Thanks - I’m going to look at those for sure. I know about the css but haven’t actually looked at everything they need.
Do any of these forms:Common App, FAFSA and CSS open up earlier than October 1 so they don’t have to entered in a rush and submitted the same day?
Also, I know there are application deadlines, but is it bad to turn them in before the deadline? And how early can they be submitted?
I’m going to check my library website today and pick up any of the books you mentioned that they might have. If I prefer one over the other, I’ll buy it. I saw yesterday they have a Fiske guide from 2018 - is that too old?
Thanks again!
Would it hurt him in some way if I revealed more? I don’t want colleges to be like “oh, that’s so and so” or people from his school.
Obviously you have to be careful what to reveal. You can include background about him that isn’t identifiable. For example, you can tell us about how he did on different components of his practice tests, what he liked about the gifted programs he participated in at Duke and Northwestern, what are the challenging classes he’s taken and how he did in those classes, and what are his other activities besides sports.
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No, it does not hurt to submit college applications early in the cycle. In fact, at many schools, in order to be considered for merit money, they strongly urge or require that you submit them early, and your son looks as if he would be in the running for merit money.
The Common App can be submitted as early as Aug 1, but apparently you can get into it and start populating the fields beforehand, so theoretically, he could have it all done and ready and hit send on August 1 for his early action schools. But really, I would not recommend doing this unless you are absolutely SURE that there is nothing that coming up in the early fall that could affect his application - like another test score, or some award. You can add these things in later on, but it’s easier if you just wait to send until perhaps October. As for the regular decision schools, I would wait on those until after he hears from his early action school, if that is how he’s applying. He can save himself the effort of those schools’ supplemental essays and the application fees if he is sure he wants the early action school, and gets in.
You are supposed to do and submit the FAFSA first, then the CSS if his school requires it. But you can look at a FAFSA now by starting one for 2021, and just not submit it - that way you would know what’s coming. I don’t know if you can get a look at the 2021 CSS (it’s on college board website) so that you can know what’s coming for the 2022 CSS, but having just done it, it seems that they asked about everything, including the equity in your cars, home, anything.
I recall when my son got into an expensive and prestigious high school program, he said to me, “I did my part. I have no control over the finances - that’s up to you and Dad. I’m not going to worry about it. I’m going to leave that up to you guys.” It was a very healthy attitude for him to have taken. You will have plenty of time to do the FAFSA and CSS before even the earliest application deadlines, so don’t worry about it now. Just make sure that you have done and submitted your 2020 taxes, which I’m sure you will have done. And know that colleges will consider if your financial circumstances will have changed in 2021, as may people have been affected by the pandemic.
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OP- DOING the forms is not nearly as important as having your financial ducks in a row (i.e. knowing what comes in and where it goes out). I have friends who confide that they have zero college savings but they are “confident” they could come up with $30K a year “if we had to”. I always ask “What’s going to change about your life when little Joey leaves for college that nets 30K per year?” and the answers are always ludicrous- we’ll stop eating out so much (who eats $30K worth of restaurant food per year?) or “we’ll mow our own lawn instead of paying a service”.
To me- this shows a lack of understanding of your own finances. Spouse and I are pretty frugal and like most people- have good years and bad years on both the income and expense side of the ledger. But we never deluded ourselves that buying generic toilet paper instead of the branded stuff was going to result in enough savings to pay for college.
So the biggest favor you can do yourself is to have a big old budget day where you get a handle on why your tax return looks the way it does, why your Visa bill shows so many recurring charges on things you forgot you’ve paid for (do you need a full cable package AND Netflix AND Disney+?), and what your family can do without and what is a necessity. This puts you ahead of the curve- you aren’t in that gray area where a net price of $25K is affordable, $30K is a “maybe”, $40K is “we could probably swing it if we had to but we don’t really want to” . For most families, reality is a number, not a shifting goal post!
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I thought that was my kid . . . “it won’t take that long” is a constant refrain in this house. I am dreading senior year and all the deadlines.
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Just for balance, one of mine did his essays the night before the deadline and attended his top choice. Not the best but it is certainly okay to spread it out. No advantage to early submission except for stress and conflict with other activities (my kid was in a play and did essays after the performances). No disadvantage to submitting near the deadline either.
You don’t have to do FAFSA and CSS at the same time, not at all. FAFSA now goes back a year for tax link, so you can do the FAFSA asap. After all these years it took me 10 minutes!
For privacy, PM works well. I know a new poster cannot PM but you can ask someone to PM you and then you can communicate privately.
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There is if scholarship deadlines are earlier than application deadlines.
Otherwise, my oldest attended the first college he applied to. My middle attended the last college he applied to (one he almost didn’t apply to - he decided last minute and considers it “the best decision I almost never made”). My youngest attended the only college he applied to - saving him a ton of time on applications (but not something I really recommend as it doesn’t always work out for finances and acceptance!). There is no single “right” answer for all.
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Ouch. You need to be cautious about need based financial aid if you own a business or if you own a farm. I know multiple farmers, and have talked to a few people who own a small business. Then have all needed to send their children to public in-state universities. None of them happen to live in a WUE state however.
You can apply to some schools that meet “full need”, but do not count on getting enough aid for them to be possible. The really top ranked universities say that they give very good need based financial aid, but when I attended a couple of them I never met anyone whose parents owned a small business or farm and the farmers that I know say that they are not affordable.
Merit aid is of course also worth looking for, particularly given your son’s great stats.
I think that you should look very carefully at the WUE schools. I also just took a quick look at the cost of attendance at the two closest very good Canadian universities to you (Calgary and Lethbridge – the latter is a small school and therefore not as well known) and both came out no worse than about C$40,000 per year, which is about US$32,000 per year.
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Well a scholarship deadline is a deadline! 
I hate to say it but @DadTwoGirls raises some good points about owning a business. I am not sure how each school counts that asset/property in addition to income.
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I don’t know what level of school you’re looking for, every type has been tossed around, but there are some Midwest publics that will give in-state rates for good stats, and there are small Midwest privates that get down to around $20K after automatic merit. Mostly ones people here have never heard of. Central College in Iowa for example.
When we were looking, budget was top concern. I would pick a state, go to the Wikipedia list of colleges in that state, and check out the COA and automatic merit on ones that interested us. If something was in range, I then looked at major offerings, ease of travel, etc.
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There are all kinds of small businesses, and there is no one size fits all to how financial aid will view the business.
You are a sole proprietor? You write off your cellphone, car, 20% of your home’s “costs” as your primary office (whose home office takes up 1/5th of the square footage if there’s no inventory?),? Be prepared for a number which will shock you-- but that’s because even if you DIDN’T get all these write-offs, you’d still be paying for a phone, your home…
You operate a small business which involves owning 10 investment properties and renting them out? Be prepared to be shocked. But that’s because even if YOU don’t think so, those properties have value beyond their cash flow-- and you have the ability to sell, borrow against them which a family with the same income as you does not have.
But other types of small businesses- I don’t know a lot of people who have been shocked by their numbers- especially from the “meets full needs” AND generous colleges. And a well crafted appeal (not “give me more money”) which documents some of the realities of the business will go a long way- again, with the meets full needs/generous schools.
I think the disconnect for a LOT of families is expecting an appeal to land with a university like NYU (good luck), or a college which has moved to a “lots of small merit awards” strategy.
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@MomofNPCC , you have received good info. Start with a draft of FAFSA. If I recall, both FAFSA and CSS allow one to save their work and return later. I have followed advice of blossom, DadTwoGirls, Creekland, compmom, etc. over the years.
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I think a 2018 Fisk guide is fine for big picture and nuances. Once you narrow down some colleges from whom you’d like more info, their websites should be helpful.
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Thanks
Not sole proprietor, and zero investment properties but this doesn’t sound good if no one owning a small business can get financial aid.
It’s not a definite. It just means many NPCs can be off. It was before NPC’s came into being, but my guy’s offers differed by 33K in what they expected annually from us.
What it means is apply to more schools that you think might work, but don’t have expectations from any - plus keep something (State U?) that you know will work as a bottom line for both finances and acceptance. You don’t need to apply to any he wouldn’t want to attend if paired against that school (likes State U better than X) as long as you are sure of acceptance. Rolling admissions schools that are affordable are great “bottom” lines. (Some students also like those schools as their first choice, so can be finished with the whole college app thing early.)
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Re FAFSA: You can download information from your tax return to make things easier. I have a child applying next year so I’m getting educated as well. I’m creating a spreadsheet/making a file of needed documents and information for this and CSS.
For the Common App, kids can get started now and the information rolls over to next year’s app. For instance, they can input their classes and ECs so far.
Re Fiske: A 2018 book can be a start but be aware admission rates and EA/ED may have changed, among other things. Once you’ve identified schools search online for updates. TO also changing the landscape.
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Not accurate. Many kids whose parents (or one parent) own a small business get aid- and often, generous aid which exceeds the family’s expectation. But it does mean as noted above, that the back of the envelope calculation about “how much aid can we expect” is NOT going to be as accurate, first time out, as it could be for two W2 wage earners with simple income and average assets.
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Agree with @blossom and @DadTwoGirls - we have 2 small businesses and did not get much need based aid and could not afford our expected contribution. The only school which looked affordable on the NPC was Princeton, which is known to be much more generous. D was rejected from there, but had multiple affordable merit offers, plus instate school. She is at an OOS flagship that I would never have even had on her long list if it were not for this site. CC really helped in our strategy and not wasting time and $ on unavailable colleges. Best of luck!
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Not to worry. Let’s say your small business is a pizza parlor, and you own the ovens, and maybe the delivery cars, and the furniture in the restaurant, but not the building. You make 100K/yr. The schools don’t expect you to sell your oven to pay for college!
Unfortunately, if you have a rental business, they do expect you to sell or mortgage the properties to pay for college, even though it may not be possible to mortgage the properties, and if you sell, you don’t have income anymore - which would help you on your fin aid two or three years from now, when junior is about done. Oh well…
But in general, they don’t expect you to sell the business or its equipment to pay for college, and schools with embarrassingly large endowments will often be generous with fin aid.