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Community Corner

Tips to Help Parents, Students Scope Out Colleges, Scholarships

Here's a quick guide for parents and students preparing for college entrance exams, campus visits and college scholarships. Deadlines are fast approaching so act quickly.

As the mom of a high school sophomore, I'm beginning to realize that the tedious job of helping my daughter find a college and the resources to pay for that institution is one I can't start early enough. 

After only a few hours of researching I realize that the whole college idea is a full-time job, one that doesn’t stop until your student is fully enrolled in his or her college career. There are three phases in the college process–standardized tests or entrance exams, choosing the college itself and finding a way to pay (i.e. scholarships).

It's a good idea to start the search with your high school's guidance page and if you need a little extra help,  set up a meeting with a guidance counselor. 

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Preparation for College: The ACT Test

Sophomores take the Plan ACT during class to give them a sense of how the future ACT test is structured and how they might score. Then, in their junior year, students take a three-day MME test, which includes the ACT needed to get into any Michigan college and the SAT needed to get into private or Ivy League schools.

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Students can also schedule to take the ACT test on their own, which is a very good idea.

The guidance counselors at meet with students in English classes to encourage them to set up an appointment for assistance in applying to colleges.

"We want to work with them and help them with the process," said Barb Zaydel, one of the guidance counselors at Dakota. "Once a year, we have a workshop to assist students in preparing for the ACT test. They can get additional help from places like Macomb College, online websites, and special study books are available, too." 

Students can take the test as often as they want and the highest score will be used.

So step one for my sophomore–plan out her studying and scheduling of all college entrance exams. I found practice tests, and other helpful information, available on websites such as actstudent.org, number2.com, mel.org and michigan.gov/mme.

Along with websites and available workshops, students can also purchase a variety of workbooks in the reference section of area bookstores. Publishers such as Arco, Kaplan, Princeton Review and the ACT Inc. provide prep materials and sample tests that are beneficial, especially if students work within the time limits for each test.

Along with taking the entrance tests, students need to make sure they are taking the proper courses needed to prepare them for college.

"Colleges will look at your course load and see if you took the challenging courses," Zaydel said. "They want to see that you have challenged yourself."

All high school students are required to take the basic college prep classes, but there are many choices, and a guidance counselor can assist students in choosing the best plan.

"We can determine if they need an honors course, an AP course, or if they're missing something," Zaydel said. "Their junior year is the crucial year for classes, so sophomores need to plan carefully."

Selecting the School: Campus Visits

Step two, when my sophomore becomes a junior, she begins meeting with college representatives and visiting college campuses. Zaydel said a student's junior year is the important one to accomplish the college search.

"It's the perfect time to bond with your child by taking some road trips and visiting some college campuses," Zaydel said. "The students need to walk on the campus and see for themselves what the atmosphere is like."

Dakota offers juniors visiting times with college representatives during their lunch hour, sometimes up to three days a week.

"By visiting the representatives the students can begin thinking about where they might want to go and then they can take the tour with their parents," Zaydel said. "There are also college fairs put on by Macomb College and Chippewa Valley Schools."

The Chippewa Valley Schools College Fair is offered to all junior students and their parents. It will be on March 4 during the afternoon when the students have an early release. The students will be bused from the different high schools and brought to Dakota this year for the fair. Zaydel recommends that parents and students attend.

Once the student has taken the entrance test and has a list of potential schools they might like to attend, they need to gather the application information, meet with a counselor and go online to apply. Most Michigan colleges have online applications only, including personal essays that each student must submit.

Paying the Bill: Finding Scholarships

Step three for juniors is finding out what scholarships are available.

Each college has a set of scholarships available just for their incoming students. When I went to the Western Michigan University website, (Go, Broncos!), I found a whole section on scholarships, including the ones offered by WMU and others, too. If you know for certain that you are enrolling at a particular school, make sure to apply for all the scholarships available to you. On top of those, you will want to find any others available.

One that is only available to Macomb Township residents is the Macomb Township Community Foundation Scholarship. According to the MTCF website, to compete for a MTCF scholarship, the student must reside in Macomb Township, be a current graduating senior in high school or already a student at an accredited post-high school institution, have a cumulative 3.0 or higher GPA and return a completed application with two letters of recommendation and a personal essay.

Applicants can apply with an application from their guidance counselor or by downloading one from the website. The deadline for graduating seniors has passed for 2011, but it is one juniors should definitely add to their to-do list.

When going to the "Scholarships" tab on the Dakota website, I counted more than 115 scholarships for which students can apply. There are scholarships for specific colleges and universities and general ones for which anyone can apply. Many have requirements like GPA score and most need a written essay.

Another interesting one I found was the SAMMY award, the Scholar Athlete Milk Mustache of the Year. This scholarship awards a senior $7,500, which would be welcomed by anyone, especially if they enjoy milk. Students need to submit their application online by March 4 and meet the list of requirements.

Those requirements include GPA, leadership qualities, sport or club involvement, age, the list goes on and on. This one had a lot of requirements but is definitely worth looking into. Winners are invited to an awards presentation in Orlando, FL, and could find their photo in milk ads across the country.

The website guidance page gives juniors a checklist to keep them on track. My favroites among the list include starting a file and saving everything pertaining to college admissions; discussing family finances with parents and have parents check employers, churches and organizations to which they belong for potential scholarship offerings; visiting scholarship websites such as fastweb.com or weeklyscholarshipalert.org; and, for athletes, checking with NCAA requirements and visiting the website at ncaa.org.

It's best to apply first for the scholarships for which you can easily meet requirements. So obviously, you need to know the student's GPA and test scores to know which scholarships he or she qualify for and which ones to not bother with. Meet with your guidance counselor to assist in the process.

On the website the counseling page has a great amount of information. One of the best pieces of information included is FAFSA–the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. In Michigan, the deadline for the application to be received is March 1–so hurry!

The website also links to new sites online like Cappex.comwhich includes videos and student reviews as well as tuition, financial aid and detailed majors for more than 3,000 colleges. Another site is SchoolGuides.com and ParentAnswerService.com.

My favorite part of their site is the handbook that students can download. It's not just for LCHN students–any high schooler could use this.

Scholarships for Athletes

We would need to devote an entire article to athletic scholarships alone, but to just touch on the subject, here is what you need to know in a nutshell.

You know your student should apply for an athletic scholarship if he or she has good grades and excels in a sport. But being ready with the proper information is a must. For instance, if your student is a great golfer and has what it takes to get a golf scholarship, you best have the proof. You need proof of scores, a video of your student playing golf, some footage of his or her swing and even a letter of intent.

High school coaches don't always know what the students need to get to a college, and each sport is different, but an easy way to find out is to check out the recruiting sites online.

There are many recruiting sites for college athletes including ncsasports.org or berecruited.com. Another athletic scholarship website to keep an eye out for,  since it is being developed right now, will focus on Michigan Colleges– highschoolathlete.com.

Each of these sites allows the student to create a profile and show his or her talents to college coaches through the Internet. Students and coaches save on time, driving and more, and it helps coaches and student athletes to find each other.

It Will Be Worth It

It seems like a lot of work to find scholarships for your student but the results will be worth it. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college enrollment was projected at 19.6 million in fall 2009, higher than in any previous year. College enrollment is expected to continue setting new records through 2018. Between fall 2009 and fall 2018, enrollment is expected to increase by 9 percent.

The center also reported annual prices for undergraduate tuition and room and board were estimated to be $12,283 at public institutions and $31,233 at private institutions for the 2008–09 academic year.

I think any kind of financial assistance will be helpful for any family. So get started, parents. Help yourself with financial aid, academic scholarships and any kind of scholarships or athletic scholarships. Remember, it doesn't matter where it comes from, all money is green and colleges will take it as long as it's green!

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