College and Career Guidance
 

Solid Rock Christian Homeschool

College/Career Guidance Page

 

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Welcome to the Solid Rock Homeschool College/Career Guidance Page.  Here you can find a myriad of information, all designed to help you navigate the college application, financial aid, and career selection process for your son or daughter, or for yourself.  Please feel free to contact me at dbreichel@hotmail.com or through Pastor Dave or Joanne Nye if you have questions.  I’m always happy to help.

In Christ,

Dave Reichel M.Ed

 

Check out these websites for the following Information.  Just follow the link!

 

For College Admission Testing:

 

For Financial Aid Information and Filing the FAFSA:

 

For Scholarship information:

For General College Admission Requirements:

 

For Free Career Assessments:

 

 

Scroll Down For The Latest News!!!!

 

2-20-08

The 2008 Spring High School Tour will be March 25, 2008 from 9am -12 noon at the OC Campus.  The following schools will be there:
Art Institute of Seattle
Central Washington University
Clover Park Tech College
Cornish College of the Arts
Eastern Wa Univ.
PLU
SPU
Evergreen
Trinity Lutheran College
UPS
UW
UW-Bothell
UW-Tacoma
WSU
WWU
Phone OC's high school outreach at 360-475-7646 for more information
 
Your child interested in spending part of their summer at the UW?  They are offering Elementary Student Day Camps, Middle School Student Academies and Short Courses, and High School Student Intensive Courses.  Find out more at www.summeryouth.washington.edu
 
Olympic College is having a Running Start Information Night on Wednesday, March 19th from 6:30-7:30 in the Bremer student center.
 
If your child is attending college this fall and you haven't filed your financial aid paperwork yet, you're late doing so.  Don't miss very important deadlines.  Remember you DON'T have to wait to file your taxes. 
Let me know if you have any questions.
Dave

 

 9-22-06   

I went to counselor workshop yesterday and thought I would pass on this information and facts that I learned or relearned:

  • It is so important to earn good grades.  Over and over again, colleges gave examples of scholarships available to students whose GPA and SAT/ACT score were at the high end.  For example, Whitworth located in Spokane gives a $6,000 annual scholarship to students with a minimum 3.5 GPA and and SAT score greater than 1200.  If the GPA of 3.5 is maintained, the scholarship is renewed every year.  Contact your schools of interest to find out if they have similar scholarships.
  • Private colleges on the outside look more expensive, but often offer more financial aid help to offset the cost, and in the end, can actually be cheaper to attend than a state college or university.  Wait until the financial aid awards are offered in the student's senior year to determine which college is more affordable
  • 75% of the students attending private colleges and universities in Washington graduate in four years, while the rate of public school students who graduate in four years is only 50%.
  • Selection of majors is very important to your child's future employment outlook.  100% of Saint Martin's University accounting and engineering majors have jobs in their field of study.  However, 30% of Clover Park Technical College's population of students is made up of bachelor degree holders who couldn't find a job or had no job satisfaction, so are seeking new careers.
  • College is really getting expensive!  Ok so that isn't a great revelation but consider this:  The total cost of attendance at the University of Puget Sound for 2006/2007 is $41,195.
  • Not completing the academic core is really costly and will probably sink your chances of admission.  For more information on what the academic core is, check out this website: http://www.hecb.wa.gov/CollegePrep/CoreCourse/minimum.asp
In other news:
PSAT/NMSQT:  Don't forget to sign up your juniors and sophomores for the PSAT/National Merit Scholar Qualifying Test (They are both the same test).  Contact the local private or public school in your area to take this exam.  It will be given in October.  It is great practice for the SAT and enters juniors only into the National Merit Scholar competition. Sophomores take it for practice only.
 
I'm very interested in taking a group of people to Northwest University in Kirkland.  It is a Christian college and one I have yet to see, but have had students attend there.  Let me know if you would like to go on a tour and I'll set it up.
 
Let me know if you have any questions.
Dave
 

9-7-06 I found this information on the following website that is chock full of financial aid/scholarship info that elaborates on these 15 strategies: http://www.finaid.org/fafsa/maximize.phtml

Top 15 Strategies for maximizing your financial aid awards

These strategies will have the largest impact on need-based aid eligibility.

1.  Save money in the parent's name, not the child's name. Or use a savings vehicle that is treated   like a parent asset, such as a 529 college savings plan, prepaid tuition plan or Coverdell Education Savings Account.

2.  Pay off consumer debt, such as credit card and auto loan balances.

3.  Parents should go back to school to further their own education at the same time as their children, or have multiple children in college at the same time. The more family members in college simultaneously, the more aid will be available to each. (Note: This strategy is not as effective as it once was, as whether the parents count is now an item subject to professional judgment review. The school will want to see documentation that the parent is genuinely pursuing a degree, since this is prone to fraud. Many schools will merely reduce income by the amount the family spends for the parent's educatoin, instead of increasing the number in college figure.)

4.   Spend down the student's assets and income first.

5.   Accelerate necessary expenses, to reduce available cash. For example, if you need a new car or computer, buy it before you file the FAFSA.

6.   If you feel that your family's financial circumstances are unusual, make an appointment with the financial aid administrator at your school to review your case. Sometimes the school will be able to adjust your financial aid package to compensate using a process known as Professional Judgment.

7.   Minimize capital gains.

8.   Maximize contributions to your retirement fund.

9.   Do not withdraw money from your retirement fund to pay for school, as distributions count as taxable income, reducing next year's financial aid eligibility. If you must use money from your retirement funds, borrow the money from the retirement fund instead of getting a distribution.

10.   minimize educational debt.

11.   Ask grandparents to wait until the grandchild graduates before giving them money to help with their education.

12.   Trust funds are generally ineffective at sheltering money from the need analysis process and can backfire on you.

13.   Prepay your mortgage.

14.   A section 529 college savings plan owned by a parent has minimal impact on financial aid, and one owned by a grandparent has no impact on financial aid.

15.   Choose the date to submit the FAFSA carefully, as assets and marital status are specified as of the application date.

 

6-12-06

I received a great email from the admission office at Western Washington University today and thought you would like to read what they had to say.  Admission to Western is challenging, so their information is definitely applicable to any college to which you apply.  Here is a sample of advice they give to high school students that will help set them apart from other applicants:
  • Challenging yourself throughout high school, including senior year. While advanced classes such as AP, honors, Running Start, and IB are outstanding options for many students, taking a full schedule of "regular" classes can be equally impressive in the application review.
  • Continuing in an academic discipline – particularly in math – even if your grades have started to drop. The stronger the foundation in high school, the more likely you will be to succeed in related course work at the college level.
  • Pursuing a passion, be it in theatre, music, art, athletics, community service, computers, writing, or whatever inspires you to routinely go the extra mile.
  • Perseverance in the face of hardship.
  • Making a difference in the life or lives of others.
  • Potential contributions to the Western community such as exceptional talent, leadership, "heart", etc.
  • Cultural awareness or a demonstrated interest in learning about other cultures. With the state of Washington being more dependent on international trade than any other state in the country, we all can benefit from the ability to understand, appreciate, and transcend differences.
  • Well-written personal statement that helps us get to know what is important to you and/or to understand academic choices and personal circumstances.
  • "Risk-taking" - such as going on exchange, standing up for one's beliefs, accepting new challenges, etc.
  • Sustained involvement rather than occasional or one-time participation in extracurricular activities.
  • Following directions, proof-reading an application, timely follow-up on requests for information, meeting deadlines, etc.
  • Making contact directly with the Office of Admissions rather than sitting next to your mom or dad as they are on the telephone asking questions for you.
As you can see, this is great advice I encourage you to follow.  Let me know if you have any questions.
Dave

 

3-30-06

Here is a website I learned about today, where you can get free help for practically any test given that I've heard of plus a whole lot more...go to http://www.testprepreview.com/ to find out more.
Dave

 

One other website I want you to see: It allows them to enter all the "things" in life they think they need to live such as cell phones,  cars,  movies, housing etc., and then it will tell them at the end what kind of wage they will need to earn to live  the lifestyle they have chosen, plus give them suggestions for careers that make a similar wage.  Try it yourself...it's pretty fun. 

 
There is often a lot of confusion surrounding the UW and whether they accept transfer students from community colleges, and in fact I've heard some misinformed people emphatically state that the "UW doesn't accept transfer students anymore!"  I thought I would pass on a few facts I recently picked up from a meeting I attended at Olympic College:
 
* 34% of all undergraduates who were accepted during the academic year ending with the spring quarter of 2005 at the UW-Seattle campus were transfers from Washington community colleges.  This means that 2634 students transferred there.  In addition 1193 transfer students enrolled at the UW-Bothell and UW-Tacoma campuses.
* This past fall quarter, the UW-Seattle campus admitted 68% of all community college transfer applicants, compared to a 67% admission rate for high school applicants and only 29% for aplicants from other four-year universities.
 
As you can see, the community college/associate degree track is a great way to go for the right student.  Encourage your children to consider this option if they haven't yet.  It's a great way to save thousands of dollars and an easier way to assimilate into the college culture.
Stay warm,
Dave