46. MVCAP Last-Dollar Scholarship Application

Directions: Any student served (i.e., advised) by the MVCAP who graduates with a cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of a least 2.0 from a high school in Mahoning, Trumbull, or Columbiana Counties or who resides in one of these three counties may apply for an MVCAP Last-Dollar Scholarship if they have taken the ACT (or SAT) and have unmet financial need. Please copy and print this application, supplying answers to each of the items listed below; word process, type, or write your responses legibly. Then, please staple to this application and submit no later than June 1 copies of these five documents:
a. your official high school transcript;
b. the completed form, “COLLEGE PREP For the Four-Year State Assisted Universities in Ohio,” signed by your high school counselor or principal;
c. your acceptance letter from the post-secondary institution you will attend;
d. the page of the Student Aid Report (SAR)—that you received after filing the Free Application for Student Aid (FAFSA)—which contains your expected family contribution (EFC);
e. the financial-aid award offer letter from the post-secondary institution you will attend.

Complete each of the following items.
1. Name (First, Middle Initial, Last):
2. Social Security Number:
3. Street Address:
4. Phone number:
5. City:
6. State:
7. Zip:
8. County (Mahoning, Trumbull, or Columbiana):
9. Grade:
10. High School:
11. Counselor:
12. What is your cumulative grade-point average (GPA) of 4.0?
13. What is your class rank?
14. What was your highest composite score on the ACT (or your SAT scores)?
15. Have you passed all sections of the Ohio Graduation Test (OGT)?
16. On what date will you complete all requirements for your high school diploma?
17. At which college(s) and/or post-secondary institutions were you accepted?
18. At which college(s) and/or post-secondary institutions were you awarded financial aid?
19. Which college or post-secondary institution will you attend?
20. What is your total cost of attendance there per year?
21. What was your expected family contribution (EFC) from the SAR?
22. What was the amount of any Pell Grant you will receive?
23. What was the amount of any Ohio College Opportunity Grant you will receive?
24. What was the total amount of any scholarships awarded you by the college?
25. List the total amount of any other scholarships you will receive.
26. What was the amount of any Federal Work Study you will receive?
27. What was the amount of any Federal Stafford Loan (subsidized) you’ll take out?
28. What unmet financial need still remains? (Line 20 minus lines 21 to 27)?
29. Do you plan to enroll at Youngstown State University and desire to be considered for The John S. and Doris M. Andrews Scholarship, which is awarded to a Native American, Asian American, African American, or Hispanic student selected by the MVCAP?
30. My signature below indicates that all of the information above is true and that I agree to be assisted by the MVCAP and present at an MVCAP function to accept a Last-Dollar Scholarship, if I am awarded one. Signature:
Date:

PLEASE MAIL THIS APPLICATION AND COPIES OF THE 5 DOCUMENTS (a-e) REQUESTED ABOVE IN AN ENVELOPE POSTMARKED NO LATER THAN JUNE 1 TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:
Mahoning Valley College Access Program (MVCAP)
Kent State University Trumbull
Technology Building, 118L
4314 Mahoning Avenue, NW
Warren, OH 44483

45. Calculating the Net Price of a College

Daniel de Vise, blogging in The Washington Post at College Inc., stated the following:

"All colleges will be required to post a 'net price calculator' on their web sites by fall 2011. 'Net price' is what a student actually pays to attend, after subtracting discounts and grant aid from the sticker price."

In addition, de Vise quoted Jeff Whorley, President of StudentAid.com, as follows: "Net price is sticker price minus merit and need-based grants. Up-front, out-of-pocket cost is the net price minus work-study and government loans."

Calculate the net price of a college you are interested in and determine your "up-front, out-of-pocket cost" to make certain you can afford to attend.

To read a report, released by The College Board in mid-September of 2010, on "discounting" (i.e., reducing tuition/fees through merit scholarships) by both private and public colleges, click on this link:

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/09/15/discounting

44. Understanding Financial-Aid Award Offer Letters

To decipher the financial-aid award offer letter a student will get from any college that has accepted his/her application for admission and received that student's FAFSA data, click these links by Lynn O'Shaughnessy from her articles on thecollegesolutionblog.com:

1. Part I--http://thecollegesolutionblog.com/2010/03/08/how-to-decode-a-financial-aid-letter/

2. Part II--http://thecollegesolutionblog.com/2010/03/09/college-grants-decoding-a-financial-aid-letter-part-ii/

43. Student Loan-Debt, Part II

To read about hazards of taking on too much loan-debt for college, click on the following links:

a. re: private loans--http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/02/25/money-college-why-one-student-advises-avoiding-private-student/

b. re: community college students-- http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2008-07-23-comcol-debt_N.htm?csp=usat.me

42. Common Data Set (CDS)

To find out important facts during your college search, you can usually do a GoodSearch or Google "Common Data Set" for the school(s) you are interested in; then, examine the data--particularly, in Part C (Admissions) and Part H (Financial Aid). For an example of a CDS--from "2008‐09 Common Data Set of The Ohio State University in Columbus"--click here:

http://oaa.osu.edu/irp/publisher_surveys/09ColumbusCDS.pdf

To see the Common Data Sets for Miami (OH) University, click this link: http://www.units.muohio.edu/OIR/CommonDataSet/CDSMain.htm

The recent CDS from Ohio University is at this PDF: http://www.ohio.edu/instres/commondataset.pdf

From the CDS website (http://www.commondataset.org/), here are words of explanation on the Common Data Set:

"The Common Data Set (CDS) initiative is a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers as represented by the College Board, Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report. The combined goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student's transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.

This goal is attained by the development of clear, standard data items and definitions in order to determine a specific cohort relevant to each item. Data items and definitions used by the U.S. Department of Education in its higher education surveys often serve as a guide in the continued development of the CDS. Common Data Set items undergo broad review by the CDS Advisory Board as well as by data providers representing secondary schools and two- and four-year colleges. Feedback from those who utilize the CDS also is considered throughout the annual review process.

The CDS is a set of standards and definitions of data items rather than a survey instrument or set of data represented in a database. Each of the higher education surveys conducted by the participating publishers incorporates items from the CDS as well as unique items proprietary to each publisher. Consequently, the publishers' surveys differ in that they utilize varying numbers of items from the CDS.

Those who report data for their colleges are urged to abide by the definitions and the cohorts specified when answering CDS items. They are also urged to use the answers to CDS items when responding to the numerous survey requests they receive, by distributing photocopies of their answers, posting them on their web sites, or by other effective means."

41. Colleges in Northeast Ohio

For information on colleges in Northeast Ohio, click this link:

http://cleveland.about.com/od/collegesanduniversities/tp/clevelandcolleges.htm?r=twitter