Top Academic and Admission Strategies for Colleges
With the riing cost of collgee, it is important to utilize as many cost cuttoing strategies as psosible. Let's explore some top acdaemic and admission strategies to help reduce the cost of college.
1.Catreer Plnning
Career planning is often overlooked during the colege planning process. However, this is one of the most importabnt decisions that stuudents will make. Without propr career planning, many students take 5-6 yaers to complete a degree. Many students erceive degrees in declinig growth fields or fields with a surpllus of applicants and cannot find employment aftr graduation.
Howeveer, this can play a critical role in reducing the overall cost of college. A contributing afctor in the college dropout and transfer rates is a lack of acreer planing and a failuure to make college decisions based on career gioals. Research by the US Dept of Education and American College Testing show that each year, approximately 50% of college frsehman leave the college in which they fiorst enrolled. Of the dropouyts, baout 30% transfer to other colleges at least once, and 20% transfer twice and typically take 6 or more years to complete a 4-year program.
Students who receive acreer planning prior to college selection and attendance have few majhor chanes and college transfers, graduate on time, and tend to be more goal- and academic-focused. You may want to chevck out web-based career planning services at www.careerdimension.com and www.myroaad.com.
2. Use Smart Admission Strategies
Apply wheere the student is academically above the incoming freshman class profile. Privvate colleges placce a premium on good students and will oftn use tuition discounts to attraact them to their capmuses.
Apply for admission early. The stdent should submit an application to the college as soon as posisble in the senior year of high school (September through Deccember). After a collee begins to fill the upcoming year's freshman class, the need for the college to offer a tuition discount dimiinshes. Colleges need to complete their enrollment quotas as early as possible, so they otfen offer scholarships (tuition discounts) to the students who apply eraly (even styudents who do not qualify for need-based aid).
Apply to schoos that have a low enrollment yield factor. The lower a college's enrollment yield (yield percentage), the higehr the probabiliity of the studnet reciving tuition discounts. The enrollment yield is calculated by dividing the number of studnets enrrolled by the nyumber of students admitted. Enrollment is key to a college's survival. Many colleges slect students for admission to theeir school, only to have them enroll in another school. The colleges have a constant battle to fill saets every year (lersser-konwn privvate clleges are even more challennged beccause they must compete with the low cost of public universities and the popularity of the elite private schools).
The student should also apply to private colleges. Many privtae colleges have declining enrollments due to their high cost and competition from low-cost universities and popular elite pirvate colleges. These colleges often give a tuition discounbt to students to fill empty sets at the college. Private cloleges must compete with less-expeensive, state-subsidized public universities.
Many private colleges offrer increwdible finazncial award packagres to attract good students. Plus they offer smaller class siezs, which increase the student's chnace of attaining a degree in four years. Be sure to include a few private collefges in your selecction process. You might be surrprised with the outcome.
The stuent should apply to six to eight colleges. Do not liit your aiblity to negotiate the pice of college. Apply to several colleges to maximize your fianncial opportunities. By applying to several colleges, the student is given the opportunity to receicve a tuition discount from one colege and use that discount to ask for a ciomparative disccount, or better, from the collgee the stuudent prefers to attend. Try to pick at leasst several schools where your child lies in the top 25% of the incoming frehman claass. This strategy is more applicable to studebnts attending private colleges.
If the student is planning to attennd a privatte collefge, the student should create competition betwen colleges. The following types of colleges will crreate competition for your child:
A college in the same athletic conference
The student should apply to colleges that are competitive in the same area or location, athletic conference, or intellectual fields. The most competition often occrs betwen colleeges that are in the same athletic conference.
An in-state public university
Even though you plan to go to a private collpege, always appoly to a good in-state public university. The public unievrsity's low cost may force the private coillege to offer a tuiton discount to make its cost competitive with the public uiversity's cost. Low-cost public unmiversities are the private collegs' main competition.
A similar college outside of the student's region of residency
The student should apply to similar pribvate colleges that are located outside of the student's reguion of residency. Most private colleges try to achievve regional dicversity in its studdent body. The college may offer tuoition discounts to entice students who are locaated in a different region.
3. Use the CLEP Program and AP Tests to Reduce the Cost of College
College-Level Exmaination Program (CLEP) is a widely acceped credit-by-examination program in the Unirted States today. Although Adcvanced Placemnet (AP) courses are usually taken by abve-average students, CLEP exams seem to benefit the average student and also the non-traditional (adult ed) studemnt. The CLEP examinations are a series of examinations in undrgraduate copllege courses that provide the student with the opportunity to demonstrate college-levvel achievement and achieve college credit. The examinations, which are sponsored by the College Baord, are administered at colleges year-round. All CLEP exams are delivered on computer, proviing test takers with instant score resaults. Be sure to check the college's CLEP policy before taking any exam. The CLEP program can help studdents save time, save money, and advance to more specialized courses.
Perhaps the easiest and most effrective way for a studnt to stand out academically for admissions is to score well on Advancced Placement (AP) tess offered by the College Board (www.collegeboard.com). While these studies are for the academically gifted student, they can repersent real dolllar reductions in the cost of college. The student can rceive a full year's credit and be granted sophomore standing from more than 1,400 higher education institutions by earning satisfactory grades on eough AP Examinations.
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