Wynter Cianciolo
Personal Finance
Mrs. Straub
1 November 2019
As we enter the 2020 Winter season seniors are feeling pretty stressed about the thought of college next fall. Figuring out how to apply for certain colleges, figuring out FAFSA, and on top of all of that figuring out how in the world your going to pay for a 4 year college with no money?!? Although this can be very stressful and things might feel like they’re out of order there are a few steps you can take to make this process a bit easier.
Before you do anything when looking into college, start saving young! Make this process of looking into college easier by starting to save and make money at a young age.
The first thing you want to do: Get to know your financial aid application process. Applying for college is already stressful as a whole but when you know more about the financial aid process you’ll be taking it’s much easier to understand. The next most important thing you want to do: Apply for your FAFSA, this program is made for all students and any students to apply to certain loans, grants, and determines eligibility for all federal aid programs. “FAFSA provides over 13 million students with nearly $150 billion for aid and rosters well over a thousand employees nationwide. Most students, no matter their economic background, are encouraged to fill out the FAFSA form to see if they qualify for government assistance.”
Find the right scholarships for you and apply: The first thing I suggest you do when you are looking for certain scholarships to apply to write down all the things you have an interest in or are good at or things related to you, your family, or religion. Throughout this list of things it should make it easier to pick out and narrow down certain options. During the time of applying for college it can be very stressful but when you break it down into a process, it is much easier.
Works Cited
CollegeXpress. “How to Pay for College, Step-by-Step.” CollegeXpress, www.collegexpress.com/articles-and-advice/financial-aid/articles/applying-financial-aid/how-pay-college-step-step/.
Staub, Morgan, et al. “The Percent of Students Who Receive Financial Aid - College Raptor.” College Raptor Blog, www.collegeraptor.com/paying-for-college/articles/questions-answers/many-college-students-receive-financial-aid/.
Max FayStaff. “Financial Aid Process - Securing Student Loans.” Debt.org, www.debt.org/students/financial-aid-process/.
Agastya Asthana
ReplyDeleteWynter, you have amazing content that is really reflective of the application process. I can very well relate to this because I myself am applying to 10 - 15 colleges and answering questions and making them personalized for each and every one of them has driven me crazy, but like you said "when you break it down into a process, it is much easier." The FAFSA is something that I am certain 98% of the student population in the United States would be applying into because not only is it the easiest to get, but you can usually find someone you know that some sort of experience with it. I knew that the FAFSA provided with money but I didn't know that they provide $150 billion in student aid - pretty impressive. Overall, great content and an interesting yet relatable topic makes this post engaging to read.
I really like that you talked about ways to benefit students during this time. College applications are very stressful and this time in general is very difficult for most students going through their senior year, and I really like that you acknowledged that in your piece. I liked the tips you gave on how to save up and how to properly file your FAFSA. For us seniors, it is very helpful to hear these tips on how to make the most of our first year college experience!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic to discuss considering how close some of us are having to apply for college if we haven’t already. I feel like a lot of people know that saving and applying for scholarships is a good idea but not everyone knows all about financial aid. It’s great that you brought these ideas to our attention and reminded students that although it can be stressful, breaking the application process down can make it seem easier.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this article that the costs of college can be overwhelming. However, like the author said, there are ways in which teenagers can help to cover the costs of their tuition. Although college is a big investment, saving early, applying for aid and scholarships regularly can help.
ReplyDeleteI love this topic because I personally know many people including me, who are stressed about college and the way they are going to pay for it. I think everyone should at least get some knowledge on financial aid in high school to help think about the process with attending a college.
ReplyDeleteWhen you think about college there's a lot that comes to mind. Its a great idea to break it down into a process. Trying to take it all at once can be overwhelming. I think this concept can be applied to many things like school, class, finding a career and more. For example when you're saving up money make small goals that you can meet easily instead of focusing on the end goal. This will make it easier to keep going.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this post, I think that it is really important to have such a great plan and that starts off with financially. It can be really hard to figure out what to do but there are such great things in this world that do help to make that a little bit easier. I think it is so important to begin this process earlier and although I am spending time still figuring it out. I have been spending a lot of time trying to figure out what to do financially along with where I want to go. I think that this ten step process you mentioned is influential and could potentially help us in the long run.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you chose your topic to be on college and how to make the process less stressful because a lot of students could find this blog post helpful. It's a good idea to cut it down into a step-by-step process instead of trying to conquer the college process by looking at it with a big pictures, since that tends to get overwhelming. This content is assured to help many people with easing their stress.
ReplyDeleteCollege is a very complicated process, so it was a good idea to break it down to different pieces and give tips on each piece. I agree that the FAFSA is a great way to help get some student loans and money to help pay for college but isn't it required by the college to be able to go to college? Also with the scholarships that is a good idea to write down the stuff before hand to get a better idea of which scholarships fit you the best but is there specific sites or places that we should go to help find some scholarships?
ReplyDeleteThis post is going to be super beneficial to not only high school seniors but even for example incoming freshman to help provide them with more financial stability when entering college. Especially since, as high schoolers, we may have a part time after school job, but a majority of that money goes towards transportation costs and for spending in general. If either freshman or sophomores knew how much saving money would be now, it could save themselves from stress about the financial situation later down the line. And then as seniors in high school, the final two steps about applying for your FAFSA account and then figuring out what scholarships work for who, is necessary for that specific grade to look into.
ReplyDeleteThis topic is a hard to address or even talk about simply just because of the mass amount of information there is about this topic. Not only is there a ton of information but also resources, both of these can make it hard to find where to even start. Students can easily get caught up in day to day life and forget to do some of very critical steps to ensure they are property prepared for school. Understanding where or how to start can be very intimidating for those that are unfamiliar with the process, making it that much easier for you to put it off. This is a great tool for students to use to help them put their minds at easy when you are thinking about all of the things to do. Like you said there are great tools to use but scholarships is a great way for you to get money that you do not have to pay back. Like you said in the end of your post, writing down what you are interested in or what makes you, you is a critical step. Now there seems to be a scholarship for everything, although it might take some time to look and apply it will be worth it in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are stressed seniors that are trying to find easier ways to apply to college. I also agree that FAFSA will assist seniors in their application process, as well as scholarships. There are good ways for seniors to apply, regardless of their stress they've been experiencing
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see this stressful process broken down further. I've been stressing about pay for college since applications opened, but this showed me where to start and what to look out for. One thing that gets confusing is how much information is provided for these resources, there's too much to pick out what actually applies to you and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteEven though I am just in my junior year, I stress myself out just by thinking about the application process. This gave me a better understanding of what goes on while trying to apply. I do agree, saving young and applying for FAFSA makes it a whole lot easier to get through college with less debt.
ReplyDeleteI agree that knowing that college is coming soon and that there is a lot of responsibility coming our way is scary and stressful. I know that for me there is a lot I am unsure about and don't know yet. I am looking at about 4 colleges at the same time and just don't know what I want. I think it is great that you included looking for scholarships. Scholarships can make your college experience so much more. A full ride would be great but most people don't know how easy it is to get scholarships. If you simply write to colleges and work at it, colleges will hand out scholarships because they want students and need students. With scholarships you can save money and save yourself from huge student loans in the future. I overall loves that you chose this topic because college is something we all need to be really prepared for and know more about so we can be ready and save ourselves from more stress!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree that college is a very stressful thing that all seniors are just trying to get through. These tips seem very helpful to make the entire process much easier. Taking everything step by step can allow organization so your mind isn't all over the place. Taking the steps like applying for FASFA or other scholarships can make your entire college experience much cheaper. Applying for scholarships can help a ton, there are so many that are pretty easy to apply for.
ReplyDeletethis is so true that everyone is stressed out with applying for scholarships and for college in general, it nice that this was able to really start us off with our first step to push us toward applying toward our goal of being and paying for college. It be nice if more people were able to give us more information and lend a hand in helping us and answering our questions with applying to college and what scholarships would benefit me the most.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this when talking about being stressed out and trying to do everything when it is a lot of work. Once you break down all of the things you need to do for college, yes it is easier to understand but I still think it is a lot of information to fill out and a lot of work that you need to put effort into in order to be able to afford the college you want to go to by applying for different scholarships. That's something that I really dread doing.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you described the process very easily. You didn't over complicate things and simply explained a couple ways in which high schoolers can save money for college. Starting young, applying to the Fafsa, etc are all good ways to do this. But it'd be interesting to see which ways are less heard of but still help students through college. Not only just preparing for college, but how to save money during college (dealing with food, transportation, supplies, etc). I think I've heard of a website that sells books really cheaply so think adding some more little gems like that could really help handle the stress we're feeling right now.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of things that you listed, it's important to get some kind of education but it so expensive. With many of the scholarships and government assistance it makes it easier to afford college. However though, you need to put a lot of time into the scholarships. The applications can be long and repetitive, but if you are willing to put the time in your able to get some scholarships and government assistance.
ReplyDeleteIts cool to see that there is a way to get money that pays for college, weither this would be from scholarships, or government aid. But is there other ways to get money for college? Other than the obvious save for college because I'm wondering if there is other ways I could get the money to pay for it. If there is, then making aware of that would be beneficial to seniors going into college.
ReplyDeleteI agree how college applications can get stressful, especially when it comes to money. But I like how it was broken down, and explained how you should go through the process of getting money for college. I 100% agree that saving money for college early is very important.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I think that people are much more stressed about applying for scholarships than they are/were for college. I like how you are spreading the information about FAFSA because so many parents who are sending their first kids to college don't know about the program. Also, I think they are skeptical because when do you ever get free money?
ReplyDeleteThe college application progress is an experience that almost everybody has to go through. There is so much to be stressed about, as stated in the article. Money is one of the most common factors that are stressed about. I thought it was very good advice to get to know the financial aid application process and apply for your FAFSA. I think easing the process like that is a perfect way to release the stress of paying for college.
ReplyDeleteThis is a process we all know far too well, and is very daunting to most. I find it ironic, too, that this blog was posted on the deadline date for most applications. I believe, also, that your information about choosing which scholarships to apply to is very helpful, so people feel less overwhelmed during the process. College is something that we, as students, are putting a lot of time, money, energy, and other resources into, so it makes sense that this decision is such a stressful one!
ReplyDeleteThis is a super difficult process! Everybody goes through it and it has to be one of the most stressful processes ever. From deciding to trying to figure out the best place for you is very tiring. I also love the information you included about scholarships as that's soemthing we all have to apply for in order to afford to go to most of the colleges that we'd like to go to.
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