Thanksgiving and Christmas seems like a long time from Summer, but time can pass quickly.  I say this because this post is about making your college tuition payments easier which begin during the summer.  You have applied early and the early timeline can be the most beneficial for working through financials.  Each university has its own timeline for notifying accepted students about scholarships and need-based aid.  Here are a few pointers/ suggestions on how to use your time wisely.
1. Become familiar with each university's financial aid and scholarship timeline. If merit scholarships do not require additional applications, when will you be notified.  If you have to submit separate applications/ additional materials for certain scholarships, when are the deadlines and the selection process.  Keep up with portfolio, audition, or interview requirements if applicable. Finally, when will the scholarship committees and/or financial services notify recipients. 
2. Do not put all of your eggs in one financial basket...even if you are waiting on a substantial scholarship. Though it will add to the amount of details to monitor, look for private/outside scholarships throughout your application and decision process.  Most universities will not penalize you for being awarded scholarships from private organizations that are not affiliated with the University.  So while you are waiting to learn if you are awarded scholarships from your potential colleges, look for additional funding.  Secondly, most private scholarships can be applied to your college of choice. There are numerous websites that organize scholarship listing a variety of ways: major, gender, area of interest, specific population, an so on.
3. Check you email regularly. There are so many types of communications that will arrive from your potential universities, but do not  tune them all out.  As time passes and you work through the accepted student process, email will be most used by the different offices within the University.  Scholarship notifications can easily get lost in the masses of emails.  Make it a regular practice to at least skip emails from your universities for information about approaching deadlines, notification dates, or follow-up details.
Whenever you are in doubt, contact the college. As I mentioned before, the admissions representative for your area should be the first person to call.  They should be able to either answer your question, gather needed information, or connect you with the correct person. 

Part of a series of posts on next steps after receiving an Early Action acceptance to college.

This is the time of year is when school counselors meet with students to dole out Individual Graduation Plans (IGP). These graduation plans are the means for counselors to project a student’s future course of study. Each graduation plan should be guided by several factors. Some of these factors are numbers driven, where others are based on interests. Standardized testing results and class performance are often used as indicators for upper level course eligibility. Each school will offer a different combination of advanced courses: College Preparatory, Honors, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Early College Credit. In many cases, teachers will recommend or invites students of their preference to take certain classes. Families/ students should have had the opportunity to indicate an area of interest. Many schools have implemented a wide variety of specialized areas of study that can further help to introduce students to specific industries or skills.

If you have a younger high school student, the idea of planning their entire high school schedule by the middle of their freshman year can be daunting. As for older students, having any change of heart can be frustrating with the stress of not keeping on track. Either way, having a solid understanding of what each choice is important.

Each option should be considered based on the intended outcome. Is your student interested in engineering? Does your student have a particular talent? Will your student benefit thrive from a high level of academic challenge? Are there courses the your student needs to recover credits? Each level of study comes with a different set of qualifiers. The best thing is to know your student’s interests, abilities, and natural inclinations.

So often, parents are concerned about how their course selection will affect college choices. There is a great deal of stress that is placed on how a student’s schedule will be viewed by colleges and universities. This is where the topic gets tricky. Different schools value different things. Knowing each college or university that may be an enrollment option is essential. The key questions to know: are they selective, what is their policy for issuing AP credit, how to they regard IB classes, what is their policy on accepting early college credit?

My initial advice for families is to know your high schools schedule change policy. If you select courses now, how much ease will there be in changing their schedule at a later date. Also, having a healthy understanding of your state’s graduation requirements is also important. Lastly, utilizing your high school’s guidance department or other available college planning resources to their fullest ability will make all of these tasks easier.

College costs are constantly increasing while college degrees are more important than ever for a successful future.  How is it possible to plan for your children's college education with a modest income.   Thomas Corleydid a wonderful job sharing his experience via Business Insider to help those that have not entered that season. The most intimidating factor is that parents do not know how much college will cost or how to save for it.  Corley's article spells out how much it cost for each of their students in a variety of universities.  Their are so many different types of universities, tuition options, and housing or meal plans.  Have a read and contact me if you have questions or need help preparing for your student's college journey.

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-we-put-3-kids-through-college-in-8-years-on-a-middle-class-income-2016-11?utm_medium=email&utm_source=flipboard

The early decision deadline for many colleges and universities is November 1st.  There is a great deal of debate over which students would benefit from applying early decision.  Early decision application is a binding contract with most schools.  When considering the admission practices at more selective universities, some have the belief that applying early decision is the "easiest" application option.  For students that are dependent upon financial aid, committing to a school before need based aid is finalized may seem like too large of a risk.  After many years of experience and conversations, I do not have a definitive answer either.  

Early decision is something to be carefully considered.   My most resounding statement is that applying early decision is not the path to certain acceptance.  Every university evaluates their early decision pool of applicants differently.  The strongest advice to offer is to know your choice schools' admission profiles, as well as possible.  Colleges and universities will accept a different percentage of their freshman class from early admission applications.  Be aware of the numbers because those posted percentages can be deceptive.  With all early decision applicant pools being smaller than the regular decision pool. Those percentages are proportional.  With there being fewer applicants, and the percentage of accepted students being higher, does not necessarily mean that there is a vast number of actual students.  Have a look at the data spelled out by IvyCoach.

If early decision was not the application choice for you, do not be distressed.  Most schools accept the majority of their students from the early action and regular decision applicant pools. Again, though the percentages are higher, colleges do not fill their next freshman classes from the early decision pool.  

Know which school is right for you and have the strongest application possible.  If you are still trying to figure out these details, confer with your school counselor or contact an independent educational consultant in your area.  The application season is not over so don't be dismayed.