College-Got admitted, can't afford it-now what?

Hello Class of 2008!

Great news, you are being accepted to the colleges of your choice, you are picking out your dorms and residence halls...and you are getting your award packages in the mail...and the gap between what you can afford and what you need to attend is enormous. What do you do?

First of all...DON'T PANIC!

There are options. Contact your Admissions representative at your university of choice (there should be several universities of choice) and tell them your problem. See if there are merit scholarships within the university that you are eligible for that can begin to fill the gap.

Go to Fastweb.com and look at at scholarships that you can apply for with immediate deadlines and money that is disbursed before August 1, 2008...around the time you will need to have your gaps filled.

Okay, so you're a good student, fine in sports, but not the top NCAA recruit. That doesn't mean you can't play college sports. Let's suppose that you play basketball at your high school (men or women), and you don't play well enough for consideration for a scholarship to your university. Look at some of the other sports...fencing, rowing, etc. Maybe they have some spots open in those areas because there are not enough student athletes to recruit for that particular sport at that particular school.
Contact the Athletic Director, or the coach in that sport. Find out if they need what you have to offer, and let them tell you what you need to do to get in the NCAA Clearinghouse. You may have enough talent, or they may be willing to work with you, and give you some athletic grant-in-aid to meet the gaps in your education funding.

Look at organizations in your community for scholarships: Elks, Rotary, local unions, etc. There may be some scholarships that you or your student may qualify for that could reduce those costs.

Also, some universities have their own financing programs.. You and/or your parents sit down with your prospective university's financial aid representative and see if they can come up with monthly payments you may be able to afford. Do this before going to some predatory lender.

As a matter of fact, if the Financial Aid Package contains an extraordinarily large portion of outside lending (beyond the university and federal loans and grants), I would seriously reconsider that university for myself and /or my child.

If you/your student is a good student (3.5 or higher GPA, good SAT/ACT scores, plenty of leadership skills and great AP/IB test scores), your student should look at all awards packages from every university they applied to very, very carefully. One of the points of consideration should be: how deep in debt am I going to get sending myself/my child to this school?

There are great schools with great names, and then there are great schools who may not be as well known, but are fully capable of meeting your student's needs, as well as giving them an attractive financial aid package (awards package). Small, private universities can be very competitive in terms of offerings in the classroom, and for the pocket. Hear everyone out, and see what they are willing to do for your very good student. Don't be afraid to tell a university that you prefer that another school has offered more merit money than they have. If they are worth their salt, they will at least try to match that offer.

There is no way we can afford the university I got in to...now what do I do?

Don't panic. There are a lot of fine universities that take students on a Rolling Admission basis. Even at this late point, there are schools that you can apply to that will give you an admission decision in weeks, not months. From there, they may have sufficient merit aid to help you. Many smaller schools are very generous. Keep applying to independent scholarships! Ask for an application fee waiver if you can't afford to pay yet another application fee.

The key is to not give up! Keep your head up. If you have been accepted to a college, you know that you have done what is necessary. Now, the key in this tough financial climate is to go where you can afford to go, and to a university that will give you the skills and the business connections to be successful; that combination does exist!

Good luck!
Peace,
Falcon and Dove

New Scholarship just announced!

Hi Global Family!
Falcon here. We hope you had a great Spring Break and Easter holiday. Now, it's back to work, and I have information on a new scholarship that is available to Pennsylvania Seniors and those already in college majoring in areas that focus on Environmental Sciences. Good luck!

Also, I know this is Official College Announcement Week, so for those of you who just found out if you have been accepted to the university of your choice...congratulations!!! If you didn't get in, don't sweat it; there are lots of excellent schools out there, and there are always other options. The sun will still rise tomorrow, and you are much too talented to be thwarted by one admissions committee, right?

Smile through it, and don't think it's the end of the world. Regardless of what your parents, guidance counselors, and friends may say...there are more important things in the world. The important part is that you find your passions and find a way to get the proper training and support to make your dreams come true. There is only one you, and you are here for a special reason. Find it, and don't let anyone get you down.

Now, on to that new scholarship...
The Wyona Coleman Scholarship

The Sierra Club - PA Chapter has established the Wyona Coleman Scholarship Fund, which will offer one, (1) $1,000 scholarship for the 2008-09 school year. (There will be more next year).

Wyona Coleman spent her childhood on a farm, and developed a love of the outdoors early on. She joined the environmental movement during the first Earth Day, 1970 and was instrumental in starting her own Sierra Club Group and then the Pennsylvania Chapter.

Her concern about surface mining destroying farms and forests led to her work on the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, which was passed in 1977.
When emphasis changed from surface mining to longwall mining in southwestern Pennsylvania, she organized the Tri State Citizens Mining Network (now the Center for Coalfield Justice).

Wyona’s other love was reading. As a librarian, she held learning in high esteem. It is a fitting tribute to her memory to encourage students to pursue environmental education.

The scholarship is open to all Pennsylvania residents who are seniors in high school or above and accepted or enrolled into any college-level program in environmental studies.
Applicants should have a 3.0 cumulative GPA or higher.

Applications can be down loaded from the Sierra Club’s Web site at: http://Pennsylvania.sierraclub.org/

Applications should include:

1. A letter of application indicating the student’s academic record, contact information, and a copy of the acceptance letter for high school seniors.
2. Two letters of support: one academic and the other from a community group in which the applicant has done volunteer work, and

3. A 300-word essay on how the student intends to use their environmental education to protect the environment.

Applications are due May 15 and should be submitted electronically to:
pennsylvania.chapter@sierraclub.orgPlease place the word “Scholarship” in the subject line.

The scholarship will be awarded by May 30, 2008.

The Safety of Our College Students

Hi Everyone,
This is an official Falcon rant.

I have waited a couple of days to write the rant, hoping that it would give me more clarity, and a bit more balance. I don't think it has, frankly. I am so angry, and sad that yet another four, yes four school shootings occured during the past week! Our young people are in crisis, and in their illness, imbalance, disconnection, and sorrow, they are taking others with promise, vitality, and future success with them in horrible fashion down a hole of despair and agony.

This is a viral sneeze of a much larger pandemic. Why are there so many emotionally ill young people not receiving greater supervision while dealing with their illnesses? And here is the 900 pound elephant in the proverbial room: how is it that these individuals are able to legally buy guns that can be used, in this case as well as others, as weapons of mass destruction?! I just don't understand.

Here's something else I don't understand: why are large college campuses so security weak? Now, I don't mean the response to the calamity at NIU; I think the security and police did an excellent job in response time, and getting students to area hospitals. I don't think there is anything else they could have done, given the set of circumstances they found themselves facing, and they are to be applauded.

Here's what I don't understand. All of you loyal Falcon and Dove listeners and bloggers know I am a parent of a college age student, so you know these tragedies are making me especially nervious at all times. My kid's campus has security guards at every door, with smart cards for every student, and cameras and monitors everywhere.Students are fine with it; they know it's for their protection. Why doesn't every campus have this equipment? I know it's a little pricey, but if you can have 25,000 students on campus, you can have some smart cards and security guards. If you told me as a parent that tuition would go up $2,000 next fall because of security updates, I would be okay with that, and I don't know any parent who would question that expense, if that is where it was going.

I am sure in this important election year, that some enterprising politican would be willing to write a bill with tons of Congressional support giving colleges and universities with large student bodies, and acres of grounds to cover additional funding to reduce the number of individuals able to get on campus, or access student buidlings without proper authorization.

At my daughter's university, once a term is over, the Smart Card must be updated.As a matter of fact, it can have its access changed at any time. A former student would not be able to access dorms, etc. because their card won't work. I have visited some urban campuses where the security room looks like the Pentagon, with cameras watching everywhere, and computers that track the movement of every campus body. There are also paper 'smart tags' that are great for visitors that can be read just like the smart cards by buidling sensors.

This troubled young man would have never gotten into a building had there been a Smart Card system and a security guard on the door. I normally don't try to second guess under these curcumstances, but this has now become such an epidemic, I feel as a parent I have to say something.

I understand that only so much can be done in these cases by universities when these 'lone wolf' dispondent youth with guns have a plan, but I also know that they might be discouraged or even derailed if they cannot get to their target, and they are on camera 24/7. It may not take care of every attack, but it might reduce them.

I think we owe it to all the beautiful, gifted lives that have been lost in these attacks; all the injured students and faculty, famililes, and friends to investigate any and all ways we might be able to make our campuses more secure: from keeping guns out of the hands of those who clearly cannot handle them responsibly to securing buildings and grounds of large campuses.

Ironically, yesterday in Pittsburgh, there was a 10 university conference of security from each school, discussing ways to protect students, respond to emergencies, and reduce the liklihood of having a catastrophe on campus. Again, no one can guarantee complete safety at all times, but working toward reducing these kinds of attacks is critical.

One more thing: if young adults are still college students, there needs to be a sharing of information concerning the health, welfare, and actions of that young adult as long as they are attending school in some capacity somewhere. Families are under-informed in some cases, or out of the loop completely on what crisis their son or daughter might be experiencing. There needs to be some transparency in records of those who are still in school to their families, since those will be the first ones called when a tragedy strikes. Better informed families, with university resources, may seek more concrete solutions that could prevent an unspeakable tragedy.

My prayers are with all of those who are suffering.

I am calling on all parents to rise up and become proactive on this issue. Whether your child is in a public school, private school, Home School, or university or college, let's demand some comprehensive action to increase security, and decrease apathy and dispair.

Falcon's rant is done...for now.

Peace all our family, because we are One Family,
Falcon