30. MVCAP 16-Point Advising Plan

Financial-aid advisors from the Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP) can assist high school students and their parents/grandparents/guardians to do any of the following--if and as they and school district personnel desire:

1) Undertake a career exploration to identify matches between a student's strengths/interests and various fields/occupations, emphasizing preparation required and job-opportunities, perhaps via post 100 “Going To College: Step-by-Step” on the MVCAP blog website at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

2) Begin a college search by determining which schools may best suit desired areas of study and academic programs as well as family finances, again via post 100 on the MVCAP blog website at http://mvcap.blogspot.com/

3) Provide students with information about preparation, fee-waivers (if applicable), and registration, either online or mailing by deadlines, for the ACT and/or SAT.

4) Use an online estimator, like that on the website of the ACT (www.act.org/fane/) to determine financial need by calculating the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) for the first year of college.

5) Compare EFC to costs of any colleges of interest, via a website like the link on the ACT site.

6) Search local resources, college viewbooks, and Internet sites to identify scholarships, tuition-discounts, and gift-aid.

7) Consider the advantage of Early-Decision and Early-Action options vs. regular admissions.

8) Select 3-6 colleges to apply to, based on the following student data:
a. strengths and interests;
b. desired career fields and corresponding academic programs;
c. high school curriculum completed;
d. grade-point average;
e. ACT/SAT scores; and
f. opportunity for financial aid, related to need (EFC) and merit (GPA, ACT/SAT score.)

9) Schedule a campus visit; have student evaluate his/her visit to consider “goodness of fit.”

10) Complete and submit online or paper applications for admission by deadlines.

11) After assisting a student and parent in the online PIN application process, complete and submit, by priority deadlines for financial aid, the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) on the web (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/).

12) Interpret the Student Aid Report (SAR), received after submitting the FAFSA, to determine EFC and financial need.

13) Interpret and compare Financial-Aid Award Offer letters from colleges to figure the “bottom line” (i.e., out-of-pocket expenses), monthly payments, and loan-debt.

14) Assist students and parents in “verification” or in requesting “reconsiderations” of financial-aid packages.

15) Decide a college to attend and which financial-aid package component(s) to accept.

16) If eligible, complete and submit an MVCAP Last-Dollar Scholarship Application by June 1.