Last fall, I urged high schoolers and parents to
. Scott Stanton scoffed.
His family launched their search months earlier. They were looking for colleges, not just financial aid. But the early start helped improve their daughter's aid package.
Come August, Taylor Stanton will set foot on the Ohio State University's campus with enough merit scholarships to cover $20,500 of her $25,445 annual out-of-state tuition bill. For four years. Her parents will cover most of her estimated $20,000-a-year living and travel expenses, though they expect a few other small scholarships and Taylor's summer earnings to cover some of the gap.
You or your student might not have a résumé like Taylor's, a graduate with honors from
in Portland. But there are lessons most college hopefuls and their parents can take from their search. Rather than reach for a top-tier school that would saddle her with debt, she picked one that courted her, offered her merit aid and promises many opportunities in a city that reminds her of Portland.
The Stantons shared their approach with me, and I sought more tips from Julia Surtshin, who helps students pick and apply for schools through
in Portland.
Focus.
"Before students start looking for any schools, they need to know what they're looking for," Surtshin said. "That's what I call a shopping list." Taylor Stanton knew she wanted to go out of state. During her search, she learned she wanted a large university and big-city experience.
She also knew her passions outside the classroom. Her parents raise kiwis, figs, cherries and blueberries in Damascus. She bakes, cans, participates in food swaps. She also volunteered at the SnowCap Community Charities, Feast Portland and in the kitchen of a French kids camp on the San Juan Islands.
She captured her love for food in her essays. Now, she's attending a school with an eye on its heralded food science and technology department.
Get organized.
Surtshin tells her student clients to use both daily and month-at-a-glance calendars to log deadlines and pace themselves to meet them.
Robin Stanton, Taylor's mother, also kept a master list of all colleges under consideration. She then made a folder for each school of interest, marking application deadlines on bright Post-it notes.
Talk about finances.
"It's really hard because parents always want to give their kids everything they want," Surtshin said. Learn what goes into your family's expected contribution, as determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. Start on that with
. Look at how your family's budget might need to shift to accommodate it.
The Stantons already were paying for private school, so their budget won't take as much adjusting. But they made a conscious effort to limit the amount of debt they and their daughter would take on.
Also, forecast a four-year student loan total, and know what kind of monthly debt payment you or you student will pay. Is that reasonable on a hypothetical after-school salary? Laurie Byren of
in California recommends calculators at
and
.
Some experts say not to take on more debt than you'll earn in your first year out of school. Carol Stack and Ruth Vedvik, authors of "
" say most undergraduates should borrow no more than $32,000 total.
Use a guide.
Surtshin's favorite starting points are Barron's Profiles of American Colleges and The College Board's College Handbook and Book of Majors. The National Center for Education Statistics'
and The College Board's
also can help you determine where you might fall in the top 25 percent of its next class, making you eligible for a good chunk of aid, Stack and Vedvik say.
Taylor and her parents found the
helpful. "This one highlighted the downfalls of the schools and got past the objective things into the subjective opinions of the students and professors," Taylor said.
Pay attention to where you're wanted.
Taylor's 4.20 GPA and high SAT score put her in the middle of the pack at Brown or Harvard. But she was in the top 25 percent at Big Ten schools and USC, making her more likely to get scholarships from the schools themselves. They also blanketed her mailbox with literature, Scott Stanton said.
Once they identified places where Taylor was atop the pack academically, her mom emailed each school to find out which offered out-of-state merit aid. (Many public schools don't, Surtshin said.) That helped them winnow Taylor's final application list to nine schools.
Ohio State ended up offering her a $12,000 annual National Buckeye Scholarship, one of 3,630 offered. It also gave her a $3,000 annual Provost Scholarship for all four years. As an honors student, she'll attend a special orientation, a special dorm and get preferential access to classes. "She's not going to be lost in the crowd," her dad said.
Be wary of "optional."
A campus visit? A local interview? A résumé? Even if brochures say they're optional, if you can afford it, do it. Any can give an applicant an edge over someone with similar marks.
Limit summer visits.
The Stantons hit the road in July and toured nearly a dozen campuses along the East and West coasts. Taylor ended up applying to very few of them. Her admitted-student visits in the spring proved more enlightening.
"Once you've gone through four or five presentations tops, you pretty much know everything you need to know about universities," Scott Stanton said.
If you can't afford to visit, Surtshin said, email the school's admissions office explaining that and ask to be put in touch with someone at the school involved in a field that interests you.
Get help with essays.
Taylor's parents helped her with her résumé and college research, but they left the essays to her. Fortunately, her first assignment in senior English was her college application. Peer read-around and teacher pointers helped her hone it, she said.
"It's hard to be original with those essays," Taylor said. "I tried to not try too hard to do something different. I just wrote what came naturally to me."
If you don't have such support at school, find help from a writer or a trusted teacher or by hiring an educational planner or consultant such as Surtshin. You can look for one through the
or the
.
Expect disappointment.
Most students won't get into their first choice. When the University of Michigan failed to offer Taylor merit aid, "it was a tough two days at our house," Scott Stanton said. Now, Taylor wears an Ohio State sweatshirt. Last week, she secured football tickets.
"She paid by being disappointed," Surtshin said. "What she got out of that is relief from crippling student debt."
-- Brent Hunsberger welcomes questions about his column or
.