Schools
The College Solution: Local Expert Offers College Preparation Tips
You don't have all the answers and that's OK. We've chatted with author Lynn O'Shaughnessy to gather advice, tips and helpful links for you.
The SATs and ACTs are over, and the applications have been submitted. Now comes the hard part—waiting.
Even harder than waiting, however, is selecting a college after the acceptance letters arrive. To help Encinitas families make the best choices with their high school seniors, we decided to chat with Lynn O'Shaughnessy, author of The College Solution, an Amazon bestseller, and “The College Solution Blog.”
When considering multiple schools, O'Shaughnessy said families should analyze each school academically and financially. It’s not only important to consider costs, but to research programs and campus size to select the school that’s right for your student.
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Nevertheless, O'Shaughnessy said families often choose the least expensive school, which she said is a big mistake.
“They just look at the price tag and say, ‘Oh, this looks like the cheapest school, so let’s send this kid here,’ ” she said. “Often times that doesn’t mean it’s going to be the least expensive.”
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There are multiple factors that can affect the cost of attendance.
“A lot of people, when they’re looking at how much college is going to cost, don’t factor in that a lot of schools, particularly state schools, you’re not going to get out in four years,” she said. “It’s going to be five or six, so you need to add that into the cost.”
In addition to the duration of attendance, families should thoroughly evaluate the discounts that schools routinely give, O'Shaughnessy added. If you’re not satisfied with the financial aid package that was offered, it’s possible to ask schools, including University of California and California State University schools, to reconsider your financial aid package.
“If you applied to a state school and you’ve applied for financial aid and then something happened after you’ve submitted the FASFA,” O'Shaughnessy said, “you can go back to a school and say my situation changed, my dad lost his job or my parents separated—whatever it is. You can go back and ask them to reconsider your financial aid package. That’s possible.”
In some cases, you may be able to negotiate with smaller, private schools, O'Shaughnessy said.
“That’s not going to work at state schools,” she said. “Basically, state schools are pretty much cut and dry. Do you qualify for a Cal Grant or not? Do you qualify for a Pell Grant or not? There’s not that much you can do because it’s pretty much just a formula.”
Although out-of-state tuition is believed to be unaffordable, private, out-of-state schools can often cost the same or less than public schools in California after discounts, O'Shaughnessy said.
“A lot of schools elsewhere in the country love California kids,” she said. “California kids are in demand everywhere but California and the West Coast where they’re a dime a dozen. If you have a kid from Poway who is willing to go to Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, they’re in huge demand because schools love geographic diversity.”
O'Shaughnessy, who resides in San Diego County, has two college-age children attending schools located in other states.
Her daughter attends Juniata College in Pennsylvania, and her son attends Beloit College in Wisconsin. With discounts, her daughter is paying roughly the same she would pay at a UC school. Her son is paying less at his private school than he would pay at a UC, O'Shaughnessy said.
“We were looking for really good schools that would give my kids a discount on price, which they did,” she said. “Parents don’t know about all these really fabulous schools out there that can offer really good deals.”
O'Shaughnessy recommended students apply for scholarships, especially local or regional scholarships that have less competition. In addition to private scholarships, many schools offer merit-based scholarships to help offset tuition and other expenses.
“It can be a little late in the game to apply for some of these in-house college scholarships, but it’s worth seeing if they’re still available,” she said.
If you still need to take out a loan, O'Shaughnessy advised students to apply for federal loans and avoid private loans.
“Private loans you should try to avoid at all costs,” she said. “Federal student loans have protections.”
After graduation, students can choose an income-based repayment plan to make payments based on what they can afford rather than what they owe. Federal loans also offer everyone the same interest rate, unlike private loans.
Even if cost isn’t a factor, O'Shaughnessy said expense should still be taken into consideration.
“If the school has a big reputation, some parents are just willing to let their kid go to these schools even though they’re going to take on a lot of debt, or their kid is going to take on a lot of debt,” she said. “I think that’s just insane. You should try to find the best school you can for a reasonable price. You shouldn’t be worried about trying to impress everybody about where you went to school.”
In the end, what’s most important is helping your child select the school that is the best fit for him or her, she said.
“If you spend time at it, you can find really good schools all over the country that could be a wonderful fit for you academically and financially,” she said.
As for Encinitas parents of juniors, sophomores and even freshmen, O'Shaughnessy has some advice for you, too: Start researching schools now.
“Parents start panicking because most people don’t even think about college until their kids are seniors in high school,” she said. “Most people don’t really put any effort into it and they just apply to the school that seems like the most obvious choice.
“If you want to learn, it’s possible. I didn't know anything about this before I started, and now I know a ton more than high school counselors.”
For more advice about applying to, selecting and financing college, visit thecollegesolutionblog.com.
Top Tips
- Match yourself up academically. Be realistic.
- Don’t look just at schools in “your own backyard.”
- Apply for financial aid even if you don’t think you’re going to get it.
- Find out how generous a school is. Research the percentage of need they meet for their students.
- Check the four-year graduation rate.
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