| | | Watch The Recording!
Thanks for Attending Thursday's session.
Hopefully you found it informative and useful.
Click below to watch the session in its entirety...
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| | Here are some important topics I discussed:
- College Insights compiles data from multiple sources: IPEDS, Common Data Sets, 3rd party sources, and over 6000 crowdsourced college offers from families
- Multiple ways to use College Insights:
- Check colleges already on your student's colleges list to review if the colleges offer merit scholarships, and if so how much and what did other students receive.
- Do a reverse-lookup: Enter your student's stats and preferences (major, location, size), select to match students in the 75th percentile and review the results of colleges. Sort the columns of "Avg Merit Amount" and "% of Students without Financial Need" in descending order.
- Look for schools with Early Action: There's still time left for students to apply Early Action at many schools. So find a few schools where your student is likely to get merit scholarships and has early action. Add it to your student's list. There's NO downside, only an upside of your student getting a merit scholarship.
Answers to some questions you asked: - Do merit scholarships need a separate application? Sometimes - Yes. This varies college by college. Some colleges review every applicant for a merit scholarship. Other colleges require a student to submit a separate application, potentially with an extra essay too. Check the college's website or call the admissions office to get the specific details for how to apply for merit scholarships at each college.
- When is the latest my student can submit test scores and/or an improved GPA to be considered for merit scholarships? Again - it depends on each college. Some colleges will allow students to submit test scores and/or improved GPAs after they have been accepted. Ask the college!
- Is EFC connected to getting merit scholarships? Yes and No. Your EFC determines whether your student is eligible for needs based aid at each school. If your student is eligible for needs based, a college will offer this type of institutional aid first (up to whatever percentage need the college meets). If your student has no financial need, the EFC is not considered when reviewing your student for merit scholarship eligibility.
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We've already had several hundred families sign up to use College Insights.
Here are what some of them had to say (all of these are unsolicited comments):
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| | | | | My goal is to help families like yours and mine get through college admissions and paying for it with as little pain (emotional and monetary) as possible; and with as much data, tools, and guidance without breaking the bank just to get our kids into college.
I'm always open for suggestions, so don't be shy to email me with your thoughts on College Insights or anything we do on Road2College and Paying for College 101.
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| | | *For now, College Insights is best used from a desktop or laptop. The mobile version will be available in 2021. |
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| | College Insights: Help To Find Merit Scholarships |
| | We have good news - our popular College Data Spreadsheet has been converted to College Insights, an online search site with more data and easier to use functionality.
Here's a sample of what you can search for and compare on College Insights:- Schools that offer the best financial aid
- Schools that are the most generous with merit scholarships
- Four-year graduation rates
- Early Decision/Early Action rates and the % of class accepted Early Admissions
- Regular Decision rates
- Average net price and sticker price of a school
- And a variety of criteria that matters most to you and your student, such as: location, test requirements, school size, majors offered, GPA, financial aid forms required, retention rates, endowment per student, and average loan balances
In addition, College Insights not only lets you see the information supplied by colleges, but by also by members of our own community.
Unlock the black box and look at real college offers other students have received at specific schools over the past two years. This information is valuable now to see what students were actually offered by colleges and it is valuable when your student receives his/her offers in the spring.
By comparing your student's offer to other students' offers, you’ll get a better sense of whether you can ask for more aid, and you'll also be returning the favor of sharing information by paying it forward for the next family and those in the future.
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| | | | My goal is to provide affordable services, insightful information and access to actionable data so your family can make more informed decisions about college.
Feel free to respond to this email with any questions you have. |
| | Debbie Schwartz Founder, Road2College I'm a parent, like many of you, navigating college admissions and paying for college. With an expertise in personal finance, analysis, and marketing, I'm working to give families the information and tools to make smarter financial college decisions. |
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