Veterans Advantage and StudentAid.com Partner To Help Members and their Children Find Affordable Colleges

I got an email from Mary at StudentAid.com.  They've partnered with Veterans Advantage to help dependents of service men and women find affordable colleges. (See release at the bottom.)

On another note, have you explored StudentAid.com?   It's a great tool, helping you understand what the price of college will be before you decide where to apply.  A college education is one of the only things I can think of where price is discussed last. 

Here's what Mary said about StudentAid:     

Now that high school seniors met January deadlines for most college applications, high school counselors are turning their attention to juniors, who are getting ready to spend winter break visiting campuses and researching where to go and how to pay for college.


The recession and hikes in college prices make the biggest issue finding affordable colleges. Until now, students and parents have not had the advantage other consumers have when shopping for anything – the knowledge of where they can get best deal.

A new service – StudentAid.com’s College Cost & Planning Report(TM) – for the first time calculates an individual’s student aid at any of 6,500 colleges – BEFORE the student actually applies. Each personalized report calculates and compares aid eligibility and out-of-pocket cost for as many as 10 colleges at a time. Organizations such as Veterans Advantage (see today’s announcement below), the Financial Planning Association, and the Independent Educational Consultants Organization endorse this new service because it provides college cost transparency for the first time.

This college planning service is FREE to all low-income students (household incomes of less than $40,000 – like the Pell Grants)? Others pay $49 - $99 depending on the service they choose.

Knowing out-of-pocket cost (the “net price” of college) is now essential to college planning. Federal law mandates all colleges post a net price calculator on their Web sites by October 2011, and many are doing that now. StudentAid.com’s College Cost & Planning Report(TM) provides personalized and accurate net price comparisons, saving parents and students time and money in their search for affordable colleges.
 
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Press Release Follows:
 
Veterans Advantage and StudentAid.com Partner 
To Help Members and their Children Find Affordable Colleges

Sacramento, CA – January 13, 2010 – Responding to the college-affordability crisis, Veterans Advantage today announced a partnership with StudentAid.com that provides members a personalized planning tool, which determines financial aid eligibility and net prices to help them find the best education deal. StudentAid.com also will sponsor a $1,000 Veterans Advantage college scholarship.

“Families need to know ahead of time which colleges will offer the best economic and academic fit before students apply so they can make smart choices that don’t burden them with debt,” said Craig V. Carroll, founder and chief executive officer of StudentAid.com.

StudentAid.com’s breakthrough service takes into account each high school student’s academic and financial circumstances to accurately calculate and compare aid eligibility and net prices for as many as 10 colleges of their choice at a time. StudentAid.com uses the latest federal and state aid formulas as well as college aid information to ensure accuracy.

Each personalized College Cost & Planning(TM) report:

• Assesses a student’s eligibility for more than $100 billion of student aid
• Evaluates each individual’s out-of-pocket costs at more than 6,500 colleges
• Provides detailed comparative data on college choices so students may easily compare colleges

Reports are customized for Veterans Advantage and available to its members and their children at a special discount.

“We endorse StudentAid.com’s innovation because it eliminates financial guesswork and helps families make well-informed decisions about how to plan and pay for college,” said Scott Higgins, founder of Veterans Advantage.

Each custom report not only assesses personal costs, but also provides specific information about grants and tax credits as well as detailed college profiles and a planning timeline to make researching and choosing affordable colleges easier.

Veterans Advantage members may access StudentAid.com’s easy online, self-serve method on a Veterans Advantage-branded Web site, or use an advisor-assisted telephone service.

Details about how Veterans Advantage members’ children may apply for StudentAid.com’s college scholarship will be available early in 2010.

About Veterans Advantage
Veterans Advantage is a leading nationwide card membership program delivering new recognition and rewards for U.S. Military Veterans, Active Duty Military, Retired Military, Active and Retired National Guard & Reservists, and their family members. The card membership program provides respect, recognition and rewards through special offers and money-saving benefits as a thank you for service to the country. All who qualify are encouraged to try a 30-day trial at http://www.veteransadvantage.com.

About StudentAid.com
StudentAid.com, Inc. provides the first personalized, side-by-side comparison of the net costs of college and student aid eligibility to help students and their families choose colleges that fit their career goals and bank account, years before applying. StudentAid.com is a private company headquartered in Sacramento, CA. http://www.studentaid.com/?cm_mmc=PR-_-Content-_-c1-_-l1

Free Stuff from Hobson's - plus a widget

I got an email from Daniela at Hobson's. They have all sorts of free tools and guides. Free is good ! Just follow this link: http://www.collegeview.com/counselors/index.html

They also have a widget, where you can add a "college search" function to your schools site. Read the attached flyer for instructions:
http://hscounselorweek.com/promo/widget-institutions.pdf

IAdmissions online college essay advising

It's the essay time of year, we picked up several articles on how to write a good essay. I got an email from Brian Swartz about there new service and web site iadmissions.com. The idea, to give an objective reading of your college essay. Sounds interesting, thought I would pass it on.
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Radio Interview LA Talk Radio: http://www.latalkradio.com/images/College-101109.mp3

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ONLINE ADVISING LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELD FOR COLLEGE ADMISSIONS
More Accessible Resources Reaching Every American Family

September 23, 2009, San Francisco, CA..... As college admission becomes increasingly competitive, receiving personal application advice can mean the difference between acceptance and denial for many students. To compound the problem, high school counseling resources are severely stretched. According to the independent, non-profit organization EdSource (http://www.edsource.org/iss_fin_FAQ_cacompares.html), California has just one counselor for every 1,000 students, and the national average is only one for every five hundred.

Private college admissions consultants have become popular in recent years, with Harvard Dean of Admissions William Fitzsimmons pointing out in The New York Times on September 15th that some students have consulted with private counselors since middle school. Yet with prices as high as hundreds of dollars per hour, such mentoring has been accessible to only the wealthiest of students, giving them a relative advantage in the application process.

This is why an experienced group of former college admissions officers from Stanford, Harvard, Brown and other top universities have come together to offer affordable on-line advising services at http://www.iadmissions.com/.

“Every student deserves an equal chance to tell their story. Expensive private counselors and essay writers give some an unfair advantage,” said former Stanford University Senior Associate Director of Admission and iAdmissions Board Advisor Dr. Jon Reider. “iAdmissions is making that privilege available to everyone. Internet technologies are really changing the face of college admissions.”

Founded this year, iAdmissions is a unique network of former college admissions officers that use online technology to provide personalized and affordable guidance on the college admissions process. In addition to hosting a series of free webinars accessible to all, iAdmissions opens doors by offering affordable counseling services to every student, regardless of income level.

“The college application essay can be the scariest part of the whole process. Will my essay make a difference? Will it catch the eye of the admissions committee? Will it honestly portray 'who I am?' In iAdmissions’ ExpertCoaching, an experienced admissions officer will guide you through the process and ease the anxiety too,” said Kit Muller, iAdmissions Counselor and a former admissions counselor at Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges.

The ExpertReview and ExpertCoaching programs help students strengthen essays, differentiate themselves, and tell their story. iAdmissions services are available for both incoming freshman and transfer students.

For more information to help relieve the stress and cost of the college application process, including free tip sheets and live webinars, visit http://www.iadmissions.com/.

Innovative StudentAid.com service transforms college planning

I got an email from Mary at Studentaid.com. (full disclosure, they're a sponsor of HSCW). They just launched their new product Studentaid.com. It's an idea whose time has come. Instead of falling in love with a college and then finding out you can't afford it, Studentaid gives you a realistic idea of what college might cost at the beginning, during the search process. Take a look at their release below, as well as a video interview with the founder.

- Gene

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COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY CRISIS DEEPENS: FAMILIES SEEK NEW WAYS TO FIND THE BEST COLLEGE DEAL

Innovative StudentAid.com service transforms college planning

SACRAMENTO, CA – SEPT. 22, 2009 – StudentAid.com today introduces a breakthrough service that for the first time allows families to compare out-of-pocket costs before applying to college and avoid suffocating debt. The service calculates aid eligibility to help students and families understand their true net costs and find the best college deal possible.

“Families have been deprived of, yet desperately need, insight into their out-of-pocket college costs to ensure when choosing a college, they make a smart choice academically and financially,” said Craig V. Carroll, StudentAid.com founder and chief executive officer. “Our service demystifies college costs and empowers students and families with comparative information to give them early insight into how to plan and pay for college.”

Government-backed student loans have skyrocketed this year 21% to a record $95 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Education – the largest increase in history. Vice President Joe Biden’s White House Task Force on Middle Income Families shows that a public four-year college costs a middle-income family 16% of its after-tax income after receiving the typical aid award.

To help students find colleges that fit their career goals and the family bank account, StudentAid.com has created the College Cost & Planning Report, a report personalized for each student’s academic and financial circumstances and the specific colleges they are interested in attending. Each report:

• Assesses an individual student’s eligibility for in excess of $100 billion of student aid

• Evaluates their out-of-pocket costs at more than 6,500 colleges

• Provides detailed comparative data on college choices so students can easily compare colleges

Using StudentAid’s easy $49 online, self-serve method or $99 advisor-assisted telephone service, a student can receive a custom report showing a side-by-side comparison of their true out-of-pocket cost and aid eligibility amounts at up to 10 colleges of interest.

Access for All Provides Free College Planning to Low-Income Students

To promote greater college access, StudentAid.com is offering students, whose household income is less than $40,000, a free, personalized College Cost & Planning Report comparing six colleges of their choice.

“We believe everyone with the desire and capability should have the opportunity of an affordable, advanced education regardless of their financial situation,” Carroll said. “We hope our Access for All TM offer inspires the millions of students needing financial aid that an affordable college education is within their reach.”

As part of its drive to improve college access, USA Funds, the nation’s largest student loan guarantor, is helping make StudentAid.com’s Access for All program possible.

“Higher education is one of the most important and largest investments families make,” said Bob Ballard, USA Funds’ senior vice president of program and corporate development. “Unfortunately, many families select a college or university based on an incomplete picture of their out-of-pocket costs. Consistent with USA Funds’ nonprofit mission of support for post-secondary education, our participation in Access for All enhances our efforts to help every deserving student gain the greatest benefit from higher education.”

StudentAid.com’s Web site also offers a free peer-to-peer college suggestion service, the first of its kind. College Suggestor uses the actual college choices and collective wisdom of more than 600,000 students to suggest colleges that may be of interest. A student simply enters the name of a college and can learn about additional colleges most commonly considered by other students who were also interested in the same college. Students can view profiles of the suggested colleges, access contact information, email college ideas to friends, and select colleges to be compared by their College Cost & Planning Report.

About StudentAid.com

StudentAid.com, Inc. provides the first personalized, side-by-side comparison of the net costs of college and student aid eligibility to help students and their families choose colleges that fit their career goals and bank account, years before applying. StudentAid.com is a private company headquartered in Sacramento, CA. www.studentaid.com

About USA Funds®

USA Funds® is a nonprofit corporation that works to enhance postsecondary education preparedness, access, and success by providing and supporting financial and other valued services. USA Funds links colleges, universities, private career schools, private lenders, students, and parents to promote financial access to higher learning. Established in Indianapolis in 1960 to help families finance rising college costs, USA Funds has grown to become the nation's largest guarantor of loans made under the Federal Family Education Loan Program, the largest federal source of financial aid for higher education.

Campus Compare

I got an email from Robin Levinson at Campus Compare about their new site. They are launching free webinar on TODAY Dec. 11, at 3pm .

below is the release from Robin

- Gene

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Please allow me to introduce CampusCompare.com—a free website that gathers information on over 3000 U.S. campuses from the U.S. Dept. of Education, the colleges themselves, and current college students.

Covering 15 categories from Academics to Greek Life, Athletics to Diversity, the site provides a 360-degree view that includes reviews, videos and photos to help high school students find their best college match.

What Makes it Different?
CampusCompare presents college information in a fun way that speaks to the students where they are – online. With interactive tools like "What Are My Chances?" and "MatchMe Meter", the site makes finding a college fast and easy, and truly engages students in the process. And because all the tools are free, students can short list their favorite schools, save and share the information they choose to, take virtual college visits, and even budget for campus life with a Financial Aid Calculator.

A New Way to Reach Students
We recognize the critical role that counselors play in the college decision process and the important information they provide to their students. As college application deadlines approach, many counselors tell us they see their students getting overwhelmed by college admissions but don't have the time or resources to help on an individual basis. CampusCompare's counselor tools were specifically designed to help counselors help more students—24/7, all with just a few clicks of a mouse.

Our Counselor tools are absolutely free and help you:

• Give motivated students the tools to work independently;
• Suggest school matches to individuals or groups of students;
• Stay aware of deadlines and check-in on students' progress;
• Send personal messages to individuals;
• Broadcast information to student groups;
• Share files, links, and important dates with both students and parents.

"My students love CampusCompare because it doesn't feel like work. By involving them in a fun, interactive way it makes them more independent and frees up my time to use it where it's needed most." ~ Karen Allen, Westmount High School

Please join us for a free webinar on TODAY Dec. 11, at 3pm for a tour through the website and information on how to use our tools to help your students.
Reserve your Webinar seat now at:https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/830657395

Pine Manor College and the ESL Student

Pine Manor can help prepare students for a successful college career even though English is not their first language?

This unique and supportive program is offered to eligible female ESL students who are motivated to achieve a four year college degree.

Pine Manor College (PMC) was once known as an elite private women’s college in Chestnut Hill, but in the past 10 years PMC has taken on a new image by providing quality education to a diverse and underserved population. Tuition was reduced by 34% and financial aid was increased. For 5 consecutive years, US News and World Report cites Pine Manor College as the most diverse, private women’s college in the country. The mission statement of the College “Pine Manor is dedicated to preparing women for lives of inclusive leadership and social responsibility…” reflects the huge commitment this college has to offering an affordable and personalized education to women.

A few years ago, the Enhanced First Year Program (EFY) was started as a building block for international students who lacked English proficiency but had strong academic potential to mainstream into a full academic college program. What makes this program unique is college credit is given for the two intensive English classes required in the freshman year so that even nonnative speakers have the opportunity to complete a full college program in four years. Many support vehicles are in place for students to succeed. ESL awareness training was offered to professors who would later serve as academic advisors. A student mentorship (big sister) program was initiated to help with new students’ adjustment. Moreover, individual and group tutoring is an integral part of each EFY student’s progress. Small classes, close monitoring and tutoring, allow EFY students to be successful. In fact, 75% of our students completed their freshman year with averages above 3.0 GPA.

Last year it was decided to expand the EFY program to include domestic ESL students for whom English is not their primary language. This expansion opened the door for many women to attend a private four year institution as an alternative to large community colleges or no college at all. Due to EFY’s success, we are promoting this opportunity to our ever-expanding ESL network. We believe Pine Manor’s commitment to a quality and affordable education, leadership mission, and specialized Enhanced First Year program will make it possible for these young women to earn a Bachelor’s degree.

If you are interested in learning more about this unique and supportive program, please contact Pam Palmer, EFY Coordinator or Janna Spinazola, Director of International Admissions at spinazoj@pmc.edu .

Upcoming Pine Manor Events for more EFY information:
PMC Open House, Saturday November 15th, 12:00PM – 3:30PM
EFY Day, Thursday December 4th, 10:00AM – 1:00PM

Campus Explorer

I got an email from Bree Nguyen at Campus Explorer.

"Our site is live now, and we’re developing around the clock, we’ve already built the largest database of schools between community colleges, online colleges and universities, and have big plans for the future to be a dependable source of information for college bound students"

Here 's the press release on Campus Explorer:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/12/prweb573224.htm

And here's an interview with the founder, Jerry Slavonia :
http://ednews.org/articles/20676/1/An-Interview-with-Jerry-Slavonia-About-CampusExplorercom/Page1.html

Check it out.

www.CampusExplorer.com


- Gene