Tips to Get Money for College 14: Guidance or Financial Aid Counselors

Saturday’s we share tips of cautions to facilitate getting scholarships or avoid problems

Julia served as a guidance counselor at a high school. She realized that she could have made more money working in business or private practice. She found great satisfaction serving the youth of America. She especially enjoyed instilling hope and confidence in youth at risk. Frequently, she felt overwhelmed by how many students she had to counsel—and how many lost hope and did not care. She relished the ones who really tried to succeed and worked hard. She gave extra effort for those.

Get the Most Out of Your Guidance Counselor

We wish to explore how to better take advantage of their expertise and experience.

• Build a relationship of trust with the guidance counselor
• Outline your plan to identify and apply for 100-150 scholarships
• Ask for their advice, listen to what they say, and act upon their guidance
• Respect how busy they are and do not waste their time
• Do your part without relying on them to do your work for you
• Avoid trying to defend your essays, themes, power statements and other materials
• Report back regularly on action you took and how much money you earned
• Express appreciation to them and the principal for their efforts on your behalf

Tasks Counselors Can Help You Perform

High school guidance and college financial aid counselors can help you in many ways. Some seem obvious while others may surprise you. For example, you may ask them to

• Share tips about how to complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid
• Share sources of grants, scholarships, and other financial aid
• Edit your master application and essays for content, grammar, and spelling
• Help you identify people who can write you letters of recommendation
• Review your letters of recommendation
• Refer you to the best test preparation programs to get higher ACT or SAT test scores
• Prepare you to apply to the best schools for your field of study
• Motivate you to keep applying when you want to quit

Monday we will share the Association of General Contractors of America source of money

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