College Mentors

The Common Application for 2009-2010 has been released, so you seniors can get started early at www.commonapp.org. The personal statement prompts have not changed, so if you've been working on your essay this summer, full speed ahead! Here's a run down of what's different: Demographics: Student-- There are a lot more demographic questions about the student, most related to race and ethnicity, all of which are optional, except for a question about first language and language spoken at home. Family-- There are a few more questions about families, including a designation of "other" for person with whom the student makes his/her home. Other-- They ask whether the student has had college counseling or assistance with their application process "from a community-based organization" such as Upward Bound or Questbridge. Other Sections: In the disciplinary statement, if you answer 'yes' to either question, they now want you to write about the incident and

The White House has announced changes to the FAFSA form/process, changes to other financial aid programs, as well as new government based financial aid sources. Here's a highlight, followed by a link to the announcement from Ed.gov: FAFSA Form : A shorter, easier to fill out FAFSA form, especially online, where interactive "skip" technology will be used to help students navigate the form, making sure they see only the questions to which they need to respon d. This new version should be available this summer. Expanding Pell Grants and College Tax Credits: The Recovery Act increased Pell Grants by $500 to $5,350 for 2009-2010 and created the American Opportunity Tax Credit, a new $2,500 tax credit for four years of college tuition. In addition to those enacted changes, others have been proposed in the budget: Expanding the Perkins Loan Program: There is a budget proposal to allocate 5 billion to make Perkins loans available to over 2,600 additional schools and an estimat