A Common App for Scholarships: Not So Common

College applications are so predictable across the board that long ago, The Common Application was created. The Common App (as it’s commonly known) offers students a one-size-fits-all application that asks for academic achievements, SAT/ACT test scores, an essay, recommendation letters, basic demographic information, completed courses, declaration of major… the basic things most schools want to know. It’s accepted by more than 400 schools and was used by more than 2 million applicants as of 2010 in an effort to prevent the repetition of submitting the same info over and over again to an array of schools. Each school may require some extra stuff (e.g. an essay about why you want to come to their campus, specifically), because they need some sort of litmus test for how strongly students feel about their institution. As “how do I get in?” quickly turns into “how will I pay for it?” come spring semester, another question arises: Why doesn’t [...]

Facing FAFSA?

If you’re facing the dreaded-yet-necessary bemehoth of an application known as FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid), you probably have some questions. For many people, filing for taxes is a simpler process than ensuring that the FAFSA is completed accurately and thoroughly. The cumbersome umpteen-long FAFSA application process has been an easy target for complaining about the difficulties of securing higher education, but alas, Sallie Mae (one of the biggest student loan providers) has come to students’ aid… For securing that financial aid. Brand-spankin’ new, Sallie Mae’s February Resource Center is chock-full of advice, instructional videos, Twitter/Facebook links and even a chance to win $10,000. Particularly helpful, the site’s list of common financial aid myths dispel many notions that often prevent otherwise-eligible students for applying for money for college. When I applied for FAFSA in 2004, I relied on my dad’s independent-business-owning tax knowledge and school counselors for [...]

Making College Affordable

The Web is replete with information on how to finance a college education, but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s expensive and–who are we kidding?–complicated. If you browse previous BG articles and keep an eye out for future ones, you’re bound to  find some seasoned insights maneuvering this aspect of the game. But for now, let’s take a glance at how the U.S. government has responded to the increasing financial disparity between a college degree and the country’s burgeoning college freshmen class. I came across a neat and tidy PDF: the College Affordability Fact Sheet, published by the Obama Administration. In it, the following facts are noted: College costs have grown nearly 40 percent in the past five years. 60% of all college graduates leave college with debt. The average college graduate ends up with over $19,000 in debt. Between 2001 and 2010, 2 million academically-qualified students will not [...]