Your Debt Consolidation Loan Tips

If you have exhausted all other options when it comes to relieving debt, consider a debt consolidation loan. The best way to think of this type of financing is as a combination of several different debts or loans into one payment. The most common type of debt that needs consolidation is credit card debt, and a card debt consolidation has several advantages.

One of the most appealing advantages to consolidating a debt consolidation loan is that it makes paying back your debt a simpler process. Instead of a number of debts to pay, all with different due dates each month, consolidating debt allows one payment per month. The consolidating company is responsible for making sure the payments get to each creditor. Be it a student loan consolidation or credit card debt consolidation, the situation allows the individual to focus time and energy on finding other ways to improve the financial situation.

Another way in which a debt consolidation loan is helpful is that it lowers the rate of interest. Credit cards tend to have high interest rates, so it is always good news when an individual finds a loan at a lower rate. This lower rate also lasts for the duration of the payment period, though with a consolidated payment plan, individuals pay off the loan for an extended period. Be sure to keep an eye on current interest rates. Interest rates will be determined in large part by what is going on nationally.

It is entirely possible to use this plan to help seek a more stable financial standing. Finding a reputable consolidation company, however, is paramount. Take as much time available to research the many options. The best bet is to go with companies that are familiar and well known.

A debt consolidation loan is used most often when someone has accumulated too much credit card debt. Credit card debt consolidation is useful in relieving some of the stress caused by collection agencies, but it cannot - and should not - be viewed as a life jacket that will save all. Individuals must do what is necessary to develop good, responsible spending habits. The importance of budgeting can not be overstated. Always avoid taking out more loans for debt relief - it simply makes matters worse.

A debt consolidation loan has many advantages. It can reduce high interest rates and simplify monthly payments by reducing them to one. However, individuals must do their part by learning to spend wisely and responsibly. A card debt consolidation loan can only take a person so far, and a debt-free future is up to the individual.

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Debt Consolidation Ideas and Debt Management Ideas

Every month there are tons of bills that come in. There are utilities, car loans, student loans, health insurance, mortgage or rent, cell phone, cable, gas and groceries to be paid. And by the time you get done with those, the next round is due. No doubt you've probably wished that there was an easier way to do all this. There is; it's called debt consolidation. By consolidating your debts you will end up with fewer payments to write out each month and save yourself money and time.

You can consolidate by using credit cards. The goal is to take all of the credit cards that are currently in your possession, and try and find the lowest interest rate between all of them. After you find the lowest issuer, try to transfer all of the balances over to one credit card. You will have one large balance, instead of ten semi-large ones, and you will also only have one payment to make a month. You can also apply for a new card and make a transfer so that you only have two cards, with obviously two payoffs. However, be careful when applying for new cards. Too much credit can equal a lower rating for your credit score.

Another method you can use is a home equity loan. With this kind of loan you can borrow against the value of your home with a fixed amount of money for a standard period of time. Usually these loans will offer lower rates, lower payments, and their amounts can be tax deductible if you itemize. You may also choose to refinance your home and take out money in order to pay for some of your bills. There is also another type of loan called a personal security loan. This loan can be tricky because the only thing that you are offering for a guarantee is yourself. These loans are more risky so it is likely that the loan will be more expensive, and you will be repaying on that loan for an average of 10 to 15 years. The personal loans can be harder to get if you have a substantial amount of debt.

You may seek counseling for your debt, but a credit counselor is not going to consolidate your debt, rather they will work out a feasible payment schedule for you to follow. You will make one payment to the credit agency and they will turn around and pay your bills. However, most do not offer this service for free, so make sure that you are unable to get your act together before enlisting the help of a professional.

Many people today are choosing to enlist the help of a debt settlement company. For this option you stop paying your bills and the creditors contact your debt settlement company instead of you. The debt settlement people will negotiate with the creditors to reduce the amount of your balance, sometimes up to as much as 50%. In cases such as this, quite a few people can find themselves debt free within two years.

Debt can consume an individual and it can seem to pile up all around without any light at the end of the tunnel. Investigate some of the more common solutions, and possibly talking to others who may be able to offer comparative advice. You may be surprised to learn how many people are in similar situations when it comes to debt.
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How Would Tying Student Loans to Repayment Rates Affect Higher Education

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As the U.S. Department of Education considers linking colleges' and universities' eligibility for federal student financial aid to the school's student loan repayment rate, some analysts are looking at just how large the student loan default problem is and what might happen if new college loan repayment rules take effect in 2012 as expected.

Defaults on college loans can be measured in a number of ways, but one of the most common measures of default is the official cohort default rate, defined by the Department of Education as the percentage of a school's student loan borrowers who enter repayment on certain federal education loans "during a particular federal fiscal year, Oct. 1 to Sept. 30, and default or meet other specified conditions prior to the end of the next fiscal year."

In other words, the cohort default rate is the percentage of borrowers who enter repayment on their federal loans and then either stop making payments on their loan debt or never make payments at all during the 12-24 months after entering repayment.

Student Loan Default Rates vs. Repayment Rates

Government analysts now want to look more closely not at schools' default rates on federal college loans but at schools' repayment rates on those loans.

Consumer and student advocates have long argued that the cohort default rate, as currently measured, severely underrepresents the proportion of a schools' students who are struggling with college loan debt by looking at only an initial 24-month period. The two-year snapshot, these critics maintain, misses a large swath of students who are able to muddle through making their payments for the first couple years but then begin defaulting in the third and fourth years of their repayment periods in accelerated numbers.

The default rate also fails to take into account those students who aren't able to make payments on their college loans but who aren't considered to be technically in default because they've arranged for a student loan debt management plan that permits them to put off making payments on their federal college loans.

In proposed rules that would regulate a school's eligibility for federal student aid, the Department of Education would consider a school's college loan repayment rate and not simply its default rate, as current regulations do.

By expanding its institutional financial aid eligibility rules to include student loan repayment rates, the Education Department would be looking at how many students simply aren't repaying their student loans -- not only counting borrowers who have defaulted, but including those borrowers who are in a legitimate deferred repayment plan or approved forbearance period that allows them to temporarily forgo making their federal student loan payments.

The Student Loan Debt Problem, as Measured by Repayment Rates

Earlier this year, the Department of Education reported that the national cohort default rate was 7 percent for the 2008 fiscal year, the last year for which repayment data are available.

Looking at repayment rates, on the other hand, while also expanding the time span over which student loan repayment is measured, yields a far larger non-payment rate among college loan borrowers and paints a truer picture of the size of the inability-to-repay problem among student loan borrowers.

The Department of Education estimates that in 2009, among alumni of public universities who carried federal student loan debt, only 54 percent of those who had graduated or left school within the last four years were in repayment on their federal student loans -- a far cry from the 93-percent national non-default rate of 2008.

The four-year repayment rate was marginally higher for students at private nonprofit universities, at 56 percent. Perhaps predictably, the repayment rate among alumni of private for profit colleges was substantially lower -- just 36 percent over four years.

These figures come from a new repayment database that the Department of Education will use to track government-issued loans, from the time they're issued until the time they're paid off. The database can also track what happens in between.

By looking more carefully at each loan's entire lifespan, the Education Department hopes the database will help identify the point at which borrowers first begin to show signs of trouble repaying their federal college loans.

Schools' Student Loan Problems Could Mean Loss of All Financial Aid

As the government's proposed financial aid rules are currently worded, the new rules would allow the Department of Education to impose financial aid restrictions on schools whose overall student loan repayment rate falls below 45 percent.

Schools that have a repayment rate of lower than 35 percent would face the loss of federal student aid altogether.

Using the Education Department's 2009 data, more than half of the higher education institutions in the United States would face some type of federal loan sanctions if the proposed financial aid rules were in effect today, and 36 percent of post-secondary institutions would be barred from offering federal student aid for a period of at least two years.

However, the proposed new Department of Education rules will also allow schools to report student loan repayment rates separately by program. By segmenting out repayment rates by program, institutions could avoid school-wide federal financial aid sanctions, leaving intact federal student aid for academic programs whose repayment rates are within the established guidelines, while still receiving sanctions for programs whose graduates consistently fail to make payments on their federal college loans.

Student loans: http://www.nextstudent.com/, student loan default rates by school: http://www2.ed.gov/offices/OSFAP/defaultmanagement/cdr.html

Health Workers to Get Help With Student Loan Debt

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Through the NHSC student loan repayment program, you can receive up to $60,000 toward the balance on your college loans if you successfully complete the program's two-year service requirement. Two-year half-time commitments are also being sought, in exchange for $30,000 in college loan debt reduction.

Clinicians willing to make a five-year commitment to the program can receive up to $170,000 in college loan debt relief. Eligible applicants who are willing to commit to six or more years of service are eligible to have the entire balance of all their federal student loans forgiven.

The college loan debt relief offered by the NHSC repayment program applies to federal, state, local, and private student loans.

Qualifying for the NHSC Student Loan Repayment Program

In order to qualify for repayment through the NHSC program, your loans must have been taken out prior to your enrollment in the program. The program will not repay student loans that were not clearly used to pay for education or loans that were not issued by a government or commercial lender (i.e., personal loans).

College loans that have already been repaid; parent loans, such as those issued under the federal PLUS parent loan program; personal lines of credit; residency relocation loans; and credit card balances are not eligible for repayment under the NHSC student loan debt relief program.

In addition to offering loan forgiveness to qualified applicants, the program also offers incentives for providers willing to work half-time in underserved areas, including more flexible loan repayment terms and credits for teaching.

Service is needed in extremely rural areas where primary medical care is otherwise unavailable and in more densely populated but underserved urban areas. Qualifying primary care positions are also available at state and federal correctional institutions, community mental health facilities, Indian Health Service provider sites, hospital-affiliated primary care practices, public health programs, and community care facilities.

The NHSC is actively seeking medical doctors, psychiatrists, licensed mental health counselors, dentists, physicians' assistants, and nurses. All licensed primary care providers, nurses, and mental health providers are eligible to participate in the college loan repayment program; however, if you opt to make a full-time commitment to the NHSC, you must not already be participating in another federal or state program, or have active or pending military duties that would prevent you from fulfilling your NHSC work commitments.

Applying for the NHSC Student Loan Repayment Program

To get more information or apply for the NHSC student loan debt relief program, visit the NHSC website.

From the NHSC website, you can find out more about the agency, browse a database of program FAQs, and find open job positions in all 50 states that are eligible for the student loan repayment program.

About the National Health Service Corps

Part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the NHSC currently employs about 7,500 primary care providers at 10,000 sites around the United States. The NHSC expects to employ 11,000 health care professionals by the end of 2011 and 15,000 by the end of 2015.

The loan repayment program is funded by a nearly $300 million appropriation from the Affordable Care Act.

student loans

Five Tips for Landing the Best Student Loan Consolidation Interest Rates

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The benefits of a college or graduate school education are almost beyond expressing. Having been graduated lends one the self-confidence of a solid grounding in a discipline that can launch a career and open doors to a thoughtful life. That accomplishment can seem tarnished when accompanied by thousands of dollars of debt carried long after the degree has been framed.

As time passes, managing student loan debt can seem insurmountable as life changes, and buying a home, affording transportation, raising a family, come into the game of life along with the requisite cash flow. Having different lenders, with different interest rates and terms of repayment, is at least a financial inconvenience, if not a financial disaster. Student loan consolidation with the best interest rates should be your next goal.

Get a Good Rate and Consolidate

To avoid ending up as a bad credit risk, wrecking the monthly budget, and sacrificing peace of mind, many graduates would benefit by consolidating their student loans. With student loan consolidation, a once monthly, affordable payment, at an interest rate that is comfortable, and a duration that is doable, can become a budget-saving, mind-easing reality.

Calculating for Consolidating

If you have a number of private student loans, you will have to consolidate your student loans with a private consolidation lender. Your interest rate will be calculated based on a combining of the current prime rate, or other standard index, and an additional margin (or spread) determined by your credit rating (FICO).

Five Tips to Qualify for the Best Rate

If you do choose to consolidate your various student loans, you will want to do all within your power to qualify for the best rate. This could save you thousands of dollars over the duration of the loan. Following are five tips to assist you in achieving that goal.

1. Credit Report

Get your credit reports from all three of big three credit bureaus (Experian, Trans Union, Equifax). This can be done for a reasonable fee over the Web. The rate for your student loan consolidation will be determined in part by your credit score.

2. Weighted Rate

Then you need to figure the weighted average of your interest rate calculated over all of your student loans. The resulting calculation will give you a rating you will try to outdo while you shop. Calculators are available on the Web. Calculating your weighted rate is important to get a student consolidation loan at the best possible rate.

3. Research Lenders

Do an online search in an effort to compile ten different lenders that specialize in student loan consolidations. Do not be tempted to restrict your search to less than that. Your chance for getting a good deal increases with the amount of lenders you research. Being lazy or lax can cost you thousands.

4. Research Log

Start a research log. As you hold one lender to the next, keep meticulous notes, maybe in Excel, that includes the lenders name, a name or contact there, useful phone numbers, rates that they publish, the quality of the website, and even record your gut feelings about the business.

5. Five Lenders

You are now ready to make applications with the top five on your list. Make sure the numbers are identical across all the five loan applications to facilitate your shopping. Do this with five, no less, or again, you are cheating yourself.

So, knowing what interest rate you want to target, how well you do your research, how well you home in on the right offer, could all help lower your monthly payments by three figures, maybe more.

Do You Need To Apply For Student Loans

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There are many ways out there that can plausibly help you shoulder your schooling needs. Conversely, students and parents prefer to gain financial capacity with a long term effect. Thus, study loans are being more preferred and taken by students and parents alike.

How does student loans work? Student financial assistance are provided to students in order for them to pay off college fees and other living expenses without the hassle. Compare to other type of loans, student loans gain a modest and fair amount of interest. Federal loans and private student loans are the two main category of student financial assistance.

The main difference between the Federal and Private student loans is the company of agency that is managing the issuance of the loans. The federal loans are being managed by the Federal government particularly the US Department of Education. On the other hand, Private student loans are managed by the different private sectors and business groups.

Many financial experts believe that students who are applying for loans are high risk customers. In order to discourage students from applying, some creditors are intentionally increasing the interest rates of the loans. On the other hand, there are companies that will check your credit history whether they are good, bad or none at all. Borrowers with good credit history must present documents to validate their good credit history. Nevertheless, those who have no past credit can assign a cosigner. A cosigner acts like the partner of the borrower. If a borrower has bad credit history, the company will still have to require a cosigner. If two or more financing companies have refused to accept your loan application, it only means that your credit history is bad enough they are uncertain of your debt repayment capacity. When this happened, it only means two things. First, fix your credit history. Second, find student loans without credit check.

Before signing any legal documents, it is imperative that the borrower will look into the details of the agreement governing the loan. This will certainly avoid any future misunderstanding. Federal student loans will not look into your credit history and they are as follows:

1. The federal Stafford loan - This is designed for any student of any shape and form, regardless of social strata that his/her family belongs. This loan offers a maximum of $20,000 and will gain a fixed interest rate of 4.5 % Per year. The best part is, you will to graduate first before having to pay back all of your debt with a total grace period of 6 months after graduation. You can contact you university's financial aid office if you prefer this loan.

2. The Federal Perkins loan - This type of loan is given to the deserving student with significant need of financial support. Interest rate is 5% while debt repayment will matter on the understanding and preferences of the borrower and the loan provider.

After having to choose which type of loan to apply for, all you have to do is visit the nearest office that will cater to your request. After the loan has been granted, be wise and study hard.

College Loans - An Alternative Idea for Funding College

A quick note... I am not a "Financial Expert" per say and it is not my intent of this article to give you advice or tell you what to do...or what will work...or what will not work.

But I do think this idea warrants a discussion at the very least and I think when we can bring up new ideas or topics to light... it can benefit us all to explore what can work best for each of us.
I am 41 years old. I am telling you this because it is important how I came about this idea or this thought. The idea is a collective one from the various books, TV shows, interviews, and everything that I have encountered thus far.

I was watching a documentary on CNBC about how the students in America are having HUGE debts up to their eyeballs and this problem is becoming an increasing epidemic. This was quite alarming to me as I am sure it is to most. The students and (parents who cosigned for student loans) are falling into poverty due to the outrageous student loans. The graduated students simply cannot keep up with the month bills. And especially right now with not finding employment...how can they start repaying the loan? They can't! The parents who cosigned having nothing left for their retirement and it seems all parties involved suffer...except for the companies who do the lending.

This led me to my idea (at least for my own family) on how I wanted to save up for my own kid's college funds. My wife and I do not have kids just yet but it has been a conversation in recent times. When I started thinking about my age (this is where this comes to be relevant) it really made me worry about being 60 (ish) and getting close to retirement and giving away so much money at that time. But at the same time...if I do have children I too want the best for them. Who wouldn't right? But I really hated the idea of the current way to save up for the college loans. My kid goes into huge debt and a huge portion of my retirement money is out the door. I just don't like this plan (at least for myself).

So when I was out walking... the idea hit me! What if I took the basic principle of Robert Kiyosaki's idea - on investing in "Income Earning Assets" and use this as the basis to funding my kid's future college funds. So for example....I spend the next 20 years acquiring income earning assets that will earn and generate the cash for their college tuition, books, living expenses, etc. BUT..... when my child graduates from school...the assets are still mine! I can have the income redirected back to me! My kid gets an education and I get to keep my assets for my retirement. We both win! The more I thought about this idea the more I loved this idea at least for my own personal situation. Perhaps you have other circumstances that need other ways to fund this cost.

Again, I am not an expert but I feel the pain and suffering just like everyone else and need to come up with other solutions that work best for me. Maybe you have a better way?

For me personally, I want to come up with a plan that lets my children go to college but where I am not out on the street at 65 years old either. I don't like the idea of my kid being broke and owing thousands of dollars and having no way to pay it back. So it was this problem that got me thinking of other solutions that can be a win, win, solution.

I love the idea where I can invest in income earning assets to pay for the cost of their education but afterwards....the assets are still mine and I can also pay for my retirement down the road. That sounds better than what I see out there now.

The same thought with this basic premise...also occurred to me for paying for a future wedding! I love the idea that what if your child waited for 12 months of engagement and then you had your assets fund an account for that time period. Imagine paying for the wedding but still have your assets afterwards? Win, win. I like it!

Let me know your thoughts and comments? I would love to hear them. I am always looking for new ideas and new ways we can make our lives a better one.

As always.... Keep Moving Forward!

Email: GettingBackMyCredit@gmail.com

Advantages Of Federal Student Loans Over Private Student Loans

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Life will teach us to face the challenges thrown our way. While our hardships may differ on the situation and gravity, the most important thing is that we learn and emerge to be victorious in all the decisions that we make.

Education will not only teach us the most valued lessons to excel in our chosen field but also to mold us to be the best persons we can be. Sometimes when we are exposed to life situation when we cannot finish our education, we look for alternative ways to pursue our college diploma.

Ways to provide and find sources to pay for university fees may seem endless but options to gain long term and reliable effect may be narrowed down only into one - student loan. By saying so, student loan is the borrowed amount of money to cover your university fees and daily living expenses such as travel expenses, food and shelter.

You can choose from two types of student loans. Private loan is delivered by the private sectors' financing companies owned by business owners through their funding agencies and foundations.

However, private loans have quite a little drawback. It will conduct credit check and will explore into your credit history. If your credit history is good, there's nothing to worry because the company will only have to ask for document to authenticate the legality of your credit history. However, if you have meager or no credit history at all, the financing company will have to request for you to present a cosigner that will be your partner when debt repayment takes place. This is only to assure the financing company that debt repayment will not fail. The worst can happen when two or more financing companies have turned down your student financial loan application. It only means that your credit history is bad enough that it gave them an impression that debt repayment will eventually fail. On the other side of the coin, this will spare your from legal and bigger financial trouble.

Fret no more because another student loan will come to save you. This second type of loan is called federal student loan. Financed and delivered by the government to replenish your financial capacity to cater your university fees. Federal student loan does not require a credit check or probe into credit history.

There are two types of federal student loan that may fit any of your academic needs. Federal Stafford loan and federal Perkins loan. The former will cater to any student of form, shape and financial capacity. A potential borrower is given a maximum amount of $20, 500 of loan yearly. This will also gain a ceiling of 4.5% interest rate per year. Best thing about this loan is that debt repayment will happen only up to 6 months of graduation.

The latter is a type of loan presented to students with special needs and great financial necessities. The interest is fixed at 5% yearly and features a flexible repayment options.

Interest rates, payment options, incentives and origination fees are few of the many things to consider by the potential borrower when aspiring applying for loans.

Student Debt Consolidation Loan - What You Need to Know

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The good thing about fixed rate student loans is that students only need to pay to one lender and the repayment period is longer. This can be achieved by consolidating their existing educational loans. However, debt consolidation also has its share of disadvantages. It is indeed beneficial, but it is not suitable for everyone.

Suppose you have four federal loans and one private loan. Once you have graduated, you are obliged to repay all of the funds you borrow. Indeed, repaying them is not as easy as applying for them. But if you can afford to repay all of your debts with no difficulty, then you do not need to apply for loan consolidation. However, if you are not financially strong, student debt consolidation loan may just be the ideal solution for you.

On the other hand, you should keep in mind that the longer the repayment period, the higher the interest rate. In most cases, the repayment term ranges from 10 to 30 years. During these years, you can cut monthly repayments by 34%. Still, with this method, you will have to pay twice as much in the end.

If you want to consolidate private loans, you should ask the lenders whether or not they provide private consolidation loans. Generally, only federal educational loans such as Perkins, Stafford, HEAL, PLUS, and Direct loans can be merged into one master loan. Yet some lenders make exception to offer private consolidation loans for college students.

By consolidating your loans, you will get fixed rate of interest to pay which is resulted from the weighted average of the interest rates of each of your financial aids. You may end up with a slightly higher or lower consolidation rate of interest since the rate is rounded up to the nearest 1/8 of a percent.

Parents of students can also apply for the student debt consolidation loan. But you need to remember that parents and students cannot merge their loans into one master loan since per 2006, only loans from the same borrower can be consolidated. This regulation also applies to married students; they also cannot combine their loans. To apply for student debt consolidation loan, one will not be charged with any fees. It is totally free of charge. If by chance you come across a program that requires you to pay a certain amount of money when applying the debt consolidation, it might be a scam.

Do Not Let Bad Credit Keep You From College

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Bad credit should not keep you from attending a college or a university. Finding a student loan may be easier if a student has a gold-plated credit score, but funding for students with bad credit is possible. For instance, you could apply for the most popular U.S. Department of Education Loan. Called a Stafford Loan, the qualifications assume that most students will be going to college right after having been graduated from high school.

Most Students Just Do Not Have a Credit Rating

That being true, most students would not have had a chance to establish any credit to determine a rating. So, those loans do not even consider credit scores when factoring approvals. A similar rule holds for Perkins Loans. These are federal loans set aside for the neediest college students. In fact, the only reason either of these loans would be denied to a student is if that student defaulted on a federally funded student loan previously.

Parents May Qualify for Education Loans

If you have managed to have a ruinous credit history, a bad credit student loan may be had if your parents have a better credit history than yours. Should this be the situation, a PLUS loan, a loan which is granted to the parents rather than the student, might be a good path to pursue. U.S. Department of Education student loans assume that parents are going to be obliged to cover a certain amount of their student's education.

Federal Funding the Best Choice

Loans dependent on federal funding are the best choices for bad credit student loans. They are engineered to help make higher education accessible to as many young adults as possible. Their requirements are not so stringent than those of banks and other financial institutions or lending companies. But, it a U.S. Department of Education student loan is out of reach, students and their families may have to resort to private lenders. Should you be planning to receive your degree in a discipline that promises high future earnings, such as law or medicine, you may have a decent chance of getting a bad credit student loan from private lenders.

Amalgamation May Be Necessary

Given all the options presented above, you may be able to cobble together enough funds to finance your education from a variety of sources. Even if you do have to rely on some private lenders, you could seek relief in the future. Most student loans, bad credit or federally funded, usually defer payment until studies are complete. This could give the student time to work on improving his or her credit scores. Once studies are ended and the student embarks on a career, he or she may look into student loan consolidation. That would make the student owe only one creditor and probably at much better interest rates with more affordable monthly payments.

One Word of Warning

Be aware that should the student consolidate federally funded personal loans under a new lender, those loans will be wiped off the books. Later on, if the student does volunteer work or pursues a career with a non-profit charitable organization, those loans could have been forgiven if still in their original form. Once consolidated they would not be eligible for forgiveness.

Never Should Bad Credit Prevent Higher Education

No matter how the education is ultimately funded, there is no reason bad credit should ever prevent a young adult from pursuing a higher education, even if it does take a bad credit student loan to do it.

College Admissions Guide for Students and Families

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Students and parents alike often find the college admissions process inordinately stressful. This does not need to be the case. The following tips are simple yet essential guidelines for completing the type of college applications that will lead to admission to the college of your choice. All recommendations are based on over a decade of experience in college preparation and application assistance. Each section should be addressed by students in the order presented. Parents may consider hiring a college application professional to assist their children in completing all elements included in this article to improve chances for admission and reduce stress.

• Work with your guidance counselor throughout your high school experience to ensure that you enroll in courses that fulfill your graduation requirements and align with your interests.


• Enroll in Advanced Placement courses in subject areas that you are interested and successful in, as the completion of each course and passing its accompanying test will lead to college credit.


• Take standardized tests in your junior year. The SAT and the ACT are the most commonly accepted examinations.

It is important to keep in mind that colleges and universities typically weigh standardized tests as heavily as your grade point average, that is, your academic achievement throughout your entire high school experience. Therefore you must prepare for these tests and perform to the best of your ability on them. There are resources to help you do well such as classes in school, classes offered by private companies, individual tutors, and written and computer bases study guides. You should also consider taking SAT Subject Tests for classes that you enjoy and are successful in. Once testing is completed, it is time to start thinking about what type of college or university you are interested in attending.

• Begin to research colleges and universities no later than the summer preceding your senior year. Take into account factors that are important to you such as academics, location, size, qualifications, diversity, athletics, and cost.


• Choose approximately 6-10 colleges to apply to. Choose colleges and universities that have GPA and standardized test score requirements that match your ability closely, those that are more challenging, as well as those that you meet all requirements for.


• If you are interested in a specific major, ensure that it is offered by all colleges you are applying to. Visit as many prospective colleges and universities that you can.

After you complete your college application list, you need to get organized. Use a system that works for you; it should be formatted well and easy to check daily. A simple computer-based database is a good choice. You need a record of submission deadlines for all material required by each college on your list and a timeline to complete each element. Transferring important dates to your paper or electronic planner makes tracking your progress easier and lessens the chance of missing important deadlines. We all have different organizational styles; ensuring that your college information is in an easy-to-use format is essential. Common elements of applications include transcripts, standardized test scores, personal statements, and recommendations.

• Arrange to have your transcript and test scores sent to each college or university you apply to if required. In some states, public colleges and universities use the honor system and will allow you to type your grades and scores into their online applications.


• Request recommendations from teachers/counselors/employees at least one month in advance if required by any schools you are applying to. Several colleges require their own paper forms be filled out, signed, and sent. Provide these forms upon making the request. Request them from people who you are confident will recommend you most favorably.


• For colleges that require a personal statement, submit exactly that. Your statement should have enough personal information to give an admissions committee a perspective of who you really are and who you want to be in the future. Have it proofread by at least two individuals. College counselors and English teachers are good choices.


• Send or submit applications only after you are sure that you do not have any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. They must be 100% complete, including all required elements. Some schools send requests for additional information when needed; others will automatically dismiss incomplete applications.

It is time to think about how to pay for your education. The good news is that there are many federal, state, and private sources of financial aid. You may be eligible for grants that are based on financial need and do not need to be repaid. You may also be eligible work-study, which is a specified amount of money per semester that you can earn by working on campus. Loans are monies that will need to be repaid in the future. There are also scholarships available to students that may require research, applications, and/or essays. They do not need to be repaid.

• Fill out a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) regardless of your financial situation and in as timely a manner as possible. You can file your FAFSA starting on January 1st each year. Awards are first come, first served. Although the federal deadline is at the end of June, you must check your state for individual deadlines. For example, in California the FAFSA for applicants planning to enter college in the fall of 2012 must be received by March 2, 2012. This date is subject to change yearly by each state.


• Some colleges and universities also require that you submit a form called the CSS Profile and/or other college specific financial aid forms.


• Research, locate, and complete applications for college scholarships you are eligible for.

Once you receive your acceptance [and/or rejection] letters, you are ready to choose the college or university that you will attend. Ensure that you utilize all assistance available to you. It is important to speak with your parents and/or other significant people in your life in addition to reaching out to your guidance counselor. As aforementioned, many families choose to employ a college application professional to guide them through the entire process. A student with assistance from the right person will likely be admitted to more colleges and experience less stress. Whether you have professional assistance or not, I hope that the above guidelines result in admission to the college or university that is the best for you. Good luck!