5. High
School: Preparation for College
Students have to prepare for college very early. You can say that much of the time in high school is spent in preparing for college. As we have already seen under “tracking,” students have to enroll in a certain type of course and they have to do that early. They need certain courses to enroll for college.
Every college requires a different amount and types of courses you have to have taken in high school to enroll for the respective college. Some colleges require 2 years of high school math at any level and no foreign language. Other universities expect 3 to 4 years of math and at least 2 years of a foreign language. Students have to take this in account if they want to go to college and they have to plan that early to have enough time to take those courses.
There are also some courses offered at some schools in which you can
already receive credit hours for college. This differs in every school. Usually
only the best are accepted to take those courses.
Another huge problem many of the students have is how to finance their college
education because it is very expensive.
5.1.
Financing College
There are different ways to finance your college education. You usually
have to start early to prepare yourself and to get enough information about
what you are eligible for. Almost every student can find a way to finance his education,
but it has to be well prepared. Some homepages give you a college checklist,
which tells you in detail what you need to do at what time. There are usually
very useful links. In the following, the different kinds of financing for college
education will be briefly explained.
5.2. Scholarships
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There are many scholarships that require different things. One thing
all scholarships have in common is that your grades have to be very good and
you often have to be within 15% or 25% of the class rank. Some information
says that your academic achievement has to be outstanding. You can also get a
scholarship if you are doing very well at sports, e.g. football, even if your
grades are only average. The exact requirements vary from scholarship to scholarship so there
is no general way to say what you exactly need to get a certain scholarship.
You can easily find the requirements for different scholarships online. |
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One definition of scholarship can be found on the following site: http://www.commerce-database.com/scholarships-definition.htm
“A scholarship is a type
of financial aid available to students who meet a certain set of criteria,
such as academic excellence in a course of study. A scholarship usually
does not require any repayment but could have employment requirements based
upon the specific scholarship.”
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5.3. Grants
Grants are federal
state and institutional funds. For scholarships the grades are more
important than the financial need whereas the grants are for students with financial
need. Just like for scholarships, there are many different grants and you have
access to them on the internet. Grant programs are
normally from limited annual allocations. Grants don’t have to be
repaid.
5.4. Loans
Students can also receive loans. Loans have
to be paid back. Students receive a low-interest loan or don’t pay interest at
all. They start to pay back the money if they withdraw, have enrollment below
half-time or 6 to 9 months after they graduate. These loans go to students who
show the need of money to finance college. The amount of
funds that is available for students depends upon the repayments of previous
borrowers and an annual federal allocation to the institution. They have up to
ten years to repay the loans.
5.5. Federal Work-Study
(FWS)
This program provides employment
opportunities for students with financial need. Students have a part-time
employment on or off campus and earn an allocation of funds. The money students
earn with the part-time job depends on the kind of employment but has to be of a
nature that is required by the Federal help.
5.6. Useful links
http://www.ed.gov/students/landing.jhtml?src=fp (US Department of Education)
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US2/NOTES/edu.html (Education in the
http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US5/REF/glossary.html (Glossary of United States Educational Terminology)
http://www.fullerton.edu/financialaid/appinfo/progsdef.htm (Office of Financial Aid)
http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/program2.html (Financial Aid Program Guide)
http://www.washington.edu/students/osfa/program.chart.html (about loans)