Planning for College, Start Early!

This seems timely.

Do you have a high school freshman or sophomore? Planning for college starts now! If you have boys chances are you are looking at them and they appear to be your babies still. I understand that. Many of them still sleep until noon and play online games until all hours of the night. They certainly don't look like college material. No way! There is a BIG difference between 15 and 16 when it comes to boys. It seems like they "wake up" during the 16th year and by the time they are 18 they appear to be totally human! Amazing!

As a freshman in high school (or age 14-ish) you should be discussing college and interests. Sure he may want to be something totally off the wall. Heck, when my daughter was 16 she wanted to be in the music industry because she LOVED music! She wanted to take the community college version of music technology. I said, "sure." Luckily the A.S. degree required some of the usual basics for all college degrees such as Freshman Composition 1 and 2. Thank goodness! I knew she really wasn't all that interested in the music industry. She was interested in meeting the guys from N'Sync, the popular boy band from the late 90's and early 2000's. Had I mentioned this to her at the time I would have received the scathing look and eye-roll of that age group. Several years later she laughed and admitted that she only wanted to meet famous bands and N'Sync in particular.

So number one: talk interests and do NOT minimize ANYTHING he or she may say. Go along with it since he will most likely change his mind later anyway. Get books on the subject (like, how to be a Music Producer) and talk about career options. Obviously if your child is tone deaf but wants to be a singer, well, that is a problem.

Number two: Talk colleges and start taking some trips to see them. HUGE university or smaller. State university or Ivy League. Talk budget since your kids have NO clue about money at that age. Oh they may have a general idea but they will have total sticker shock when they see tuition and BOOKS! (Please set aside several hundred dollars for books per semester!)

Number three: Start looking into dual enrollment and this is going to be specific to Florida here. Each community college has it's own rules regarding dual enrollment. Each school has rules regarding GPA requirements and age. (quick note to unschooling parents. If you do not test and have GPA info. then give your best guess. Be realisitc. We want your child to do well there!) Some only allow a few courses, some allow a full load. Find out the "rules" of the one closest to you. Many times home educated students do not have to go to the CC that is in their county. If heading to Valencia is doable, then you can go there even if you are in Seminole County. Check the Articulation Agreement of your local community college. The dual enrollment office should be able to give you that information.

Number four: Start preparing for the CPT test. Again, this is Florida specific. You can purchase study materials at the community college book store. Get them and use them. The "Reading" portion of the CPT is weird. Your student should be familiar with the style of the questions before taking the test.

Number five: By the time February of your child's 10th grade year rolls around, you should have him apply for dual enrollment. I know Valencia allows rising juniors (in other words, 10th graders who just finished 10th grade) to take Summer Term B courses. This will allow your student to have Summer B semester, Fall and Spring of Junior year, then summer A and B between Junior and Senior year, then Fall and Spring of Senior year. Do the math. Lots of semesters and they are FREE tuition! Your child, if his test scores are good and he is motivated, can get his AA degree by the time he graduates from high school! And the tuition is free!

Number six: prepare for the SAT or ACT test. Look at the requirements for the Bright Futures Scholarship NOW and begin planning. (Florida specific, sorry)

Number seven: Have your student set up a Fastweb account. (www.fastweb.com) for scholarship info. This is a clearinghouse for scholarships that will be e-mailed to your student based on a very long survey he fills out. Good luck getting him to actually DO any of the scholarship essays. My kids look back now and wish they had. Those student loans do not get paid with "I wish I had"'s.

I hope this has been enlightening! This is the reason I have set up my school. I am a good adsvisor and my boss still asks me to come back! Any questions please visit my website:

Preferred Learning Academy