college affordability
For many, college is one of life’s biggest expenses. Very few people can afford to pay for college out of pocket. Most families will depend on some type of financial aid to help cover those expenses. However, financial aid can be confusing. There are a lot of popular misconceptions about how to pay for college. …
Safety, Target, and Reach College Lists are Dead A couple of decades ago, building a college list based on your chances of admission—safety, target, reach—was a smart strategy. College costs weren’t as high as they are today and more students were vying for fewer spots. Fast forward 20+ years, students have over 5,000 colleges to …
Financial Hack: The New Paradigm for College Admissions List Building Read More »
Your first tuition bill can look as confusing as your offer letter. Pay careful attention to what you’ve been charged and look out for any discrepancies. Electronic Tuition Bills Most colleges have gone paperless which means you won’t be receiving a tuition bill via snail mail. Instead, your student will receive an email alert notifying …
The schools on your college shortlist should be well-considered and thoughtful choices. Trim your college list is the final step in the SMART college list building process. This is SMART, a 5 part step-by-step process for Building Your College List: 1. Start Big! Your initial list should be expansive.2. Measure your level of interest in …
You’ve done the work to measure your level of interest in all the schools on your big college list. Now it’s time to determine if you can get admitted to a school and if you can afford it. Step three in the SMART college list building process is assess acceptance likelihood and affordability. This is …
How to Assess Acceptance Likelihood and Affordability of a College Read More »
The first version of your college list is big! Now it’s time to figure out how excited you are about the schools on your college list. The second step in the SMART college list building process is to measure your level of interest in a school. This is SMART, a 5 part step-by-step process for …
How to Measure Your Level of Interest in a College Read More »
A good plan of attack for the first task in the admissions process — building the college list — decreases stress and makes the rest of the process less difficult. The best tips from parents’ experiences, workshops, professionals and articles are in SMART, MeritMore’s easy to remember action plan for building a well-considered and balanced …
We found this delightfully straightforward and valuable list of tips for resumes from Sara Mohr, Program Manager at Global University. We slightly adapted her tips for students who want to send their resumes to colleges during the application process. You can find Sara on twitter at @slizagna. Tell a College Who You Are Many colleges will allow you …
Talking about money is never easy. And it’s even harder when you have to talk about financial concerns with your kids. For most families, one of the biggest financial hurdles is how to pay for college. Having a clear and calm discussion about the cost of college at the beginning of the admissions process is …
5 Reasons to Talk About How to Pay for College with Your Kids Read More »
Your Aid Package is Based on What The College Thinks You Need Financial aid award letters have arrived! Families who have a clear understanding of their offers and then thoughtfully appeal for more financial aid money can receive thousands of dollars more in aid each year. In an admissions season full of unknowns, schools are on the hunt …
4 tools to Help Families Successfully Appeal for More Aid Read More »
We created these tools to help our family navigate college admissions. We hope they will help other families tp save money, time and hassle. We would love to hear from you–drop us a line at info@meritmore.com
@All Rights Reserved 2022
