Career Services, Visiting Colleges in the Summer, and College Finance Questions

The latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation show featured a discussion with Michael Sherman of Graduate to Employment on factors to consider in terms of a college’s support for helping graduates find a job. The Office Hours segment covered tips for making the most of college visits during the summer. To wrap up the show, host Beth Heaton took a look at college finance questions recently submitted by listeners. Evaluating Career Services In the first segment of the show, we were fortunate to have Michael Sherman of Graduate to Employment offer his expertise on what families should be considering when evaluating a college’s career services. Presumably, you go to college because you want to end up working and having a great career, and yet, prospective students often neglect to include this important transition stage in their research and selection criteria. But as Michael points out, students and families should be thinking about the transition from college to employment long before they even step foot on campus. But how do you evaluate the support colleges will offer its current students, recent graduates, and alumni, and what questions should you be asking the career services office when visiting? Tune into this important segment to learn more! Summer College Visits If you are a rising senior and haven’t had a chance to do any college visits yet, is it too late? Should you just wait to visit until after applying or after being admitted? College Coach colleague Kara Courtois joined Beth to discuss the pros and cons of visiting colleges in the summer versus visiting during the school semester. Some of the most significant advantages for summer visits include accessibility of admissions officers and professors. But should you try to interview on campus or meet with your regional admissions officer? What if there are sponsored “visit days” on campus down the road? Would you have a different experience then? Remember that summer schedules can be very different than the school year schedule—plan ahead to see what will be available for you. Listener Finance Questions Finally, Beth and finance expert Kathy Ruby covered college finance questions submitted by Getting In: A College Coach Conversation listeners. Some questions included: How do you set up a tuition payment plan before you get an actual bill? What finance questions should you be asking on college tours? Can we use money from a 529 Plan to pay for college application fees and standardized test costs? Do summer jobs impact the financial aid we will receive? Listen to the full segment to find out the answers to these questions and more! Our next show will be particularly helpful for international students – both prospective students currently applying to colleges abroad as well as those already admitted and arriving on campus this fall. Then we will discuss how students can save money while they are in college.