3 Steps To Complete by October 1st If You Are a High School Senior

I have worked over 6 years in higher education; academic advisement and financial aid. It’s amazing how many deadlines missed and mistakes are made simply because parents and students don’t start early enough. The biggest realization I wish I could give high school seniors is this, “The best time to take steps to prepare for college is the fall of your Senior year.” I broke it down into 3 important steps you need to take by Oct. 1st if you want to successfully start your college career.

1) Narrow down where you want to go to school to 2 or 3 places at most, preferably one

It sounds nice to keep your options open but there are huge advantages to narrowing your options to 1-3 colleges by your senior year of High School. First, you are able to keep up with deadlines better. Second, you are able to experience more about the schools to make sure they are the right fit. Finally, you don’t waste money and time applying to colleges that are not your best fit.

Once you narrow down your schools you will need 3 things  

• A notebook to write down important information for the schools you are looking at attending.
• A calendar or calendar app to keep up with important dates so you don’t miss preview events, DEADLINES, and orientation.
• A dedicated college email address for information about college(s) ONLY. A dedicated email address ensures important information about the colleges you hope to attend don’t get lost with your normal email. Let’s be honest you never check your normal email anyway.

2) Complete your Standardized testing (ACT or SAT)

Schools that require standardized testing are wanting your scores earlier and earlier to review them for admissions and potential scholarships.

Bonus: If you can find an ACT/SAT preparation class with a proven track record of success it might worth enrolling in the class. If you took a $250 class and it improved your standardized test scores so you could receive a scholarship that pays $1,000 a year more than what you would get without it, that would be a 1,600% return on investment.

Complete the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) on October 1 when it opens

The FAFSA is used to determine what type of Financial Aid you will receive from the federal government. Sometimes your state and the colleges you are wanting to attend use it as well.

• You want to complete the FAFSA when it opens October 1 of your Senior year of High School because there are certain aid programs that have limited funds. These funds are given to those that qualify for them on a first come first service bases. Example: Work Study funds normally run out within the first few weeks of the FAFSA being available to complete .
• The FAFSA uses Tax Return information from 2 years ago. Example: the 2019-20 Academic aid year FAFSA will use 2017 taxes.
• Always try to use the tax retrieval tool to add your tax information to your FAFSA. This makes the process much easier for you and the school receiving your information.
• You can complete your FAFSA at https://fafsa.ed.gov/

Bonus: NEVER pay just to have your FAFSA filled out. It is a 100% FREE application.

The best time to take steps to prepare for college is the Fall of your Senior year.

If you narrow down your schools, keep up with important information about each school, complete your standardized testing, and fill out the FAFSA by October 1 of your Senior year of high school you set yourself up to maximize the amount of free and general aid that you receive for college helping you go has inexpensively as possible with as little debt as possible.

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Thanks!

Bryan Bulmer
No Deletes Financial Coaching