Decisions surrounding post-secondary education are some of the most impactful—and expensive—choices students and parents face. These 5 essential college planning tips for parents will help you set the stage for a successful college planning process. With these tips you can embark on your child’s college planning journey with confidence.
Tip #1: Establish Your Priorities for College Planning
First of all, consider why you and your child are looking at post-secondary education. Dig deep here and be honest. There are a lot of societal influences and underlying pressures that come to mind but may not actually be that important to you personally. There is no right or wrong answer. Likewise, there should be no judgement of good or bad reasons. Your goal is to establish your priorities for pursuing post-secondary education. Common reasons parents and students have for choosing college include:
Return on investment (ROI)
Career placement outcomes
Education and broadening of mind
Life-long social connections
“Brand Name” or reputation of school
Self exploration and personal growth
Your reasons may be a mix of these or may include completely different things. If you determine what personal priorities are really driving the process at the start, then your future decisions will be much easier. In fact, identifying these priorities is the first step in building a college list!
Practical tip: Write down all of the reasons for pursuing college you can think of on separate notecards or post-it notes. Physically sort the cards from most to least important. Invite your partner and child to sort the list, too. Finally, discuss the similarities and differences together to best understand where everyone is coming from.
Tip #2: Get a College Planning Timeline
Surprisingly, most families I work with are surprised to learn that important college-related decisions often happen in 9th grade. Careful planning for high school course registration, intentional use of summer exploratory time, selecting meaningful extracurricular involvement, and visiting college campuses are just some of the many activities taking place in the years leading up to college decisions. Accordingly, a reliable timeline will let you stay on top of college planning throughout high school.
Practical tip: Given these points, I’ve developed an excellent, free timeline for parents and students to use for this exact purpose. Download your free timeline here and hang it in your home office or on the fridge so everyone knows what’s coming up.
Tip #3: Set Your Budget
Generally, it’s no surprise to most people that the cost of college has been increasing. Parents and students alike repeatedly identify cost-related factors as their biggest concern surrounding college, per Princeton Review’s College Hopes & Worries Survey. Despite the cost of college being a top concern, it is often not discussed openly among families with high school students. Without a doubt, one of the biggest mistakes families make in college planning is not having a family financial conversation.
Of course each family approaches financial planning and situations differently as finances are a deeply personal. However, I’d encourage all parents of college-bound students to thoroughly review their financial situation. Discuss any college savings, the current financial situation, and financial plans for college in depth. Ideally this conversation can happen with your financial planner very early on in your child’s high school career. Prepare to speak with your child, as openly and specifically as possible, about what you may have saved for college expenses and what seems manageable to look at for loans.
The more your student understands about money for college upfront, the easier the process will be. I recommend covering what you can afford to contribute, what a manageable amount of loan would be, how interest works, and a peak into the actual cost of colleges. This conversation alleviates emotional conversations down the road. Trust me. It’s better than delivering heart-breaking news when an acceptance letter from a “dream college” arrives but you can’t afford to send your child.
Practical tips: In addition to getting a clear sense of your personal financial picture, learn about the costs of college:
- Research a variety of individual college costs using Net Price Calculators on colleges’ Financial Aid websites.
- Get a sense of what, if any, financial aid you may be eligible for by completing the free FAFSA 4 Caster tool (Free Application for Federal Student Aid, a form families complete starting in October of 12th grade).
- Become familiar with Financial Aid vocabulary and terms (this is a good spot).
- Finally, check out Ron Lieber’s new book, “The Price You Pay for College”.
Tip #4: Build Your College Planning Team
Who will be in your quick-dial list for college planning questions that come up? Who do you know who has been through the process recently? Whom you trust, who is familiar with your school and child? What sources of information will you consult when you encounter a road bump in looking at test-optional admissions, campus visit planning, alumni interview expectations? With whom is your child comfortable sharing their college planning ideas with? Especially as it becomes time for applications and application decisions? Determining your support network and your communication group can keep you from blindly accepting falsehoods. I’ve seen many conversations among well-intentioned parents that are filled with college misinformation and can derail your carefully-planned process.
Be cautious of what college advice you accept as truth. Plenty of people will claim to know how the whole of college admissions works based on their own/their child’s experience. My intent is not to cast shade. Rather, I’d encourage you to consider the source as there are many incorrect assumptions about college admissions out there.
Practical tip: Instead of seeking out parents who are in the same place you are (i.e. other parents of 10th graders), consider bringing your questions to parents with slightly older children. They’ve been through the process recently and you stand to benefit from some of what they’ve learned through the process. What did they find most helpful? What did they wish they had known at the start? College planning can be an emotional rollercoaster—finding grounded sources who have survived the ride can offer valuable perspective. In full disclosure, this tip is from Georgia Tech admissions director, Rick Clark, who has a fantastic blog about all things college admissions.
Tip #5: Plan for Communication
Clear communication throughout college planning prevents many of the most stressful pitfalls families can fall into. In most all situations, the real project manager of this process should be the college applicant (your child) themselves. For some, this is a huge responsibility and parents can be understandably reluctant to completely hand over control. The resulting tug of war can leave everyone feeling frustrated and unheard. With this in mind, clarify roles and expectations early on to give your student the parameters they need to practice independence throughout the process.
Practical tips: First, set aside a specific time or place where college conversations can happen. A specific day and time of the week or specific location in your home or car where college planning questions and check-ins are expected. For instance, one family I’ve worked with selected Sunday night during dishes after dinner as college check-in time. Secondly, invite your child to identify when and with whom from your circle of family and friends can know the inside scoop of their planning, applications, and admissions decisions. While some students won’t have a preference, some will absolutely relish the feeling of security this provides in a very uncertain process.
Don’t forget to breathe, build in time and space for fun, and enjoy the moments along the way. Your child is preparing for the next big step in independent adulthood, celebrate the growth and progress. There are hundreds of ways to launch successfully into post-secondary education. Have faith that together you can find the way that will be best for your child.
And, if you find that you’re looking for a guide through this process, please reach out. We’ll set up a time for a free conversation about what working together could look like for you!