Parent Coffee College Planning: A Parent's Guide - November 18, 2014 Dawn Allison Career Center Specialist

Parent Coffee

College Planning: A Parent’s Guide

  November 18, 2014
  Dawn Allison
  Career Center Specialist

The Anti-Stress Philosophy

• Children turn first to you for college advice.
• Model the behavior you want to see in them.
• Turn down your stress. When they see it in
  you they’ll be stressed too.
• Children learn the culture of stress from their
  parents, and then teach it to their peers.

While we all hope that our children will do well in
school, we hope with even greater fervor that they
will do well in life.

Our job is to help them know and appreciate
themselves deeply, to be resilient in the face of
adversity, to approach the world with zest, to find
work that is satisfying, friends and spouses who are
loving and loyal, and to hold a deep belief that they
have something meaningful to contribute to the
world.

                  Madeline Levine
                  The Price of Privilege

The 21st Century Skills Your Child Needs

• Creativity and Innovation
• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Communication and Collaboration
                      www.p21.org

How does that translate into their future?

Your children should do what they do with
passion,
because they love doing it,
and feel that they are making a difference.

So how can we reduce the stress?

   of communicating with your children

   of choosing the “best” college

   of thinking about to pay for college

The best way to create an effective college
partnership with your students is to set up a
weekly college meeting​, when you focus on their
college goals and talk about the steps everyone
needs to take that week to work towards making
those goals a reality.

                Patrick O’Connor
                Christian Science Monitor

Know your Child
•   Academic and career goals
•   Choosing an appropriate HS curriculum
•   Spare time activities and balance
•   Transcript and academic credentials
•   Learning style
•   Social and environment preferences
•   Passion??

Resources that can Help
•   Career Interest Inventory
•   Cluster Finder
•   Do What You Are
•   Strengths Explorer
•   Cluster Finder
•   Advanced College Search
•   ASVAB

Financial Considerations
First, discuss honestly what you can contribute

Then consider the options:
• Public versus private
• High Value colleges—this is not the Ivy League
• Out-of-state possibilities
• Special talents

• Agree to submit a FAFSA

3 Lessons Students should teach
   parents about paying for college

• They can’t cover tuition with a part time job
• It’s okay to take out student loans
• You probably won’t pay sticker price

                $   $     $
Choose a school where you’re at the top of the
applicant pool

The Process

•   Listen (actively)
•   Talk but don’t judge
•   Help with research; use the resources
•   Travel; visit campuses
•   Listen and talk some more
•   Develop the list
•   Sit on your hands and support

The Goals
• Foster open and honest—and ongoing—
  communication
• Realize that it’s your child’s college
  experience—not yours
• Help your child select a range of schools that
  match his/her interests and talents
• Be sure to have some “high value” schools on
  the list

What do I really want for my children?
If you linger over the question, your reply will
almost certainly include one particular word: the
simple, even silly –seeming word happy, now and
forever. Oh, sure, we also want them to be good
people; we want them to contribute to the world;
we want them to care for others and lead
responsible lives. But deep down, most of us, more
than anything else, want our children to be happy.

           Edward Hallowell
           The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness

The Timeline

There is no such thing as a perfect college. The
college application process is all about fit—
finding colleges that are a good match for you
based on your interested, abilities, values,
aspirations, and preferences, both social and
academic. The more your know about yourself
and the more you know about colleges, the
better that fit can be.

                Springer, Reider, Morgan
                Admission Matters

The “Big Fish—Little Pond” Effect
The more elite an educational institution is, the
worse students feel about their own academic
abilities. Students who would be at the top of
their class at a good school can easily fall to the
bottom of a really good school.

                 Malcolm Gladwell
                 David and Goliath
                   quoting Herbert Marsh

Go to a college that no one ever heard of

                            Andy Strickler
                            Guilford College

     Earlham      Baldwin Wallace
     Lynchburg    Penn College of Technology
     Champlain    Hendrix
     Goucher      Ferrum
     RM-C         Alfred

Or one that’s familiar
But for a different reason:

     Ohio State
     U Conn
     University of Maryland
     University of Richmond
     Mary Washington

800

600

400

200

  0
      00 -   20 -   40 -   60 -    80 -
      20%    40%    60%    80%    100%

What about Rankings?

Not US News and World Report

Maybe:
    Washington Monthly
    National Survey of Student Engagement
    Ruggs Recommendations

Test Optional Schools
More than 800 colleges admit substantial
numbers of students without considering
standardized test scores.
                          www.fairtest.org

     VCU             GMU
     ODU             Hampton
     VWC             CNU
     Radford

Admission Matters
• What your child will remember long after the
  college admissions process is over is how you
  supported him or her.
• The parent’s role is to support, advise, and listen,
  except when it comes to money.
• This is not the time to live vicariously through
  your child.
• Don’t do the work for your child.
• Model ethical behavior and integrity.