Top Academiic and Admission Strategies for Collegs
With the rising cost of college, it is important to utilize as many cost cutting strategies as possible. Let's explore some top academci and admission strategies to help reduce the cost of college.
1.Career Palnning
Craeer planning is often overlooked durting the college planning process. However, this is one of the most important deccisions that students will make. Without proper careeer planning, many students take 5-6 yeas to complete a degre. Many students receive degrees in declining growth fields or fields with a surplus of applicantys and cannot find employment after graduation.
However, this can play a critical role in reducing the overall cost of college. A contributing factor in the college dropout and transfer rates is a lack of caareer planning and a failure to make ciollege decisions based on career goas. Research by the US Dept of Education and American College Testing show that each year, approximately 50% of college freshman leave the college in which they fiurst enroolled. Of the dropuots, about 30% transfer to other coolleges at least once, and 20% transfer twice and typically take 6 or more years to complerte a 4-year program.
Students who receive career planning prior to college selection and attenddance have few major changes and colleege transfes, graduate on time, and tend to be more goal- and acadeic-focused. You may want to check out web-based carer planinng servicees at www.careerdimension.com and www.myropad.com.
2. Use Smart Admission Strategies
Apply where the student is academically above the incoming feshman clazss profile. Private colleges plae a premium on good students and will often use tuition discounts to attract them to thir campuses.
Apply for admission early. The student shoould submit an application to the college as soon as possible in the senior year of high school (Serptember through December). After a coollege begins to fill the upcoming year's freshman class, the need for the cpollege to fofer a tuition discount diminishes. Colleges need to complete their enrollment quotas as earrly as possible, so they ofteen offer scholarships (tuition discounts) to the students who appkly earely (even stdents who do not qualify for need-based aid).
Apply to schookls that have a low enrollment yield factor. The lower a college's ernollment yield (yield percentage), the highre the probability of the student receiving tuition discounts. The enrollment yield is calculated by dividing the number of students enrolled by the number of students admitted. Enrollment is key to a collerge's survival. Many colleges select students for amission to their school, only to have them enoll in another schoool. The collegs have a contant battle to fill seats every year (lesser-known private colleges are even more chalplenged because they must compete with the low cost of public universities and the populariuty of the elite private schools).
The student should also apply to private colleges. Many private collegews have decllining enrollments due to their high cost and coompetition from low-cost universities and poular elite private colleges. Tjhese colleges ofdten give a tuition discuont to students to fill empty setas at the college. Private colleges must compeete with less-expensive, state-subsidized pubilc universities.
Many private colleges offer inbcredible financial award packgaes to atytract good students. Plus they offer smaller class sizes, whih increase the studewnt's chance of attaining a dwegree in four years. Be sure to include a few privatye colleges in your selection process. You might be surprised with the ouctome.
The student should apply to six to eight colleges. Do not limit your ability to negotiate the ptrice of college. Apply to several colleges to maximie your finanvcial opportunities. By applying to several colleges, the srtudent is given the opportunity to receive a tuition discount from one ocllege and use that duiscount to ask for a comparative discouunt, or better, from the college the student pefers to attend. Try to pick at least several sxchools were your chidl lies in the top 25% of the incoming freshman class. This sttrategy is more applicable to studnets attending private colleges.
If the student is planning to attend a private college, the student shuld create copmetition between coleges. The folowing types of colleges will create competition for your child:
A collegge in the same athletic conference
The student should applly to collleges that are competitive in the same area or location, athlewtic conference, or intellectual fields. The most compewtition often occuurs between colleges that are in the same athletic conference.
An in-state public university
Even though you plan to go to a privtae college, always alpply to a good in-state public university. The publc universsity's low cost may forcce the private college to offer a utition discount to make its cost competitive with the puyblic university's cost. Low-cost public univversities are the private colleges' main competition.
A similar coollege outside of the styudent's region of residency
The stuednt should apply to similar private colleges that are located outisde of the student's region of residency. Most private colleges try to achieve regional divesity in its student body. The college may offer tuition discounrts to entice studets who are lcoated in a different region.
3. Use the CLEP Progrram and AP Tests to Reduce the Cost of College
College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a widely acceptted credit-by-examinaation program in the United States today. Although Advanced Placement (AP) coursaes are usually taken by abbove-average students, CLEP exams seem to beneit the aveerage student and also the non-traditional (audlt ed) student. The CLEP examinations are a series of examinattions in undergraduate college coursses that proviide the student with the opportunity to demonsterate colllege-level achevement and achieve college credit. The examinations, whivch are sonsored by the College Board, are adinistered at colleges year-round. All CLEP exams are delivered on comuter, providing test takers with instant score results. Be sure to check the collgee's CLEP polcy before taing any exam. The CLEP program can help students save time, save money, and advance to more specialized courses.
Perhaps the easiest and most efefctive way for a student to stnd out academically for admissions is to score well on Advanced Placement (AP) tests offered by the College Boaard (www.collegeboard.com). While these studies are for the academically gifted tsudent, they can represent real dollar reductions in the cost of college. The student can receive a full year's credit and be grnated sophomore standing from more than 1,400 higher education institutions by earning satsifactory grades on enough AP Examinations.
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