The college visit: Basics & Checklist

Touring a college provides teenagers opportunities to visualize themselves living and studying away from home. For college visits with younger children the main objective is to plant the idea of higher education in their minds - such visits can be combined with a family vacation or outing. Once the college search process kicks in, however, the focus is on finding an appropriate and affordable fit.

During the visit you should scrutinize the learning center and eat at the college cafeteria at peak hours. While the tour and the info session are sales pitches where the school exposes you to carefully selected students and staff, the cafeteria offers an unedited version of the college and a chance to speak with random students.  How is the atmosphere? Do students look happy? Food options? Ask students about what they like and dislike about this college, why they choose to attend and what a typical day looks like.

College Visit Checklist LD Students

Before deciding to visit a college, do your homework. LD support varies from college to college. School websites have answers to many of the questions below.

1. What LD accommodations are offered? How do to obtain accommodations? What documentation is required?
2. What tutoring, counseling, and support services are available on campus and how are they accessed? Is there an additional fee for these services?

3.  What academic elements are considered in the admissions process - courses, grades, test scores, interests, financial needs, essays, recommendations, and interviews? How important is each of these factors?

4.      How many students at this campus? Student/teacher ratio?

5. Which academic programs on campus are the most popular?
6. What is the largest class size for a freshman or sophomore? How many large classes to expect?
7. Who teaches freshman classes? (tenured professors? teaching assistants?)
8. What is the freshmen retention rate?
9. What is the graduation rate? (4 year? 5 year? LD kids sometime need 5 years)
10. What activities do students participate in during their free time-on campus (school sponsored) and in the community? What are the most popular extracurricular activities? 
11. Greek life? (fraternities and sororities?) If so, what percent of the student body participates in Greek life? Are parties open? How do students who elect not to participate in the Greek system fit in? Policies against hazing?
12. What portion of the student body lives on campus? What portion of the student body remains on campus for the weekends?
13. What transportation options are available to and from campus? Trips home? Trip to the mall/shopping/excursions?  Trips to points of interests?
14. Can freshmen have cars on campus? What is the fee for having a car on campus?
15. Where do students go if they have a medical emergency?
16. Do you need to bring your own computer? Are the dorms wired for Internet/e-mail services?
17. What laundry facilities are available?
18. What are the safety issues on campus? How are they addressed?
19. Is campus housing guaranteed for all four years? What percent of students live on campus all four years? What housing options exist? (Theme housing? Single sex? Coed? Greek? Off-campus?)
20. What meal plans are available? Are freshmen required to purchase a specific type of meal plan? What hours may students access food services?
21. What is the yearly cost of attendance, including books, tuition, fees, housing, meal plans?
22. Which financial aid forms are required? FAFSA, a CSS Profile, institutional or school specific forms, states forms?
23. What percent of entering freshman received aid? Merit aid? Is merit aid also need based? What is the average freshman aid package? Is there a way aid is packaged - loans first, for example? Is the aid package negotiable?

Harris F., aspiring writer at Ithaca College

Harris F. is having a terrific freshman experience at Ithaca College, both academically and socially. Thanks to a solid foundation built at Churchill and a strong work ethic, he masters his classes, and finds time to work as a Resident Assistant for his dorm floor as well as enjoy activities with his friends..

Ever since he was in middle school, Harris has known that he wanted to work in the film industry, which simplified the college search - only a handful of colleges have film programs. Narrowing the search down to three colleges, he picked Ithaca because he wanted to experience an environment different from New York City. Located in Ithaca, NY, Ithaca College is about a five hour drive from New York City.

“I just loved the campus,” he said in an interview over the phone about visiting Ithaca College for the first time. In addition to the campus environment and the academics, Harris liked that Ithaca prepares film students early on for their future careers by sending them to either Los Angeles or New York City for internships where they learn on the job and make industry connections.

To become accepted, Harris took both ACT and SAT and did better on the ACT. After working with a tutor he retook the ACT, raising his score. Extracurricular activities including having been on the Student Council at Churchill and working as a camp counselor several summers also contributed to his admission, he thinks.

The most important skill he learned at Churchill was self-advocacy.
“Because of the prep at Churchill, I can now approach my professors and get the support I need,” Harris says. At Ithaca, he has been using the writing center, but any other LD support than extended time has so far been unnecessary.
“It is good to know that it is available,” he says about the learning center, “in case I’d need it in the future.”

A film major focusing on script writing for radio and TV, Harris is planning a minor in English Literature or Writing. For a student with dyslexia who initially struggled with reading and writing, starting at Churchill in 4th grade was a transforming experience. A vivid imagination has been the driving force behind his development as a writer while learning how to handle his dyslexia.
“It shows that you can overcome anything,” Harris says about his accomplishments.

Harris misses the teachers at Churchill and visits every time he comes to New York. “I consider them my friends,” he says about the Churchill staff.
“Churchill’s a great environment, the best in the world.”

Colleges that Change Lives in NYC May 21 & 22

Churchill alumni attend several of the schools selected by "Colleges that Change Lives" (CTCL) a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of a student-centered college search process.
"We support the goal of each student finding a college that develops a lifelong love of learning and provides the foundation for a successful and fulfilling life beyond college" the CTCL website states.
For more info, click below and read my post Colleges that Change Lives (Jan. 13, 2012).

Colleges that Change Lives College Fair
Monday or Tuesday May 21 & 22 at 7pm (2 days)
New York Penn Hotel, NYC
Skytop Ballroom
401 Seventh Avenue 

Lynn University - individualized LD support in resort setting

Over spring vacation, my son and I visited Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida. Lynn has a reputation for offering solid LD support, and a couple of Churchill alumni attend this school. In addition to general accommodations, such as extended time, peer tutors and easily accessible professors, students at Lynn can take advantage of a special LD program, Institute for Achievement and Learning, which offers individualized support including coaching in organizational skills, study skills and time management, counseling and expert tutoring. This tailored-made program costs $5,875 per semester for new students and $4,225 per semester for returning students on top of $43,500 (2012/2013) annually for tuition, room, board and fees.

Lynn did a terrific job organizing our visit. We were greeted by an MBA student from London  - 23% of Lynn's 2,000+ students are international students.Then we had lunch with a professor and two students from the major my son is interested in, followed by a tour by a student in my son's prospective field. Classes are small and interactive. Popular sports are tennis, soccer and golf. Many students have cars on campus and there are shuttle buses to Ocean beaches and shopping. Our tour ended at the admissions office where we met with an admissions officer familiar with Churchill School.

However impressive the support program seemed and how pleasant we found the campus, its location, and everyone we interacted with, I was concerned about Lynn's low freshmen retention rate (62 %). When asked, our tour guide explained that located five minutes from sandy beaches in sunny Florida, Lynn attracts some young people with other priorities than studying. Freshmen being disappointed in the academic rigor and Lynn's tough anti drugs and alcohol policy contribute to the large drop between freshman and sophomore year, she said. I buy that explanation - apart from the classrooms, Lynn felt more like a resort than a higher learning facility.

Naviance - college navigation and statistics

Tenth-grade parents should now be able to access Naviance (ask your child or Mr. McBrien for a password) at connection.naviance.com/csny and click on links such as "Colleges our students are attending" and "Top 20 most popular colleges where our students apply" to get an idea about where Churchill alumni attend school and where they have been accepted. The number of students at each school is still low due to Churchill HS's brief history, but the data gives an idea about required GPA and school selections.

The Churchill College Office is currently working with 10th graders who are getting familiar with Naviance and how to use it to help navigate the college process. A first step is to identify colleges and adding them to the list "colleges I am thinking about". Naviance offers research tools including "college match" and "college compare" to aid with picking colleges.

During 10th and 11th grades student utilize Naviance to help find and keep track of colleges of interest in "colleges I am thinking about". This section contains application deadlines, links to the chosen colleges' websites and a box where students can mark level of interest for each college. It is easy to add and drop colleges to and from "colleges I am thinking about". Once the application process starts, students move selected colleges to the list "colleges I am applying to" and use this list to follow up and make sure the colleges receive required material in a timely fashion.

High college retention rate for Churchill alumni

Churchill students prove again and again that they are prepared for higher education. While 21 % of college students at full-time private non-profit four-year colleges drop out after freshmen year (40% at full-time public 2-year-colleges), Churchill students tend to return after their freshmen year. According to a recent survey of the 2010 graduating class, 90 % returned to college after their freshmen year.

Sources:
http://completionagenda.collegeboard.org/freshman-sophomore-retention
Churchill internal data

Scholarships for LD students

A learning disability may create an advantage with the admissions officer looking for diversity, and there are special college scholarships for LD kids. Most I have found so far are between $1,000 - $6,000.

The RICE Foundation (Rewarding Individual Success in Education) offers a scholarship and information benefiting LD students: http://risescholarshipfoundation.org/

Marion Huber Learning Through Listening offers a $6,000 to a students with dyslexia, http://www.learningally.org/About-Us/National-and-Local-Award-Opportunities/108/#ltl

The Novotni Scholarship Fund offers special scholarships up to $5,000 for students with ADD and ADHD:http://031df74.netsolhost.com/Documents/Novotni_Scholarship_Application.pdf

The Anne Ford and Allegra Ford Scholarships offer financial assistance to two graduating seniors with documented learning disabilities (LD) who are pursuing post-secondary education and have the ability to act as role models.

The Smart Student Guide to Financial Aid lists the Anne Ford scholarship and a few others on its website: http://www.finaid.org/otheraid/ld.phtml

The Edge Foundation repeats some of the previously mentioned scholarships: http://www.edgefoundation.org/blog/2011/04/06/college-scholarships-for-adhd-students/