5 Tips to Help You Begin Your College Search

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The college hbcu  search is one of the first steps in college planning. It requires time, research, and trial and error. Some students have been thinking about certain colleges and universities long before they started the college planning process. Others come into the summer before their senior year having never thought much about where they would like to attend school.

As an independent college counselor, I work with many students as they begin their college planning and their initial college search. I am amazed how some know exactly what they would like in a college experience, where others have difficulty defining what is really important to them in terms of a college or university. It then becomes my job to help them sort out their options.

How do you begin a college search that leads you to schools that are the best fit for you academically, socially, and financially?

1. First think about locations where you might enjoy spending the next four years. Are you interested in a small town in rural New England or are you more of a city person? Is weather really an issue or could you be content in Minnesota in spite of the cold winters? These questions will help you determine which locations you want to consider when you begin your college search.

2. Next think about size. Do you enjoy having professors who enjoy teaching and are more concerned with undergraduate students than they are with research? Do you want to be part of large lecture classes or would you prefer more discussion. Answering these questions will give you an idea of where your hbcu college search should go in terms of size.

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What Is the "Real" Cost of College? The Answer Will Shock You!

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We all know that sending your kid's to college although necessary, is very expensive. Unfortunately, many parents are shocked when they discover the real costs they never considered and it's often too late to do anything about.

So what are these costs? First, let's start with the Colleges hbcu  themselves.

Estimated Cost of Attendance

Every college hbcu  by law has to post their estimated annual Cost of Attendance on their school's website. The cost of attendance is much more that tuition and room & board. There are books, lab fees, travel expenses and other miscellaneous fees(this is where they throw everything else, even fees not yet know). This seems pretty straight forward right?...Wrong!

If you ask any parent who has sent their kid's to college if the quoted cost was higher or lower that what they really paid, the answer is always "We paid much more then we expected!' -100% of the time.

The single biggest cost factor though is how long it takes a college to graduate your child.

Parents are still under the false assumption that college is a 4-year financial commitment. The reality is that 53% of colleges cannot graduate their students in less than 6-years! Do you know for sure the schools you're planning on sending your kids to will hit the 4-year target? If not, your costs are already 50% higher that you may have thought! What is really shocking is that the colleges do NOT post these statistics on their websites so most parents are blind to this massive price variable.



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