t commit to the intensity of a D1 team. Or, maybe you love volleyball, but will playing in college deter you from your studies? All of these are very normal questions to be asking yourself. The decision to play sports or not is a personal one, but here are some points to consider that could help.
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By now, hopefully, your main financial aid applications (FAFSA, CSS Profile) are submitted. For those of you who applied under an early admission program, you may have already seen some financial aid awards. Think you’re done? Sorry: there may be more roads to travel. The colleges and government sure can make this financial aid process convoluted.
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As juniors are being thrust into the college search and exploration process, some students feel overwhelmed and don’t quite know where to start. This blog post is for parents as they attempt to get their teenager to open up about what they want in a college setting and why. Take advantage of a quiet one-on-one moment… in the car, before bed. And really listen to the responses. Some students will have very clear and direct answers, some won’t know much at all yet. But we hope this helps to serve as a starting point for discussions.
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Here at Campus Bound, most of our seniors have at least one, if not all, of their applications submitted. As we sit back and wait to hear the (hopefully!) good news, we move our attention on to our junior students. This is a great time of year for juniors to begin the college search process. In this blog we outline four important big picture ideas not to lose sight of as you begin your search.
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Read More“I make too much to qualify for financial aid, but not enough to pay full for college!”
“I can’t believe these colleges cost so much!”
“I don’t want to limit my child’s choice in college, we’ll figure it out”
The world of college admissions sometimes seems like a waiting game…. and then a mad rush to the finish line. In this blog post we break down the things you should wait on, and those times it makes sense not to wait.
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Sheetal is a college counselor with Campus Bound. Learn more about her in this latest Staff Spotlight.
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If you aren’t already aware, college admission counselors use the term “safety school” to mean a college where a student has a very good chance of being admitted, based on data from previous years. It typically refers to a student’s chance of acceptance, but did you know that there are other types of “safety schools” and it might make sense to consider adding them to your list for various reasons.
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