U.S. Has Slipped In Key Educational Rankings

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released its global rankings of how students in various countries do in reading, science, and math. Results of the full survey can be found and delved into here. The results clearly show that Asian countries are are leaving everyone else in their collective dust. The United States, meanwhile, ranks below the OECD average in every category. And as the WSJ notes, the US has slipped in all of the major categories in recent years: The results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which are being released on Tuesday, show that teenagers in the U.S. slipped from 25th to 31st in math since 2009; from 20th to 24th in science; and from 11th to 21st in…

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The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released its global rankings of how students in various countries do in reading, science, and math. Results of the full survey can be found and delved into here. The results clearly show that Asian countries are are leaving everyone else in their collective dust.

The United States, meanwhile, ranks below the OECD average in every category. And as the WSJ notes, the US has slipped in all of the major categories in recent years:

The results from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which are being released on Tuesday, show that teenagers in the U.S. slipped from 25th to 31st in math since 2009; from 20th to 24th in science; and from 11th to 21st in reading, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, which gathers and analyzes the data in the U.S.

Here are highlights of the newly released 2012 scores from the Program of International Student Assessment, an exam given every three years to 15 year olds around the world in reading, math and science. In this administration of PISA, 65 countries and education systems participated. Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts each participated for the first time as international benchmarking systems and received separate scores.

These results are part of a release on the PISA results from the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics.

Key findings:

MATHEMATICS LITERACY:

Average scores in mathematics literacy ranged from 613 in Shanghai-China to 368 in Peru. The U.S. average score was 481, which was lower than the OECD average of 494. The U.S. average was lower than 29 education systems, higher than 26 education systems, and not measurably different than 9 education systems.

Massachusetts and Connecticut mathematics literacy average scores were 514 and 506, respectively. Massachusetts’ average was higher than the OECD and U.S. averages and Connecticut’s was higher than the U.S. average but not measurably different than the OECD average. Florida’s average score (467) was lower than the OECD and U.S. averages.

The U.S. mathematics literacy average score in 2012 was not measurably different than any earlier comparable time point (2003, 2006 and 2009). There was no measurable change in average mathematics literacy scores in 33 of the 62 education systems, including the United States, that participated in PISA in 2009 and 2012, but 18 education systems’ average scores increased between 2012 and 2009. Percentages of top performing 15-year-old students (those scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above) in mathematics literacy ranged from 55 percent in Shanghai-China to nearly 0 percent in Colombia and Argentina. In the United States, 9 percent of 15-year-old students scored at proficiency level 5 or above, which was lower than the OECD average of 13 percent. The U.S. percentage was lower than 27 education systems, higher than 22 education systems, and not measurably different than 13 education systems.

The percentage of 15-year-old students performing below PISA proficiency level 2, which is considered a baseline of proficiency by the OECD, ranged from 4 percent in Shanghai-China to 76 percent in Indonesia. In the United States, 26 percent of 15-year-old students scored below level 2, which was higher than the OECD average of 23 percent. The U.S. percentage was higher than 29 education systems, lower than 26 education systems, and not measurably different than 9 education systems.

In Massachusetts and Connecticut, 19 and 16 percent of students, respectively, were top performers in mathematics, scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above and 18 and 21 percent, respectively, scored below level 2. In Florida, 6 percent of student scored at level 5 or above and 30 percent scored below level 2.

SCIENCE LITERACY:

Average scores in science literacy ranged from 580 in Shanghai-China to 373 in Peru. The U.S. average science literacy score was 497. This was not different from the OECD average of 501. This was lower than the average in 22 education systems. The U.S. average was higher than 29 education systems and was not measurably different than 13 education systems.

Massachusetts and Connecticut science literacy average scores, 527 and 521, respectively, were higher than the OECD and U.S. averages. Florida’s average score (485) was lower than the OECD average and not measurably different than the U.S. average.

The U.S. science literacy average score in 2012 was not measurably different than either earlier comparable time point (2006 and 2009). There was no measurable change in average science literacy scores in 43 of the 62 education systems, including the United States, that participated in PISA in 2009 and 2012, but 13 education systems’ average scores increased between 2009 and 2012.

Percentages of top-performing 15-year-old students (those scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above) in science literacy ranged from 27 percent in Shanghai-China and 23 percent in Singapore to nearly 0 percent in eight education systems. In the United States, 7 percent of 15-year-old students scored at proficiency level 5 or above, which was not measurably different from the OECD average of 8 percent. The U.S. percentage was lower than 17 education systems, higher than 27 education systems, and not measurably different than 15 education systems.

In science literacy, the percentage of 15-year-old students performing below PISA proficiency level 2, which is considered a baseline of proficiency by the OECD, ranged from 3 percent in Shanghai-China and 5 percent in Estonia to 67 percent in Indonesia and 68 percent in Peru. In the United States, 18 percent of U.S. 15-year-old students scored below level 2, which was not measurably different from the OECD average of 18 percent. The U.S. percentage was higher than 21 education systems, lower than 29 education systems, and not measurably different than 14 education systems.

In Massachusetts and Connecticut, 14 and 13 percent of students, respectively, were top performers in science, scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above and 11 and 13 percent, respectively, scored below level 2. In Florida, 5 percent of student scored at level 5 or above and 21 percent scored below level 2.

READING LITERACY:

Average scores in reading literacy ranged from 570 in Shanghai-China to 384 in Peru. The U.S. average score was 498, which was not measurably different from the OECD average of 496. The U.S. average was lower than 19 education systems, higher than 34 education systems, and not measurably different than 11 education systems.

Massachusetts and Connecticut reading literacy average scores, 527 and 521, respectively, were higher than the OECD and U.S. averages. Massachusetts was outperformed by only three education systems, and Connecticut by four. Florida’s average score (492) was not measurably different than the OECD or U.S. averages.

The U.S. reading literacy average score in 2012 was not measurably different than any earlier comparable time point (2000, 2003, and 2009). There was no measurable change in average reading literacy scores in 34 of the 62 education systems, including the United States, that participated in PISA in 2009 and 2012, but 21 education systems’ average scores increased between 2009 and 2012.

Percentages of top performing 15-year-old students (those scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above) in reading literacy ranged from 25 percent in Shanghai-China and 21 percent in Singapore to nearly 0 percent in 3 education systems. In the United States, 8 percent of U.S. 15-year-old students scored at proficiency level 5 or above, which was not measurably different from the OECD average of 8 percent. The U.S. percentage was lower than 14 education systems, higher than 33 education systems, and not measurably different than 12 education systems.

In reading literacy, the percentage of 15-year-old students performing below PISA proficiency level 2, which is considered a baseline of proficiency by the OECD, ranged from 3 percent in Shanghai-China to 60 percent in Peru. In the United States, 17 percent of U.S. 15-year-old students scored below level 2, which was not measurably different from the OECD average of 18 percent. The U.S. percentage was higher than 14 education systems, lower than 33 education systems, and not measurably different than 17 education systems.

In Massachusetts and Connecticut, 16 and 15 percent of students, respectively, were top performers in science, scoring at PISA proficiency level 5 or above and 11 and 13 percent, respectively, scored below level 2. In Florida, 6 percent of student scored at level 5 or above and 17 percent scored below level 2.

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Thinking Private School? Look beyond FAFSA.

This is the time of year when students and parents are running around the house, gathering financial information, receipts and pay stubs in order to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). While the need for an annual round of the FAFSA Tango is generally well known, there’s another financial aid application out there that more and more schools are using: The College Board’s CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. Nearly 400 private colleges and universities require students to submit a CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE — I’m just going to call it “the CSS” from here on out — in order to determine non-federal aid eligibility. CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE Overview Schools that require students to file a CSS use the information they…

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This is the time of year when students and parents are running around the house, gathering financial information, receipts and pay stubs in order to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). While the need for an annual round of the FAFSA Tango is generally well known, there’s another financial aid application out there that more and more schools are using: The College Board’s CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. Nearly 400 private colleges and universities require students to submit a CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE — I’m just going to call it “the CSS” from here on out — in order to determine non-federal aid eligibility.

CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE Overview

Schools that require students to file a CSS use the information they gather to administer grants, scholarships and private loans. Because these types of aid funds tend to be more competitive — and therefore run out more quickly — the deadline for getting your CSS in to the school tends to come up sooner than that of the FAFSA. The deadlines vary by school, so be sure to ask if your school needs you to fill out a CSS and when it is due. Unlike the FAFSA, you can fill out and submit your CSS in the fall for the next academic year.

One more thing to keep in mind, particularly if you’re a prospective freshman applying to multiple schools, is that the CSS is not free (unlike FAFSA). The cost for submitting a CSS is $5 plus $18 for each school or scholarship program you send the CSS to. This is another argument for making a decision about where you’re attending school as early as possible.

CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE Tips

The CSS is available as an online application. Before you start, however, the College Board recommends you gather all the necessary information in order to make the process go more smoothly. Before you sit down at the computer, gather up:

• Your current year federal income tax return(s), if completed;


• Last year’s federal income tax return(s);


• W-2 forms and other records of money earned last year;


• Records of untaxed income and benefits for the last two tax years;


• Current bank statements;


• Current mortgage information;


• Records of savings, stocks, bonds, trusts, and other investments;


• In the case of divorced parents, the noncustodial parent’s email address.

While it’s usually a better bet to have your taxes filed before completing the CSS, the earlier deadlines and the need to get your application in early may not always make this a feasible option. You can always estimate your income using pay stubs, W-2s and last year’s taxes.

For students whose parents are divorced, the custodial parent should fill out the CSS. However, unlike colleges that look only at the FAFSA, schools that use the CSS may require additional financial information from the non-custodial parent. The CSS also requires a minimum financial contribution from the student, which is also a departure from FAFSA.

One thing that can work to students’ advantages is that the CSS leaves much more of the eligibility decisions to the professional judgment of the individual colleges’ financial aid administrators. This allows more leeway for you to describe your own specific financial situation and not simply be pegged as an EFC and left at that.

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Student Debt Increases Nationwide

Anna Shuqom wasnâ��t all that surprised to hear that students at Wheelock College graduate with average loan debt of nearly $50,000, one of the highest totals in the country. The Wheelock sophomore figures she will owe at least twice that, even with aid from the school she will not have to repay. â��Itâ��s a lot of money,â�� she said on the Fenway campus recently, frowning at the prospect of the prohibitive monthly loan payments that await her after graduation. â��But the costs keep going up.â�� So does student debt. More than 70 percent of US college graduates last year had student loan debt, with an average of more than $29,000, according to a report by the Institute for College Access & Success, a research and advocacy…

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Anna Shuqom wasn’t all that surprised to hear that students at Wheelock College graduate with average loan debt of nearly $50,000, one of the highest totals in the country. The Wheelock sophomore figures she will owe at least twice that, even with aid from the school she will not have to repay.

“It’s a lot of money,” she said on the Fenway campus recently, frowning at the prospect of the prohibitive monthly loan payments that await her after graduation. “But the costs keep going up.”

So does student debt. More than 70 percent of US college graduates last year had student loan debt, with an average of more than $29,000, according to a report by the Institute for College Access & Success, a research and advocacy group.

In Massachusetts, 2012 graduates of Wheelock and several other small private schools — Anna Maria College, Becker College, and Curry College — had average debts of more than $40,000.

Related

Graphic: Debt from local colleges

The latest figures underline the growing problem of the massive sums many college students are borrowing, debt that follows them for years. Last year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimated that national student loan debt was approaching $1.2 trillion, a 20 percent jump from 2011.

‘Students and families need to know that debt levels can vary widely from college to college.’

“Students and families need to know that debt levels can vary widely from college to college,” said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success.

Students in Massachusetts graduated with average debt of more than $28,000, the 12th-highest in the country. Two-thirds of all students graduated with some debt.

Loan burdens are often heaviest at small private schools with modest endowments, where tuition is high and financial aid — grants, scholarships, and other nonloan assistance — is relatively modest.

At wealthier private schools, such as Boston College, Amherst College, and Harvard University, loan burdens are far less onerous, the report found.

That is because these schools can dip into their endowments to help disadvantaged students.

At Williams College, where the annual cost of attendance is almost $59,000, less than one-third of students graduate with debt, with an average burden of under $13,000.

By contrast, at Becker College, which costs about $43,000 annually, nearly all students take out loans and leave the school with an average debt of nearly $45,000.

At Boston University, Suffolk University, and Babson College, students graduated with average debt of more than $30,000.

The report relied on figures provided by colleges, and more than half of all public and nonprofit private schools responded.

Richard Doherty, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, said that students, on average, graduate from private colleges in Massachusetts with only slightly more debt than graduates from public colleges.

At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, for example, more than 70 percent of graduates took out loans, with an average debt of nearly $28,000.

“By and large, there is a tremendous amount of institutional aid,” at private colleges, which for most students substantially lowers the overall cost, Doherty said.

In Massachusetts, many colleges say they have increased financial aid in an effort to ease the burden on students and their families.

Wheelock says it provides assistance to nearly all its students, with an average of $21,200 in aid.

Becker, in Worcester, says it has boosted aid by more than 43 percent over the past three years, but it is a tuition-dependent college with a modest endowment.

For undergraduates who entered Becker this fall, tuition will remain frozen during their four years.

Officials at smaller private colleges say they attract many students from less wealthy backgrounds, who even with generous financial aid packages must borrow money.

At the same time, the schools typically lack the substantial endowments of larger schools.

“They are the least wealthy institutions, and they provide access to and serve some of the financially neediest students,” said Fran Jackson, director of communication for Curry College in Milton, which costs more than $47,000 annually for resident students.

The school has increased financial aid by $7 million in recent years to help students defray the cost, Jackson said.

At Wheelock, many students were unsure how much they would ultimately have to borrow, but most believed it was worth it to attend a strong school.

“It’s one of those things you just expect going to a private college,” said Jessica Hersom, a junior from Maine. “I’m getting a great education here.”

Indeed, many students said cost did not play a major role in their college decision. They placed a higher value on the small, close-knit campus and its Boston location.

That was also true for Shuqom, who is from Brookline but lives on campus. For now, she was content not to worry too much about the mounting debt.

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College Aid Tied to Academic Performance for More Than A Million California Students

California Community college students will have to meet minimum academic standards to receive financial assistance under new rules approved by the system this month. The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted to require that students maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA for two consecutive terms and complete at least half of their units with a D grade or better to receive a fee waiver. Community college fees are currently $46 per unit, among the lowest in the nation. Of the state’s 2.6 million community college students, about 40% have their fees waived. The new policy will take effect in fall 2016. It is the latest in a series of reforms intended to help students graduate and transfer more quickly. Other changes will give priority enrollment to students who attend…

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California Community college students will have to meet minimum academic standards to receive financial assistance under new rules approved by the system this month.

The California Community Colleges Board of Governors voted to require that students maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA for two consecutive terms and complete at least half of their units with a D grade or better to receive a fee waiver.

Community college fees are currently $46 per unit, among the lowest in the nation. Of the state’s 2.6 million community college students, about 40% have their fees waived.

The new policy will take effect in fall 2016. It is the latest in a series of reforms intended to help students graduate and transfer more quickly.

Other changes will give priority enrollment to students who attend orientation sessions and develop education plans. California’s 112 community colleges also are planning to increase counseling and support services to help students achieve their goals.

“We will do everything in our power to help students on financial aid succeed,” said community colleges Chancellor Brice W. Harris, “but students need to know that they have a responsibility to keep up their end of the bargain.”

Students must receive notice of their probationary status within 30 days of the end of the term and can appeal decisions if they have extenuating circumstances.

Students in foster care are exempt, and the board agreed to consider other exceptions.

As many as 41,791 students could lose fee waivers under the policy, although there is likely to be little effect on revenue, officials said.

The fee waiver policy remains controversial, with some critics arguing that it will harm poor students who are most in need of financial aid.

“Many poor students who receive the Board of Governor’s fee waiver are often in not very good neighborhoods, they have families to support as well as going to college and may be around violence a lot,” said Rich Copenhagen, a College of Alameda student and past president of the Student Senate for California Community Colleges. “If you cut our fee waivers, they’re probably going to be gone from community colleges forever.”

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Should You Try to Negotiate Your Financial Aid Package?

The college application, admissions and financial aid processes are already confusing enough. Unfortunately, the advice professionals offer about how to negotiate the roadblocks you run is not much less confusing itself. If you get an award package that is less than you think you will need, what can you do? Well, you can negotiate. Right? Yes. And no. Financial professionals and financial aid experts disagree on what approach to take. In a recent Reuters article, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania financial aid adviser Fred Amrein says that “some colleges will negotiate if you show them a better package from a competitive school. But most will not.” He discourages his clients from appealing their aid awards unless they have financial pressures that don’t show up on their aid…

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The college application, admissions and financial aid processes are already confusing enough. Unfortunately, the advice professionals offer about how to negotiate the roadblocks you run is not much less confusing itself. If you get an award package that is less than you think you will need, what can you do? Well, you can negotiate. Right? Yes. And no.

Financial professionals and financial aid experts disagree on what approach to take. In a recent Reuters article, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania financial aid adviser Fred Amrein says that “some colleges will negotiate if you show them a better package from a competitive school. But most will not.” He discourages his clients from appealing their aid awards unless they have financial pressures that don’t show up on their aid forms.

On the other hand, there is a camp of experts that insists on appealing if your aid award is sub-par. A piece in the Kansas City Star details this school of thought. While the door may be closing on getting the big-dollar awards from college financial aid offices, there is still plenty of money available to help close your gap. And it’s been my experience that if the school really wants your son or daughter, it will try really hard to make it happen. Each school may have its own rules about financial aid appeals or special circumstances reviews, but by and large the financial aid administrator — and not the admissions officer — is the gatekeeper to the funds.

With that in mind, your first step should be to contact the financial aid office and express your concerns. Make it clear that the school is your teen’s first choice. Ask if there’s anything the college can do to make tuition more affordable. The college may want to see copies of financial aid award letters from the other schools on your student’s list. They might spot whether there was an honest mistake in the way the aid package was calculated.

Administrators have the authority to make adjustments, especially if there are unusual circumstances, such as a job loss or high medical bills.

For example, if a parent recently lost a job, the financial aid office might switch from using last year’s after-tax income figure to an estimate of current year income to determine aid eligibility, said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of the FinAid.org and FastWeb.com financial aid websites. Or the school could come up with more money by repackaging the offer to include more loans than grants and scholarships.

The process, of course, is driven by documentation, so be prepared to put your cards on the table. That doesn’t mean making your case by saying that Junior deserves more money because he’s an in-state resident, a 4.0 student and a heck of a trumpet player whose dream is to play in the marching band. Instead, for example, if you lost a job or were cut back to part time, provide a notice of the layoff, an unemployment insurance application or a letter from your corporate human relations department. Likewise, if you asked for an aid review and then happened to win the Powerball jackpot, that information should be disclosed so it can be taken into account as well. While a few college aid offices will actively negotiate, it’s still not like bargaining at a car dealership where bluff and bluster can get you a better deal, Kantrowitz said. “It tends to be more formulaic,” he said.

Most colleges do not want to get into a bidding war with other schools. But they will match another school’s offer if the student has the right academic credentials and perhaps fits into a demographic category that the school is trying to attract, Kantrowitz told the Star. Play it straight with the financial aid officer. Be polite, don’t make demands, and save the drama and games-playing for fall Saturdays in October.

Keep in mind there is generally no appeal beyond the financial aid office. And if the answer is still no after all your efforts, then it may be time to move on to the No. 2 college choice. The cost of higher education can be outrageous, so why load up on debt if there are plenty of good, affordable choices?

One other suggestion: Financial aid rarely stays in line with tuition, room and board. That’s why — under the right circumstances — it’s smart to ask for reviews of your college student’s aid package during sophomore, junior and senior years, too.

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Applying for College? Don’t Decide Too Fast…

Early admission applicants know exactly what school they want to go to. But they may give universities an opportunity to exploit that single-minded ambition by delivering less aid than anticipated. Would-be students may not know how much they’re getting until it’s too late. There are two types of early admission: early decision and early action. Early decision involves a commitment to attend. Early action does not. Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Edvisor’s Network, recommends against early decision. “The problem with early decision is that you’re making a commitment to attend before knowing about the financial aid package,” he told MainStreet, while shutting out colleges that might give you a better deal. “There’s no up-front pricing,” he…

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Early admission applicants know exactly what school they want to go to. But they may give universities an opportunity to exploit that single-minded ambition by delivering less aid than anticipated. Would-be students may not know how much they’re getting until it’s too late.

There are two types of early admission: early decision and early action. Early decision involves a commitment to attend. Early action does not.

Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Edvisor’s Network, recommends against early decision. “The problem with early decision is that you’re making a commitment to attend before knowing about the financial aid package,” he told MainStreet, while shutting out colleges that might give you a better deal.

“There’s no up-front pricing,” he says. You don’t know how much the college will cost until after you are admitted. The net price calculators are a step in the direction of providing early information about the net price, but the information it provides is only an estimate.”

Most schools will let you out of an early decision commitment if you seriously can’t go. But by then it may be too late if, in the pursuit of a dream school, you haven’t applied to other colleges. While Kantrowitz says that early admission applicants seem to get the same types and amounts of financial aid as students in a college’s regular admission pool, “early admission students tend to self-select into a more talented and wealthier group, and so are more likely to be admitted and less likely to get financial aid.”

Kantrowitz recommends applying to multiple colleges to increase the chances of securing aid. “In addition to the usual mix of safety, reach and good match schools, students should also apply to at least one financial aid safety school,” he said. “A financial aid safety school is a college that not only will admit the student, but where the student could afford to attend even if he or she got no financial aid other than loans.”

While the benefit is that you can be admitted to your first choice before the holidays there is a distinct drawback: “You must wait until January 1 to apply for federal student aid. And while you wait, application deadlines for other schools start to pass. When your award finally arrives, if it doesn’t adequately cover your need, your options are few.” Freshman classes at other schools will be filling up, and the aid pool will be getting smaller.

This highlights the benefit of early action. “Early action is non–binding,” says Princeton Review. “You get an acceptance, but still have time to compare several award packages.”

The College Confidential Website’s “Ask the Dean” column by Sally Rubenstone stresses the importance of award formulas based on family income and assets as an aid package barometer. “This package will be the same whether a candidate applies under an early- or regular-decision plan,” she writes. Some schools can offer more in grants and less in loans to sought-after applicants. Since early applicants are already sure-things, the deals will likely be fewer.

College Confidential mentions the appeal process as an option. If you get in early but don’t like the aid, “you are free to appeal the award. Colleges don’t like to lose admitted students, and you may find that, with a bit of polite and appreciative cajoling, you can get your pot sweetened after all.”

But the best merit aid awards may be saved for uncommitted students. “At the majority of colleges, merit-aid policies are vague,” College Confidential says. “Web sites and brochures make ambiguous proclamations like ‘awards are given to the top applicants in our pool.’ Students and parents can’t tell if they’re in the running – and how much they’ll receive if they are – until decision letters show up in the spring.”

Still, College Confidential says it’s typically easier to be admitted by early decision than in the regular pool. “Colleges grab bird-in-hand applicants while realizing that they may not be as strong as some who will turn up down the road,” adding that. “Most enrollment managers want to lock in a certain percentage of the freshman class during the early-decision period.”

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Counselors Key to Getting Students from High School to College

The challenges facing high school counselors, who are tasked with discussing college and career choices with students, can be difficult. As a piece from the Hechinger Report illustrates, a counselor at Campbell High, in Smyrna, GA, when asking about her students’ goals, was greeted with indifference and wisecracks like “Become a drug dealer.” Later, when asked to sit at computers and go through a questionnaire to help determine what courses of studies and careers would be good fits for them, several of the same students struggle with the words on the screen, English still foreign to them. In spite of all these warning signs, counselors’ caseloads are so big that this may be the only time for at least a year that many of these…

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The challenges facing high school counselors, who are tasked with discussing college and career choices with students, can be difficult. As a piece from the Hechinger Report illustrates, a counselor at Campbell High, in Smyrna, GA, when asking about her students’ goals, was greeted with indifference and wisecracks like “Become a drug dealer.”

Later, when asked to sit at computers and go through a questionnaire to help determine what courses of studies and careers would be good fits for them, several of the same students struggle with the words on the screen, English still foreign to them.

In spite of all these warning signs, counselors’ caseloads are so big that this may be the only time for at least a year that many of these students will ever see her or any other counselor. The best she can do is reach out each fall to Campbell’s 800 first-year students in groups like these, to try to give them an idea of what life might be like beyond their early teens.

Campbell High, in Smyrna, a fast-growing city about 20 miles northwest of Atlanta where one in five children under 18 lives in poverty, began holding the group meetings this year. They’re among several attempts the school is making to counteract a vexing but largely unseen problem nationwide: a critical shortage of competent counselors capable of giving advice to college-going high school students, precisely when the country needs more Americans to get degrees — and when getting into college is more expensive and more confusing than ever.

A single public school counselor in the United States has a caseload of 471 students, on average, according to the American School Counselor Association, or ASCA. In high schools, where counselors are often the primary source of information about college — especially as increasing numbers of students become the first in their families to consider it — each one is responsible for an average of 239 students, the ASCA says. In California, the ratio is an even more unwieldy 1-to-500. A Georgia School Counselors Association survey puts the number in that state at 1-to-512.

To make matters worse, budget cuts are forcing counselors to perform more duties unrelated to their traditional roles, such as monitoring the school cafeteria or proctoring exams, says Eric Sparks, the ASCA’s assistant director.

And if that wasn’t cause enough for concern, what little time counselors have to advise students about college is not as productive as it could be, since most get scant training in the subject before taking on the job, reports Alexandria Walton Radford, a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education who has studied the issue.

The result is an overtaxed system in which many students fall through the cracks and either never go to college, go to institutions that are the wrong matches for them, or never learn about financial aid for which they may qualify.

The average school counselor in the United States has a caseload of 471 students.

Examples range from low-income, nonwhite, and ethnic minority valedictorians and first-generation college applicants who shy away from elite schools to freshmen who rely more on friends and relatives than counselors for advice about college.

Those are among the findings of Radford’s research. She says many high school counselors have no choice but to “talk about the average student,” leaving higher-performing classmates to fend for themselves. And if the parents or other relatives of those students happen to have little knowledge of college — as is the case with many immigrants and nonwhites — they may never learn that elite schools are likely to not only accept them, but offer them financial aid.

“Counselors want to do well, but they’re constricted by caseload and the other duties assigned to them,” says Radford, author of Top Student, Top School: How Social Class Shapes Where Valedictorians Go to College.

This problem arises at precisely a time when the economic downturn has made clearer than ever the link between a college education and jobs, leading to a push at the federal and state levels for more people to get degrees.

The complexity of information coming from colleges makes matters even worse, says Barmak Nassirian, director of policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. There are 4,000 universities and colleges, Nassirian says. And when the huge variety of prices and financial-aid programs are taken into account, “That’s cacophony. It might as well be a random process.”

Counseling should be a source of help in this cacophony. But, he says, “Counseling is time-consuming and labor-intensive. It is perceived … as an administrative add-on and not funded adequately. With overcrowded classrooms, we’re robbing Peter to pay Paul.”

It’s revealing that three out of four private high schools, where parents expect to get their children into good colleges, have counselors who specialize in advising students about their higher educations, Radford says. And counselors in private schools have a median caseload of only 106.

A new Georgia law will require schools to factor in previously unaccounted-for student populations when assigning budgets for counselors — students who are classified as gifted, have learning disabilities, or are learning English as a second language. The goal is to lower the statewide ratio of counselors to students to a still-high ratio of 1-to-450. Sparks, of the ASCA, says other states, including North Carolina, have passed laws to stop counselors from being assigned to other duties. But at a time of stretched resources, money to lower the caseloads “has been limited.”

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Fill Out the FAFSA!

Happy New Year! The holidays are over, and by now, high school seniors should have all their college applications in to their schools of interest for the 2013-2014 academic year. If you do, great. If not, what I am about to say may be less relevant but you should do it anyway: start filling out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Now. Returning student? Cool. The holidays are over and you’re not going back to school for a few days. Fill out your FAFSA. Today. Are you a dependent student? Wonderful. Tell your parents to go online and start entering all their information into the FAFSA. Regardless of your status as a student, the federal government and whatever school you attend will require you (and…

via Affordable Schools Online:

Happy New Year! The holidays are over, and by now, high school seniors should have all their college applications in to their schools of interest for the 2013-2014 academic year. If you do, great. If not, what I am about to say may be less relevant but you should do it anyway: start filling out your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Now. Returning student? Cool. The holidays are over and you’re not going back to school for a few days. Fill out your FAFSA. Today. Are you a dependent student? Wonderful. Tell your parents to go online and start entering all their information into the FAFSA.

Regardless of your status as a student, the federal government and whatever school you attend will require you (and your parents) to submit a FAFSA before they can determine how much aid you qualify for. In the world of dwindling financial aid dollars, aid is doled out on a first-come, first-served basis. Moreover, with the ongoing budget battle in Congress and the threat of further sequestration in the offing, getting your application in and a qualification letter back in the next couple months may be a good thing.

I know it’s early in the year, and you may not have all the information you need, such as tax forms, but you can still use close estimates to get the FAFSA submitted and then amend your application once you have filed your 2012 tax returns. With decent estimates, your award level will be unaffected absent any real major changes or life events such as losing your major source of income or a divorce.

Getting an early jump can also help your school make decisions for school-based aid programs, such as foundation scholarships. Many scholarship programs have application deadlines in the spring. A school will not be able to determine eligibility for many scholarships, particularly those based on need, until a FAFSA has been submitted for the student. No FAFSA, no scholarship: it’s definitely a “you snooze, you lose situation.”

Starting the Process

If your parents (or you, if you are a parent yourself or what colleges so touchingly refer to as a “nontraditional” student) filled out FAFSAs when they went to college, they probably still have nightmares about those multipage blue and white forms that never seem to end. The bad news is that the FAFSA is no shorter today — in fact, with all the Patriot Act stuff, it may be longer than it was a decade or so ago. More positively, though, it is available online, and you can save it as you go. This means that if you need to take a break to dig up some information or stare out at a bird in a tree, you can do so without losing all your work. To begin the FAFSA, visit www.FAFSA.ed.gov and follow the link on the “Start a New Application” button.

If this is your first experience with the FAFSA, pay attention to the questions being asked and the information required. The information gathered from the FAFSA will be used to calculate the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) to your education. This figure is the foundation of what colleges use to decide how much they think you should pay out of pocket and how much aid you should be offered. The assets that are asked about on the FAFSA are given different weights in calculating the EFC. For example, checking and savings accounts or custodial accounts in the name of the student will be counted much more heavily “against” the EFC (i.e. you will be expected to pay more from such accounts) than if the same assets were held in the name of a parent or grandparent.

Tax year 2012 is in the books and there is not much you can do about your income or assets for the past year. However, you can use your experience with this year’s FAFSA as a learning opportunity. Take note of what you listed and disclosed and do some research on this and other sites (like FinAid) about how your assets and their characterization can serve to increase or decrease financial aid eligibility. Talk to your financial planner (but not necessarily anyone who charges to dole out financial aid-specific advice, as such advice is typically redundant to typical financial planning and represents an additional set of funds that won’t be used to pay for college) before you do anything to liquidate or recharacterize your assets, as sometimes the tax hit or costs involved are not worth the potential increase in aid eligibility.

Regardless of your current financial situation, if you think you will need financial aid for the 2013-2014 academic year, fill out your FAFSA now.

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Four Little Habits That Have Helped Me Immensely in My Personal Finance Journey

This website is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Material shared on this blog does not constitute financial advice nor is it offered as such. Therefore, The Simple Dollar assumes no legal liability for the completeness, accuracy, or suitability of the information provided by its authors.Readers will also note that The Simple Dollar maintains financial relationships with certain third party merchants. If readers access and utilize the services of one of these affiliates through a link on the blog, The Simple Dollar may be compensated for the referral.Please read the blog’s policies on privacy and image-use.And always consult a locally licensed insurance agent, financial adviser or certified attorney before making any financial decisions.

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In 2006, my life was a financial mess. I had credit card debt, student loan debt, and a car loan, and Sarah was in the same exact boat. We lived in a tiny apartment with no real hope of moving elsewhere.

By the end of 2011, we owned our own home and were completely debt free.

Naturally, such a turnaround took a lot of work and a lot of hard choices, but I’ve found that the biggest difference came from lots of little skills and decisions that, over time, made a huge difference in my life.

These skills didn’t appear overnight. Instead, they were grown over a period of months – even years. Eventually, they led to what I would call a “new normal” – a new “default” way of doing things in my life that relied on these skills.

I could write about lots of these little skills or habits. Here are four of the most powerful ones.

I can estimate my grocery spending with frightening accuracy

When I first started paying attention to our food budget, I quickly realized that I had little sense abut what I was putting into my cart. I was usually completely surprised by the amount I owed at the checkout, but I’d forget about that bill almost as soon as I left the store.

This approach made it extremely difficult to maintain a monthly food budget for our family. I really had no clue what I was spending, so it was all a mystery to me.

The first step for fixing this was to use a grocery list and to keep careful track of all of the prices on items as I picked them out. After a while, I began to get a strong sense of what various items cost and, eventually, I just started to keep a running tally in my head.

That running tally really helps me keep a grip on my grocery spending. I know our total food budget for the month and because I’m able to keep a running tally, I have a strong sense as to whether my purchases are in line with that budget. That sense keeps me from buying frivolous things, but it also helps me decide whether to buy “premium” versions of particular items.

How do you learn this technique? For me, it was mostly a matter of paying attention to the price of everything I put into the cart and keeping a running tally of the cost, rounded to the nearest dollar. Almost always, the total I have in my head is pretty close to what my total is at the checkout.

I can convince myself not to buy things, even after I have them in hand (or in the cart)

I’ve talked abut the “ten second rule” many times in the past. It’s an incredibly useful technique for keeping yourself from making unnecessary purchases.

Whenever I have an item in hand that’s not an absolute need, I spend ten seconds asking myself whether or not I need that item. If I can’t justify it, I put the item back and wait on that purchase.

At first, the “ten second rule” was something I had to actively remind myself to do, but as the rule became a normal part of my life, unconsciously executing the “ten second rule” became a normal part of every purchase. It’s a learned skill, but one that does a great job of keeping you from buying unnecessary stuff.

I find a lot of pleasure in ordinary, free things

Again, this was a learned skill, not something that came naturally to me. I used to spend hundreds of dollars a month on entertainment expenses, but I’ve gradually reduced that down to a pretty small monthly number.

The big difference was that I began to appreciate quite a few low-cost and free activities. For me, the big one was reading – I started really utilizing the library in our town as well as free and low-cost e-books for my Kindle. I also cultivated interests in cooking and gardening, both of which were either very low cost or actually saved us money. I also became much more involved in community activities.

For me, the big shift happened when I started looking deeply at the financial cost of anything I might be doing in my free time. If I was considering a high-cost activity, I’d keep searching for something I would enjoy that costs less. Now, this process is completely natural and I often choose free or low-cost activities by default.

I have a very strong “need versus want” filter

In the past, when I thought about a non-required purchase, I wouldn’t really think about it as a “need” versus a “want.” My focus was mostly on the short-term pleasure boost I would get from buying something.

Today, when I make a purchase, the first thing I ask myself is whether my family needs this item. If it’s not a need, it’s going to come out of my monthly entertainment allowance.

Over time, I’ve taught myself to be very harsh when it comes to that question. The vast majority of things I would spend my money on in my life are wants, not needs. Television is a want. Internet access would be a want if it were not a business expense for me. A cell phone is a want. Most things in the store that aren’t on my list are pure wants.

Knowing that so much of what I could be spending money on is nothing more than wants makes it easier to keep that spending under control. I just keep in mind that incidental expenses are virtually always wants – and most of the time, that’s enough to get me to walk away from them.

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Tips to Help Maximize Your Aid Eligibility

In an earlier post, I talked about how schools determine aid eligibility based on your expected family contribution (EFC). Your EFC is based on a combination of income and assets that belong the student and, typically, her parents. Your chosen college’s financial aid office, along with the federal government, throws all this information into a calculation called the the federal methodology to arrive at your individual EFC. the higher your EFC (or the closer it is to the estimated cost of attending your college), the less eligible you are for federal financial aid. Here, we’re going to take a look at some ways that you can legally lower your EFC, apart from being declared an independent student, and thus increase your eligibility for aid. Student…

via Affordable Schools Online:

In an earlier post, I talked about how schools determine aid eligibility based on your expected family contribution (EFC). Your EFC is based on a combination of income and assets that belong the student and, typically, her parents. Your chosen college’s financial aid office, along with the federal government, throws all this information into a calculation called the the federal methodology to arrive at your individual EFC. the higher your EFC (or the closer it is to the estimated cost of attending your college), the less eligible you are for federal financial aid. Here, we’re going to take a look at some ways that you can legally lower your EFC, apart from being declared an independent student, and thus increase your eligibility for aid.

Student Earnings

One of the criteria that has the most effect on your EFC is your income both before and during your college years. This doesn’t mean that you should immediately quit your job and throw yourself on the couch with the remote and a bucket of ice cream as you wait for the Pell Grant check to clear. Not at all. In fact, please don’t. But what you do need to do is remember that in the eyes of the financial aid powers, a percentage of what you are earning is expected to be used for college. So, yes, you could lower your income in order to be more eligible for aid, but you would be shooting yourself in the financial foot. It would be frankly silly to earn $5,000 less per year so that you could qualify for an extra $1,000 in federal student aid. Right?

The better (less fun, more prudent) course of action is to save as much of what you earn as you can for use in paying your college expenses. If your income is going to count against your EFC, which it will if you need federal aid, you need to allocate as much of it as you can toward paying for college. From the frugal perspective, this strategy has the added benefit of reducing the amount of outside aid you will actually need, most particularly loans. Which, in the long run, is financially way better. So, if you use what you earn to by less pizza while you’re in college, you will be able to buy a lot more of it (and other things) with your post-degree job and reduced student debt lifestyle.

Trust Your Parents

Another way to reduce your EFC is to transfer some of the assets that you own in your name to your parents. The only things you need to worry about are the types of assets that will be included in the federal methodology calculation, such as savings accounts and accounts of which you are the beneficiary, like 529 savings plans, etc. If you choose to look into this way of increasing your eligibility for federal student aid, be sure to talk to a financial adviser to make sure that it is a permissible transfer. You will also want to make sure that you change the ownership long before you submit your first Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) so that there is no question of who is legal owner of the assets.

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