Maybe you changed your major or maybe you transferred schools. Perhaps you extended that semester abroad into a year abroad, or you decided to double major. Maybe you couldn’t get into a required class, or you found yourself in the unfortunate situation of having to retake a class. There are all sorts of reasons students take longer than the traditional four years to graduate from college, but there’s no way around it, the longer you are in school, the more expensive your education.

Remember that your education is an investment in yourself and your future career. Extending your college experience to get an extra degree or to study in another location might be worth the extra costs. BUT, having to pay for tuition, room and board, books, activity fees and all of the other expenses that go along with additional semesters, is another story. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: change major, college costs, College Transfer, years to graduate college
Posted in Paying for College | 2 Comments »

Community College:  To go or not to go, that is the question.  A close friend of mine went to community college before transferring to a four year school and I asked his thoughts on the experience.  He is in the “not to go” camp.
My friend went to community college because… well, it was a convenient option.  He didn’t really know where else to go or what other schools to look at, his girlfriend was going there, and his parents appreciated the price tag.  He decided to apply for and was accepted to the college’s honors program, billed as a prestigious opportunity geared toward students transferring to four year colleges.  However, he found that the honors program, like the rest of the school, was focused on graduating students with their Associates degree, rather than preparing them for continued education. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Community College, community college transfer, transfer college
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This season on Gossip Girl (you might notice several references in my posts, sorry, huge fan here), Hilary Duff plays a movie star who wants to attend college just like any other student. Of course her plans to enjoy NYU are thwarted as she is forced make the final film in her hit series, but it got me thinking about celebrities attending college. Can you imagine rooming with the next “it” girl or comic genius? It happens to some!

To quench my thirst for celeb college knowledge, I scoured the Internet and compiled a list of A-listers and their alma maters. Interestingly enough, not all of them went to school in New York and studied theater! So while your major is important, remember that it does not have to define you or your career path. See below: Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: celebrity college majors, choosing a college major, college majors and careers, Oprah Winfrey and college
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College campuses are full of fun facts and claims to fame.  My personal favorite fact about my alma mater is the McDonald’s on campus is the only McDonald’s in the world to dispense Pepsi products, as the University of Maryland is serious about being a Pepsi-only school!  While that is a pretty great claim to fame, how much cooler would it be if I could brag that my school was featured in a movie?!

Check out this list of universities featured in films WiseChoice just compiled.  Now when you are touring these campuses, make sure to ask which bench Matt Damon sat on or which quad Reese Witherspoon walked across!

Tags: famous college campuses, famous colleges, universities in movies, University of Maryland
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In celebration of Financial Aid Awareness Month, today we are going to bust some of the most popular college financial aid myths. (Which ones have you heard before?)

Let’s get started:

Myth #1 – Star high school athletes always receive full-ride athletic scholarships for college

All of us have watched truly talented athletes play on our home fields and courts. It’s natural to assume these local stars are shoe-ins for scholarships. But the harsh reality is, there are stars in every high school in every state and the competition for limited college athletic scholarship dollars is stiff. Many of these athletes will play at the college level, but the NCAA only awards athletic scholarships for Division-I and Division-II schools (usually those large, competitive schools you see playing sports on TV). These scholarships are rarely “full-ride” scholarships, and only about 2% of ALL high school athletes receive these scholarships.

BUSTED! Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: athletic scholarship, college financial aid, FAFSA, financial aid
Posted in Paying for College | 2 Comments »

It’s hard for me to write about my personal experiences with college financial aid without turning into a depressing cautionary tale, but such is my story, and I know I am not alone.

The first undergraduate school I attended was a private university, and although I was awarded an academic scholarship for several thousand dollars, that didn’t really put a dent in the overall expense of the school.  With me in college and my younger sister still in private high school, my parents took out some federal loans to help with my tuition.  Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: college financial aid, federal loans, student loans
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Get out your balloons, hang your streamers and don your party hats!  It’s time to celebrate, because February is Financial Aid Awareness Month!

What’s that?  You don’t usually celebrate Financial Aid Awareness Month?!  Well you should.  For many college students, financial aid (and hard work in high school) is what makes dreams of higher education a reality. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Applying for Scholarships, college loans, Financial Aid Awareness Month
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Are you like me, lying awake at night, pondering the great questions of the universe, wondering what is the difference between a university and a college? (Or, is there a difference?) If so, then fret no more, you will rest easy tonight! I have used the terms “college” and “university” interchangeably on this blog and I figured I owed it to you to research the differences and share what I learned. I learned that I was right all along… well, kind of.

I always thought the differences between the two was that a university is made up of various colleges (College of Arts and Humanities, College of Education, College of Chemical and Life Sciences, etc.), whereas a college is an institution specializing in just one of those fields of study, and that colleges are usually smaller than universities (up to 12,000 students vs. up to 56,000). But then I started thinking of schools with “college” in their names, like Dartmouth and Boston Colleges and realized they offer undergraduate and graduate degrees in arts, science, business, and more… So, like Rebecca in “Confessions of a Shopaholic,” and every other person with internet access, I Googled it. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: college selection, difference between college and university, difference between university and college
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It’s February. That means less than four months of high school left for most seniors. College applications are in, standardized testing is over, and the last semester is breezing by. Naturally that means time to slack off and screw around, right?! Wrong. So wrong. Be afraid, be very afraid of a potentially dangerous and extremely contagious condition going around – SENIORITIS.

I get it. It’s your last semester ever of high school. You probably filled your schedule with as many PE and art credits as allowed (I seem to recall taking Ceramics II and Country Line Dancing) and you have a couple of AP classes. But now is not the time to slack off on the AP classes. Focus your time on your challenging classes, especially if you are planning to take AP exams for college credit. This is the semester when you should enjoy a ton of time with your friends and continue to maintain your grades. Think of it as training for time management in college. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: college planning, senioritis, student leadership roles
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True, good grades and high test scores will help you get into college.  But there is another component to having an attractive college application—extracurricular activities.  So what is an extracurricular activity?  It is simply any activity outside of your academic work.  Many assume that extracurricular activities are limited to school clubs.  Wrong! Extracurriculars include anything from volunteering to athletics, from a part time job to internships or to playing in a band. Extracurricular activities help reveal who you are as a person.  They highlight your non-academic interests and illustrate that you can manage your time and priorities.  Furthermore, extracurriculars show your contributions, responsibilities and your ability to maintain a commitment.  Essentially, extracurriculars stress that you are an initiator both inside and outside of the classroom, and colleges are looking for students with unique abilities to add to their campus personality.

What Makes a Good Extracurricular Activity? Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: extracurricular activities, leadership roles, student leadership
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