With next fall’s plans pretty a giant question mark, many families are trying to understand what online study versus on-campus study will do to their costs. We’ll share what you need to know about funding an online education. In other segments, we’ll offer some standardized testing advice as test dates are cancelled and more colleges opt to go test optional in the coming year. Finally, we’ll revisit computer science, this time with Rick Bischoff of Case Western offering the college perspective.

There are a lot of early admissions deadline options: early action, early decision one and two, priority admissions, restrictive early action, etc. How do you know which, if any, is the right choice for you? We’ll help you figure that out. We’ll also help you figure out the college bill that’s coming your way, and discuss what makes a college a safety, i.e., a school where you have a better than 90% chance of being admitted.

Colleges tend to be more relaxed environments over the summer. Without the typical school-year pressure on students, professors, and administrators, these campus community-members are often more available to answer questions from prospective students and their parents. What questions, however, are best to ask? Find out on the Edmit blog, where former Boston University and Tufts University financial aid officer, Shannon Vasconcelos, advises you to dig deeper than the information that can be easily accessed on a college’s website and ask the questions that get to the heart of whether a particular college will be a good financial fit for your family.

Guest Post from Jeremy Silverstein, Vice President of Operations and Vehicle Dispatching at Veteran Car Donations

As we celebrate Independence Day this 4^th of July, it’s important to remember the sacrifice that members of the armed forces make willingly in order to serve their country. The impact service can have on soldiers’ lives is far-reaching and takes numerous forms. One of the most significant ways military service can alter a person’s life, for example, is by changing the course of his or her career path. Unlike many civilians, servicepeople may not complete their educations on the usual schedule. Once they finish their active duty, they may lack the formal schooling that would benefit their careers and resumption of their normal lives. If you’re a veteran, education is crucial for getting a job and re-entering the civilian world.

Its summer! Time for ice cream, blockbuster movies, and college visits and essays! Join us for insight into making the most of your college visits in preparation for writing supplemental essays in the fall. Speaking of essays, we’re taking you through the Common App essay prompts for fall 2019. And finally, we have suggestions for how to research information about paying for college on those institutions’ websites.

Guest Post by Sabrina Manville, Co-Founder of Edmit

College graduates earn $1 million more in their careers than the average high school graduate. Since college costs (for now) less than $1 million, paying for a college degree seems—on its face—to be worth it. But not all degrees are created equal: each college and major has a different return on investment.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, host Elizabeth Heaton goes over the nuts and bolts of submitting an application, whether it’s possible to receive in-state tuition as an out-of-state student at a public university, and when to update colleges with new information.

Will your employer pay for you to go back to school?

If you don’t know the answer to that question, it may be time to speak to someone in your Human Resources office or dive into the benefits information provided on your employee intranet. Many employers offer tuition assistance programs as a way to help recruit and retain a qualified and well-educated workforce, but making the most of your tuition assistance dollars is not always as easy as it may first appear.

On the latest episode of Getting In: A College Coach Conversation, Ian Fisher welcomes a student guest to talk about her college search, and is later joined by members of the College Coach team to talk Early Decision and paying the tuition bill. In the middle of all of that, Ian squeezes in a spotlight on Colorado College.

It should go without saying that one of the best deals out there in the higher education market is your in-state public university.  Subsidized by taxpayer dollars, public universities provide state residents at all income levels access to a top quality education at a discounted price.  Therefore, your home state’s public universities can be a great place to start in the college search process.