Scholarships, Questions, & Living like a College Student

Ian Fisher guest hosted the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation. Continuing with Beth’s “office hours” series from the week before, Ian devoted the majority of the segment to answering our listeners’ questions. A wide array of topics were covered—including an entire segment on living like a college student—providing listeners a fun, humorous, and informative hour. School’s Out! College Application Workshop This week’s School’s Out! segment focused on one of the most common questions College Coach experts receive: How do I find scholarships? Beth Feinberg Keenan, college finance expert, joined Ian to share tips and tricks for finding and applying for scholarship money. They discussed timelines for managing the scholarship application process, researching outside scholarship opportunities, and the ways in which outside scholarships can impact financial aid eligibility. As Beth eloquently stated, the takeaway is that “competition is fierce when it comes to scholarship money; don’t delay. Apply now.” Listener Questions In the second segment, Ian answered a wide variety of listener questions. Like our previous episode, listeners asked a phenomenal range of questions in this segment and Ian answered everything from, “what are the chances of being considered at an Ivy League school if I have one C-grade on my transcript?” to “will taking both the SAT and the ACT help me in the admissions process?” So many great questions were answered; you’ll have to tune in to hear Ian’s recommendations and advice! Live Like a College Student In the third and final segment, Tara Piantanida-Kelly joined Ian to discuss budgeting and financial planning for college students. Tara is a College Coach finance expert who encourages parents to teach their high school students to “live like a college student.” Ian and Tara discussed the pitfalls (and teachable moments!) of learning to budget when students are becoming independent and living away from home for the first time. Tune in to hear Tara’s tips and tricks for making the transition to financial independence.