Question: How important is it to attend a college that my friends and family have heard of?

Answer: To many parents and students, the name of the school, is more important than the actual quality of the education and the social experience of the college. For some, the focus on "brand" is sufficiently great that parents may direct their child towards schools that are unrealistic, or even inappropriate, or may exclude from consideration schools that offer equal , or perhaps better, experiences than the "name brands" that are at the top of their lists. For many, all they can think about is "getting in." But, the reality is the acceptance letter is really just the beginning, and it is the actual college experience that will lead to either success or failure.

Some parents firmly believe that merely attending a brand name institution will guarantee professional success and a high paying career. The simple fact is that it doesn't. More important than the name of the school is what actually happens there. A successful undergraduate experience fosters intellectual growth and exploration. Colleges and universities do not interview for jobs, the graduate does. Good grades and, in many cases, good performance on graduate admissions tests are what really count when it comes to getting hired or getting into graduate school. Without these, having attended a brand name offers little. The wise student will place the greatest emphasis on choosing a school that matches their academic and social needs.

There are over three thousand colleges and universities in the United States; students should choose those that offer the best academic and social fit. Parents need to be open-minded.

Marilyn G.S. Emerson, M.S.W., CEP

What Families Need to Know About Financial Aid Award Letters

Question: How and when can I expect to hear if my child has been awarded financial aid?

Answer: Financial aid award letters, as they are called, are typically sent out between mid-March and mid-April each year. Families have until May 1st to evaluate their offered aid packages and commit to a school by sending in a deposit. Don't assume that the school with the lowest tuition or the one offering the most grant money is the most affordable. The real measure of an aid package is how much you end up paying in the end.

Question: How do I determine which college is the most financially viable for my child?

Answer: First determine what the major costs are to attend each school. It is imperative that all directly and indirectly billed expenses (travel, books, meals, etc.) are included whether or not they are reflected in the financial aid award letter. Then group the major aid components together and compare them. Aid comes in three forms, loans which have to be repaid with or without interest, gift aid which consists of grants and merit aid which do not have to be repaid and work-study where a student is paid to work part time either on or off campus. In the latter case, the award letter doesn't typically indicate what the work will be. Comparing components is sometimes easier said than done. There is no standard form of financial aid letter. Schools can have cryptic acronyms to identify components without indicating which are grants and which are loans.

Once you know what your costs are and how much, and in what form of aid your child will be receiving, you can determine what your out-of-pocket costs will be. The difference between the cost of attendance and the amount of grant money and work study that your child is offered is ultimately what the family will owe. Offered loans may defer some the cost initially, but will have to be repaid with or without interest, depending upon the type of loan it is. Interest on some loans have to be repaid during the course of undergraduate studies. Others defer repayment until after graduation. Typically loans carry interest charges and fees which should be included in your calculations.

Question: Is help available to compare financial aid awards?

Answer: There are websites, some of which are more reliable than others, to assist families in comparing award packages. They also require a certain level of understanding the financial aid process. The college's financial aid office is always a resource to be called upon to clarify and explain inconsistencies or ambiguities. Also, be aware that aid packages aren't necessarily automatically renewable from year to year. Educate yourself early about the process so you will be in a position to evaluate financial aid letters in a timely fashion.

Carolyn Cohen, Esq. Educational Consultant at College Planning Services, Inc.

Choose Your High School Coursework with Care

Question: My son and daughter are a rising junior and senior. They'll be meeting with their guidance counselor soon to pick courses for next year. What should they be thinking about?

Answer: by Joseph J. O'Brien Jr (Educational Consultant)

First, it is always advisable to have a tentative four year plan when choosing your freshman year courses. That puts the student on a path that enables him to anticipate future courses while also allowing for changes to satisfy new interests. Having such a plan also makes it easier to decide on the next year's course selection.

But whether or not your sophomore son has a plan in place, he should be thinking about whether any colleges he's considering have particular course and test requirements. For example, some colleges or majors within a college might require two lab sciences or recommend a particular SAT subject test.

If there are no special requirements to meet, your son should be thinking about the courses that logically follow from the courses he's already taken, the courses he will enjoy and the courses that put him in a position to compete for a place in all of the colleges he will eventually apply to. Of courses, the courses needed to make a strong college applicant aren't always the most enjoyable courses, and that's where hard choices must be made.

Recently, when asked a similar question to yours, the President of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, Bill McClintick, said that most experienced admission officers would say, "We want to see if they have taken the most rigorous courses available to them at their particular school and how they have performed in those classes."

This adage will also serve your daughter well. Senior year is no time to take it easy. College will notice any drop off in the level of courses selected for senior year, and they won't like it. This is a time for her to continue to take as demanding course load as she can reasonably expect to succeed in. In fact, this should be every student's guiding principle in selecting next year's courses.