Now that September has arrived, millions of high school students across the country are returning to school. For many of them their thoughts will soon turn to college essays and taking either the SAT or ACT. While the class of 2009 faced what was billed as the most competitive year for college admissions ever, the class of 2010 has an even bigger challenge. Due to the recession many families have been forced to change their college plans. Families are thinking very carefully about the list of colleges their students are applying to and putting a premium on cost.
In fact, in October of 2008 two studies showed that over 50% of families were only allowing their children to apply to in-state state schools. Combine that with the fact that many states are facing budget crises, and this year will be very competitive for both admissions and scholarships. Another problem facing many colleges is the fact that their endowments have shrunk. Just recently Olin College in Massachusetts announced that they will only be giving tuition scholarships as opposed to their previous full-tuition scholarships to all accepted applicants.
While there will undoubtedly be many obstacles for students this year, there are still many opportunities. In fact, many colleges have expanded their merit-based programs. Until recently, however, college-based scholarships have been difficult to find. Some college programs are listed along with the private scholarships that they are known for. Others offer free listings of college based merit scholarships, but you need to search by the school and not all scholarships have full details, such as criteria for eligibility, listed. CollegeTreasure.com, however, has recently completed an update of their database, making it much easier to search for merit-based scholarships from over 1,200 colleges. They spent over 1,000 hours researching college scholarship programs and putting them in a format that is simple for families to search. The fee to use CollegeTreasure.com is less than the total cost to apply to most colleges.
According to James Maroney, founder of First Choice College Placement and CollegeTreasure.com, This fee enables us to focus on designing our product for the families and not the advertisers. It is a very simple process and students can easily locate new schools where they may be eligible for scholarships. Our database contains over 3,300 different scholarship programs and the average scholarship is $12,330 a year, and renewable for all four years.
Further, Maroney went on to state, We built this database because over the last 10 years our clients have been looking for an easy way to identify a financial safety school or schools where their children would be eligible for money. We have spent the last four years working on this database, tweaking the search, and constantly updating the data. We are very pleased with the end result. With the average student applying to 8 to 10 schools, if you can find just one of those schools that you know won't give you any money and eliminate that application, then you will have covered the cost of a membership with your savings.
Finally, Maroney a 1996 Yale graduate, advises students to get started on the process early as many schools only give merit money to students who apply early action or by priority deadlines that are often much earlier than the regular admissions deadlines. If financial aid is a priority for your family, however, applying early decision is not advisable, as this is a binding contract and eliminates your opportunity to compare financial aid offers. However, a student should always apply early action if the program is available, and apply early to rolling admissions schools. Every schools admissions system is different, so be sure to check with your schools of interest as soon as possible to find out what kind of programs they use. The same goes for scholarships: the earlier the better, so check out websites like CollegeTreasure.com now to find out which schools could offer your student merit scholarships.
First Choice College Placement is a full service educational consulting firm located in Milford, CT . They offer services helping students with college admission, college selection, financial aid, athletic placement and SAT preparation. You can learn more about First Choice College Placement at their website, www.firstchoicecollege.comorcontact James Maroney at 878-7998.
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