3 Biggest Mistakes Families Make in the College Planning Process (Part 1 of 3)

Mistake #1: The student only applies to 1-3 schools.

Reason #1: It’s important that your family has options financially. Your family will not receive the award letter (AKA your bill), with grants and scholarships, until months after the student has been accepted.  This is why college planning is key!

So what if the 1-3 schools your student applied to do not award the student enough to attend? What if your family cannot afford any of the 1-3 bills you have received from the colleges of your student’s choice?

Applying to more schools means having more options financially once the time comes for the student to commit to a college. 

Reason #2: It’s important that your family has leverage. This might seem like a strange concept, but did you know that you are able to appeal for more aid after the student receives the award letter? 

It’s true! You can draft an appeal letter to any college, requesting more financial aid in the form of scholarships, grants, or work-study after the initial award has been received. In order to do this, you need to have leverage, which comes in the form of award letters from other colleges. 

For example, let’s say that your student receives $18,000 per year in aid to attend DePaul University. This is your student’s dream college. However, your family was smart and the student applied to 5-8 schools. One of these additional schools was a competing college in the area, Loyola University. Loyola offered the student $21,000 per year in aid to attend. Based on this information, your family could write an appeal letter to DePaul requesting that the school matches Loyola’s offer, tacking on $3,000 additional aid per year for the student to attend. If approved, your family just received $12,000 of additional aid over the course of four years. 

Sounds great, right? 

Reason #3: It’s important that your family has options for both public and private colleges. It is a common misconception that public universities are always the cheaper option. Yes, sometimes this is true, but less often than you think. 

How is this possible? Endowment funds. 

Endowment funds exist only at private colleges and they are used to offer students additional financial assistance in order to attend. These funds cannot go toward a new shiny building or advancements of sports team equipment and/or facilities. They are strictly used to support students financially by supplementing aid.

Meanwhile, at public universities, merit-based scholarships and grants are far less likely. If offered, they are also likely much lower in monetary value.

In order for your student to have a great college list, s/he should have a nice variety of 5-8 colleges with 2-4 private colleges and 2-4 public universities.

This variety will give your family options, both financially and academically. This combination will also give you plenty of fuel to leverage competing schools against each other during the appeal process, giving your family the best chance at receiving additional aid.

Biggest Takeaway Tip: Apply to 5-8 schools. 

Check back next week for mistake #2 that families make during the college planning process!