Girls, Plan for College NOW! 2015-2016 College Resource Guide So, you re a high school student preparing for the exciting, challenging, and sometimes stressful college application process. We re here to help! Girls Write Now has created this resource guide to aid you on your path to college, from finding the right school to financing your education. This guide is organized into four main sections: I. The Basics: Getting Started on Your Path to College II. Financial Aid: Finding Ways to Help Pay for College III. The City University of New York (CUNY): Applications and Special Programs IV. The State University of New York (SUNY): Applications and Special Programs I. THE BASICS: Getting Started on Your Path to College STANDARDIZED TESTS: SAT & ACT We know you ve heard all about the SAT and the ACT. Here are some resources to help you understand them and conquer them. Information about the SAT The SAT is designed to evaluate your general thinking and problem-solving abilities. http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/ A free SAT center, hub of the SAT world, with practice tests and registration information. http://www.majortests.com/sat/ This site offers unofficial SAT prep info and thousands of practice SAT vocabulary words. Information about the ACT The ACT subject tests are designed to evaluate your overall educational development and your ability to complete college-level work. These sites will help you learn the differences between the two tests. The ACT Homepage: http://www.actstudent.org Kaplan: http://www.kaptest.com/act Peterson s College Search: http://bit.ly/sat-v-act The Princeton Review: http://www.princetonreview.com/sat-act.aspx
FINDING THE RIGHT COLLEGE FOR YOU This site has a college matchmaker, which allows you to search by location, majors, cost, and more to find colleges that fit, from a database of 3,800+ schools: http://bit.ly/urfuturecollege Another college search engine to find the right school for you: http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/ An NPR article by Martha O Connell that breaks down the college admissions game: http://bitly.com/nprcollege You can also check out her webpage Colleges That Change Lives: http://www.ctcl.org/ The websites below were rated as the top favorite college search websites by college consultants. Choices were based on accuracy, ease of use, breadth of information, and currency of data sources: http://www.ucan-network.org/ http://bit.ly/best-colleges-ranked http://www.unigo.com/ http://www.youniversitytv.com/ http://www.collegeportraits.org/ THE APPLICATION PROCESS AND MORE The Common Application Once you ve chosen a college that s right for you, and taken your tests, it s time to apply! The Common Application is a standardized undergraduate college application form that is accepted at more than 400 accredited, independent colleges and universities nationwide. For details about how the Common App works, check out these websites: Search to see deadlines for the school you re applying to: http://bit.ly/collegeapp15 Sign in to see the Common App Forms: https://www.commonapp.org/login A Common App overview: http://bit.ly/aboutcommonapp Recommendations, Interviews, and College Visits Here are some additional resources for getting great recommendations, making your college interview the best it can be, and tips on making college visits: Tips for how to get the perfect teacher recommendations: http://bit.ly/reclettertips. Basic information about the college interview: http://bit.ly/collegeinterview15. Breaking down college visits, from planning visits to online virtual visits: http://bit.ly/collegefit15. A site devoted to all things college, written by the students who attend them. An interesting source to find feedback on various college experiences: www.collegeconfidential.com/. A site that lists all of the colleges that offer to cover the cost of campus visits: http://bit.ly/freecollegevisit. Visit college websites for updated status of admissions into diversity college visit for the 2015-2016 year. 2
II. FINANCIAL AID: Finding Ways to Help Pay for College This section is divided into three parts: 1. Financial Aid: Federal Student Aid Resources, New York State Grants, and Other Financial Aid Resources on the Web 2. Scholarship Search Engines 3. Suggested Reading and Additional Resources FINANCIAL AID: FEDERAL STUDENT AID RESOURCES, NY STATE GRANTS AND OTHER FINANCIAL AID RESOURCES ON THE WEB Below are websites that will give you tips about applying for financial aid. In order to be eligible for financial aid, you MUST fill out the FAFSA (see Federal Student Aid Resources below). The FAFSA is used by nearly all colleges and universities to determine eligibility for federal, state, and college-sponsored financial aid, including grants, educational loans, and work-study programs. Make sure you know the guidelines and deadlines for this form. Federal Student Aid Resources: Federal Student Aid is an office of the U.S. Department of Education and is a great resource for learning about financial aid provided by the federal government. The federal government awards student loans, grants, and work study monies. Visit the website at: www.studentaid.ed.gov The FAFSA, Free Application for Federal Student Aid, will tell you how much federal aid you qualify for. To qualify for aid, you must fill out this FREE form. Find out more at: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/ Pell Grants are one grant provided by the Federal Student Aid Office for very low-income students. 2015-2016, the maximum Pell Grant is $5,775 per year. (The amount may change annually) Find out more at: http://bit.ly/pellgrant15 The Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG) supplements the above Pell Grants. FSEOG is for students with need that is not met by the Pell Grant. Find out more at: http://bit.ly/fseog15 New York State Grants New York Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) awards are based on NY net taxable income and other factors. New York State residents planning to attend an approved New York State institution (this includes CUNY and SUNY schools) should apply. Find out more at: http://bit.ly/nytap15 New York Aid For Part-Time Study (APTS) awards are for undergraduate New York State residents enrolled for at least three but less than 12 semester credits. Annual awards can provide up to $2,000 to go towards part-time CUNY and SUNY tuition. Find out more at: http://bit.ly/nyapts15 Other Financial Aid Resources on the Web FinAid, The Smart Student Guide to Financial Aid: http://www.finaid.org/scholarships/ The College Board s Pay for College : http://bit.ly/finaid15 Many schools also require a CSS profile, or a College Scholarship Service Profile. This is a secondary financial aid form administered by CollegeBoard used to determine non-federal funding. http://bit.ly/finaidprofile 3
SCHOLARSHIP SEARCH ENGINES Find a scholarship that tailors to your strengths! You ll have to create a username and password, but all of these sites are FREE to use. There are scholarships based on ethnicity, academic achievement, special hobby and gender so be creative in how you search! Be Prepared! Your search may require you to input some personal information like family income or your grade point average (GPA) to help see if you qualify. New Visions for Public Schools has a website for scholarships for New York City students: http://bit.ly/scholarshiplist15 1) FastWeb: http://bit.ly/searchscholarships 2) The College Board: http://bit.ly/cbsearch15 3) Scholarship Monkey: http://www.scholarshipmonkey.com/lists 4) College Soup: http://www.schoolsoup.com/ 5) College Toolkit: http://www.collegetoolkit.com/ 6) Scholarships.com: http://www.scholarships.com/ 7) Simple Tuition: http://bit.ly/simpletuition 8) Unigo Scholarship Experts: http://bit.ly/unigoscholarships 9) College Data: http://bit.ly/collegedata15 10) Sallie Mae: http://bit.ly/salliemae15 11) U.S. News and Education s Scholarship Coach: http://bit.ly/scholarshipinfo15 There are also websites with hundreds of scholarships for minority students. Here are just a few. 1) Hispanic Scholarship Fund: Check out a variety of scholarship opportunities! http://hsf.net/ 2) Fastweb: This site has pages and pages of scholarships for Hispanic/Latina students! http://bit.ly/minority-scholarships 4) CollegeScholarships: This site allows you to search for scholarships by minority categories http://bit.ly/minority-opportunities-15 5) Guaranteed Scholarships: This site links you to guaranteed (no secondary application: essay, interview, etc) institutional scholarships. Criteria are based on variety of factors such as financial need and merit. http://www.guaranteed-scholarships.com/ 6) National Center For Family Learning: This new set of multi-media resources titled En Camino will help people unfamiliar with navigating the U.S. college system gain access and information necessary for preparing and succeeding in college and beyond. http://bit.ly/en-camino 4
SUGGESTED READING AND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Here are some additional college guides and resources that you can find at the library, inquire about at your guidance office, or purchase. Fiske Guide to Colleges 2016 by Edward B Fiske The Insider's Guide to the Colleges, 2015: Students on Campus Tell You What You Really Want to Know by Yale Daily News Staff College Handbook 2016 by The College Board Book of Majors 2016 (College Board Book of Majors) by The College Board Paying for College without Going Broke, 2016 Edition by the Princeton Review Getting Financial Aid 2016 (College Board Guide to Getting Financial Aid) by The College Board Priced Out: How the Wrong Financial-Aid Policies Hurt Low-Income Students Free.pdf of the book: http://bit.ly/priced-out Graduate NYC website: www.gradnyc.com Look for Graduate NYC s upcoming online resource, NYC College Line, designed to help New Yorkers get information about preparing for and succeeding in college. 5
III. The City University of New York (CUNY): Applications and Special Programs APPLICATIONS FOR THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK The City University of New York has 17 schools including both two-year community colleges and four-year senior colleges. You can apply to 6 of the 17 CUNY schools with one application and one fee of $65. The priority deadline for Fall 2016 CUNY applications is February 1. For the CUNY general website: www.cuny.edu To apply to CUNY: http://www.cuny.edu/admissions/undergraduate.html For a map and complete list of CUNY colleges and schools: http://www.cuny.edu/about/colleges.html You can visit the CUNY Welcome Center at any time to get help with your online application and more. Find out about how to visit at http://cuny.edu/admissions/undergraduate/oas.html SCHOLARSHIPS AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS AT CUNY Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) at the City University of New York ASAP is offered at the two-year community colleges. The program provides full financial support to enable students to earn a two-year associate degree in 2 to 3 years. You must meet financial criteria to be eligible for the program. http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/asap/ Macaulay Honors Program The Macaulay Honors program is a rigorous interdisciplinary program. Acceptance is based on leadership skills, extracurricular activities, excellent grades and testing scores. The program provides comprehensive academic and financial support. You can apply to up to six Macaulay Honors Program schools on one application. The application deadline for Macaulay Honors College is December 1st at 6 pm. Apply to Macaulay at: http://bit.ly/macaulay-apply Go to the Macaulay website: http://www.macaulay.cuny.edu/ The Percy Ellis Sutton SEEK Program A program to provide comprehensive academic support to allow capable students with financial need attend CUNY senior colleges. Go to: http://bit.ly/cuny-seek College Discovery A program to provide comprehensive academic support to allow capable students with financial need attend CUNY community colleges. For more info go to: http://bit.ly/college-discovery 6
IV. THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK (SUNY): Applications and Special Programs APPLICATIONS FOR THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK The State University of New York (SUNY) system has 64 schools and three different kinds of institutions: colleges, universities, and community colleges. The recommended application deadline is December 1. Submitting the application by this deadline maximizes your chances for financial aid, campus housing and consideration for your major of choice. Most SUNY schools use one application. There is a $50 fee for each school that you apply to. Check the website for schools that require additional supplements or materials. For the SUNY general website: http://www.suny.edu/ For a complete list of SUNY campuses: http://bit.ly/suny-campuses Map of SUNY campuses: http://bit.ly/suny-map You can visit the SUNY Center for Student Recruitment in New York City at any time to get help with your online application and more. Find out about how to visit at: http://bit.ly/suny-in-nyc SUNY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES PROGRAM (EOP) The SUNY Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) provides college access to students who are inadmissible through the traditional admissions process. Although academically underprepared, students must show promise for mastering college-level work utilizing support services offered by the Educational Opportunity Program. To be eligible for admission to the Educational Opportunity Program you must be: 1. A New York State resident for 12 months prior to enrollment; 2. Ineligible for admission under traditional standards, but demonstrate potential for completing a college program; and in need of financial assistance within established income guidelines. In selecting students for the program, priority is given to applicants from historically disadvantaged backgrounds. Read more about EOP at SUNY: http://bit.ly/suny-eop 7