This is It! How Seniors Can Prepare for College This Summer

Well, seniors, this is it… the next big journey in your life is several months away, and you’re probably thinking, “I’ve got to prepare and be ready!”. Right you are, because preparing for college is imperative to having a successful college experience. At this point, heading into May, you probably know what college you’re going to, but there’s so much more that you need to know and do now in the summer. Here at Send Your Kids to College, it’s our job to help you out, and today we’ll walk through several important steps you can take this summer to help get ready!

Review Your Financial Aid

Reviewing your college financial aid offers, as well as just general expenses, is a very important step in the process of preparing for college. It’s possible that with delays with FAFSA, your decision could be pushed back. If you have your financial aid offer in your student portal, be sure to look it over and make sure you have a full understanding of what you might need to pay for beyond your financial aid. You are going to want to look over the full costs of attending.

This will outline several things as far as where or what you plan on eating during the day, if you plan on dorming/commuting, preparing your tuition bill, or how you allocate expenses to your class materials. You may have an orientation attendance fee, and you may have some waivable fees, such as health insurance, for example. The more prepared you are in terms of understanding what you need to pay for, the better!

The motto you should roll with when looking at your financial aid is discuss, outline, review, and finalize. 

Apply for Last Minute Scholarships

Applying for college scholarships can be included in the financial aid portion of this blog, but we feel it’s better to outline this topic on its own, given how much time Send Your Kids to College spends on making sure students find scholarships. Scholarships help pay for your school, but you can’t earn them if you don’t apply in the first place. We have multiple resources for you to apply for scholarships in the Buffalo and WNY area, as well as some more nationally based ones.

It’s never too late to apply for scholarships! Apply to a few last-minute scholarships and you could save yourself a few thousand dollars on books and other expenses. 

Buffalo and WNY Scholarships

We recognize that students go to school for different reasons, to look for certain classes or chase a passion they want to hone their skills in. We have 4 different subcategories of scholarships to apply for:

Arts and theater-based, ones for those based in a certain location, applicants whose family became veterans or firefighters, and those trying to attend to other work. Health/fitness, the food service industry, engineering and so on. Each of these subcategories finds a way to meet your needs in what you’re looking for.

More Info - WNY Scholarships

National Scholarships

National scholarships are given for study, research, or travel that are offered by an agency to students throughout the United States, as opposed to a merit-based award offered by a particular educational institution. We have an extensive list of schools and scholarships for this, so be sure to look into it well enough.

More Info - National Scholarships

Attend Orientation & Meet Your Roommate

Other than just looking at your financial situation, sometimes it takes an in-person touch to get yourself connected to college. Take a visit to your campus to get a lay of the land. If you have the opportunity to attend orientation, we certainly recommend it!

Visiting campus and attending freshman orientation allows you to become more invested in the place where you will live your life for the next 4 years, as well as the people you will see. Some students tend to shrug this off and feel it might be a waste of time, but we believe it’s worth it for a better and sustained college life. 

You may not end up meeting your roommate at orientation, but as soon as you find out who your roommate is, you should get in touch with them! The sooner you can start to develop a relationship, the better! This way, when you get to school, you’ll already have a bit of a connection (or know you need to apply for a new roommate). 

If you have any questions regarding financial aid for college, give us a call. We are certified college planning experts who are seasoned in helping WNY students prepare for college. Good luck to all the HS seniors in their final days of high school! Be sure to follow us on Facebook for more tips for students and parents!