Solving College Choice in Your Family

Is your family conflicted over which college to choose? I realize you don't have all of your offers yet, but do you agree on your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice colleges? Do you even know which ones to apply to at this point. These are difficult decisions that are coming your way. And, there are lots of easy questions to use to solve this dilemma. For starters, what is most important to you? Is it location; proximity to family. Is it years to degree completion because you plan to go to professional school. Or, is it affordability or safety? I have a long list of questions that I use with families. Join my mailing list, and I will send it along to you.

A very long time ago, one of my son's chose his college based on the food in the cafeteria. Those were the early days when we didn't have to worry about the rising tide of the student loan debt, and safety on college campuses, or did we? The U.S. News has published articles about researching and discussing, as a family the challenges of safety. Does your student have his/her meningitis shot? Meningitis is a scary illness that we can eliminate. What about the use of alcohol, theft and sexual partners. Colleges work hard to eliminate and educate on these issues but they somehow still prevail as concerns. As a family, have you discussed these topics and thought long and hard about them in the selection process. I know it is hard, some of these topics are awkward to discuss but safety is important.

Another question of course is affordability. Where can your daughter or son receive the largest scholarship, and where can she or he incur the least amount of student debt for their degree completion? These are really, really important considerations along with safety. Without safety, we have nothing, right?

I encourage you to take the time to research these items or utilize an educational consultant who can help you make these critical decisions. Problem Solved! I know it takes time, and this is a daunting process and the worst situation of all is when a family doesn't agree amongst themselves. I can foresee a transfer student in the making. And transferring almost always means you will lose credits, or have to take additional classes. I was a transfer student, and it takes a lot of extra time and money when you decide that where you began is not where you want to end. So, remember, "begin with the end in mind." It is a lot more gratifying and lucrative.