Application season is creeping up on us very quickly. Most of you seniors have probably already started your applications, and hopefully your essays are well on their way toward fully-crafted. Early deadlines will begin popping up in November, and December and January will round out the bulk of your application deadlines.

But in the midst of your final decision-making about where to apply, and your submitting of applications, you also need to be forward-thinking about the cost of college. Now is also the time to begin applying for scholarships. If you wait to research scholarship money until after you’re admitted — and I’ve encountered a few students every year who do — you’ll be way behind the ball, and you’ll have missed most colleges’ and other organizations’ deadlines.

I hope this is obvious to most of you, but I want to be clear in case you haven’t thought about it too much. The college process is not just a matter of applying, getting accepted, and then thinking about money; you need to think about money even as you’re deciding where to apply, investigating schools’ need- and merit-based aid programs well ahead of time.

Many colleges (Richmond is one of them) have separate deadlines for their scholarship programs, and many (Richmond is not one of these) require additional applications for these scholarships. At Richmond, all you need to do to apply for our Richmond Scholars Program is submit your application by December 15; nothing additional is required, unless you want to apply for the Artist or Science Scholar designation. Last year, we had an applicant pool of almost 8000; yet, of these, only about 5000 applied by December 15 (forcing me to muse on why anyone wouldn’t do so). And I spoke with students (and parents), when April rolled around, who were admitted but were wondering how to apply for scholarships. When told about the scholarship deadline they had not met, most asked whether they could be considered retroactively (truly impossible, since the consideration process is a months-long affair involving several rounds and faculty committees). Sorry, kids — you missed the boat.

Now is the time to check on colleges’ requirements for scholarship consideration, and it’s also the time to be checking out other scholarship sources as well. Many scholarships from outside sources and local organizations also require applications that are due throughout the fall, so be sure to keep these on your radar screen. FastWeb.com is the best resource I know among internet scholarship databases, and your high school guidance office can probably point you toward a variety of local scholarship sponsors.

The only area where you really can’t do much until after the new year is in the need-based aid category, where the FAFSA does not become available until January and most schools’ submission deadlines are in February. Just make sure your parents are organized and prepared to file their taxes as early as possible in the year, since tax returns are an important part of this process.

So start now. Start early. There’s a lot of money out there, and despite the rising costs of higher education, even a top-notch college education can still be very affordable if you’re willing to invest the time, effort, and thought into seeking out scholarships and aid sources.

For many students, the college search does not end with the discovery of one top-choice school (this was the case for me; see my post from last year on “the perfect college”). But for some the search does end this way. Some students visit a particular campus, meet a tour guide or current student, or sit in on a class, and things just click – and they know they’ve found their top-choice school.

If that describes your experience with Richmond, then our Early Decision application option is definitely something you want to consider.

Early Decision is a great way to streamline the application process if you know you’re willing to commit to attending Richmond. Here’s how it works:  You apply by November 15 (for fall early decision) and submit a contract saying that you will enroll at Richmond if accepted; we review your application; and you receive your decision on or around December 15. Not only is the turnaround time much faster, but you learn much earlier of your acceptance, and you know where you’ll be next fall – at your top-choice school – before the winter holidays.

There are a lot of common questions we get from students who are considering Early Decision. Here are some important facts that will hopefully help answer those questions:

Early Decision is a binding agreement. This means that you agree to enroll at Richmond if admitted, and to withdraw your applications from other colleges without being able to compare options. We do this in fairness to other applicants, both at Richmond and elsewhere; if you break your commitment at Richmond, you’ve basically denied three or four regular-decision applicants an opportunity to be admitted, and if you’re committed to Richmond but you’re admitted elsewhere because you’ve kept your applications in “just to see,” you’ve basically denied other applicants at those institutions the opportunity to be admitted.

Our Early Decision acceptance rate is higher than our regular decision acceptance rate. It can vary quite a bit from year to year, given changes in the size of the pool and what we’re looking for, but in recent history the early decision acceptance rate has been quite a bit higher than our regular rate of 32-38%. We love to see students who are so excited about Richmond that they’re willing to commit early, and this is the #1 way we take your interest into account in our process. We also don’t know what the context of our regular applicant pool will look like, so we are more inclined to lock in as many academically competitive students as possible while we have the chance.

Applying Early Decision will not negatively affect your financial aid package. This is something to be careful about with many colleges. There are schools that will give ED applicants a smaller aid package because they already have the students “locked in.” At Richmond, our need-blind admission policy and commitment to meet 100% of demonstrated need extend to Early Decision applicants. So you are guaranteed the exact same need-based aid package you would receive if you applied Regular Decision. No strings attached.

Early Decision applicants can submit an estimated financial aid form with their application. Upon notification of acceptance, you’ll also receive an estimated financial aid package. Final numbers are, of course, dependent upon submission of the FAFSA and tax returns in February, but our financial aid office can usually predict fairly accurately what things will look like based on estimated figures. (“What about before I apply?” you ask. Remember, we guarantee to meet whatever your demonstrated need is after your Expected Family Contribution. There are some good EFC calculators out there – see our financial aid site for links – and if you get a good sense of what your EFC looks like, you’ll have a good idea of what we would offer to make up the rest. If you have particular or situation-specific questions, contact our finanical aid office.)

Early Decision applicants are eligible for all merit scholarships. While we do not offer merit scholarships specifically for ED students, all students who apply early are given full consideration for both the Richmond Scholars program (where the faculty committees don’t really know whether a student is already committed or not) and for the Presidential Scholars program. As with need-based aid, it won’t count negatively against you that you’re already committed to enroll. However, merit scholarships are not awarded until March or early April, so if your enrollment is dependent upon comparing merit offers from different universities, Early Decision may not be the best choice.

If you decide later in the process that you want to commit Early Decision, you have a second chance. Our winter Early Decision option means that you can still apply early on January 15. We’ll consider the winter ED pool in light of the fall ED pool, before we look at the regular decision pool, so you get the same benefits listed above – and you receive your decision on or around February 15.

Everything you need to know about applying Early Decision can be found on our Admission Timeline. Click the fall or winter box for a list of deadlines and requirements. The only additional application pieces we require of early decision applicants are the Early Decision Contract – signed by you, your parents, and your school counselor/official – as well as First Quarter/Trimester grades for fall ED applicants (we will be looking at your senior year progress!)

If you have any questions, please be in touch with our office or post your questions here on the blog. We’re happy to help counsel students and families that are considering Early Decision – we know it’s a commitment, and we want to help you make sure it’s the right decision and help you through the process.

We look forward to seeing your applications!

By Tom

The title pretty much says it all. February 15 is the deadline to file the FAFSA to the federal processor and to complete our Financial Aid Supplemental Application – so make sure you’re getting those forms filled out! If you want more details about the need-based aid process at Richmond, see the website or read my recent blog posts on the subject. It’s not too late to apply, and I highly encourage it.

From the website: “While we will accept financial aid applications after the February 15th deadline, it is imperative that you submit the applications as soon as possible. This will allow us to provide you with a financial aid award by April 1 so that you can make an informed enrollment decision by May 1.  Contact the Office of Financial Aid with any questions you may have at 804-289-8438 or 800-700-1662.”

By Tom

Just a quick update/reminder about where we are in various scholarship and aid processes.

Richmond Scholars

Most Richmond Scholars semi-finalists have been notified already, and all will be notified by the end of this week. (Remember, only students who advance are notified.) We had around 5000 applications submitted by the December 15 deadline, and as always it was a highly competitive pool. Congratulations to all semi-finalists!

All applicants will be considered for the Presidential Scholarships, which are awards in the amount of $15,000 per year; Presidential Scholarships will be awarded with acceptance by the April 1 notification date.

Bonner Scholars

If you’re not familiar with our Bonner Scholars program, you may want to make yourself more familiar with it. Every year, 25 Bonner scholarships are awarded to students who have a passion for community engagement and service; Bonner Scholars become leaders on our campus in community engagement initiatives. The Bonner Scholars program does require a separate application, which is due on February 15.

If you’re curious or have more questions, we will be hosting a Bonner Scholars Chat this coming Tuesday, February 3, from 7:00-9:00 EST. All applied students should be receiving an invitation via e-mail. It should be a great opportunity to interact with current Bonner Scholars and program coordinators to find out more.

Need-Based Aid

Our Office of Financial Aid is gearing up for a busy season. As a reminder, the deadline to apply for need-based aid is February 15. Make sure you’re working on those taxes and getting the FAFSA filled out, as well as our supplemental application (we do not require the CSS profile). As long as you apply by the deadline, we should be able to give you a financial aid package with your acceptance offer come April 1 – which is ideal for helping you make your college decision. Please make the effort to apply for need-based aid, remembering that Richmond is very unique in the generosity of our policies.

And now it’s back to reading applications for me!

By Tom

Okay, now that it’s January 15 and our application deadline has arrived, all seniors applying to college (and their parents) should begin thinking about the next step – applying for financial aid. This means a few things: (1) consider getting your taxes done as soon as possible to make sure everything goes smoothly; (2) start work as soon as possible filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA; and (3) check whether the schools where you’ve applied require any sort of supplemental financial aid application (you can find ours here).

There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings surrounding the FAFSA and financial aid – and understandably so, since it’s a very complicated process involving lots of numbers and formulae. Anyone who’s done it before can tell you this. And there’s no way I can cover all of this in one post, but I’ll do my best to clear up some of the confusion.

The biggest misconception I encounter regarding financial aid is that the FAFSA form determines your financial aid package. Let me be very clear on this: The FAFSA does NOT determine how much financial aid you receive.

All the FAFSA does is to impartially, formulaically calculate your Expected Family Contribution, or EFC – how much you and your parents/guardians are expected to contribute to your education each year, based on income and resources. That’s all it does. Nothing more.

How much financial aid you receive, and what your financial aid package looks like, depends on what each individual college or university actually does with your EFC. If your EFC is higher than the college’s total cost, it’s unlikely that you’ll receive any need-based financial aid. If, however, your EFC is lower than the college’s total cost, that left-over amount is often referred to as your Eligibility or your Demonstrated Need – the part you aren’t able to pay.

But different schools have very different policies regarding what to do with that Eligibility. Many universities do not promise to meet this amount, while others promise only to meet it partially. There are fewer than 70 colleges in the United States that guarantee they will meet 100% of your demonstrated need, and the University of Richmond is one of these schools. Carolyn Lawrence, an independent counselor, does some great mythbusting and advising about this on her blog.

So even if you (parents) have sent a student off to college before, and did not qualify for financial aid, please don’t let that deter you from applying again. I worked with a family last year that had sent two students off to college before – one to a public university whose cost was lower than their EFC (so they did not receive any financial aid), and one to a private university that cost well above their EFC but did not guarantee to meet demonstrated need (and they did not receive any financial aid). Based on their past experiences, they did not intend to “waste time” applying for financial aid because they hadn’t received any before. I encouraged them to apply, they did, and they ended up receiving a fairly generous package.

For another real-life example, just turn to FinAid.org’s EFC Calculator and plug in your own numbers. See what it spits out. Keeping in mind that this is just an estimate (but often a pretty good one), see how that estimated EFC compares to the total cost for Richmond ($47,050 for 2008-2009). Whatever the difference, however big or small – we guarantee that we’ll meet it. It’s that simple. It might seem almost too simple, especially if you’ve had past experiences that didn’t seem so straightforward, but remember that only 70 colleges in the country do this. Remember, too, that the number of children you have in college significantly impacts your EFC (to your benefit) – so be sure to take that into account as well.

At Richmond, though, it doesn’t stop just with meeting 100% of your need. It’s also how we meet your need. Within your need-based aid package, Richmond will cap the loans/work study portion at $4000 and award the rest in grant money (free money, which does not have to be repaid). Moreover, if you bring in outside scholarships, we’ll start by replacing the loan portion to give you the maximum amount of grant aid possible and lessen debt.

You might wonder why I seem so excited about this, or why I’m bolding so many things in this (very long) post. The reason is that, even during my first year in admissions, I worked with several families who did not plan to apply for financial aid because they assumed (based on hearsay, stereotypes, or previous experience) that they would not receive any; I encouraged them to apply, and some of them were very pleasantly surprised by the amount of aid they did end up receiving. Richmond is pretty unique in what we do. So everyone should seriously consider applying for financial aid.

If you have further questions about this, or more specific concerns, please feel free to be in touch with our Office of Financial Aid (800-700-1662). We will also be hosting another online chat for parents, focused on the topic of financial aid, which will take place on Thursday, January 29, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Come join us to learn even more!