Let College Be a Money-Maker Not a Money-Taker

*This will be the most important post on this blog*

In my will-be four years of college I'll have made $5,500 cash; no taxes taken out, no weekly schedule, no work involved except an initial application process. I bet I made this amount of money in less than an hour, total.

You hear it all the time, thousands of scholarships don't ever get applied for, and thousands of scholarship dollars never go to students.

That is quickly followed by high school and college students saying "Where? How do I find these?"

Everyone wants the financial means to further their education. No one wants to be paying student loans for 10 years after college. Let's face it. College is an investment. You don't want to throw away your money if you're not going to see a gain in the long run. That's why we go to college. It's not for the social responsibility, it's rarely to gain a better understanding of the world, it's always so you can live the American dream and make a decent living.

Let's be basic. The less money you put into college, the better off you are. We're not even going to talk about the prestige of a really great school's title or the amount of money your profession is going to make you. In the end, the less money YOU have to spend in college the better.

I read an article in my early years of high school about a girl who was basically your average super-genius. She was 16 starting college, and had it figured out that when she graduated college, she would have enough money from scholarships and grants that the college would actually be PAYING her to come to school. It sounded so far fetched. I wanted to be that girl.

I am not a super-genius.  I did not graduate high school early. Yet somehow, I have become that girl. I go to an in-state school where I lived on campus with a meal plan for 3 semesters. I never paid for any of my oh-so-expensive books, and in the end when I graduate in May of 2011 the school will pay me $5,500. Yes, I will take a few thousand dollars with my diploma, thank you, have a great day.

I only had a total of 5 scholarships. No loans, no grants, just those 5 scholarships. Two of them were only applicable for my freshman year. I promise you that it isn't hard, it isn't time consuming and it is 100% possible.

Let's talk scholarships:

• SCREW FASTWEB - First and foremost. A waste of your overall time. I never received a scholarship that I found through a FastWeb search and I had a 4.0 GPA. The scholarships are real, but so many people apply for them that you have very little chance of winning. Sorry, it's been the reality for me too. This also goes for any large scholarship search. Most aren't worth the effort.
• Do the Hard Ones - Scholarships that are easy to apply for, again, have way to many applicants. Of course, it doesn't take much time to apply for them, so taking the chance may be worth it, but don't rely on them. Write a few good essays even if they have to be long, and let the motivation set you apart. Motivation counts for so much in the real world.
• Get a Second Opinion - For your essays, maybe you should have an English teacher read over it. Give your teacher the requirements of the essay. He/she is a great resource and they are almost always excited to assist students who care about their future.
• Hit up the Guidance Counselor - Okay, above I said your English teacher is your greatest resource, but really it's a tie between them and your Guidance Counselor. Your guidance counselor knows the insides and outsides of local scholarships. Typically they have applications in their office, or at least a website where you can find one. And those are the scholarships worth applying for. So skip lunch one day and go see what you can do to get that money!
• Interest Groups - Let's say you are on the ball. I like to believe you are. Let's say you know what you want to major in, and perhaps what kind of a career you want to go into. Nearly every field has interest groups. For Hotel Restaurant Management we have the National Restaurant Association, The American Hotel and Lodging Association and The International Ecotourism Society just to name a few. A lot of these interest groups offer students scholarships. Some will even let students join free and that's a great resume booster!
• Go for Honors - When you've decided on a school, apply for their Honors Program. Some may not accept freshman, but it's different for each school. Nine times out of ten they offer heafty scholarships. My Honors scholarship pays for my entire tuition. I know some who's Honors scholarships pay for tuition, room & board and books. Honors can be a beautiful thing.
• Get Scholarships for All Areas - The best scholarship is one that you can use for tuition, room & board and books & supplies. Trust me. Read the details.
• My Newest Secret - Story Time! I was sitting in the computer lab the other day listening to some people talking about scholarships. In college, the best way to stay informed is by talking to other people. He said that he (note: he) had been getting a scholarship from Women of Engineering (can I drop names?) . Now you see it all the time. Scholarships inteneded for only minorities or women or people of such-and-such decent. APPLY EVEN IF YOU AREN'T IN THAT CATEGORY OF PEOPLE. It's perfectly fine to do so. And here's the best of it: they can't discriminate against you because you aren't of that category. So if you need a little "Why America is Great" reminder, there it is. If you're still a little apprehensive, many times on applications for Race and Gender there will be an option "Do Not Wish to Specify" or something of that nature. Check it. Get out there and fight against reverse discrimination.
  
• Do Your FAFSA - It's a pain. They pry. They ask too much personal information. They aren't going to give me any money anyway. I know. Do it though. Many scholarships require that you do.

There's your dose of Erica love for the day. Please, get out there and get some money to go to college.

If you're from Maryland a great scholarship website is http://www.mhec.state.md.us/financialAid/descriptions.asp

If you're from the Eastern Shore, Bennett High School has a great scholarship database for local ones. http://jmbscholarships.wikispaces.com/

Choosing the Right College: Part II

Although I recommend applying to both four year schools and a local (or not-so-local!) community college, you should have a general idea of which is right for you. Most people don't really have that great of an idea what the difference is. Community college is just a college without dorms, that typically offers only enough classes in each major to provide an Associates Degree (a "two year" degree). Of course there are exceptions, but for the sake of of being simplistic, that is the general difference. In general, most people looking towards a degree from a community college are looking at ones in their area, within driving distance, but I do know a few who have sought living arrangements, and moved to the area of their ideal community college. It's not typical, but it's definitely an option.

So let's look at the difference between a community college and a college or university.

Community college:

• Centered around commuters - Community colleges are designed to convenience people who drive to school each day. They will typically have adequate parking, a small area that offers limited food services and classes that are closely grouped together.
  
• Kind to Full or Part Time Workers - Most people in community college are also working while they're taking classes. Flexible class hours and less time in the classroom are typical.
• Scheduling Can be More Gas Friendly - Because everyone in community college is commuting and many are working, most students are able to schedule their classes on only two or three days a week. This is rare at a full time college or university.
• Price - Community colleges are typically thought to be cheaper than a full time college. Usually you pay for a community college per credit hour, AKA the more classes you take the more you pay.
  

College or University:

• A Place to Stay if You Pay - Colleges and universities typically have dorms, apartments or some form of student living. They're not always clean and pristine, but they can be cheaper than renting from an external landlord.
• Speaking of Paying - The tuition cost is based on taking 12 credits per semester. Taking 12 credits means that you are a "full time" student. Each class is typically 3 credits (although they all are different) so 12 credits is basically four classes. The number of credits traditionally equals the amount of hours you will be spending in each class per week. So tuition is the same, whether you take 12 credits or whether you take 18 credits. If you take less than 12 credits, you do not pay the tuition; instead you pay per credit hour, much like a community college.
• Parking Can Lead to Stress - Parking at universities is notoriously horrible. There are always too many cars for the lot. Scheduling classes that start early in the morning or later in the evening can help with this problem.
• More Facilities - A university or college will typically offer more of the "full college experience". There will be things like sports fields, full dining halls and more campus activities.  Community colleges also try to give their students the full college experience, but it's tough when people aren't staying around campus all day.

One popular decision is to spend the first year or two of college in a community college and then transfer to a 4 year school for the remaining 2 years. This is a great way to save money and a great way to give yourself time to figure out what you want to do with your life. Here's some tips when making that decision.

• Look at Your Desired 4 Year School's Course Catalog - Course catalogs are available on the campus website. It outlines every class that every major at the university needs to graduate. It's basically just the classes you need to get up and get out of there. Sometimes exceptions will be made, but you want to follow your 4 year school's catalog as much as possible. No one wants to be wasting time.
• Careful with Advanced Classes - Advanced classes are those that would be in the 300 and 400 levels at a four year university. These are classes that are typically taken in your junior and senior year of college. For example, ACCT 301 is Introduction to Accounting 301. The 301 tells me that I shouldn't generally take this class until my junior year of college. In most four year colleges, classes that you've taken at community college that correspond to 300 or above level courses at your four year school WILL NOT BE TRANSFERABLE!

Let me state that again. Classes taken at community college that correspond to 300 or above level classes at your four year university will not be transferable... will be a waste of your time and money... will be a source of immediate frustration.

So, whether you choose a community college or a university is really up to your desires after college and your financial situation. Both are very positive steps in the development of yourself as a professional, and that's what college is all about!

Choosing the Right Colleges to Send Applications

Choosing the right colleges to apply to can be overwhelming to say the least. Start this process early if at all possible! When I say early, I mean in your junior year in high school. Trust me, the process goes so much more smoothly if you aren't rushed. Let's say you are in your senior year of high school now. No need to worry, it isn't too late. The important part is to start now. Each person has a different set of criteria for colleges. Perhaps you'd love to go to a college in a certain area, or maybe you want to go to the college of your favorite sports team. Maybe you're concerned about the price of college and just want to go somewhere affordable. Whatever you're looking for, there is a college for you. Now you just have to go out and find it!

Applying to college can be costly (and time consuming)! With each application you send, you will also be sending $25-100 in application fees. You want to be sure you aren't applying to just random places. Who wants to blow their money like that?

Let's look at a few websites that can help us narrow down our choices.

• www.collegeboard.com This site isn't just for registering for the SATs. They have a great college search engine that allows you to specify your wants and needs from a college from what state you want to attend college in, to what majors are offered, all the way to what Greek life is available on campus. It then returns the colleges that fit the bill. Sometimes the information on collegeboard is out of date or just plain incorrect (you have to forgive a site that's keeping track of every college in the US!) When you find a few colleges you're interested in check their websites to double check all information.

• www.theU.com This site is great. There are videos of campuses and reviews of colleges by students. Remember this.... BY STUDENTS. People are motivated to write reviews because they are either having a great time at their college or a horrible time. Reviews can be biased so take them lightly.

www.Youtube.com Once you've got an initial idea of what colleges you're interested in, really take an interest! Look up some videos on youtube. Most colleges have a team of students who cover events and do campus videos, just to put them on youtube and advertise their campus. I'm part of this video team for my campus. Perhaps if you're using facebook or myspace you can look up students at the college you wish to attend and politely ask them what their experience has been like. Get a decent feel for what the college is like and visit if possible.

Visiting the colleges you are really serious about is so important. Some campuses are very secluded to their own area, with classes in one place, dorms in another and very short walks between. Others are spread over entire cities and it takes buses to get from class to class. You need to find out which environment is most comfortable for you, and you'll never get the full idea from videos and pictures on the internet.

I'd say a decent amount of colleges to apply to is about 5. I know some people who have only applied to two and I know some who have applied to nearly 10.

Take these things into consideration:

• Apply to a wide variety of colleges, as your interests in the coming year may change. Perhaps at the end of your senior year in high school the fact that your choice college has a field hockey team isn't that important to you anymore. Maybe other things will take a higher priority. Be ready for these changes.
  
• Applying to a community college in your area is something I highly recommend. If you aren't interested in a community college remember that things happen, and that it's a great option that is less expensive and usually takes up less of your time.
• Apply to a college in your area. This is another backup if your looking to get away. Again, things happen and going to school closer to home is almost always cheaper (even if you do still live in a dorm).
• Apply to a variety of colleges as far as "intellect" go. There's no nice way to put this... some colleges just have higher standards. Some people choose to go to the schools with the highest standards, even if it means classes being more of a challenge and possible lowering of their GPA, for the prestige. Others choose to go to average schools. If you go to an average school the better the chance of you "shining" or being recognized when you are above average. Your GPA will not be as hard to uphold. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of each and decide what you want.
  
  

How it Started

It was a hot, lazy summer morning in August. My junior year of college was just about to start... just one more weekend of summer. (Why didn't I think of starting this at the beginning of summer?!) I thought of some of my younger friends who had just graduated high school, and how they were entering the unknown. I remembered how I felt, and how glad I was to have someone I knew at the same college that I was attending to show me the ropes. I remembered how confusing the whole process had been for me; decisions about what major, schools, complications with applying and the general lack of help that I found in my area. My high school didn't have a college counselor. We had a guidance counselor who took care of sending transcripts and that was about it.

Fast forward two years.  It honestly feels like it has been going at fast forward speed. I'm now in the Honors Program at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. For community service (a stipulation of my scholarship) I tutored high school kids in Geometry and helped with Art shows from my old high school. I found that when I worked with the high school students they didn't care what I was teaching them... what they really wanted to know was how to get into college, find necessary funds and what classes were like. So after a few years of feeling like my community service was going to waste, I decided to start this. A way to tell all the potential college students just how to get to the next step in their life as painlessly as possible.

Please feel free to ask any questions or share your feelings on what I post. People looking to get into college deserve all sides of the story, and I realize the best way to do this is to encourage commenting!

I hope this blog helps students and parents become a little less confused about the whole process of applying and starting college!