3 Conversations to Help Your Family Get Grounded Before Your High School Senior’s College Application Process Starts
With the start of the school year just a few weeks away, now is a great time to help your family feel grounded and ready for the coming college application season.
What are the conversations you should be having in your household to help you do that?
Why College?
This seems like a simple question. Do you have an answer to this question in your family that goes deeper than “that’s what our kid is supposed to do after high school, right?”
What does college mean to you as a parent? What does it mean to your kid? What does it mean for your family? Are your hopes and expectations aligned with your child’s?
Without clarity of purpose, your kid (and you) will feel like they are just going through the motions. And honestly that feeling isn’t going to keep them going through nine months of deadlines and decision making.
Get grounded in your family’s “why?”
What Help Do You Think Your Child and Your Family Will Need With This Process and Where Will You Find That Help?
Every child’s college application journey is their own and their family’s journey in supporting them is unique.
You will have a different set of needs than your friends who are supporting their high school seniors during application season.
Maybe you aren’t clear about the timeline of the season. Who will help you understand it?
Are you clear about how the college financial aid process works?
Perhaps you need help with understanding options for your kid who has a learning profile supported by an IEP. Where will you get answers to your question?
Sometimes the college counseling office at your kid’s school can help you with these questions. And sometimes they will not be able to. Many provide a much more general overview of the application process than parents realize.
What outside help, family members, friends, organizations etc will you go to get assistance?
It’s much easier to map this out now before you get busy with pick-ups and drop offs, college visits, extracurricular commitments, application deadlines and the general rhythms of the school year.
What Can You Afford?
What is the amount you can afford right now to pay for your kid’s college journey?
Not the amount you think they might win in scholarships.
Not the amount you hope your own parents might support.
Not the amount your colleague at work is going to contribute to their child’s college education.
What is your amount?
Most families do not know the answer to this question, and it is a big problem.
When you know the amount you can afford, it helps you manage your resources as well as your time. Having this information can shape everything from the list of schools your kid will apply to, help clarify whether it makes sense for your kid to go to community college (traditionally cheaper than 4-year college for the first two years) first, and how much time your kid will need to spend on looking for scholarships if that is the most important part of your strategy to afford college etc.
Too often parents start from a place of practicality at the start of the process, but drift to financially unsustainable decisions because they get caught up trying to insure that their kid goes to their “dream school.” This can lead to so much disappointment and stress for high school seniors and their parents.
If you haven’t already, have these conversations in your family as early as possible. Write down your answers to these questions and keep them in a visible place (like taping them to your refrigerator!) so you can easily go back to them for reference as the college application season heats up. They can act as your North Star when you are feeling like you are bouncing along in the waves.
We are here to help you think through these questions.
Reach out to us to set up a free 30 minute introductory consultation to hear how we can help you feel less stressed out and more joyful about your kid’s college journey.
