Tonight!
Maximizing Merit Aid: You Don't Have to Pay Full Price For College
I encourage you to register even if you cannot attend; she will send you the recording afterward.
“May 1 normally marks the start of students’ higher ed journeys. The FAFSA fiasco has cast a shadow over this year’s celebrations for those still waiting on aid packages.
But this year’s May 1 was not a typical college decision day, and not all students had something to celebrate.
Financial aid offers have been delayed by months thanks to the bungled rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FASFA), which has been plagued by a series of errors and missteps. The fiasco has held up college aid offers and mired students’ college decisions in limbo. Many institutions have pushed their commitment deadlines back to mid-May or June to compensate.
“They’re very tone deaf this year,” said Ashlie Savage, a college and career counselor at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus (CHEC), a bilingual grades 6 to 12 public school in northeast D.C., who attended the event with her students. She said that after spending untold hours this spring helping her college-bound seniors navigate issues with the new form, most are still waiting for their aid offers to come through before they can decide where to go.
“A lot of our students haven’t gotten their [Student Aid Index] numbers yet, they haven’t gotten their award letters, or they’ve gotten it back but it’s full of errors,” she said, looking around at the festivities. “Everything is wrong.” Read on…
This Is Peak College Admissions Insanity
Selective college admissions have been a vortex of anxiety and stress for what seems like forever, inducing panic in more top high school seniors each year. But the 2023-2024 admissions season was not just an incremental increase in the frantic posturing and high-pressure guesswork that make this annual ritual seem like academic Hunger Games. This year was different. A number of factors — some widely discussed, some little noticed — combined to push the process into a new realm in which the old rules didn’t apply and even the gatekeepers seemed not to know what the new rules were. Read On…
Why Hiring Managers Are Widening Their Gaze Away From The Ivies
“The result? Of those hiring folks, 33% said they are less likely to hire Ivy League graduates than they were five years ago, with only 7% saying they are more likely to hire them. By contrast, 42% said they are more likely to hire public university grads and 37% said they are more likely to hire grads of non-Ivy League private colleges than five years ago. Only about 5% said they are less likely to hire from either group.” Read on…
Experts fear 'catastrophic' college declines thanks to botched FAFSA rollout
“WASHINGTON -- The last thing standing between Ashnaelle Bijoux and her college dream is the FAFSA form — a financial aid application that's supposed to help students go to college, but is blocking her instead. She has tried to submit it over and over. Every time, it fails to go through.
“I feel overwhelmed and stressed out,” said Bijoux, 19. She came close to tears the last time she tried the form. “I feel like I'm being held back."
Normally a time of celebration for high school seniors, this spring has been marred by the federal government's botched rollout of the new FAFSA application. By May 1, students usually know where they're headed to college in the fall. This year, most still haven't received financial aid offers. Three months before the start of fall classes, many don't know where they're going to college, or how they're going to pay for it.
“We’re asking them to make probably one of the biggest financial decisions — and decisions that will have the biggest implications on their lives going forward — without all of the information,” said Justin Draeger, president and CEO of the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators.” Read on…
Federal Student Aid chief to step down amid FAFSA chaos
Rich Cordray will step down as the chief operating officer of the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office at the end of June, according to a Friday announcement from the agency.
Cordray has been under mounting pressure to depart as head of the FSA office amid its bumpy rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA.
The revamped form’s debut has been marred by multiple delays and technical glitches, leading to concerns that fewer students will complete the FAFSA and potentially forgo college altogether. Many colleges have also pushed back their traditional student commitment deadlines of May 1 amid the delays. Read on…
32 Questions To Ask On A College Visit
“College visits, whether in person or virtual, can help give prospective students a better feel of campus life.
Contrary to popular belief, however, students don’t need to have that “a-ha” moment when they eventually find the campus where they belong, says Thyra Briggs, vice president for admission and financial aid at Harvey Mudd College in California.
“I just don't think that happens for most students,” she says. “I don't want students to walk away from a visit where that didn't happen thinking, ‘Oh, this is not the place for me.’ This is a long-term relationship. It's not necessarily love at first sight. … In this age of instant gratification, I think it's an important thing to give a school a chance to affect you in a different way.”
For an in-person visit, families should prepare ahead of time by checking the weather and dressing comfortably as tours are mostly held outside.
"Leave plenty of time at an individual campus and allow yourself to enjoy the experience, be present in the moment and (don't) feel rushed because that could also skew your perception of things," says Bryan Gross, vice president for enrollment management at Hartwick College in New York.” Read on…
Maine’s Little Ivies
An unexpected snow squall between Belfast and Lewiston thwarted my goal to visit all three of Maine’s “Little Ivies” (Colby, Bowdoin, and Bates) in the same week during February Break.
Bates was the one that got away, until yesterday. As luck would have it, nobody else showed for either the info session or campus tour, so I had captive Admissions reps for the better part of three hours. After they gave me passes for a free lunch. And named the CHILLS kids that are presently or future Bobcats when I told them where I was from. In short, I was super impressed. Which is especially surprising given that I transferred out of Bates after just a semester because it was not a good fit for me. I had succumbed to the pressure kids feel to attend a prestigious school (yes, it existed in 1987 too), but when all was said and done, it was a mismatch. So I transferred to UMaine and found my people.
All along I hoped to recognize big picture commonalities amidst the three schools, as well as distinctive programs that set them apart from each other. And that happened to a degree. Colby has the only Olympic sized pool in Maine, a pool in which swimmers make no wake. Bowdoin students get free Netflix because one of the co-founders is a Polar Bear alum. Bates has an office of community engagement that helps Bates kids serve the community.
The insight that I keep returning to is just how lucky Maine kids are to have these options in their home state. As a vigorous supporter of the underdog, it still infuriates me that more kids can’t attend (all are sub 10% admission percentage like their NESCAC peers); I found no evidence, even an inkling, however, that these schools are trying to get more kids to apply for the sole purpose of rejecting them so that they can appear to be more prestigious than they actually are. Rather, these are three great schools with storied traditions working hard to continue their history of excellence.
If you/your kiddo are interested in an elite/highly selective liberal arts college (HSLAC), it would be a great idea to check out one of these schools BEFORE you go hunting for other colleges outside of Maine. Having Colby as your baseline experience is very different from having UMaine as your first collegiate exposure. Subsequent college visits will be so much more enlightening if you have a working knowledge of how good you could have it at C/B/B.
The Alumni Walk
https://www.sasaki.com/projects/bates-college-alumni-walk-and-the-commons/
Inside the Bates multi-faith chapel
https://www.bates.edu/multifaith/chapel/
Officially: Lake Andrews
Colloquially: The Puddle
One cannot claim to be a Bates grad until one has participated in the Puddle Jump held every FEBRUARY
https://picturestories.bates.edu/puddle-jump-2024