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The Obama Administration is proposing to end the origination of new federally-guaranteed student loans by private banks this summer in favor of 100% direct federal lending through the Ford Direct Loan program of the US Department of Education. It is estimated that taxpayers will save $80 billion over the next ten years by cutting out the bank middlemen who currently earn profits on their originations of federal loans under the Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP), as well as through the government’s lower cost of funds. Although the House of Representatives passed the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2009 (SAFRA) last September, the bill has bogged down in the Senate reportedly due to an aggressive lobbying campaign by the nation’s biggest student lenders – in particular, Sallie Mae – and now faces a far tougher fight.

The student loan industry would be forced out of the federal loan origination business if the proposal became law, and claims the administration’s proposal could put thousands of people out of work at private lending centers nationwide. Private lenders also warn that students may default on their loans more often because they will get less counseling.

Under the bill passed by the House, the switch to 100% Direct Lending would commence July 1, 2010, ending the origination of new FFELP loans. All new federal education loans would be made through the Ford Direct Loan program. Borrowers who have FFELP consolidation loans would be permitted to obtain Direct consolidation loans without needing to provide any justification. The SAFRA legislation has no impact on existing student loans or borrowers who have already graduated. Non-federal (or private) student loans would also be unaffected.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, commented in a February 26 op-ed in The New York Times:

…Under current law, taxpayers provide as much as $9 billion each year to subsidize guaranteed student loans issued by banks. The banks earn profits on the interest; if students default, taxpayers take the loss, not the banks.

…The Education Department has issued more than $187 billion in student loans since the [Ford] Direct Loan Program was created in 1993. The number of universities participating in the program has more than doubled, to 2,300, in just the past three years. There is no justification to continue wasteful subsidies to banks. It is time to complete the shift to direct lending.

From a practical perspective, most students would not notice much of a difference between the Direct Loan and federally-guaranteed student loan programs. Customer service is said to be a bit better during the loan origination process in the Direct Loan program, but a bit worse during repayment. However, some argue that in light of a number of private student loan scandals in recent years, which several states have taken action to clean up, the Obama administration is trying also to improve and streamline the origination of new federal loans by removing the private middlemen who have earned income from interest on disbursed federal funds with minimal risk.

1. There is more than one college out there where you can be happy. Don’t fixate on one school as a do- or-die option.

2. Location is very important, although it’s not the only factor you should be considering. Don’t neglect type and size as well as competitive level. And definitely visit the school before signing up

3. Interviews, if they’re available are generally a good idea. So is spending a night on campus.

4. SAT and ACT tests are not the same as IQ tests: they can – and should – be strenuously prepared for.

5. Take the most challenging classes you can do well in – a B+ in AP Calculus is more impressive than an A in Math for Poets.

6. Parents will be involved in the college selection process but they need to let their children take the lead – college selection is often the first adult decision of a young person’s life.

7. The application essay is not the place for a hard-sell summation of why you’d be an awesome addition to College X – it’s a place to introduce yourself to the admissions committee and let them hear your authentic “voice.”

8. A binding early decision application is only a good choice if you are absolutely, positively no- holds-barred certain that you know what your first choice school is. Remember, if you are accepted Early Decision you must withdraw your other applications and attend that school.

9. The FAFSA student aid form is required for all federal grants, loans, state aid and many college aid programs – it’s the most important app you’ll fill out for financial aid.

10. Don’t wait till your junior year of high school to prepare for applying to college. From freshman year on, your course choices, extracurricular activities, grades, and financial arrangements will affect your decisions and choices when it comes to college.

Jan. 28, 2009

Mark Kantrowitz, an expert on paying for college and founder of FinAid.org and FastWeb.com (a scholarship search site), replied this month to New York Times reader-submitted questions about the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The FAFSA is the single most important financial app to fill out because the federal government provides the overwhelming majority of all financial aid. The seven-part question and answer series ran on the Times’ Education blog called The Choice: Demystifying College Admissions and Aid.

For many high school seniors and their parents, January begins the season for tackling the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. While the FAFSA remains much easier to fill out than the CSS PROFILE (used to determine eligibility for institutional financial aid), it has nonetheless been regarded by some as unnecessarily cumbersome. The federal government has begun attempting to streamline this app with the availability of its new 2010-2011 FAFSA. A major manifestation of this simplification is the new 2010-2011 FAFSA on the Web Worksheet — provided to help students and parents prepare to fill out the FAFSA — which asks far fewer questions than before. It can be downloaded here for those who want to get a head-start on the FAFSA:

http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/before012.htm

A good number of the financial aid questions Kantrowitz answers are very specific. Moreover, he has incorporated the latest information, including the impact of federal legislation passed as recently as December 2009. You can view all seven parts of Kantrowitz’s comprehensive and insightful answers on tips on filling out the FAFSA, CSS PROFILE, and general financial aid questions at:

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/fafsaq-and-a/

Junior year is when preparing for college stops feeling theoretical – this is when everyone you know starts asking what colleges you’re applying to, and how you did on your SATs. It’s important to try to block out the competitiveness and pressure, and just focus on the things you need to do.

Academics: Continue to take the most challenging classes you can do well in (AP, IB or honors classes if possible). Many selective colleges prefer to see a strong “B” or “B+” in an honors class as opposed to an “A” in an easier course. Your grades from all four years count for college admission, but your grades as an upperclassman may be given more consideration – you certainly don’t want your grades to get worse as you go along. Don’t let visiting schools or taking standardized tests become more important than your school work.

High School Counselor: Your guidance counselor will write letters of recommendation when you apply to college, so make sure that he or she knows you as well as possible. Stay in close contact and meet at least twice during this important year. Remember, there are many other students assigned to your counselor – it’s your responsibility to stay on the radar. Take the initiative for making appointments and scheduling meetings.

Extracurricular Activities: Continue with your sports, club and community service activities. Staying with the same activities, especially if you achieve a leadership position, has more value to colleges than participating in many different clubs or activities. Work to achieve state, regional and national recognition in the area that is your passion, and seek a leadership role for your senior year.

Scholastic Tests: Take an SAT or ACT course, or study on your own. You may also want to consider private tutoring – it’s more expensive but it’s tailored to your needs, so you’re not wasting time and money focusing on topics other students need help with. Take these tests in the spring. If you’re applying to schools ranked as “Most Selective” or higher, register to take two or three SAT II subject tests in June.

Visiting Colleges: Attend college fairs in your area, and plan to visit several schools during your winter and spring breaks. If you want to interview at a top-choice school, consider scheduling a visit for the spring – during the winter, admissions offices are focused on applications from high school seniors.

Applying to College: Keep a file of every major test and paper where you received a high grade or positive comments. Later on, when you’re asking teachers for recommendations, you can use these grades and comments to remind them of your work in their classes. In the spring you should make a preliminary list of colleges that interest you. Fill out a college application as a practice exercise.
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Junior year has a not entirely undeserved bad reputation – heavy course work, intense college application pressures and learning to drive generally converge at roughly the same time during this challenging year. It won’t be easy, but try to build time into your schedule for relaxation, exercise and friends. And try to keep your sense of humor and perspective: luckily you won’t be a high school junior forever!

It’s easy to understand the appeal of early decision or early action college applications: many high school students love the idea of knowing where they’ll be going to college early in their senior year. An early acceptance often means a welcome end to college anxiety and a more enjoyable last year of high school. But students who apply early can get accepted, rejected or deferred, a limbo-like third option that basically keeps you wondering about your status until the spring. Deferred students find out if they’ve been accepted at the same time as students who applied for regular decision.

Being deferred can be a frustrating outcome: you’ve demonstrated a significant interest in a school, hustled to make the earlier deadline, and still have nothing concrete to show for it. But the thing to remember if you get this news is that you haven’t been rejected, which probably means your application is in the ballpark of what the school is looking for.

If you do get deferred from your first choice school, here’s what you should be doing right now:

• Understand that excellent first semester grades will do more than anything else to enhance your chances of acceptance. This is not the time to sulk or embrace defeat – step up your studying efforts and do extra-credit work if possible.
• Tell your guidance counselor you’ve been deferred, since he or she won’t be informed by the college until well after you are.
• Read the deferral letter from the college thoroughly. The letter will often give you suggestions about how to improve your chances. Follow the school’s instructions very carefully – if they say not to submit additional recommendations, don’t do it!
You may also find this information on the school’s website.
• If the college encourages you to submit additional information, you should write a letter reaffirming your strong interest in the school. This is also your chance to update the admissions committee on anything that might be relevant to your application. But don’t waste the committee’s time by telling them what they already know – notify them only if you’ve received any awards or honors, attained a leadership position in a club or extracurricular activity, or increased your SAT or ACT scores.
• Additional letters of recommendation are usually not necessary or helpful. Again, these letters should only be sent if they provide new information that other writers have not presented.

• If you are feeling some anger toward the college, put it aside. Make sure your correspondence with the school is polite and respectful. Writing “I can’t believe I didn’t get accepted” will be perceived as whiny and arrogant. And don’t try to convince the college they made a mistake by deferring you – just explain as best you can why the school is a great fit for you.

• All the contact you have with the college should be between you and the admissions committee – do not let your parents call or write to the school!

Remember that there is still time to apply elsewhere and there are other colleges out there that will be a good fit for you. Meet with your guidance counselor and review your options. And try to stay positive – a deferral may not be the best news, but it’s also not the worst!

High schoool students, no matter how smart they are or how well they write, generally panic a little when faced with the prospect of writing their college admission essays.

Even if they are good students with rich, multi-faceted lives, college applicants often look at the blank page and have no idea what they should write. No amount of parental nagging will help these students get started – what they need is a plan!

We have broken essay writing down to five basic stages; tackling these steps one at a time will give you an easy-to-follow framework for handling your essay.

Step 1: Find the Right Topic
Brainstorm with a friend, family member or teacher to come up with the right topic. Try free association: write down people, movies and books that come to mind and see if they trigger a topic idea. Write down memorable events in your life. Consider writing about ways in which you’ve helped others or overcome adversity – but don’t try to portray yourself as overly noble.

Stage 2: Write the First Draft
Before you have a chance to obsess, just get going – write a few paragraphs and see where that leads you. Once you’ve gotten something down on paper, try to map out the path of the essay. Start with an opening sentence and paragraph that will grab the reader’s attention – a quotation or song verse can be a good starting point.

The main body of the essay should contain several paragraphs, each with a topic sentence you will go on to explain and illustrate. When you write the conclusion, make sure to refer back to the introduction in some way – this will bring the essay full circle.

Stage 3: Revise the First Draft
After finishing the first draft, wait at least a day before looking at it again – this will give you a fresh perspective. Then take a close look at what you’ve written to make sure you’ve answered the question and supported your main point with personal and concrete examples. Make sure you haven’t wandered too far from your topic. Check to see that the essay sounds personal and that your thoughts seem to flow smoothly throughout.

Stage 4: The Final Edit
This is your chance to fine tune your revised draft with some smart editing. Now is the time to take out extraneous words and phrases you might have overused. Make sure your point is clear. Remove any cliches and ty to vary the length of your sentences. Read the essay out loud and see how it sounds.

Stage 5: Proofread
Last chance: check for typos, correct use of capitalization and proper punctuation. Use spellcheck but don’t rely on it too much – it won’t catch every problem. Make sure there is subject/verb agreement and that your use of the past and present tense is consistent. It’s a good idea to have someone whose writing ability you trust proofread too.

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These five steps will put you on the right path for a successful essay. Using them as a guideline will keep you focused and organized, and prevent the essay writing process from becoming overwhelming.

I was surprised and saddened recently while reading the second draft of a high school senior’s college admissions essay. Whereas her first attempt had been a personal and endearing glimpse at her character and personality, this revised effort included several pompous and awkwardly added mentions of her extracurricular and community service activities. When I asked why she made these unfortunate changes, her answer was weary and to-the-point: “My dad made me do it.”

Guided by the most loving of intentions, parents can be the personal essay’s worst enemy. Even more than their children, parents often get caught up in the competitve frenzy of college admissions, and the essay tends to be a common target of parental over-involvement. Despite the fact that guidance counselors, guide books and admissions officers all advise keeping the essay clear of “hard sell” descriptions of academic or other achievments, parents often insist on trying to cram this information in. The results are rarely subtle and often interfere with the theme and flow of an otherwise good essay.

Another trap parents fall into is simply over-helping with an essay – trying to change their child’s topic or rewrite the piece altogether. I can totally identify with this impulse – as an adult it’s tempting to think you can do a better job and it’s natural to want your child to make the best possible impression. But taking over the essay – besides being completely unethical – deprives your child of his or her rightful place at the helm of this process. And it robs the essay of the genuine and personal “voice” it’s supposed to have.

As I have heard from more than one admissions officer, it really isn’t hard to spot an essay that’s has been written by a forty-five year old tax attorney. So help your child with brainstorming and proofreading – then step away from the essay!

Standardized tests are an important component in the college admissions process. Many schools place a great deal of faith in these tests as indicators of how well a student will do in college, and base a good part of their decision on test scores. The SATs and ACTs are the two national, standardized tests administered today.

At some point you will have to decide which test to take – or should you take both?

Most colleges will accept the results of either test, but you should check and make sure that’s true of the schools that interest you. Both tests take roughly the same amount of time to complete and are given throughout the school year, but there are significant differences between them.

The SAT tests critical thinking and problem solving, as opposed to the subject matter taught in school. It is composed of a math section, a verbal section and a writing portion.

The ACT, on the other hand, tests the core high school curriculum taught in most schools. Unlike the SAT it includes a section of science questions, and is sometimes considered to be a better test for students who are strong in science. Yet, I have seen average students do relatively well in this part of the ACT.

The tests are also scored differently – the ACT does not penalize students for incorrect answers (in other words, it’s safer to guess with the ACT).

But nobody should rely on guesswork when taking these important college admission exams. Both tests are challenging and you should prepare for them rigorously. There are many excellent guide books available for both, as well as test prep classes and tutoring centers. Because of the amount of preparation they require, it is not a good idea to take both – your study time will be better spent preparing for just one test. To find out which is best for you, take a sample of both tests and see where your strengths lie.

The time honored advice when it comes to writing has always been to “write what you know.” This is never more true than when writing a college admissions essay. No matter what story you decide to tell, a college essay is always fundamentally about you. And what I’ve learned after reading countless essays is this: if you stray from reality, if you write about yourself as you wish you were as opposed to how you actually are, that will come across. Your essay will hit more false notes than a tone-deaf soprano, and without actually knowing what is wrong, the reader will be able to tell that something is off.

The good news is that if you write about yourself honestly – even if you are not a saint or a scholar – you will probably come across as likeable and sincere. Which means the challenge of an essay is self-discovery – finding traits that are genuine and relatable and putting them down on paper. This is no easy task but there are ways to do it.

One technique is to create a list of adjectives that best describe you; make another list of the activities you most enjoy, Be brutally honest – if you’re cautious by nature, don’t claim to be a thrill-seeker. If your passion is karaoke, don’t pretend it’s practicing the violin. Remember, the essay is the place to reveal yourself, not sell yourself. It may help to ask friends and family to describe your character and attributes. As you write and edit your essay, check it repeatedly to make sure it is reflecting an honest picture of you.

Students often dread writing their college essays, but looking inward will definitely get results – and not just in an effective essay, but in a surprising reward of self-discovery. All in all, a nice payoff to a stressful enterprise!