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JUNIOR COLLEGE PLANNING WORKSHOP

Creating Your College List

On average, it is recommended students apply to 1-2 safety schools, 2-3 fit schools, and 1-2 reach schools.

Safety School- a school where your GPA and SAT/ACT scores are above the school's range for the average freshman and you can be reasonably certain that you will be admitted. These schools should also be colleges you'd be happy to attend. It's a good idea that at least one of these schools is also a financial safety school that you and your family can afford even if you received no aid at all.

Fit School- a school where your GPA and SAT/ACT scores fall within (or even exceed) the school's range for the average freshman. There are no guarantees, but it's not unreasonable to be accepted to several of your match schools.

Reach School- a school where your GPA and SAT/ACT scores fall below the school's range for the average freshman. Reach schools are long-shots, but they should still be possible (and not a dream). Don't let the sticker price of a financial reach school scare you off! Financial need, academic strength, and a college's desire to have you on campus can all influence your financial aid award and make the cost of attendance more manageable.

Naviance College Research Tools

There are several college research tools located under the Colleges Tab on Naviance.

*Colleges I’m Thinking About List – as you complete your college research and find schools of interest, you can add them to the Colleges I’m Thinking About list in Family Connection.

There are a few ways to add to this list:

• From the college profile (click on the heart icon next to the college name)

• From the Colleges I’m Thinking About list (click Add Colleges to List)

• From the College Search or SuperMatch™ tools

SuperMatch– a visually-based search that helps you find the right fit for college. You can select from a list of college decision factors and rank their importance. As you make selections, the best-match colleges appear with information about why the college(s) is a good match. You can save your search and add colleges to the Colleges I’m Thinking About list from here.

College Match – this tool uses colleges on your application list and shows colleges that match those colleges. There are three components: Colleges Looking for Students Like You, which compares you against the college’s application qualifications; Colleges Other Students Like, which compares against colleges in the Naviance Network; Colleges That Have Accepted Students Like You, which compares against students at the high school.

College Compare – allows you to choose colleges from the Naviance database and compare your test scores and GPA to the averages of other students at BVT who applied to the college in the past.

College Lookup – this tool allows students to find specific colleges. From here the student can view the college profile, which has the same valuable information that you can view in Naviance.

*College Search – an advanced search tool that enables you to create searches that focus on college criteria that is important to you, such as location, major, cost, etc. You can save college searches.

College Resources – provides a list of web resources about colleges, financial aid and other key topics in the college admissions process.

College Maps – shows you maps of colleges that accepted BVT students, colleges where BVT students are attending, and the top 20 most popular colleges where BVT students applied

*Scattergrams – visually shows you your GPA and test score data compared to other students at BVT who applied to and received results from the same college. If there is not enough data, the scattergram may not show results.

Acceptance History – shows students a list of colleges that students from the school have applied to and enrolled in over a certain period of time.

Other College Links & College-Related Documents

Posted on Naviance

In addition to the information found under the Colleges Tab on Naviance, there are:

Links to outside college resources, such as SAT CollegeBoard are located on the bottom of the Naviance homepage. You may have to click on View all from my school to see the full list.

Document Resources- College Folders: documents related to college, such as the Campus Visit Form and the SAT Calendar are located in the college folders in the Document Resources on Naviance. A link to the document resources is on the bottom of the Naviance homepage.

Financial Considerations and Information

College today has to be both a good academic and financial fit.

Colleges have a sticker price and a net price.

Sticker Price- the total actual cost of attendance (tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation, and other educational expenses)

Net Price- the price you actually pay for college.

Cost of attendance – All Scholarships and Grants = Net Price

Most families cannot pay the Sticker Price without support. That is where financial aid comes in.

Financial Aid- money available to help meet a family’s demonstrated financial need.

Financial Need = Cost of Attendance – Expected Family Contribution (EFC)

Expected Family Contribution (EFC)- how much a family is expected to pay towards one year of educational expenses. EFC is determed using a student’s and parent(s) income and assets and can be estimated in advance using an EFC calculator. Colleges will figure out your EFC and your financial need when you final your FAFSA in January of your senior year.

Types of Financial Aid:

Scholarships/Grants- gift aid that you will never have to pay back

Loans- self-help aid that you will have to pay back

Work Study- a program that provided part-time job for students with financial need, allowing them to earn money to help pay education expenses

Financial Aid is awarded based on preferential packaging.

Preferential packaging- a financial aid and enrollment strategy used by an institution to enroll the strongest possible class. For example preferential packaging for three students at College X might look something like this:

| |Difficulty Level |Grants/Scholarships |Loans |

|Student A |Safety |$35,000 |$0 |

|Student B |Match |$20,000 |$7,500 |

|Student C |Reach |$0 |$35000 |

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